Six years ago, Andy Trauth watched his first offshore boat race in Sarasota, Fla.
Now Trauth is leading in national points in offshore boating with his two-boat team from Cold Spring.
Trauth has won two national championships and a world championship racing the boats -- one a 35-foot Modified with a flat bottom designed to skate over the water, the other a 30-foot Class A with a V-shaped bottom that helps it cut through waves.
On July 4, Trauth accomplished an unprecedented feat, setting two world kilo records in one day. His A-Class boat did it at 93.115 mph, and his Modified Division boat at 134.714.
Trauth's son, Adam, drives the A boat while Andy works the throttle. Adam quit the football team at the University of Dayton so he could spend more time working with his father toward a national title this year.
Trauth's boats sport black and white cow-inspired paint jobs, in keeping with the family business, Trauth Dairy, which he runs with his brothers and cousins.
Trauth won a world championship with his Class A boat, named The Udder Boat, after racing it only twice. This year, he has a new Modified boat (his third after his other two wore out), called Udderly Fantastic.
The boats, each of which leads its division, also serve as promotional vehicles.
"We wanted to promote milk," Trauth's wife, Marilyn, said. "Some people are sponsored by beer, but we wanted to say that milk is our drink of choice."
But Trauth is not sponsored by anyone and covers expenses for both boats himself. Even though he wins a lot of his races, he said the cash payoff would only cover a hotel and entry fee for the race. "If you're in this for the money aspect," he said, "You're barking up the wrong tree."
Trauth bought his first boat, the hull of a 35-foot Modified, at the 1992 Sarasota race. He thought it would be a good winter project that would give him a pleasure boat he could use in the summer.
But after the boat was finished, a friend convinced him that the boat should be raced, and the rest is history.
"I've always raced stuff," Trauth said. "Whether it was a car or a lawnmower, if it had a motor, I wanted to make it go faster." But the water has not always offered a smooth ride.
In 1993, Trauth and his driver, Rob Stevenson, blew two motors in an Atlantic City race. After that, Trauth considered quitting, but decided to give it another try after being named rookie of the year. The following season, he was third in national points.
"After that, forget it," Trauth said. "I was totally hooked." In 1995, Trauth won his first race and later was crowned national champion in U.S. Offshore Racing.
Trauth's success continued in 1996 with another national championship as he and Stevenson won every race they entered. But in 1997, his luck ran out when his Modified boat broke down.
"I started to miss racing," Trauth said. "So for our 25th wedding anniversary, I bought (my wife) another boat."
As for now, Trauth is preparing for another race on July 25.
"Some guys have been racing for 15 years to get to where I am," he said. "I don't know what I'll do. I never thought I'd buy the A boat, and I never thought I'd buy three Modified boats.
"But if the time is right, I guess I'll stay with it."
