Brent Riley, Pro Eliminator Champion, with his family

Flaco Guapo Media
written by Mikaela Oliver

The Southern Drag Boat Association’s weekend-long, nail-biting drag boat races came to an end on Sunday, June 27, with an award ceremony to top them off.

The award ceremony featured 13 different classes (from slowest to quickest): Personal Watercraft, Stock Eliminator, Top Eliminator, Modified Eliminator, Pro Eliminator, Quick Eliminator, ProJet, Pro Comp Flat, Pro Outlaw, ProMod, Top Alcohol Flat/ Top Fuel Jet, Top Alcohol Hydro.

Jody Smith, Personal Watercraft Champion

“The competition was close,” said David Carroll, Series Director for the Southern Drag Boat Association. “very few of them you can look out there and tell who won, everybody was looking at the clock to see which side was gonna flash and tell us who won it.. very tight racing.”

This is the 15th year that these races have taken place at the Spring Creek Marina in San Angelo.

Tim Ortiz, Pro Jet Champion

The event brought out around 1,000 people on Saturday and 750 on Sunday, according to Carroll.

Although numbers are down from pre-COVID years, we are still happy to see people coming back out, said Carroll.

Marty Logan, Top Alcohol Hydro Champion

Last year’s boat drag race was a no spectator event, which according to Carroll, was just not the same.

On the importance of having crowds back: “There’s, unfortunately, no money in the sport for what it costs to do it… they (the racers) do it strictly for the love of the sport. They do it for the fans.”