Miami Herald

June 26, 1983

THIS REAGAN FACES A FIGHT

ERIC SHARP- Herald Boating Writer

The way it originally was planned, Michael Reagan's assault on the Miami-New York speedboat record was to have been a Roman triumph that raised funds for both the Statue of Liberty and Reagan's public image as a high-seas daredevil.

He hadn't planned on sharing the glory with the man who holds the record. He hadn't considered the possibility that he would be crossing the finish line behind Miami Beach's Bob Magoon.

At first, Reagan clearly wasn't pleased to hear that Magoon had decided to make a race of the Miami-New York run, which is scheduled for a July 3 departure from Miami and a July 4 arrival in New York Harbor. Reagan said he thought such a race would turn attention away from the real purpose of the run: refurbishing the Statue of Liberty.

But now the Reagan camp says it accepts Magoon's challenge, figuring that turning a record challenge into a race should bring even more public attention to the sorry plight of one of America's most revered national symbols.

Reagan would like to start his run about 11 p.m. July 3. That would put him in New York City on the afternoon of July 4, assuming he completes the run in record time. But boat racing is a sport dominated by one factor that not even the promise of network television coverage can alter -- the weather -- so Reagan may depart as early as Thursday if seas appear to be more favorable then.

Magoon was a bit puzzled by Reagan's initial reaction to his challenge. Magoon says he talked with Reagan as early as 10 months ago about the possibility of making a two-boat run up the East Coast.

"My attitude was, let's have 10 guys take part in it," Magoon says. "The more the better. I just like competition."

Magoon set the record nine years ago, covering 1,257 miles in 22 hours 41 minutes and 15 seconds to win the Charles F. Chapman Trophy awarded by Motor Boating and Sailing Magazine. He was running an hour ahead of that pace last summer when mechanical failure ended a second record attempt near the halfway point off Beaufort, S.C.

Magoon, 47, a five-time national offshore powerboat champion, now finds himself playing the heavy in a new scenario being written by the Reagan camp.

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Centennial Foundation, the group appointed by President Reagan to carry out the federal effort to refurbish the statue, has given Magoon permission to make the run with its logo emblazoned on the side of his boat. The foundation has not given such permission to Reagan, who is making his run under the auspices of the New York State Statue of Liberty Commission.

J. Paul Bergmoser, director of the commission, says his organization welcomes the attention that Reagan has drawn but declined to sponsor his run because of the commercial fund- raising aspect. Bergmoser is hoping to raise $230 million to refurbish the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, now a national monument, in time for the statue's 100th birthday in 1986.

Michael Orlando, a professional fund-raiser who set up the Reagan run for the New York State group, declined to reveal how much of the money raised would go to the statue commission, but did say that his percentage was "far, far less than the law allows." Orlando also said that Reagan agreed to the race only to raise funds for the statue project and will not receive any of the money raised.

"Mike Reagan has major sponsors who pay for his expenses and provide him with personal remuneration," Orlando says. "He also has sponsorship arrangements with Wellcraft, which provides the boat, and OMC-Evinrude, which supplies the engines."

Reagan's backers, masters at turning what would have been a two-day wonder into a two-week media event, are offering not-so- subtle suggestions that the run will pit their David against Magoon's Goliath, the plucky little underdog against the neighborhood bully.

On the face of it, they have a case. Reagan and his two crewmen will make the run in a 38-foot, 12,000-pound Wellcraft Scarab powered by three Evinrude outboard engines. The boat will have to make two or three fuel stops before reaching New York.

Magoon and his four crewmen will be aboard a 45-foot, 36,000-pound boat with two huge diesel engines that can cover the distance non-stop. The boat was custom-built by Cigarette, and the engines were prepared at the shop of auto racing's Roger Penske.

"My boat was built for 200-mile sprints; his was built for a 300-mile ocean crossing," Reagan, 38, said in a telephone interview. "It's apples against oranges."

But appearances can be deceiving. Reagan's Scarab was carefully built and is just as carefully maintained by Wellcraft. And your local Evinrude dealer can't sell you engines like Reagan has; knowledgeable observers figure that they turn out at least 400 horsepower each.

In addition to technical support from Wellcraft and OMC Corp., Reagan has two major sponsors, Budweiser and 7-Eleven, who will provide full financial support for the run and pay him a salary.

Reagan also will have a speed advantage. Reagan's Budweiser Light boat will top out at about 82 miles per hour with a light load and 72 m.p.h. loaded. That would give him a nominal advantage of about 10 m.p.h. at the start of the race.

"It's David vs. Goliath, all right, but I'm little David," Magoon says. "I have some sponsors, but they only cover part of the costs. The rest comes out of my pocket. And I don't have the technical support that Reagan gets from Wellcraft and OMC. If I fly a mechanic down here to work on the engines, I have to pay for it. It doesn't cost him a dime."

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the people of the United States in 1886, so it's not surprising that two of Magoon's sponsors are French: the Parker Meridien Hotel in New York City (owned by Air France) and Pommery champagne. His third major sponsor, Apache Boats, plans to produce a pleasure-boat version of his craft, a 50-foot, twin-diesel "Bob Magoon Special" for the well-heeled.

Reagan hasn't decided where to refuel. Each stop costs 45 minutes, so the number will be kept to the minimum. But if he tries to stretch the distance between stops and runs into unexpectedly high seas, his fuel consumption could rise so high that he would run out of gas miles offshore.

"When this was just a fund-raising effort, the important thing was to get the boat to New York, even if that meant slowing down and missing the record," Reagan says. "Now that Bob is in it, that changes everything. Now, you take chances, because I'm certainly not going to let him beat me if I can help it."

Reagan will be guest of honor at a black-tie fund-raising dinner Monday night at the Fontainebleau Hilton. Tickets, at $300 to $1,000 per couple, can be purchased through the Orange Bowl Committee at 642-1515.