BARRY McCOWN, is owner and driver of the sensational award winning
BANZAI, a 19 foot Hallett wooden hull drag hydro, with a
custom Chrysler engine by the highly respected Keith Black.
With this winning combination they won and held the quarter mile blown fuel
record in 1963 at an unprecedented 161.87 mph. Among his other racing
accomplishments, he set blown gas speed records in 1965 and 1966 and a World
Water Skiing record in 1966 pulling waterski champion Butch Peterson at 117
mph in Long Beach's Marine Stadium.
After 11 years of racing the original BANZAI all
over the country, in the 1970's Barry built a new 24 foot Spectra
BANZAI, also powered by Keith Black built twin
Chev's. They raced successfully in off-shore powerboat competitions, holding
two world records for flying kilos and maintaining a 92 percent win average in
all the offshore races in which they competed. Barry's interest in boat racing
continues today and he currently resides in Oceanside, California.
