Brian Perkins grew up on Lake Sawyer with parents who had always been involved with hydroplane racing, so it’s no surprise the 2003 Kentlake High graduate drives an unlimited boat now.

“You can watch it on TV, you can see pictures,” Perkins said. “But it really doesn’t do it any justice unless you can see it in person. Just the spectacle of them running … there’s nothing else like it in the world.”

He’ll be on the water this weekend during the Chevrolet Cup at Seafair on South Lake Washington in Seattle. This is the summer festival’s 60th year, and the race is the culmination of the month-long celebration.

Perkins, 24, said that both his grandfathers “were involved in boat racing one way or another” and as a result so were his parents. Over the years his parents, Kevin and Laurie, volunteered at the races at Seafair starting as teenagers and tackling every job under the sun.

Even after he and his sister, Kayleigh, came along, his parents remained involved.

“Kayleigh and I haven’t missed a Seafair ever,” he said. “Kayleigh was born in June, and she was taken down there in August. We grew up around it.”

At 15, Perkins got his first boat, which was built in 1977.

“I got the racing bug first, and so dad and I got a little boat,” he said. “We were crewing on an unlimited at the time, also.”

His first boat, powered by a 1977 Honda Civic engine, was a 1-liter, the smallest inboard category that is run in Region 10, which covers Washington state. Perkins said they still compete in a 1-liter boat, and at times have run as many as three.

“I still have the boat, and I race it from time to time,” he said. “The older boats, they’re made out of wood. And it’s much smaller … and much more fragile.”

Plus, it has an outdated engine, so his first boat doesn’t see as much time on the water as it used to.

As a teenager, Perkins fell in love with boat racing, and he said it can take up as much time as you let it, “but the success you achieve comes from what you put into it.

“Anytime I wasn’t at school or doing anything else I was working on a boat or cleaning a boat or around them,” he said. “It’s still that way now.”

He works for the family business, Perkins Glass, in Seattle now, and that has given him and his sister, who drives an unlimited light hydroplane, the freedom to take time off during the 12-race season.

Hydroplane racing, at least with inboard boats, Perkins explained, has a number of different categories running from the small 1-liter boats he started out in to the unlimited boats he now races in and against. Unlimited and unlimited light categories are the biggest and most powerful as well as the premier categories.

The boat he runs, sponsored by Albert Lee, the Miss Lakeside Paving, has an engine that came out of a Vietnam-era Chinook twin-rotor helicopter. It measures 30 feet, generates 3,000 horsepower and weighs about 8,000 pounds.

Perkins said the boat runs on jet fuel, and his crew chief Jimmy explained that you could basically take the fuel out of an unlimited hydroplane and put it into a commercial airplane.

Each weekend they run four heats, two on Saturday and two on Sunday, with each day considered its own race. Sometimes, Perkins said, points from all four heats will be combined to determine a winner, or Sunday’s final heat will be winner-take-all. Those points accumulated also go toward the national championship.

Like NASCAR drivers, Perkins wears a fire suit that he says breathes pretty well to protect him in case of a flame up on the boat. In the cockpit there are a pair of large red buttons that say “Fire Push” that run to fire extinguishers all over the boat.

When Perkins is not working, he spends his free time either repairing or rebuilding boats, or he is working on his annual capsule training in a pool to keep his cockpit safety skills sharp.

“Being in the boats, they’re very confined,” he said. “The visibility is confined. You’re completely closed off in an F-16 fighter canopy kind of deal. It’s a safety cell. That’s what we call it. It has a roll cage in it. They’re not water tight or air tight, so if the thing does go upside down, it can fill with water.”

Hence the training in a pool as the drivers are equipped with air masks that are attached to SCUBA tanks so they can breathe underwater if necessary.

In the summer, racing is a full time job for Perkins, and he wouldn’t have it any other way, especially as Seafair approaches.

“This is our biggest race, other than the APBA Gold Cup in Detroit,” he said. “Being that Seafair is celebrating its 60th year, it’s a pretty substantial race for anyone who is based here. I am racing against my heroes that I admired growing up and still admire. It’s unbelievable. It’s a dream come true, to be honest.”

ALSO

Auburn’s Dave Villwock will look to reclaim first place in the overall points race from rival Steve David at the Chevy Cup this weekend. Villwock was in the lead after two first place finishes in Madision, Ind., and Detroit. David overtook Villwock with a first place finish at the Columbia Cup in the Tri-Cities this past weekend. Villwock finished fourth place at the Columbia Cup. … The Chevrolet Cup is the last stop stateside for the unlimiteds, who will finish out the season at Doba, Qatar in the Middle East in November.

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SEAFAIR AND THE CHEVROLET CUP: AT A GLANCE

• WHAT: Seattle’s Seafair Celebration, featuring the Chevrolet Cup unlimited hydroplane race. The race, sanctioned by the American Boat Racing Cup, will feature the unlimited hydroplanes, as well as the unlimited lights.

• WHEN: 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday; 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday; and 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

• WHERE: Stan Sayres Pits on South Lake Washington. Also can be viewed from Genesee Park.

• NOTABLE: Last year’s Chevrolet Cup winner – Auburn’s Dave Villwock – will look to pilot the U-16 Miss Elam Plus to a repeat win and catch the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto Miss Madison driver Steve David, who has the lead in season points. David leads Villwock by 599 points with two races left in the season. … David was the winner of last week’s Columbia Cup. Villwock finished fourth in the Tri-Cities and was penalized for a fuel flow violation. … Villwock has won nine Chevrolet Cups. … Puyallup’s J. Michael Kelly, driver of the U-7 Graham Trucking boat, will look to recover from an accident that saw his boat flip during the Columbia Cup. The Decatur, Ind.,-based team expects to have the boat repaired in time for qualifying on Friday. … Kent driver Jeff Bernard will pilot the U-5 Formulaboats.com in the Chevrolet Cup. … Driver Jimmy King will pilot the U-3 Cooper Motorsports boat, the only piston-powered unlimited. The U-3 is run by a Allison V-12 engine, originally used in World War II fighter planes.

• DON’T FORGET THE AIRPLANES: The world’s premier aerobatic precision flying team, the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels, will return to Seafair this weekend, wowing crowds with shows at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The team will practice at 1:30 p.m. Friday. The KeyBank Airshow presented by Boeing will take place at 3:40 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

• MUSIC: The Seafair celebration will feature music by The U.S. Navy Band, Massy Ferguson, School of Rock All-Stars, SHIM, Radio Nationals, Vince Mira, The Dusty 45s, Big World Breaks, Adrian Xavier and The Staxx Brothers. For a schedule of performances, visit www.seafair.com/events/.

• TICKETS: Available at www.ticketmaster.com.