MOTOR RACING / RICH ROBERTS : At 78, Nordskog Is Still Seeking the Fast Lane

SAN DIEGO —  Bob Nordskog has one word for offshore power boat racers who seldom venture offshore: pantywaists.

Nordskog, who is 78 and should know better, says some of his peers are “scared of going out in the ocean and (just concerned with) staying close to their mothers and hospitals.”

Nordskog is a sharp splash of saltwater in the face. He is a longtime resident of Tarzana, a onetime associate of Howard Hughes and a full-time living legend. He has been racing boats of up to 45 feet long at speeds up to 110 m.p.h. for only 27 years, but he got a late start. First he had to help Howard Hughes build the Spruce Goose.

As president of the Pacific Offshore Power Boat Racing Assn., Nordskog will bring a couple of dozen competitors to San Diego today for the “Race for Sea Life,” a two-lap, 132-mile rough-water assault from Mission Bay to Oceanside and back.

The boats will be prepped at the Hyatt Islandia Hotel, and the race will start about a mile off the Mission Bay jetty at 10:30 a.m.

“For 19 of the 27 years, I’ve been head honcho (of POPBRA),” he said. “Whenever I haven’t been, somebody eliminates San Diego (from the schedule). We have good competition here.”

The stated theme of this race is “to enhance awareness and promote boating practices which can help preserve sea life.”

“We’ve never had any problems,” Nordskog said. “We’ve never hit any whales, sea lions or sea otters.”

For that matter, Nordskog added: “We’ve never hit any sailboats.”

That will put the America’s Cup people at ease.

“Sailboat people hate power boat people,” Nordskog conceded. “I don’t hate them at all. I take my hat off to ‘em. It’s a very challenging sport.”

Nordskog has less respect for dilettante power boat racers. He says actor Don Johnson of “Miami Vice,” who took a fling at the sport in some near-shore events, then dropped out, is one.

“I’m never gonna bow out,” Nordskog said. “Where’s Don Johnson now? The other events are after spectators. Don Johnson just wants people to look at him.”

Actor Chuck Norris also has raced, and Nordskog holds him in high regard as “a man’s man.”

” . . . A gutsy guy,” he said. “He has ability. He agreed with me that this was no way to run boat racing, on short courses. POPBRA has been the only truly offshore group. I’ve been racing since offshore racing was really offshore racing.”

Nordskog has done races around Santa Catalina Island, from Long Beach to San Francisco and from Canada to Mexico, among others.

“We go out (looking) for rough water,” he said.

One exception was a race on Lake Mead--his 50th victory--and Nordskog apologized for it.

“That’s the only race we have on sheltered water,” he said. “I did that a few years ago to let everybody unwind at the end of the season and just have a fun weekend.”

Otherwise, Nordskog said: “The fact that I’m 78 doesn’t mean I’ve learned a damn thing. I still go out and take a hell of a lot of punishment.”

At last accounting, winning 50 races--22 more than anyone else--has cost Nordskog a broken ankle, a shattered hip, a broken left arm and elbow, too many broken ribs to count, a ruptured kidney (three times), a ruptured spleen (three times), a punctured lung (four times) and two concussions.

The concussions, he said, “explain why I still race.”

The left elbow caused the most distress.

“I was told I wouldn’t have any range of motion,” Nordskog said. “But I made a deal with myself. I told myself I would not drink another martini until I could put it up here with this hand.”

Nordskog does not want to leave the impression his group is wild and reckless. When it comes to discipline, he’s the Judge Roy Bean of the waves.

“I insist we have an awareness of others,” he said. “We stay clear of sailboats and other boats. We run a controlled type of event. This organization is run by a dictator. If anybody does anything to create a problem, I’m the judge.”

He has suspended two competitors for life--one for cheating with an illegal engine he used for four years, the other for “charging through a fleet of fishing boats.”

Nordskog says that offshore powerboat racing, properly run, has a bright future, and he intends to be part of it.

“I haven’t broken a bone in 10 years,” he said. “I’m the only boat racer in the world that runs the whole boat. I steer it, do the throttles, the trim tabs and I’m the navigator.”

The rest of the crew, apparently, just hangs on, which is a good idea when you’re riding with Nordskog.

Motor Racing Notes

DRAG RACING--The Nostalgia Drag Racing Assn., which features vehicles from 1974 and before, begins its season April 11-12 at Bakersfield Raceway. The race is actually the March meet but was changed in hopes of good weather. . . . Driver Rickie Smith of King, N.C., has been given No. 43 from the NHRA competition department. Why? He asked for it to honor stock car driver Richard Petty, a fellow North Carolinian who is retiring after the season. Petty’s No. 43 cars are the most recognized on the NASCAR circuit.

STOCK CARS--The Coors 100, part of the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest tour, will be raced today at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield. Mike Chase of Bakersfield won two of the four events at the track last year. . . . For what it’s worth, Neil Bonnett of Hueytown, Ala., defended his title in the Evinrude-Daytona 500 fishing tournament on Lake Lloyd in the Daytona International Speedway’s infield. Bonnett, a television commentator, is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver.

SPORTS CARS--More than 250 drivers are expected to race in the California Sports Car Club’s SCCA regional event next Saturday and Sunday at Willow Springs International Raceway. An eight-race program is planned for formula and sports cars. Details: (818) 508-7811.

INDY CARS--Arie Luyendyk, the 1990 winner who will drive in this year’s Indy 500 for Chip Ganassi, will appear in People magazine’s annual issue of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. . . . Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rodger Ward has been selected to become the San Diego Automotive Museum’s third member in the Racing Hall of Fame. He joins five-time world Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio and former national sports car champion and race car designer Carroll Shelby in the Hall of Fame. Ward, who won at Indy in 1959 and 1962, will be honored March 28 at the museum.

MOTORCYCLES--Jeff Ward of San Juan Capistrano, Jeff Matiasevich of Anaheim Hills and Jean-Michele Bayle of Redondo Beach are three of the top competitors in Round 1 of the 500cc World Championship Motorcross series to be held April 4-5 at Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino. . . . Jeff Stanton, won the 22nd Daytona Supercross at Daytona International Speedway. For Stanton, 23, of Sherwood, Mich., a two-time Camel Supercross champion, it was his fourth consecutive victory at Daytona and the 14th of his career.

MISCELLANY--Mazda’s RX-792P Camel GT prototype racer makes its debut today in the 12 Hours of Sebring. Mazda factory drivers Pete Halsmer and Price Cobb will share driving time with veteran English driver James Weaver. . . . Leo Parente of Los Angeles is one of the favorites in the International Motor Sports Assn. Zerex Saab Pro Series “NAPA Challenge,” a 30-minute race today as part of the 12 Hours of Sebring. . . . The eight-race, $500,000 IMSA Porche Carrera Cup series begins May 25 at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. . . . Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, twin sons of the late Rick Nelson and leaders of the rock group, Nelson, will drive in the Toyota pro-celebrity race on April 11 as part of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend.