For the Reporter
GoFastTurnLeft Racing owners Greg and Brian O’Farrell have announced plans to campaign a second unlimited hydroplane at the Albert Lee Cup at Seafair on Lake Washington Aug 2-4.
In addition to the U-21 Albert Lee Appliance, driven by Brian Perkins, the team will enter the 48 Snoqualmie Casino driven by rookie Jamie Nilsen (inset photo).
GFTL’s U-48 hull sports a bright new blue and green livery and sponsorship from the Snoqualmie Casino, east of Seattle. It was the first boat owned by the team, purchased from Leland Unlimited and campaigned as the U-48 Lakeridge Paving in 2007.
Nilsen, a 27-year-old native of Federal Way, is a crew member on the GFTL team and has been racing boats for more than 15 years. Primarily an outboard driver, Nilsen has won two outboard national championships and set eight competition world records. He was inducted into the APBA Hall of Champions in 2000 and again in 2002.
An outstanding college baseball player, Nilsen gave up pursuit of a professional career in baseball to devote his energy to boat racing. As a member of the Schumacher racing team in 2010, he successfully completed 11 laps testing in Tri-Cities and Seattle with a best lap over 148 mph.
Nilsen also has inboard experience in the 1- and 5-liter classes in the Pacific Northwest over the past two seasons. He is expected to go through the H1 Unlimited driver’s qualification process in one of the team’s boats at the 2013 Lamb-Weston Columbia Cup in the Tri-Cities the week before the Seattle race. That process requires 15 laps on the course with 10 of the laps over 130 mph.
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