Interview Jeff Stevenson 5 June 2010
PowerboatPro was lucky enough to hook up with Jeff Stevenson of JBS Racing on his way to the Sunny Isles / Bimini Run. We talked with Jeff about how he became involved in racing, his love for boats and the racing game and about the current challenges racing boats in the US.
Racing and love of boats has been an ingredient in the Stevenson household from a very early age for Jeff. Jeff’s father was a collector of antique wooden boats and that sparked an ambition in Jeff to one day race one of the meanest, baddest boats around. And now he does racing the 50’ Turbine Marine powered Mystic of JBS Racing together with Joe Skrocki.
The racing for Jeff came from more humble beginnings though. It started out with Poker Running in Donzi’s, than racing them moving up to SuperCat to meat his current team mate and move up to the Mystic Jeff is currently driving.
As so many drivers have stressed here on PowerboatPro it is the function together as a team in the boat that take racing to the highest level. Jeff tells us he is absolutely comfortable with Joey in the boat next to him and it would be hard to have the same feeling going with another partner. Joey and Jeff are friends in and out of the boat and Jeff feels that is a prerequisite to effectively lay your live in another man’s hands and feel comfortable about that fact and to just be able to focus on the racing.
Having faith in your equipment is of course also important to have the confidence to go at it full throttle in racing. Jeff only has good words to spare about his Mystic and the Turbine Marine power plants. In racing JBS only had minor problems with fuel not getting to the engines in a correct way that made have to go off the throttle. But for the rest of it, the equipment always allowed them to go at it full on! As Jeff puts in:”the boat is a total animal!”.
About the current situation in racing, Jeff is less enthusiastic. With the economic downturn it has become a real challenge to get sponsoring for JBS Racing. The fact that there is not a comprehensive broadcasting schedule for powerboat racing also does not help in getting sponsors. The sponsors obviously would like to have something in return for financing the racing of the team and that return comes in the form of exposure. As long as exposure is hard to get, the sponsors will stay away.
This is one of the reasons JBS Racing is now focusing more on participating in Poker Runs. These events have lots and lots of participants, up to 100 boats or more, and do attract more media attention. Jeff speaks fondly of JBS Racing making their appearance at Thunder of Louisville and on Lake Havasu after that where they took the ‘King of the Dessert’ crown. Jeff says:”When we were doing Thunder over Louisville there were 700.000 spectators on the quays. In all of my racing days I have not seen that many people at a single race. It was just awesome!”.
The other reason to again opt for Poker Runs is that Jeff wants to bring some of the fun back to his boating. Jeff sometimes feels the boat racing has become too much of an industry and money, power and politics often have the upper hand over love and passion for the sport. This often results in last minute cancellations or approving of racing, teams having falling outs over things and even law suits against people from the boat building industry. That sort of takes the fun out of things and it prevents people from focusing on the racing.
But enough of that already. For now Jeff and JBS Racing focus on having fun and participating in Poker Runs. One race Jeff and JBS Racing will be aiming for though is the World Championships in Key West in November. There he would love to go head to head with however will participate and show all who is ‘King of the Conch Republic’.
Apart from racing with JBS, Jeff is a total family man. As Jeff puts it: “JBS Racing took over our lives but I love traveling with my family and play games with them. We all do some four wheeling and skiing and snowboarding are some of our favorite pastimes. Apart from that we also have tons of animals we love taking care of”.
As Jeff grew up in the mountains he still has a big love for the countryside and will choose it over living in a city any day. This still shows in his working live where he does excavating, landscaping and also builds motor cycle tracks. Jeff is an average guy that still likes to get his hands dirty and get a dollar’s pay for a dollar’s work.
Now it is time though for Jeff and the rest of JBS Racing to his the Sunny Isles waters and we from PowerboatPro wish them a lot of fun in doing that.
For more information on JBS Racing please visit the very cool JBS Racing website. Lots of video’s and pictures as well as good info on the team.
Pictures courtesy of JBS Racing
