Ever thought about staring down David Villwock from the cockpit of an unlimited hydroplane?

Now, you can.

On Saturday, the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum will host the Hydromod 2009 Celebrity Pro-Am, featuring the top drivers in the popular internet hydroplane racing series, and celebrity drivers from the ABRA and ULHRA.

Drivers expected to participate include Villwock, Brian and Kayleigh Perkins, Jeff Bernard, David Williams, Greg Hopp, Ken Muscatel, and J. Michael Kelly, and ex-racers Chip Hanauer, Nate Brown and Terry Troxell.

An online racing seminar starts at 10 a.m., with racing starting at 1 p.m. Admission is $5.

Re/Max International will end its title sponsorship of the ARCA Series following the 2009 season.

The real estate company on Wednesday cited the economic crisis as its reason for ending a relationship it began in 2001. Re/Max will reduce its sponsorship role in the series to presenting sponsor beginning in 2010.

"In business, we are all called upon to make difficult decisions, and the decision to reduce our role from series title sponsor to presenting sponsor has been very, very difficult to say the least," said Randy Morse, vice president of Re/Max International.

"Economic conditions continue to present challenges to all segments of the business community, and especially those in the real estate industry," said Ron Drager, ARCA President. "The challenge Re/Max faces led them to inform us of their need to address a change in our relationship."

The ARCA Series is a second-tier league that, while not associated with NASCAR, often runs as a companion race to the Sprint Cup Series.

It’s season opening race is held in conjunction with the Daytona 500, and several open-wheel stars have competed in an ARCA events to get comfortable with stock cars. ARCA began crowning a champion in 1953.

Walt Kaplin and Ron Anderson have been around Northwest auto racing for a long time.

Plenty of memories have stored up in their heads.

So, they had an idea – why not bring those memories to life?

Well, they've done just that in the inaugural "MotorSports 2008," a historic race car exhibition, slated for Nov. 7-9 at the Tacoma Dome and Exhibition Hall.

More than 300 vintage motorcycles, old-time dragsters, classic hot rods and open-wheel demonstrations will on display for the three-day extravaganza.

"(Kaplin and Anderson) felt we needed to have a car show that covered not just the hot-rod world, but racing," said Doug Danstrom, a spokesperson for Walt's Auto Care Centers, the primary sponsor of the event.

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The NHRA released next season's schedule for its sportsman classes, on a national and regional scale. Forty-four races spanning seven regions will be held in 2009

The NHRA Northwest division (commonly known as NHRA Div. 6) will start the year the first week in May at Boise, Idaho’s Firebird Raceway. Racers will head north of the boarder, to Mission (B.C.) Raceway Park, for another race in May. In June the series will move to Pacific Raceways in Kent before a July date at Woodburn (Ore.) Dragstrip. In August, the schedule moves to Yellowstone Dragstrip in Acton, Mont., and then closes out at Champion Raceway in Eagle Point, Ore., in early October.

Here is the full schedule for all divisions:

• NORTHWEST DIVISION

May 1-3, Firebird Raceway*, Boise, Idaho

May 22-24, Mission Raceway, Mission, B.C.

June 19-21, Pacific Raceways, Kent

July 10-12, Woodburn Dragstrip, Woodburn, Ore.

Aug. 21-23, Yellowstone Dragstrip, Acton, Mont.

Oct. 2-3, Champion Raceway, Eagle Point, Ore.

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Spanaway's Derrike Cope, a full-time member of NASCAR's Nationwide Series with Jay Robinson, Inc., will return home to participate in a few local events in November.

Cope, who turns 50 on Nov. 3, will be attending "Motor Sports 2008" – the largest car show in Western Washington, held Nov. 9 at the Tacoma Dome.

Two days later, Cope and his father, Donald – a race engine builder – will be inducted into the Northwest Motor Sports Hall of Fame. The ceremony is also scheduled to be held at the Dome.

Cope has made 29 starts on the Nationwide Series, with a season-best 24th-place finish at Dover in late May. The 1990 Daytona 500 winner will be racing in the Nationwide race in Phoenix on Nov. 8 before heading north to Tacoma.

Forty-seven years is a long time to wait for anything.

But it's well worth it for the Oh, Boy! Oberto unlimited hydroplane racing team and driver Steve David.

The tour championship was made official shortly after Kent's Jeff Bernard and the U-5 Formula Boats team won the final stop of the American Boat Racing Association (ABRA) at Mission Bay in San Diego on Sunday.

Bernard's aggressive move on the back stretch of the finals, causing David and his boat to hit a buoy, earned him his second victory over the season – the only racer to be a multiple winner.

David's comments on the points championship:

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Sunday¹s result: Deuces ran wild at the ³Monster Mile² as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers made their rounds on concrete during the Camping World 400 at Dover International Speedway in Delaware. Greg Biffle (Vancouver, Wash.) won for the second consecutive week ranking him third in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Mechanical problems again plagued former points leader Kyle Busch. Enumclaw¹s Kasey Kahne retained the highest position a driver outside of the Chase can.

Race highlights: Kahne started in 36th-position, spent the day between 39th and 22nd, and finished 26th. A.J. Allmendinger made contact with Kahne on lap 156 bringing out the fifth of what would be 10 caution flags throughout the race.

Kahne¹s take: "I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating today was for our team. It seems like everything we did to the car today never really helped, especially on a shorter run. We struggled with the handling, but the guys never quit trying to adjust on the car and the team kept up its good pit work which helped on a day like today."

Point tracker: Unofficial results list Kahne 13th in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers points standings with 3262, reducing his lead by 24 to be 35 points ahead of 14th place David Ragan.

On the horizon: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City and the Camping World RV 400, the third of 10 races that will determine the winner of the Sprint Cup championship for those in the Chase and another opportunity to earn wins, money and points under the standard scoring system for Kahne and others. Televised coverage of pole position qualifying is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Friday on ESPN2.