THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2011 - I often wondered why I feel so exhausted after what one would call a relatively short race.  Tunnel boats in America run 20-30 lap final events, usually on courses somewhere between .75 to 1.25 miles in length.  This amounts to only about a 10th of the distance that a NASCAR driver pilots his or her craft during a Nationwide or Sprint Cup event, but the tunnel boat drivers clearly are much more winded at the conclusion.

A neat video of a boy getting a ride in a tunnel boat recently has surfaced on YouTube and it lets you clearly see the G-Forces at work inside the cockpit of a tunnel boat.  The estimate is 3 to 5 Gs in the turns which is about twice that of a NASCAR or Indy Car race driver and about similar to a pilot of a Air Force F-16 fighter jet.  Tunnel boat racing is rumored to be one of the most severe G-Force exhibiting sports in existence.  I don't doubt it one bit.  I have tried unsuccessfully many times to hold a SCUBA regulator in my mouth during the course of the race, but the force pulls it from my teeth no matter how hard I bite.  That is pretty amazing considering that anyone who has seem me eat knows my bite is pretty strong.  When you drive these boats you can really feel your mouth and eyes being pulled by gravity.  This video is a good look into what that feels like and no matter what you do you can't fight it.  Just roll with it and get your bearings back after the turn is over.

Anyway, check out the attached video and see the kid's facial expressions as he makes turn after turn.  It is kind of funny as you can see he is playing along with the effects of gravity, but there is no doubt his mouth is doing some serious pulling in the turns.  Enjoy, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs8MfL64XbA&feature=feedu.

Starting to rig the Miller F-2 boat tonight in hopes of getting it on the water for a test run during The Great Miami River Days Festival in Hamilton, Ohio on September 9-11.  We'll keep you posted over the next few weeks as our racing season begins to wind down and our off-season charity work and appearances start up for the fall months.  Swinefest and Chilifest are the first two events for September.  More about those in a future blog.  Stay tuned.

Dana Tomes