Forget drinking scotch and smoking foreign cigars. These Inc. 5000 CEOs savor their success with speed and sweat.

Gary Davis, Davis Trucking

Most CEOs don't unwind on the weekend by strapping themselves to the front of a 522- cubic-inch boat motor and dropping the pedal to the metal, but for Gary Davis there is nothing more relaxing.

The regional trucking company owner travels the country with three of his best friends to compete in the International Hot Boat Association's yearly drag boat racing series.

SD Union-Tribune Joins Bayfair As Title Sponsor

SAN DIEGO--Race Marketing Partners and Thunderboats Unlimited Club are proud to announce The San Diego Union Tribune as the Title Sponsor for the 2008 San Diego Bayfair World Series of Power Boat Racing.

"This has been an exciting year for us and to have San Diego come together with great corporate partners is just one more sign of the sports strength, "Sam Cole, Chairman of the American Power Boat Racing Association. "The racing fleet has been the most competitive in the sports' history and to have our race sites develop these partnerships is another step in the growth process of unlimited hydroplane racing.

Ron McLellan went faster than anyone has over a quarter mile in a top fuel hydro dragster.

What's scary is that the Thamesford native said his boat can go even faster.

McLellan turned the trip in Liquid Quiker at the Augusta Southern Nationals drag boat races.

The smell of boat exhaust, oil and gas, and the sound of the water crashing against the docks, and the roar of the jet boats thundering down the Snake River meant it was time for the Pepsi Idaho Regatta.

Friday, during Coast to Coast Carports Pro Stocks first heat, PS-70 driver Ty Newton finished with the fastest recorded time ever in Burley at 44.18 seconds.

“Ty said the reason he goes so fast is because of the HPC coating on the headers,” said sponsor Marlene Faulkner. The addition to the headers was done this year, and the result was clear. On Saturday, Newton, from Phoenix, Ariz., took first in both Coast to Coast Carports Pro Stock heats.

A big winner on Saturday was K-Boat and Super Stock driver Tony Scarlata, 40, of Farifield, Calif. Scarlata, who began his career 18 years ago racing drag boats, ran 10 races this weekend due to competing in two classes.

“All I want to do is sleep,” he said, exhausted after his final race on Saturday. Scarlata took first place in both the Pepsi K-Boat heat and the Smith’s Food and Drug Super Stocks.

The annual Budweiser Nitro National Drag Boat Festival is back Friday through Sunday for its 32nd year.

This year's races include150 boats competing at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam at the end of Sale Lane in 13 classes with speeds up to 260 mph, said Ali Abbassi, president of New Entertainment Concepts, which is promoting the event. And the event could be historic.

"The world record is 264 mph, which was set two years ago at Red Bluff," Abbassi said. "A quarter of a mile in 4 seconds. It's the most intense sensory experience you'll ever have."

Rain or shine, the Nitro Nationals has always been a success, said John Yingling, Red Bluff Chamber of Commerce vice president.

Some 200 participants will rev up their engines next weekend for the 32nd running of the Budweiser Nitro Nationals drag boat festival on Lake Red Bluff.

The Memorial Day weekend event draws thousands to the area each year and begins with Friday's Streets of Fire drag boat show and shine on Main Street downtown. The event will feature a barbecue hosted by the Palomino Room and dancing in the street.

RED BLUFF -- Gates at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam are set to drop Thursday, forming the seasonal lake that is home to a huge jet boat drag race at the end of the month.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is increasing flows down the Sacramento River this week from Lake Shasta to fill Lake Red Bluff, said Larry Ball, operations chief for the bureau's Northern California Area Office.

"It's putting a slug of water that fills Lake Red Bluff and doesn't impact flows downstream," he said.

Starting Wednesday afterNoon, flows from Keswick Dam -- which regulates releases from Shasta Dam -- will be ramped up to 12,250 cubic feet per second from 8,250 cfs, according to a bureau chart. By Friday morning flows will be down to 8,600 cfs.