Powerboat Race Team Scott Free Racing Learns Experience Is Priceless

26 Apr 2017

Racing at the 2016 Super Boat International World Championships in Key West, Florida.

The Scott Free Racing Teams' 30-foot Extreme powerboat competes at Key West, Florida in 2016.

Experience is the ultimate path to success. Ask anyone in business or professional sports and ask Stephen Kidahl of the Scott Free Racing Team based in Sarasota, Florida.

Stephen Kildahl has been racing offshore boats for Free Scott Racing since 2007 and his father, Steve, has been boat racing for 33 years. Free Scott Racing has participated in the Sarasota Power Boat Grand Prix for all 33 years of existence.

Scott Free Racing took second place in the Key West event

“We are the only team that is presently competing to have raced in every event for the last 33 years,” noted Stephen.

The team also has a history with the Key West World Championship, which was created about 37 years ago, Stephen pointed out.

They race in the Super Boat Vee class on the Super Boat International Circuit and the Offshore Powerboat Association, the two major organizations that sanction boat racing events. The team races in six Super Boat International racing events and two Offshore Powerboat Association contests.

They race a 30-foot Extreme powerboat and compete in five or six races in Florida as well as races in Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri. Races take place on oceans, lakes, and rivers. When racing in Florida, the contests are held in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

The racing team has developed a good reputation for the past several years. Since 1985 they have garnered:

• 3 World Championships

• 2 National Championships

• 3 Florida Championships

• 2 Endurance Records

• 2 World Speed Records

• 1992 Throttle Man of the Year

In 2017, Scott Free Racing will participate in 8 events, primarily in Florida

Stephen drives the boat and Steve works the throttles.

Scott Free Racing does not compete in every Super Boat International and Offshore Powerboat Association sanctioned races. Stephen and his dad have other responsibilities during the racing season. For example, they each have a full time job. Stephen drives a forklift for Bonita Bay Marina in Bonita Springs, Florida, and Steve owns Central Marine Services in Sarasota, Florida.

As a result, they participate in from eight to 10 events of 15 to 20 events scheduled during the year. That means that they have to select what races in which to compete.

“Last year we competed in 10 events and this year we will participate in eight,” said Stephen. “We select the races with feedback from our main sponsor, Boatfloater.com. They tell us what events to attend based on demographics and we choose what we consider to be the premier events. That includes the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix, the National Championships in Clearwater Florida, and the Super Boat International World Championships in Key West, Florida,” said Stephen.

The Kidahl family at the 2016 Lake Race in Michigan City, Indiana.

The Kidahl clan at the 2016 Lake Race in Michigan City Indiana.

“We consider the Sarasota Grand Prix a premier event because it takes place in our hometown, it draws 100,000 spectators every year, it’s televised, and we have a lot of support in the area,” he added.

“We consider the Super Boat International World Championships in Key West a premier event because it is a week long and it is our Daytona 500. It has been going on for about 37 years.”

We interviewed Stephen in 2016 when Scott Free Racing had competed in just a few races. During the present interview we asked him how things turned out.

“2016 ended up being a pretty good year,” he said. “We ended up finishing second in the Championship.

“We learned a lot,” he continued. “We tried a lot of set up changes. We didn’t know how they would work out, but we actually learned a lot. We got a lot of data throughout the year that will allow us to do better this year.”

Scott Free Racing's 30-foot Extreme powerboat getting a fresh coat of paint before the 2017 season

Boats are required to weigh 4750 pounds after each race. So competitors have to add weight to their boats. Each team is allowed to distribute the weight any way they want. So teams test set-ups. Stephen pointed out that he and his dad learned a lot about weight distribution, the boat’s performance and other things in each race. All the data generated from each race is entered into a logbook that Stephen and his dad refer to when preparing for that race the next year.

“We did some playing around with the weights,” Stephen continued. “Obviously, things vary from race to race. It all depends on water conditions. We tried a lot of new things like placing weights in different areas of the boat and it really worked out well, especially in rougher conditions. It allowed the boat to fly a lot more level. We moved the weight around mainly in the bow area.

“The tests that we did last year allowed us to learn where to run the weights and where we don’t need to run them for certain conditions.

“We still have a little bit of work to do on our rough water set up, but as far as flat and intermediate water is concerned, we pretty much know now where we need to run the weights,” Stephen said.

Stephen also pointed out that they introduced a new engine package.

2017 marks the sixth year that K&N has sponsored Scott Free Racing

“Innovation Marine in Sarasota, Florida, built a new engine for us,” he said. “They have built all of our engines. The new engine replaced our Vortec HP3, which we have been running for about five seasons. The old motor was a bit outdated as far as the specs of the sanctioning organization was concerned. The new motor includes all the upgrades the rulebook allows. We gained a lot more horsepower and it helps the boat’s performance.”

The new engine generates about 600 horsepower while the old Vortec engine offered between 550 and 570 horsepower.

The team now has three engines –- the new one, the Vortec, and a Mercury 525 engine. The new engine is used in Super Boat International sanctioned races, the Mercury 525 is used in Offshore Powerboat Association sanctioned contests, and the Vortec engine serves as a backup.

Scott Free Racing won podium positions in two of the premier races in 2016. They won the Sarasota Power Boat Grand Prix and finished second in the Super Boat International World Championship in Key West, Florida.

The 2017 season for Scott Free Racing starts in May. Their schedule for this season includes:

• May 21, 2017 – Space Coast Grand Prix, Cocoa Beach, Florida

• June 3, 2017 – The Lake Race, the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri

• July 2, 2017 – The Sarasota Power Boat Grand Prix, Sarasota, Florida

• July 23, 2017 – Mentor Grand Prix, Mentor, Ohio

• August 6, 2017 – Great Lakes Grand Prix, Michigan City, Indiana

• October 1, 2017 – The National Championships, Clearwater, Florida

• November 12, 2017 – The Super Boat International World Championships, Key West, Florida

• November 19, 2017 – The Offshore Powerboat Association World Championships, Englewood Beach, Florida

The K&N 66-1480 Oval Air Filter Assembly.

The new engine powering the Scott Free boat includes a K&N 66-1480 Oval Air Filter Assembly.

K&N Engineering continues to be a major sponsor of Scott Free Racing.

“In 2017, K&N will be providing us with product. We use K&N air filters. We change the filters out about two to three times per season. We’ve run K&N Filters since the beginning and we’ve never had any issues. Our engine builder puts K&N in all of their engines and they have government contracts and they trust K&N filters for all of their engines,” said Stephen.

2017 marks the sixth year K&N has sponsored the team.

In previous years Scott Free Racing has used the K&N RU-2800 universal clamp-on air filter. However, with the new engine they now use the K&N 66-1480 oval air filter assembly.