MADISON, Ind. — "God love us, 74 years strong, we don't quit," Jak McCormick said of this year's Madison Regatta.
From soaked chocks to building docks, the setup crew for the Madison Regatta readied the waterworks for cooling boat engines—but the hydroplanes don't mind when it's wet, and neither does regatta president McCormick.
"A hydroplane is a boat that doesn't know it's a boat," he explained. "It rides on a pad of air at over a hundred miles an hour down the water."
Before the spectacle, Pitboss Harold Snake Perry stages the racing machines along the shore.
"The fun part is being able to be right here on this dock, watching these boats come down through here. I got a front-row seat," Snake Perry said. "It doesn't get much better than right up on it, unless I was in one of them."
Piloting E-323, numbered for his daughter's birthday, is Carl Adams.
"You can drive it with one finger," he said. "For the last 12 years, we've met so many great people out here. And it's a great family sport."
When we asked about the rain, he answered with a question. "What're you gonna do?" the hydroplane racer said. "You're either in it or out of it."
Feeding those families takes more than pitbosses. That's where Pitmaster Jason Kidwell of Rub-B-Que comes in.
"If you can smoke it, I'll do it," Kidwell said with a laugh.
Though he's a simple man, his brisket is anything but.
"So, the wood I actually smoke with is bourbon barrel staves straight out of Bardstown, Kentucky," he said.
While Kidwell's pulling out his special tricks, McCormick's prepared for the same.
"Last year, we actually bounced around thunderstorms and we were able to work with the weather service and get everything in," the regatta organizer said. "This year, we're looking a lot better. The river's not supposed to come up, even with this rain, it's really dry. Everything looks really good."
So don't let the rain be the reason you don't make it out.
And if you haven't had enough of the fireworks this season, you can visit the regatta on Saturday for another show. The event runs all weekend from Friday, July 5, to Sunday, July 7.
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