24 May 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Hoosier Hovercraft Championship takes place Saturday and Sunday, April 27-28, in Terre Haute, Indiana. The event serves as Terre Haute's trial run for the upcoming World Hovercraft Week, September 15-22, 2002.

On Saturday, April 27, land and water racing takes place at the World Hovercraft Championship race site, located at 500 South Tabor Town Road, just north of the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. Practice begins at 11:00 a.m. and racing begins at noon. Various levels of competition are scheduled, one to include hovercraft constructed by high schools and universities. Participants include hovercraft racers from the Midwest, as well as from throughout the United States and Canada.

Three featured participants are the team captains and judge from the popular Emmy-nominated Junkyard Wars hovercraft episode, televised on The Learning Channel. The program featured Chris Fitzgerald, President of Terre Haute-based Neoteric Hovercraft, Inc., as the judge of the competition. Due to its popularity, the video of this episode is now available on www.Amazon.com.

Local participants include Terre Haute natives Marquis Songer, Eric Whitesell, and Jason Kuehn. Kuehn was the 2001 Entry Level Class National Champion. The event Chairman, Nick Jokay, is a 1986 graduate of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute.

An Awards Banquet will be held Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center, 599 South Tabor Town Road. The keynote address by Junkyard Wars Champion, Bob Windt, will explain the evolution of homebuilt hovercraft in America. As registered by Guinness World Records, Windt holds the current Hovercraft World Speed Record, achieved in 1995 on the Rio Douro River in Peso da Regua, Portugal.

Hovercraft cruising will take place on Sunday at Fairbanks Park. Cruisers will depart from the boat launch at 10:00 a.m. and hover on the Wabash River to Clinton and beyond.

All Hoosier Hovercraft Championship events are free and open to the public.