Hydros | Ken Muscatel keeps racing, because he can

Ken Muscatel figures to be bringing up the rear come Seafair Sunday, if he makes it onto the water at all in his all-too-troublesome U-25 Miss Procraft Windows.

"We're not quite the Boston Braves, but we haven't been down this far in a while," he said good-naturedly after last week's race in the Tri-Cities when his boat failed to earn any points while battling mechanical difficulties, a common fate this year. Of the 10 boats to make the full unlimited hydroplane circuit this season, Muscatel's is last in total points.

The Boston Braves reference, however, is a dead giveaway of the one category that Muscatel currently leads — at age 59 (he turns 60 later this month), he's the oldest driver.

For those who don't remember, the Braves, who played in Boston under six different names for 82 seasons before moving to Milwaukee, then Atlanta, were a perennial loser. They lost 115 games in 1935, the most of any National League team in the 20th century.

The Braves, though, at least had a few moments in the sun, making it to the World Series in 1948.

Muscatel is still waiting.

He's won a few heats here and there in an unlimited driving career that dates to 1991, but he's never won a race. The closest he came was in Madison, Ind., in 1998, finishing second. It's thought to be the longest driving tenure without a win since Bob Gilliam, who raced in the 1950s through the early '70s.

"Sure it's frustrating," said Muscatel. "But it's like anything else — you take your small victories and your big victories. Life is full of mostly small victories."

And one of those for Muscatel is simply being out there again for another Seafair which is why, despite the mounting frustrations and the yearly question about whether he should finally give it up, he keeps coming back for more.

In one capacity or another — fan, driver, owner — he's been there for every Seafair but one, having grown up on the shores of Lake Washington. "I saw the [first Seafair] race in 1950 [when he would have been almost 2 years old] but I don't remember it," he says.

He has missed only one since — in 1968, when as a student at the University of Washington he was studying abroad in London and Paris.

Away from the docks, Muscatel is known as Dr. Kenneth Muscatel, earning a Ph.D in clinical psychology from UW in 1979 and specializing these days in forensic psychology. He estimates he's worked on more than 500 homicides.

"When you are racing, you become completely alive," he said. "It's a real change of pace from what I do otherwise."

But while most hydro drivers spend their teens and 20s working on boats, and working their way up the smaller circuits, Muscatel was studying in classrooms. It wasn't until after he was done, and had a little more time and money, that he decided to really pursue his childhood passion, beginning in the limited ranks in 1981.

"That's why I'm still doing it today," he says of his relatively late start. He got into the unlimited ranks in 1991, earning rookie of the year honors driving for owner Bob Fendler. Two years later, he started his own team and has been an owner/driver ever since. His best year was 1998, when he finished sixth in the season points standings.

But most years, he's been an afterthought, known mostly for being the "world's fastest forensic psychologist."

"Not a lot of competition for that, though, is there?" he says with a laugh.

"Ken is actually a pretty good driver," says Nate Brown, who won five races before retiring after last season. "I have no problems running against Ken. Driving-wise, he's got [guts], no doubt about that. But he's never really had a number one part [boat] to go play with."

Muscatel estimates he's spent roughly a million dollars along the way, though he notes that a lot of it is assets he could easily sell. "I'm a source of great amusement to my family," he said. "It's like, 'What are you doing?' "

He's also become increasingly involved in the administration of the sport, serving for two years as commissioner.

"It's absolutely love of the game for him," says David Williams, director of the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in Kent who has also turned his passion into a role as a driver. "He'll be out here as long as he can."

Muscatel thought his racing days were over last season when he had to pull out of a race in Detroit for what was termed at the time as breathing problems.

"Now I can say it that I was in congestive heart failure during the race," he said. "I had to take my air mask off because I had trouble breathing."

Having long been afflicted with an uneven heartbeat, he was taken to the emergency room with a rapid heart rate that wouldn't slow down. Surgery over the winter corrected the problem, and Muscatel decided to return for another season.

So while he's thinking again that this year could be his last, he's not making any promises.

"The thing is," he says, "I do it because I like it and I can."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com