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Oh Boy! Oberto Hydroplane Racing:
Making waves is Art's trademark -- whether it's in business or on the water. For 20 years, the Oberto Sausage Company parked their red-white-and-green motor home, nicknamed "The Bus", along the shores of Lake Washington and shared their hospitality with any other hydroplane race fan within a Cocktail Pep's® length.
The Oberto Sausage Company was lured into hydroplane racing after Art, the consummate hydro fan, attended a local TV telethon to raise funds for Seafair®. Art pledged to sponsor a boat as long as he could choose his own driver. Into the cockpit went Pat Ciotta, a neighbor who had expressed a wish to drive a hydroplane. Once again making waves, the company's debut into hydroplane racing featured the first female driver. For 18 straight years, the family, their employees and their guests rooted faithfully for the "Pepperoni Powered" Oh Boy! Oberto sponsored hydroplane.
The beauty of hydroplane sponsorships was simple -- whether the Oberto boat won the heat, came in dead last, or disintegrated in a blow over, it didn't matter. The Oberto Sausage Company still got lots of free exposure, relatively cheap advertising costs per impression, and lots of brand awareness with the trademark red-white-and-green boat.
Unique strategies paid off; for three years, Oberto Sausage Company gained recognition for having the fastest piston-powered boat, a modest expenditure at a time when massive funds were being dumped into turbine engine powered boats.
Major speed records and national titles eluded the Oberto Sausage Company hydroplanes, yet the memory of Oberto-style fun on race day still lingers in the memories of employees and countless local race fans.
Read more about Oberto Sausage Company Hydro Racing at:
http://www.missmadison.com
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