Look back on Howard Arneson's accomplishments,
and it's almost impossible to believe that one man has lived so large. Recipient of more than 45 patents (his best-known is the Pool Sweep), Arneson revolutionized offshore powerboating with the development of the Arneson Surface Drive, which has been produced under several licenses. His own boats have won two Open Offshore World championships, and on one fateful day in 1983, Arneson drives powered the World Champions in Open, Sport and Modified classes. Arneson, who started out racing 225 Hydros, owned a series of high-powered offshore sport boats before single-handedly exploiting the potential of turbine power in the plea sure-boat arena. Arneson has become the undisputed "King of the Turbine," having built 16 of them in the past 12 years all still running strong. At age 68, Arneson climbed into the open cockpit of his 32-foot Skater, powered by a T-58 gas turbine, and shattered the elapsed time record between New Orleans and St. Louis by an incredible 7.5 hours. Ten years ago, Arneson drove the thousand miles in 12 hours, 40 minutes by himself, nonstop, much of it in darkness-and became the 16th new record-holder in more than 1,100 attempts. The feat only reinforced Arneson's contention that the turbine is the ultimate power for a boat, and his installations have become progressively wilder. He's built a series of six for himself; his ride-de-jour is a spectacular 46-foot Skater powered by a 4,500-hp Lycoming turbine. It carries enough fuel (1,000 gallons) to travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and cruises comfortably and reliably at between 120 and 140 miles an hour. We tracked Arneson down with the news of his induction only moments after he'd taken a 100-plus mph ride around the San Francisco Bay, where he's become a local legend. "The greatest part of all of this is how people respond, and how they've treated me through the years," said Arneson

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