Keeping the champ afloat

Collisions are — fortunately — rare between the boats that travel at speeds above 130 mph. For Holmberg, in only his second race working with the Graham Trucking team, the response was both intense and impressive. Holmberg, 46, helped make repairs to a damaged wing. Three others were on deck replacing a gear box, and four people worked to fix the gashed sponson.

“We were like a championship basketball team,” Holmberg said. “Everyone focused on his job and let the others handle theirs. It was probably the best example of teamwork I’ve ever been a part of.”

The payoff came in the next three-lap heat, with the Graham Trucking boat getting to the finish line first.

And the crowning moment came three days later, when Shane piloted the No. 5 boat to victory in the championship heat of unlimited hydroplane racing’s world championship event. On choppy water that almost canceled the final race, Shane won with an average speed of more than 114 mph for the five laps around the two-mile oval.

“I got to do a job that as a fan I would always look at and say ‘I would love to do that job someday’,” Holmberg said.

The intensity of working at a big-time championship race was new to Holmberg, but he has been a fan and a student of the sport since he was 12 years old and first saw the Miss Budweiser hydroplane during an exhibition event in Vancouver.

Since 1999, Holmberg’s hobby has been racing 1/10 scale remote-controlled hydroplanes. Last summer he won the points championship for a league of remote-control racing enthusiasts in Oregon and Washington.

Having contributed to a victory at the premier event on the Air National Guard H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Series, Holmberg said Graham Trucking hydroplane owner Ted Porter, a friend, has invited him to be part of the crew at future races. Holmberg said he doesn’t yet know how many of the seven remaining events on the 2013 schedule he will attend.

It helps that three of the races — during July and August — are held in Seattle, Kennewick and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Each of those will be critical to the season points championship. But, even for someone for whom hydroplane racing has been a lifelong passion, it will be hard to top the thrill of traveling halfway around the world to help a high-powered team win the H1 series’ marquee event.