When you look at offshore raceboats with their sleek design, enclosed cockpits and amazing graphics, it's easy to be awestruck. The enthusiasm is well deserved when we watch these boats fly across the wave tops at the hands of skilled drivers and throttlemen.

But just as the flashy quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers get all the glory while the linemen who protect them get ignored, fans often forget the power that makes their favorite offshore raceboats go. If it wasn't for engines and drives that are built to withstand the punishment that an offshore race can dish out, no boat or team would get to wave the checkered flag or proudly put US-1 on the bow at the end of the year.

Mercury Racing, Sterling Performance, Ilmor Marine, Teague Custom Marine, Cobra Power, Paul Pfaff Racing, Bandit, Wazzup, JC Performance, Keith Eickert and other engine builders have all proven that their products work on the racecourse. Imco has done the same with its drives. Mercury Racing engines and drives have won more championships in offshore racing than any other. In the outboard classes in this country and overseas if you want to contend, your motors had better be black. In what is quite possibly the only Fountain raceboat not equipped with something from the Mercury Racing arsenal, the Ilmor-powered and Arneson-equipped 40' Fountain, King of Shaves, is dominating the P-1 class in Europe. Teague Custom Marine provided the power that made Bob Nordskog a legend and Ragamuffin a household name. Paul Pfaff's Offshore A and B class motors dominated the West Coast in the mid-1990s. On the East Coast, Bandit, Wazzup and JC Performance have all made their names conquering the rough water off the Jersey Shore.

When engines succeed on the liquid racetrack, the result is better powerplants for pleasure use. Nowhere is that more evident than in Poker Runs America events. Our members are not known for backing off or taking it easy in a poker run. They run hard because they have confidence in their engines and drives. From the full line of Mercury Racing products, including 2.5 EFI Offhore and 300 X outboards, to Sterling's high-output 1,500s to fuel-injected 1,000-hp plus supercharged firebreathers from Teague and Pfaff, they can all be traced back to racing products.

Offshore racing and poker runs are going strong and will be for years to come. The next time you're watching a race or a run and are in awe of the wild-looking boats, remember the motors. Without them we wouldn't get too far.

William E. Taylor, Publisher