Image of the Week: A Toast to Desert Storm

ByMatt Trulio

For almost 20 years, the Desert Storm Poker Run—from its earliest iterations to its current multifaceted state—has been providing not just a great time for performance-boat owners from around the country, but doing great things for local charities in the supportive community of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. From giving free go-fast boat rides to soldiers and raising money for services that benefit at-risk teenagers in the area to the annual Thursday night Street Party and Friday’s poker run, Desert Storm has become much more than a “major high-performance boating event.”

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Thanks to hard work by its organizers and volunteers, the Desert Storm Poker Run has become one of the most important annual go-fast boat events—and much more—in the country. Photo courtesy/copyright Jay Nichols/Naples Image

In short, Desert Storm is to Lake Havasu City what the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Missouri is to Osage Beach, Camdenton and the other surrounding towns in the area. Both have woven themselves into the fabric of the communities around them. Through their dedication to giving back, they’ve become essential to the character of those communities.

Speedonthewater.com’s Jason Johnson and I will be leaving—yes we do get out of our cages now and then—for Desert Storm in a few days. And we’ll bring you real-time, online coverage from all the happenings once we arrive. But in the meantime, we need to say something.

Thank you, Desert Storm.

To Jim Nichols of Lake Racer LLC, and his family and other volunteers, longtime title advertiser Bob Teague of Teague Custom Marine, tireless supporter/online promoter Dave Johnson of RiverDavesPlace.com, photographer Jay Nichols of Naples Image and all the rest of the sponsors and participants who’ve made—and continue to make—this special event happen, thank you.

Editor’s note: Since 2010, Desert Storm has been the focus of or has been included in 140 articles on speedonthewater.com. To view a list of them all, type “Desert Storm” (include quotation marks) in the Search window near the upper right-hand corner of the site.