Local drag boat team scores Most Improved award
Courtesy photo<br> In February the Moses Lake-based Laffin' Gas Flat Drag Boat Racing team celebrated its Most Improved Award for the Columbia Drag Boat Association. Members of the team includes bottom row, (l-r) Cary Eisenman, Dave Hopkins, Shawn Needham, Mark Hopkins, and Keith Carlile. Not pictured is Gary Vincent. John Sheppard (back row) is a friend of the team and all of the men enjoyed an evening of celebrating over a decade of hard work.
MOSES LAKE — After over a decade of trying to find the right combination of crew and boat, Laffin’ Gas Flat finally got it right.
The team of driver, Shawn Needham, crew chief Mark Hopkins, and crew Dave Hopkins, Gary Vincent, Keith Carlile, and Cary Eisenman, the Moses Lake-based team earned the Most Improved Race Team Travelling Trophy by the Columbia Drag Boat Association at their awards banquet on Feb. 20.
The team earned the recognition for their 7.81 seconds, at 131 miles-per-hour, quarter-mile time, in the Pro Eliminator Racing Class, where all boats can run a quarter-mile in eight seconds.
“Now that we have the boat figured out and got it running good we are hoping to win a championship this year,” Needham said. “We’d like to win the overall championship for the Pro Eliminator Class.”
Pro Eliminator is associated with the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series.
Needham, 39, and his wife Janet are owners of the boat, which is built for straight forward, side-by-side, quarter-mile racing.
Despite the fact that Needham is the driver of the boat, he is quick to defer much of the team’s success to those behind the scenes.
“Mark Hopkins builds the motor, makes sure the boat is safe between runs, and is the one to get it to go first,” Needham said. “He’s the brains and I just drive. without him I wouldn’t have a fast boat. Also my crew — Gary, Keith, Cary, and Dave — also do some great work. It is a total team effort.”
Vincent is the team’s mechanic/auto technician, Carlile is the nitrus oxide specialist, and Eisenman and Dave Hopkins are all-purpose crew members.
So now 15 years of racing has led to this moment but Laffin’ Gas Flat is far from done with aiming for more prizes.
“It’s so much fun and we have a good time,” Needham said. “My crew and crew chief have worked so hard and to win this it makes you realize what we’ve done is working. Now we would like to win our first championship.”
Next up would be to compete in the Lucas Oil Northwest Pro Eliminator Class championships.