Paul "Slick" Fontenot, owner of Slick Racing, a Drag Boat Race Team, based in Lake Tahoe, and resident of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, recently won the International Hot Boat Associations's Top Eliminator class World Championship.
The IHBA held its 24th Annual World Finals in Phoenix November 15-18. Slick went into the race No. 1 in the points standings. There was a field of 29 boats in the Top Eliminator Class, which is a 9 second, 1/4 mile bracket, where 17 of the boats qualified between a 9.001 and a 9.09 second 1/4 mile run. Slick, driving his injected alcohol hydro "I'm Back - Hot~n~Bothered" No. 669, qualified ninth with a 9.04 and again, after every race this year, was the fastest boat in the class at 130 miles an hour.
After all the qualifying and racing throughout the weekend, the championship went down to the wire, where Slick remained in the No. 1 points position that he had held for the last four races to win the IHBA World Championship, which has been a goal of his for the past several years.
Slick also held a World Record in a race car at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, from 1991 to 1998 at 254.856 miles per hour, and a Land Speed Record at El Mirage, Calif., from 1993 to 2000 at 223.323 mph.
Slick Racing's sponsors include Percival Construction; Hatch Electric of California; Carson Valley Transmissions; Kona-Hilo Harley Davidson of Hawaii; Hawaii Motorhead Magazine; Big Al's Cycle's & More of Hawaii; Auto Parts Depot; Inn Suites of Arizona; The Lodge at Rolling Hills Casino in California; and Vagabond Inn in California.
The team is now considering stepping up next year to the IHBA Pro Eliminator Class, which is an 8.0 second bracket.