Simon stays at full speed despite close call.

It seems Dick Simon will just never slow down, having retired as an Indy-car driver after the 1988 season, the IRL team owner decided to take up offshore powerboat racing - with potentially disastrous consequences.

Since retiring from racing, Simon has been part of the Indy Racing League since its inaugural season in 1996. His driver, Frenchman Stephan Gregoire (see pic), finished fourteenth in the final 2000 Indy Racing Northern Light Series points standings.

But at age 67, Simon still craves active competition. In his lifetime, he has been a ski jumping champion twice and the first alternate for the 1960 U.S. Winter Olympic ski team, 1966 Utah parachute champion and drove supermodifieds and sports cars before driving in 17 Indianapolis 500 races. He also earned a multi-engine pilot's license and a senior scuba diver's license.

So, since Simon owns a marina at Dana Point, California, he decided last summer to take up offshore powerboat racing. He bought a 38-foot Cigarette boat, which cost $300,000 - and skips across the water at 90 mph.

Consequently, in late November, two months past his sixty-seventh birthday, he nearly drowned in a crash during championship races off St. Petersburg, Florida, on Tampa Bay.

Today, he laughs about it and said, "Oh, hell yes," when asked if he is going to continue racing the high-powered boats. "My wife (Dianne) would like me to stop. I'll think about it. I may do it with a closed cockpit."

In powerboating, the driver and throttle man stand side by side in what are called bolsters located in front of the engine compartment. The throttle man makes the boat go fast and keeps the front end from elevating too high or dipping too low, while it is the driver's duty to maintain the boat on course.

Simon's only previous experience at the helm of a powerboat came in the late 1980s when he traded an Indy-car ride with Italian world champion boat racer Fulvio Ballabio for a chance to steer his 50-foot Catamaran at speed in the Atlantic Ocean offshore from Miami.

Simon qualified for the American Power Boat Association Off-Shore Championships by racing three times earlier in the year in events off the California coast. He finished eighth in the Factory II-West category standings.

At St. Petersburg, Simon finished seventh in a preliminary race to the championship event. They were running strong in the main event when suddenly the drive mechanism broke.

"The boat instantly turned sideways, an abrupt right-hand turn," Simon said. "The boat hooked into the water, the bow shot up, the engine cover flew off and the boat flipped four times."

Simon's right leg became lodged between the bolster and the steering wheel as the boat flipped upside down. The impact tossed him face down into the engine compartment as the boat began to sink. With the boat settling (it hit bottom at 20 feet), Simon's life jacket tried to shove him upward against the hull.

A rescue helicopter dropped a diver. But just at that time, Simon managed to roll over and, using his feet, push himself away. The life jacket sent him to the surface.

"From my experience (with scuba diving), I didn't panic," Simon said, despite suffering two cracked ribs and a bruised right knee.

"The only (time) I missed from work was the two hours at the doctor," Simon added proudly.

The boat was sent back to the factory, where it was declared a total loss and now is up for auction. Fortunately, Simon had purchased insurance.

Simon also had a much more rewarding outcome in another boating competition in 2000. He and Gregoire participated in the fifty-second annual Long Beach-to-Catalina Island-and-back ski race in mid-August and set a new time record averaging faster than 60 mph over and back.

Gregoire was the driver in this one, with Simon handling the throttle man duties. The object is to tow a water skier to Catalina Island and then tow his companion, who rides along as an observer, back to Long Beach. It's the biggest water ski race in the world and had more than 140 participants.

Simon said he is anticipating an improved Indy Racing season in 2001. The team remains intact and sponsors Mexmil and Tokheim, among others, have signed up for another year.

Jack Roush will prepare the engines, and the team will purchase at least one new G Force chassis and an update kit. Testing at Las Vegas and the two open sessions at Phoenix and Miami-Homestead are scheduled.

"I'm looking forward toward Stephan's best season ever," Simon said. "I'm very proud to be working with not only a good driver but a good person."

Dick Simon has endured a lifetime of hair-raising escapes. His Indy Racing car carries No. 7 - perhaps it should be 007.