My Grandma can Beat Your Dad! Also, Your Brother, Your Son, Your Uncle, Your Cousin…

When I was a kid in Florida, my Dad would take me to watch the powerboat races. I was amazed by these boats, which seemed to almost fly; often the only parts touching the water were the propeller and the rudder!

Powerboat racing is an old, old sport—probably about as old as the second guy to stuff a big motor into a small boat.  And the ultimate expression of the sport is Offshore Racing.

Offshore racers really do fly, becoming airborne if they hit a wave just right, then slamming down onto the surface at up to 100mph.  Obviously, it takes a Real Man to wrestle one of these monsters, right?

Wrong.

Paul Cook was a highly successful California entrepreneur who decided one day that he needed a hobby, so he bought a powerboat and went racing. Paul’s wife Betty often helped out by doing the usual wifely chores, supplying the drivers and crews with sandwiches and drinks— at least at first.  One day, in 1974, she decided to take one of the boats out for a little jaunt, just to see what it was like.  Don Pruitt, Paul’s racing team manager, gave her a few pointers and turned her loose.

It turned out to be even more fun than she thought it would be.  Now she wanted to take the next step—she wanted to race!

Just three days later, she entered the 90-mile round-trip race from Long Beach to Newport Beach.

She won.

All of the Real Men were stunned—they had just had their butts kicked by a 5 foot, 4 inch, 114 pound, 52-year-old grandmother.  To make it even more humiliating, it was: Her. Very. First. Race.

Betty continued racing (and winning), and soon bought her own boat. Now, most racing powerboats have macho names such as Thunderbolt or Nitro.  Betty named hers Kaama (after an African antelope), and decorated it with a picture of an antelope with big, ruby-red, heart-shaped lips.  Perhaps it was her subtle, feminine way of saying “Kiss me goodbye, boys, ‘cause this is the last you’ll see of me until the race is over!”

This would be no idle boast.  At the 1977 World Championship race in Key West, on stormy, backbone-crunching seas, Betty finished TWENTY ONE MINUTES ahead of the second place boat.

Betty and Kaama (and Kaama II) went on to win 2 world championships and 3 US championships.  She retired in 1982, at the age of 59.

The powerboat racing world calls her The Queen of Powerboat Racing.