"record" stood for 2 years
I agree, it was a weird weekend.
They were adding gas on the scale to make the weight! I was the guy with the hydro, the thrust socket broke halfway thru the 1st run and kicked the engine way under. In any case I would not have run as fast as Petty'83, I think we were at about 78. Boat was built by Ed Karelsen just for this effort. Wartinger and I worked a lot with it to get up to 78. Your right, A tunnel was the better way to go.
Petty finally broke the record 2 years later at D lake in Oregon, and I was the inspector!!