The 88-year-old Art Oberto is a hydroplane racing legend in Seattle. His sausage and jerky company – Oh Boy! Oberto – has sponsored a boat almost every year since 1975. Yet, until Friday, he had never even taken a boat for a test drive.
Art Oberto has just taken the ride of his life. The 88-year-old is cooling off in the shadow of a canopy in the Stan Sayers Pits on Friday afternoon at the 65th annual Seafair.
“I’ll try to get as old as they got me up to,” Oberto said laughing, referring to the speed of the hydroplane he just raced across Lake Washington.