The Tenth Annual S.C.O.P.E.
Poker Run

Well, the last of the paperwork is completed and now I can reflect on what took place at the 2002 Poker Run...................

I have to start from the beginning and that was with calls to Joann Burns and Doug Parsons (City of Long Beach) who arranged the docks for us. Without these two, the Poker Run does not happen. Next is all the planning for food, fences, trash, restrooms, security, cards, card stuffing, instructions, hotels, parking, permits, band, shirts, more food, cash, radios, cleanup, fireboat, sponsors, prizes and volunteers. I get the shakes just thinking about it.

I want to thank all that helped to put this event on. Ron Songrath for the vision to start SCOPE, 2002 President Lu Lyall who is there at every moment, Jim Dunphy for arranging food and taking care of the problems, Chuck Buhler for maintaining the docks, Jeff Cheng for the instructions and collecting money, Chris and Andrea Lee for all the printing on a short notice, Norton Alderson for the website and pictures, Sean Clancy and Doug Lawrence for their input and assistance.

Pam Burns and Linda Procter stepped up HUGE to assist with card counting, T-shirt sales and registration. Tamee Verdone put together the Newly Wed game and Anthony the side bet of $3,000 added to the excitement. Jeff Burt once again flew out from Chicago to give a hand wherever we needed one. My secretary Angie Shaffer took over the huge job of banking, registration and keeping all the applications in order. To all the card counters and cashiers, thank you. To my wife Karen, it’s over! Thanks for the support!

Obviously without the sponsors, the awards posted and parties would not have happened!!!

A special thanks to Bob and Andrea Teague, Mike Bobbit of Miken Clothing, Mike and Paul Fiore of Outerlimits, Ed Borges of Eddie Marine, Robb Report, Scott Porter of Formula, Dan McNamara of Team Archer, Fred Inman of Imco, and Mike Mehan of Donzi. 

We would also like to thank 1st American Title, Pacific Marine, Brabus of North America, Gentry Marine, Bronson Hill Propellers, Meguires Wax, Mercedes of Long Beach, OffshoreBid.com, OffshoreOnly.com, Orange County Food Services, Paul Pfaff Racing Engines, Solder Joint, Speed Wear, BIG Insurance, Lifeline, Heads-up and Dragon Powerboats for the support.

Thanks to the City of Long Beach, fire department, coast guard, lifeguards, and police. We could not have pulled it off without you.
Dave Rankin, Lu Lyall, Al Burns and Chuck Buehler, thanks for donating your boats to give rides to kids of the JDRF.

And to all the card boats, thank you for once again being there to hand out cards to all the captains and crews. Thanks to Mark White for once again entertaining us with a wedding proposal of all things. That was really neat to witness. To all that donated money to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation WOW!

We raised $30,000 for them with hat sales, 
silent auction and donations!

The “Limited Edition” hats will be proudly worn by:

Ron Songrath
Wayne Lee
Norton Alderson
Michael Bozarth
Dick Hisaw
Hal Moorefield
Karol Renau
Steve Ramelot
Paul LaBahn
Todd Mozden
Dana Woundenberg
Jim McNamara
Chris Tashlin
Dave Rankin
Bob Russell
Al Burns
Jim Dunphy
Race Miner (who bought three!)

Also donating was:

Ken Bowen, Rick Lemmon, Eric Hamann, Don Napolitano,
Todd Heimerl, Stan Leder, John Morally, Ron Tesarski,
Thomas Whitham, Steve Glover, Mike Emch, Michael Bastin,
Art Kaiser, Mike Raphael, Paul Whittier, Walt Binswanger
and Harry Stevenson.

The Wining Card Hands:

Karol Renau -  4 Aces
Todd McDonald - 4 Eights
Tom Buckles - Full House, King High
Todd Mozden - Full House, Queen High
John Martin - Full House, Jack High
Storm Bartling - Full House, Five High
Eric Hamann - Full House, Three High
Eric Hamann - Flush, Ace High 
Bob Nixon - Flush, Jack High 
Joseph Kidushim - Straight, King High


So lets get into the numbers.

168,000 total horsepower
30,000 dollars raised for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
27,000 dollars in cash given away
11,000 dollars of fuel purchased locally
5,260 feet of powerboats
5,000 cards sealed
2,500 feet of docks washed
1,400 meals served 
1,200 T-Shirts printed
900 hands played
820’ fence installed
700 good times had by all
158 boats entered
15 JDRF hats sold at $500 each
2 times Rob fell in the water
1 wedding proposal (and she said YES!)


Boats: (More than 2 entered)
Advantage-6
Apache-3
Baja-7
Cigarette-15
Conquest-3
Donzi-6
Eliminator-6
Formula-17
Fountains-32
Hustler-6
Kachina-3
Laveycraft-5
Magic-3
Outerlimits-5
Scarabs-22
Skater-6
Warlock-5

See you all next year. Be safe and Enjoy Life In Total Excitement.

Wayne Lee
Poker Run Director

SCOPE POKER RUN DRAWS FULL HOUSE 
FOR THREE STRAIGHT YEARS!!!!!!!!!

The Southern California Offshore Powerboat Elite (SCOPE) held its Tenth Annual Poker Run last Friday, Saturday and Sunday (August 23, 24 and 25) in Long Beach California under the shadows of the Queen Mary and the neighboring Shoreline Village. Ten years ago, club Founder Ron Songrath directed the clubs first poker run in Newport Beach and hosted 22 offshore boats at the Cannery Restaurant in Newport Beach. Since that time, SCOPE's annual poker run has continually grown each year and hit an amazing 101 boats in the year 2000! In 2001, 142 performance boats attended the festival. 2002 refused to be outdone as 159 incredible offshore performance machines arrived in the Long Beach Downtown Marina and celebrated during the three day extravaganza.

Vessels from California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Texas were represented as the entrants anxiously awaited Sunday's 110 mile run to see who would get the best poker hand and receive the winning $10,000 hand along with the other $20,000 in cash prizes that were awarded to the top ten players. Southern California provided ideal weather as temperatures were in the mid 80 degree range and the skies were blue and clear throughout the weekend. At dockside were an array of boat manufacturers; Outerlimits, Donzi, Formula, Scarab, Fountain, Cigarette, Skater, Eliminator were all present with the hulls glistening under the bright sun.

Once again, Bob Teague of Teague Custom Marine was the host title sponsor of the event and was instrumental in assisting a number of participants that experienced mechanical problems during the event. Other Gold Sponsors included Eddie Marine, The Robb Report, Miken Clothing, Dick Simon Marine and Outerlimits Powerboats. The other big winner for the weekend was the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, through the generosity and kindness of the participants, over $30,000 in cash donations were raised for this great charity.

The weekend started off with a bang as the entrants were greeted at the Tequila Jack's Restaurant in Shoreline Village on Friday night as old friends socialized and shared their bench racing stories of the past summer. After Friday evenings festivities, many of the boat captains made their boats available for charity rides for children afflicted with diabetes along with their family members. Saturday's lunch menu was the famous In-N-Out Burgers as spectators viewed the many marine vendors that were demonstrating their products at the poker run headquarters, adjacent to DD and EE docks, where all 159 boats were secured. Donzi Marine and Outerlimits Marine of Newport Beach hosted the Saturday afternoon Treasure Hunt as over 65 performance boats searched the inner Long Beach Harbor for two Donzi performance boats, one treasure boat had a treasure chest of $1,000 in cash and the other Donzi had $500 in cash....skipper Don Holtz in his Skater located the grand prize boat and pocketed the loot and Dan McNamara of Costa Mesa located the other treasure.

Saturday concluded with the Jamaican party under the Big Top as SCOPE members and Poker Run participants gathered for the hosted party and danced to the steel band's Caribbean theme. Along with the Saturday party, came an impromptu SCOPE Newlywed Game Party and the night ended with an exciting proposal as member Mark White proposed to girlfriend Shelly Unser in front of the crowd....talk about one nervous boater until Shelly accepted the proposal!!!! The engaged couple met one year ago at the 2001 SCOPE Poker Run and have been together ever since. After the party under the Big Top, many of the crews, went on to close out the night at the Yardhouse Restaurant and the host hotel, the Hyatt Regency of Long Beach.

Captains and crews woke up Sunday morning to another spectacular Southern California day as the temperatures were warm and the ocean was perfect with rolling four foot swells that were spaced out that would allow the fleet to enjoy a leisurely cruise across the channel to Avalon and pick up their playing cards. The second stop on the trip would be Newport Beach and stop number two before the Captains would direct their water missiles toward card stop three at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. The boats would then reverse their course and return to stop number four in Alamitos Bay before returning to Poker Run headquarters and open their sealed envelopes and nervously await the results of their possible winning hands. Longtime SCOPE member Karol Reneau registered for the Run and was unable to attend, so he enlisted close friend Joe Mickus to attend in his place and play his hands with the agreement that Joe could keep the possible winnings!!!!! Karol will not be missing any more poker runs since the four Aces in Karol's envelopes put $10,000 in Joe's hip pocket along with a checkered flag, the 1st place marble trophy and a beautiful Teague Custom Marine racing jacket.

As the participants feasted on the barbeque lunch, an additional $20,000 in cash and an assortment of prizes were given out as the weekend drew to a conclusions. Along with the over 1,300 participants and the over 238,000 horses that propelled the 159 water rockets to an exciting fun filled weekend, the big winner for the weekend will be the children that battle diabetes and hopefully someday a cure for this devastating disease.

Keep the tabs up and the drives out!

Captain Ron