A week ago, I spent a couple of days in and around Charleston, S.C. I was flown up there by a racer to set up and test his new Grand Prix F1 boat (same builder as my boat). Overall, the testing went well—we got the boat balanced nicely and the new driver got some much needed seat time.

The highlight of the trip was spending some time with Ben Robertson. We were working and testing out of his facility in Jacksonboro, S.C., which is about 25 miles outside Charleston.

Benny has done it all in the world of boat racing. He has raced, owned and built F1 powerboats. He also had one of the largest sponsors our sport has seen in IBM. He owns BAR Marine Group—where they work on and sell a lot of Fountain Powerboats—while still finding time to win offshore races and set records in Fountain V-bottoms.

It was great talking about old times and listening to stories. He has a great facility with a full dyno room, machine shop and the river about 350 yards away. It is always great to see people that I watched and tried to learn from as I was coming up.

Our team is in the midst of getting prepared for the Bay City River Roar at the end of the month in Michigan. It’s my personal Super Bowl in boat racing—more on that in a couple weeks.