Atomic
was built in 1958 and was originally named "Ol Stoney"
and was raced by Ken Mepham of the Adelaide Speedboat
Club. Originally powered by a Y-block Ford, Ken eventually
fitted a turbo-charged 289 Ford Windsor. In this form,
her claim to fame was putting on an amazing duel against
Black Knight (now in QLD under the name of Blue Max) in
a major championship final. But Ol Stoney ended up coming
second after the full race battle.
Ken
Mepham eventually retired from racing and sold the boat
to another Adelaide Speedboat Club member, less engine.The
the new owner fitted the boat with a 253 Holden V8 to
run in the 4.2 litre class. She was eventually retired
from racing in general and parked in a suburban back yard
in Port Adelaide.
In
early 1999 Dave Pagano purchased the boat and shipped
her to Sydney to undergo a restoration to bring back to
her former glory. Dave renamed the boat Atomic and kept
the 253 V8 in the boat. A new bright blue and yellow colour
scheme with scallops and some other graphics to keep in
the Atomic /fighter plane theme. After some initial trouble
in getting the boat to perform, he found a few small issues
in the hardware needed fixing.
Atomic
has since raced the last 3 seasons with mixed success.
During some of these races, the boat has on occasion suffered
some severe damage, including the infamous sinking episode
at the 2001 Taree Easter Regatta. Despite the setbacks,
Atomic is just like a good dog, she just keeps coming
back. This is mostly due to Dave's enthusiasm and commitment
in getting his boats on the water and putting on a show
for the crowd.
The
boat now runs a 5 litre V8 Holden engine and is proving
more reliable with every race meeting. Dave hasn't had
the boat in the radar beams, but thinks the boat is getting
into the high 90's and possibly bordering on big 100mph.
