Since the San Diego Bayfair organization lost Budweiser as a major sponsor several years ago, its board of governors has had to scramble each year to bring back the unlimited hydroplanes. The popular racing attraction was saved in the final hours last year when the Air National Guard came to the rescue to back the event.\u00a0Now, not only has the Air National Guard returned, but the drag boats have legitimate support from Lucas Oil. Obviously, Bayfair\u2019s board of governors can express a sigh of relief. This is the 46th year of Bayfair on Mission Bay. Thunderboats Inc. is a nonprofit organization that promotes powerboat racing in San Diego and tourism in the beach area. Profits from the three-day festival go to the Wounded Warrior Fund. “The Unlimited hydroplanes and the drag boats are truly fan favorites,” said Jeff Thomas, chairman of San Diego Bayfair\u2019s board of directors. “This is the only race site in the country where you can experience both tours on the same body of water in the same weekend. If you love jet engines or the roar of the pistons and the sheer speed of seeing the fastest racecraft with no wheels, Bayfair is the place to be this weekend. “But it\u2019s more than just powerboat racing,” he said. “There\u2019s something for everyone: great vendors, food, music and the shores of beautiful Mission Bay, combined with the best weather of the year.”\u00a0 Tickets are $25 for a single-day pass or $45 for a three-day superpass. Children under age 12, active-duty military personnel and reservists with valid ID are admitted free. The gates open at 7 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. each day. Racing notes<\/b> \u2022 NBC Sports\u2019 lead motorsports announcer Bill Weber and\u00a0former H1 Unlimited driver Mike Allen will serve as the broadcast team for the Air National Guard Hydroplane Series television shows that will appear on the Versus\u00a0Network this fall.\u00a0 The shows begin airing Oct. 9.\u00a0 Noteworthy<\/b> \u2022 Probably the most interesting Grand Prix West driver is Dean Rojas, a one-time San Diego State University student who is a professional angler. He won $1.5 million on the fishing tour. \u2022 Greg Hopp will have double duty in Grand Prix and Unlimited driving. \u2022 Prix pilot Scott Pierce drove the Miss Budweiser to victory here 20 years ago. \u2022 The most successful crew chief among the hydro clan is Mike Hanson, who has been at the working helm of Oh Boy! Oberto for three national titles. \u2022 San Diego is the final regular-season stop for the Air National Guard Hydroplane Series before wrapping up its season in Doha, Qatar in November.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Since the San Diego Bayfair organization lost Budweiser as a major sponsor several years ago, its board of governors has had to scramble each year to bring back the unlimited hydroplanes. The popular racing attraction was saved in the final hours last year when the Air National Guard came to the rescue to back the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"SD Bayfair officials tout three-day event as heaven for hydroplane fans","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11593,11553],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-no-images","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}