Grand Prix celebrates 30 years of fundraising

A boat race that now attracts thousands of spectators and has raised $14 million to build facilities for disabled children started from humble beginnings.

The late Gene Whipp began the initial hunt in 1984 to gather people to organize a race. He was a boat racer who moved to Sarasota from Ohio. After asking people around town, he was referred to John Stafford, Hollis Tucker, Ron Foxworthy and Cal Erb. The four men had already been organizing field trips for disabled children and had been interested in helping bring in a facility to provide therapy, especially for pre-school aged children. They thought the boat race would be a good fundraiser for the facility.

Tucker was the catalyst. He put out the word to his friends and colleagues and asked them to come to lunch with him at the House Of Chong (now closed) and bring $50. About 80 people showed up, all with the requested money.

“You don’t question Hollis. It’s always for a good thing,” Erb said.

Tucker picked up the lunch bill, and the $4,000 from everyone’s contribution was the beginning of the fund for the charity boat race.

“Our initial objective was to create a fundraiser to provide treatment facilities for physically challenged children and to avoid spending money toward administrative overhead,” Stafford said. “Through the efforts of more than 1,000 volunteers each year, we were successful with achieving our objective.”

This year, Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix is celebrating its 30-year anniversary of raising money to build facilities for physically disabled children.

The nine-day festival raised more than $80,000 last year for Suncoast Charities for Children, a Sarasota organization.

In 30 years, the charity has constructed $14 million worth of facilities for disabled children, Lucy Nicandri, the festival director, said.

The money from the event goes to the construction of facilities such as the Florida Center. The Suncoast Foundation for Handicapped Children Inc., a charity that the same founders run and the sister to Suncoast Charities for Children, owns the buildings. The foundation charges its tenants just $1 a year for rent.

The first race only took eight weeks to organize, Erb said; now the Grand Prix takes all year. The festival now includes a golf tournament, fishing contest, motorcycle ride and bikini contest, along with other events. In the first race, more than 1,000 people volunteered to help and 100 boats entered the competition, Erb said.

“We surrounded ourselves with really good people who made it work,” Erb said.

The first year, Al Copeland, founder of fast-food restaurant Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, won the boat race, Erb said.

Steve Kildahl, a Sarasota native and owner of Central Marine Services of Sarasota, has participated in the Grand Prix every year since its beginning. At 26, he entered the first race because offshore boat racing was a childhood dream of his, and it was the first year he could afford a boat, he said.

He and his son, Stephen, have raced together for eight years and have won both national and world titles, Kildahl said, but the best thing about the Grand Prix race is that it’s benefiting kids through the charity.

Kildahl said the Grand Prix course ran from Venice to St. Petersburg in the beginning, but because of environmental concerns, it has since been shortened from New Pass to Big Pass.

Kildahl and his son, Stephen, will be defending their Super Vee class title from last year’s race with a 30-foot Phantom race boat.

“Everybody wants to beat us, “ Kildahl said. “We’ve got stiff competition this year.”

By the Numbers
$14 million — value of facilities built from raised funds

$80,000 — raised last year for Suncoast Charities for Children after expenses

1985 — year of the first race

150 — volunteers this year

40 — pre-registered race boats for this year

15 — events completed during festival

8 — number of buildings constructed from raised funds

If You Go
Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix Boat races
When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, July 6
Where: Lido Beach
For streaming coverage, visit superboat.com
For a complete listing of Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix events, visit suncoastoffshore.org.