offshore powerboat racing point pleasant nj

Offshore Grand Prix roars back to Point Pleasant Beach as COVID-19 hiatus sinks away

POINT PLEASANT BEACH - Tom and Susan Ahearn leaned against the boardwalk railing and stared out to sea.

Roaring by and leaving large wakes behind, power boats competing in the Point Pleasant Beach Offshore Grand Prix raced against time — and each other — as the race returned after a one-year hiatus caused by COVID-19. The race is sponsored by Jersey Mike's.

"It's really exciting," Brick resident Susan Ahearn said of the power boat race, which drew large crowds to the boardwalk on a bright, sunny afternoon. "This is really very enjoyable."

"It's a beautiful day for it," Tom Ahearn added.

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Boats emblazoned with names like "Perdition," "Bounty Hunter" and "Jersey Outlaw" competed on a course that began and ended in front of Jenkinson's Pavilion. Boats raced along a two-mile course that started in Point Pleasant Beach and reached into Bay Head. 

The boat races kicked off at noon, and spectators sat on boardwalk benches or pressed against the railing to watch the boats scream past. The races capped a weekend of activities related to the Offshore Grand Prix, including a boat parade on Saturday and a winners circle ceremony for winners scheduled for the Wharfside Seafood and Patio Bar Sunday afternoon.

"A buddy of mine is in the race," said Upper Freehold resident Byran Scheff. "He told me about it and it sounded like a fun day out. I brought my kids. It's good to see people out and about."

Scheff said it felt like things were just about back to normal after the shutdowns caused by the pandemic. 

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Before the races kicked off, spectators could view some of the boats and speak to crew members at the Point Pleasant Beach train station, where many of the boats were on display.

Former Brick resident and power boat racer Greg Young, who lives in Sarasota, Florida, these days, recalled winning the grand prix in 1989 and 1990 with Hydro Tech power boats. Back then, there were many more entries in the Offshore Grand Prix, Young said.

He said he is hopeful that the races will continue to attract more teams.

"When I raced it was the heyday," he said. "I think they're bringing the heyday back."

Jean Mikle covers Toms River and several other Ocean County towns, and has been writing about local government and politics at the Jersey Shore for nearly 35 years. A finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in public service, she's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle, [email protected]

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Photo Essay: Point Pleasant Beach Goes Sporty-Plus

You could make a strong case for New Jersey as the true cradle of offshore racing civilization. Competition there goes back five-plus decades. Cigarette Racing Team founder/owner Don Aronow hailed from the Garden State. The historic Point Pleasant Beach venue in particular is notorious for rough water—think of it as a New Jersey version of Cocoa Beach, Fla., only a bit sportier.

On its way to a Stock V win, Speed Marine logged a little air time off Point Pleasant Beach. Photos by Tim Sharkey copyright Sharkey Images .

And for last weekend’s Offshore Powerboat Association Point Pleasant Beach Grand Prix, the storied race-site more than lived up to its legacy for the teams that chose to tackle it.

Among those teams was Wicked , a new Super Cat-class outfit led by offshore racing veteran Jay Muller. The pre-season plan had Muller’s sons, 20-year-old Chase and 18-year-old Jax, manning the cockpit of the teams 40-foot Motion catamaran. The Muller boys did run together in their Chug It raceboat in the Bracket 700 class, but for the solo-boat Super Cat contest Chase Muller drove alongside his father, one of the sport’s most accomplished throttlemen.

Thanks to the Race 4 Charities.org team, photographer Tim Sharkey captured what could end up being the roughest offshore race of the 2022 season.

“The boat ran awesome,” said Jay Muller. “Chase didn’t have much test time but did a fantastic job and we had a blast.

“He said the Motion cat felt like a Cadillac compared to his Class 700 boat,” Muller added, then laughed.

Thanks to the Bracket 300-class Race 4 Charities.org team, photographer Tim Sharkey was in the air via helicopter and firing away at the raceboats tackling the sporty-plus Atlantic Ocean water. In addition to Wicked , teams that ran uncontested included Knucklehead Racing in Vee Extreme class, the Bracket 100-class Bounty Hunter team and Race 4 Charites .org, while in the two-team Bracket 500 battle Shoreline Plumbing bested Mean Streak for the win.

Enjoy more images from the 2022 Point Pleasant Beach Grand Prix.

In Stock V, Speed Marine took the checkered flag followed by Laticrete/Nobody’s Business and Typhoon . Apache Predator finished ahead of Full Send and Control Freak in Bracket 400, while Moderation finished ahead of Rum Runners and Smith Brothers in Bracket 600. As the class with the smallest boats, Bracket 700 took the biggest beating with Goofin’ Around claiming first place (as noted above) followed by Team Progression and Aquaholic .

But the real battle was between the high-flying teams and the conditions.

“It was four to five feet with the occasional six-footer, big holes and sloppy chop with Southeast winds that started gusting over 20 mph,” said Sharkey. “It made for some great racing.”

Chase Muller ran his first Super Cat race in Wicked, a 40-foot Motion catamaran owned and throttled by his father.

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Boats are revved up for the return of Point Pleasant Beach Offshore Grand Prix!

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The Covid-19 pandemic led to the postponement or cancellation of all kinds of events in 2020 including the Point Pleasant Beach Offshore Grand Prix leaving boat racers flying solo on Jersey Shore waters.

It's back though in 2021 as the boats are full of fuel, revved up and ready to go.

Angelo Juliano, Treasurer on the Board of Directors with the New Jersey Offshore Powerboat Racing Association explains that the adrenaline for the race that take place June 13 has been building up for over a year.

"We missed last years race, the whole season was called off and the racers have just been tooling around with their boats, making their motors better, bigger, faster, cleaner and now they're set to come out," Juliano said.

The Point Pleasant Beach Offshore Grand Prix, a race that's been running for 52-years, is part of a Jersey Shore renaissance in 2021 as more places can open and more events can happen than at this time last year or last summer.

Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra says it's never been more important to have the race back, and at this point in June, because it not only shows the race is back but the borough is as well.

"Coming out of Covid, we've all had some really difficult times. The race is going to bring a big financial boost to all the different businesses and our residents and guests are just going to love seeing one big, huge, spectacular event again and it's exactly what's needed at exactly the right time," Kanitra said.

Known for years as "The Benihana Offshore Grand Prix", the race is something close to home for Kanitra and his family.

"Even before we officially moved here, when I was in kindergarten, my grandparents opened up the Harbor Lights Motor Lodge on Broadway in 1980 and that was really the height of the old Benihana Race's popularity," Kanitra said. "As a new business, my grandfather used to tell stories all the time of Rocky Aoki staying there and all the racers and big personalities and characters, he loved it, but it was more than just that experience, it was the financial boost to our family business and with the pandemic and all the difficulties that local businesses have experienced recently, the loans that they've had to take out to survive...that family story of mine is going to transcend over the decades here to Point Pleasant Beach this year and is going to once again provide a really much needed financial boost."

Race day, which is Sunday June 13th, will be preceded by two days worth of events in Point Pleasant Beach with a "Meet the Racers" block party from 4-8 pm on Friday that'll be held from Arnold Avenue at Route 35 South to the Elks Lodge lagoon with Live music, sidewalk sales and a parade where the boats will march down Arnold Avenue and also include Miss Garden State Jackie DiPasquale.

On Saturday, there will be events including seeing the boats up close before they go on a test run in the ocean.

Then comes race day.

"You come over the bridge, you can hear the engines from Brielle probably and it's just going to be action packed, I mean they've got a ton of great heats coming and I think they've got about 36 boats from all over the country that are planning on coming," Kanitra said. "As someone whose been on those boats before, I can tell you they don't go light, they don't go easy, they go really hard and heavy and everybody's going to love it."

The race used to be a lot longer in length than it is now, Juliano explains, having raced out of Point Pleasant Beach up the Manasquan Inlet up and down the eastern seaboard heading to places like Seaside Heights and all the way up to Fire Island.

"We shortened it for spectators, we run about 7-miles oval and they do about 60-80 miles per hour depending on what class boat they're in, and that's the OPA rules, we follow OPA rules," Juliano said.

These boats go incredibly fast though on the water depending on what class the boat is in.

"It starts at 60 Class 7 and it goes up to unlimited," Juliano said. "Insurance made us slow it down so top speeds are about 160/180 on the big unlimited but you have different class speeds starting at 60, 70, 75, 80, 95, 100 and then upward."

Does it feel like you're going that fast in a boat?

"Even faster," Juliano said. "It's even faster. At 60 and 70 mph, it's unbelievable, imagine going 100-plus....nothing else compares."

Mayor Paul Kanitra and I both tried out the boats for ourselves before the upcoming race and one at a time as we were joined in the boat by an experienced boat racer.

The boat we tested out can top out at about 120 mph....we weren't going that fast but enough to know what it's like in one of these race boats which do require two people, one to steer and one to hit the gas and brakes.

The best spot to see all these boats speed away at the Point Pleasant Beach Grand Prix is pretty much anywhere up and down the boardwalk.

The first race will run at 12 pm and the second race at 2 pm but the boats will begin lining up around 10:30 am.

You can follow Vin Ebenau on Twitter and Instagram and email news tips to [email protected].

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Offshore powerboat association releases 2023 schedule.

Offshore Powerboat Association has released its 2023 schedule that includes nine stops starting with the LOTO Powerfest in Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., in June.

The June 1-3 race in Lake of the Ozarks has formerly Lake Race and will be held at Shady Gators and Camden on the Lake at the 7-mile marker. The offshore tour heads to Point Pleasant Beach in New Jersey for the Point Pleasant Beach Grand Prix (June 9-11) and then to Eastlake, Ohio, for the Eastlake Grand Prix (July 14-16).

Two weeks later, the boats head to St. Clair, Mich., for the St. Clair Classic (July 28-30). OPA’s August races include the Great Lakes Grand Prix in Michigan City, Ind. (August 3-6) and the Ocean City Grand Prix in Maryland (August 18-20)

Leading up to the Offshore Powerboat Association National Championships at the Pompano Beach Powerfest in Pompano Beach, Fla., on October 6-8, is the Crystal Coast Grand Prix in Morehead, South Carolina (September 8-10).

The OPA World Championships are slated for November 16-19 in Englewood, Florida, at the Englewood Beach Waterfest.

OPA classes include Super Cat, Factory Stock, Super Stock, Vee Extreme, Modified Vee, Stock Vee and various bracket racing classes.

The 2023 schedule is available at www.oparacing.com

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The History of OPA Racing

There is probably no single race more famous than The Benihana Offshore Grand Prix. This race was known as the Indy 500 of Offshore Racing and was held in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ, during the 1970's. The New Jersey Offshore Powerboat Racing Association has been the host club since racing started in Point Pleasant Beach some 40+ years ago. NJ Offshore (NJOPRA) is still a very active club with over 100 members and has kept the tradition of Offshore Racing alive on the Jersey Shore for all those years.

Over the years, the name of the Point Pleasant Beach race has been changed each time a new sponsor was obtained. It's been called: The Hennessey Offshore Grand Prix, The Benihana Offshore Grand Prix, The Ray Catena Offshore Grand Prix, The New Jersey Offshore Grand Prix, The War at the Shore, the Jenkinson's Offshore Grand Prix and the year of 2005 it was called The Jersey Boyz Offshore Grand Prix.

During the years, the race course has gotten smaller and shorter. In the Benihana days, the race was over 200 miles long running laps from NY's Fire Island to Seaside Heights NJ. One lap was about 80 miles. For the spectators, and there were many, the boats came by once an hour and only three or four times depending upon the race course configurations. Today the racecourse is a small 4 mile oval as close to the beach as possible. Since the beach drops off quickly, the boats usually run within 150 feet of the surf. Even the outside leg can be clearly seen from the shoreline.

The NJ race has also seen its share of sanction flags. Originally, the race was the premier APBA National Offshore Race. This race ran on the third Wednesday of the month of July like clockwork. People would book their vacations around race week, as it was always a source of excitement. Back in 1975 a fast boat in NJ was a 21' Searay with a 188 Merc I/O. So when the big boats came to town, it was quite a show.

Ed "Smitty" Smith has taken over the reigns at OPA for 14 years (OPA started in 2002) and is working on making offshore great again!   OPA Racing welcomes racers from all over the world to come and race in 1 of their 15 classes.

​​ Hail to the Chief

"Smitty" was born and raised in Nutley, NJ. Moved to the Jersey Shore in 1987 and purchased his first boat. For 25 years he took his family to vacation in Key West - hoping that they wouldn't catch on that SBI held their World Championship races there. In 1990 he was introduced to Scot Blue, the Director of MONOC and began volunteering as a safety boat for the races.

Always threatening to "someday" own his own race boat. He worked out of a pick up truck picking up piece work at Ocean Beach Marina doing fiberglass work. Soon after, began working for the Truesdales at the marina now known as Forge Landing Marina. In 1990, he took over the service department and Smitty's Marine came to be.

Over the course of fifteen years, Smitty paid an annual visit to a man known as "old man Kurt". He was the owner of the 33' Viper known as the Mary K. The Mary K raced many legendary Benihana races over the years. Never winning a single race. Smitty would make him an offer every year in hopes to one day buy that boat.

The Viper was one of three made. For shortly after production began there was a fire at the plant and the mold was ruined - never to be produced again.

In 1997, Old Man Kurt could no longer handle the boat. His arthritic knees and failing body would not allow for him to climb in and out of that old boat. So when Smitty came a knocking for his annual visit he was all too surprised when Old Man Kurt said "take It".

The Mary K was transformed into the purple and yellow dinosaur very well known as "WAZZUP". The P Class favorite. This father and son team took offshore racing by surprise.

Anthony was awarded Throttle Man of the Year by his peers in 2002. They won World Championship status 3 out of 4 years of racing. Smitty has been voted President of OPA and has launched offshore racing into a world of it's own. This will be the last season for the purple and yellow favorite, but stay tuned for what's ahead.

CONGRATULATIONS to Team WAZZUP for putting the Production Classes on the map and for making history!

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Offshore powerboat race canceled in point beach amid smoke issues, travel delays and unhealthy air quality led the race organizers to cancel; a rescheduling is possible, they said..

Karen Wall , Patch Staff

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — The Point Pleasant Beach Offshore Grand Prix has been canceled this weekend due to the effects of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires.

The cancellation of the offshore powerboat race weekend was announced by the Offshore Powerboat Association , which said it was making the decision because of a multitude of issues caused by the smoke.

"The developing situation with smoke, visibility, travel delays and air quality alerts due to the Canadian wildfires has caused significant problems along the East Coast, specifically for the event and town, all of which are outside of OPA’s control," the announcement said. "Safety for our teams and fans are number one and when we’re this close to a great event start this decision hurts."

Find out what's happening in Point Pleasant with free, real-time updates from Patch.

Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra said he was saddened that the race was being canceled.

"I understand that safety for the racers must come first," Kanitra said.

"Obviously, there was a major tragedy a few years ago that highlighted the risks the competitors take," he said, referring to a crash during the race in 2017 that killed a racer from Ocean County.

"As a result of these massive wildfires and accompanying smoke, my understanding is that the helicopters were not going to have the guaranteed visibility needed to ensure safe operation and response times," Kanitra said.

OPA officials said there is still an opportunity to reschedule the race but did not provide any details of when that might happen.

"I sincerely hope it can be rescheduled and will offer all available resources from Town Hall to OPA in order to try and get that done," Kanitra said.

The race festivities were set to begin Friday with the racers arriving, and the schedule included a full day of viewing the boats on Saturday, with the races on Sunday.

"We’d like to thank NJ Offshore for their unrelenting support, and tireless work in conjunction with the borough of Point Pleasant Beach," the statement said.

The National Weather Service said the smoke is anticipated to linger through the weekend, with unhealthy Air Quality Index levels, and may not clear completely until Friday or Saturday.

Note: This article has been updated with comment from Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra.

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