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Michael
A.
Gardecki |
2004 |
2006 |
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Marital Status: |
Separated |
| Children: |
Kaitlyn |
| Pets: |
2 Labs |
| Occupation: |
 |
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Hobbies: |
Mike plays for a football team that plays
at BodyZone on Saturday nights.
He also is very involved in "Off-Shore"
racing. So, how did a land-locked Berks County guy get hooked up
in racing speed boats? He owns a dealership in Miami, which is
where met the owner of the boat. The boat stays at Mike's
dealership in Miami unless they need to work on it, in which case it
goes back to the team headquarters in Kansas City, of all places.
Per Mike 3/03/05, "I started attending the
races about 4 years ago, became a team member 3 years ago and back up
driver last year. It takes two people to drive the boat.
Bryan Haupt, who also owns the boat, handles throttles, trimming the
boat depending on conditions, going into a turn or out of a turn,
depending on if another boat is beside you, in front, or catching you...
blah blah blah. That's the toughest job. He does all that, gets a
feel for what I'm doing, watches the up coming waves or anything on the
course, all the gauges and most importantly the tach and speed.
Gotta have speed! I just steer!"
"This year (2005) they've added four races
so I'll be in the drivers seat at least that many times this year. We
ended up third in the World last year in our division. We're very happy
with that as we got into our new boat about mid-season and there is a
ton of trial and error to get top speeds and keeping the front of the
boat as level as possible. It's kind of tough as you want as much of the
actual boat out of the water for speed but going into he turns you want
as much in the water for control BUT have to get the speed back quickly
coming out. This past year with the new boat we spent just about every
hour of sunlight testing different things at the races before race
Sunday. The boats get craned in and out of the water so you have to wait
for other boats that are doing the same, it gets frustrating. But when
the sun goes down and you crack open a beer life gets better quickly.
How can it not being in the SE in the spring/summer/fall??"
Mike is the guy all the way to the left in the left-hand
picture below. You can find more pictures an info
here:
http://www.racingfrenzy.com/
Per Mike, 9/27/05, "Racing is still going
on however, the boat we built last year is for sale and we�re
building a bigger, faster boat. You know, always got to go bigger!
The old 'new' boat topped out at 117mph, the new one will top out at
about 170mph. Unfortunately I will not be driving in this one the
first year out, just testing and getting time behind the wheel of
that bad boy. We�re going from 600 hp to 1300 hp, from 30� to 40�,
little too much of a change for a 'punk' like me."
Per Mike, 7/24/06, here's the new boat!
(That's Mike, 2nd from the right.)
CLICK HERE for a cool PourItOn
wallpaper for your computer background or screensaver. You can
check out there website at
www.PourItOn.com.
 |
Per Mike, 2/05/07, Mike will be behind the
driver's seat for the entire 2007 season! "We won the national
championship along with the worlds for the �06 season so I have some
huge expectations to maintain as we will be the team the others are
gunning for. The first race starts in April (Miami) however I
will be making trips south pretty much every other weekend to get
some 'wheel' time. Not a bad thing to have to do this time of year.
I have not driven this boat, much more powerful then the boat we had
when I was the back-up driver." |
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| Chris Mal Notes: |
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Mike graduated from high school after
11th grade, along with Jill Moyer and Gabi Savitz, and joined the Army.
I was at Valentino's in Exeter
around 1995 waiting for them to finish my pizza which I was getting to
take out. On the counter was a Real Estate flyer - the Agency I don't
remember - but on the back was a big picture of Mike Gardecki with the
caption that read something like, "If you want fair and honest
prices, come talk to Mike Gardecki!"
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Number of Berks County
homes
and trucks Mike has sold since high school:
  
(Note that Mike claims he has
sold MANY more than this!) |
