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Below are excerpts from the current issue of ExtremeBoats Magazine (Make sure you pick up your copy for the full article) Muscle Racing A True Offshore Survivor In 1996, the controversial Love Muscle Offshore race team, rolled into Ft. Meyers, FL setting up camp for the first time in their racing history. Team owner and Throttleman, David Branch, nestled his sexy B-class boat somewhere between ninety-two other race boats and teams competing that weekend. Many scorned at the Love Muscle’s image of naked women, leather and heavy metal music, saying the team would never last in the demographically family oriented sport. Today, nearly nine years later, not only is The Love Muscle one of two of those ninety-two teams left in existence, they are the most winning team in offshore racing history, most well known and most adored by fans across the country. In an industry where teams come and go, Love Muscle’s David Branch and Bruce Kruglick have undoubtedly proved they are true survivors by outwitting, outsmarting, outplaying and outlasting the competition. The guys share their secrets of survival and their stories of dodging the politics and BS that go along with this sport so many would love to hate. Branch, Kruglick and the rest of the Love Muscle crew agree they are here to have fun, make friends, race their hearts out and live life to the fullest. For anyone who has hung out with the tattoo skinned, leather clad, biker babe-attracting duo that is part of the Love Muscle scene, you know that is exactly what they do. Branch and Kruglick are good time aficionados and celebration has become a key element to the team’s longevity. The team has weathered storms that have nearly destroyed an entire industry. Muscle’s success does not come from the number of checkered flags and trophies they have won, nor is it the number of expensive toys they own, but from their carefree, fun loving, live today like its your last, approach.  The crew members of the Love Muscle Team include Crew chief, Steve “Strick” Strickler, crew Pete “Island boy” Harding, Al “Cowboy” Brenneman and art director, Dave “All Night” Hunter. Each of these members has been around since the team’s inception, just one more unique attribute that has helped keep the Love Muscle team alive. THE FANS “On the race course we are not your friends,” says Kruglick, but what they are, is the most winning team in offshore racing history and masters at handling their boat in the in the Super V class. One reason the team says, “they will never quit’ has to do with the thousands of fans and friends they have made over the years, creating a true cult of followers from all over the U.S. and the world. A major part of the team’s fan attraction begins at the Love Muscle compound, which has an open door policy for anyone who is looking for a good time. First thing race weekend, the Love Muscle team compound is established, starring the 41’ Fountain Love Muscle race boat equipped with a once, totally nude, ass in the air, sex kitten painted on the hull. Rest assured, this pussycat isn’t alone... close by is her Peterbuilt 379 tractor warrior trailer, souvenir trailer where one can find t-shirts, temporary lip and tongue tattoos, bandannas and more, a 1996 Dodge Viper equipped with nitrous oxide emissions for that extra bad-ass appeal, a 1932 Ford Roadster, 2002 Porsche Carrera, 2000 Chevy Silverado tow vehicle, 2000 Toyota Tundra tow vehicle, 4 Custom Harleys a helicopter and private jet. For a true display of how popular this race team really is, visit the Sarasota Suncoast offshore Grand prix’s boat parade. The madness they create is out of this world and a show in itself. Despite the bad boy image and plethora of T & A on display, they draw fans of all ages, genders and ethnicities. The team just received their fifth picture from a soldier in Iraq who proudly wears a piece of Love Muscle Offshore Racing apparel. The Love Muscle team is also a big winner in the world of charitable giving. As a team, Love Muscle’s Branch and Kruglic have donated well over $150,000 of their earnings to charities such as Kids in Distress.  We don’t leave our compound, not because we want to hang out in the pits all weekend, but because we want to be there when the fans come looking for a racer to sign an autograph in their program,” says Branch. Branch and Kruglick agree that it is all about the fans.  Since the addition of Kruglick, the duo has earned more than 35 checkered flags, several World Championships, a number of National Championships and other accolades such as Sports Team of the Year, awards for their role in various charities, world kilo speed record holders and much more. “We go out there and race our hearts out, we race the way we live, on the edge,” says Branch.” No matter what, win or lose, when the race is over, I get my s**t back together, put a smile on my face, get my ass back to the compound and pour myself a cold drink.” Kruglick, Branch and the rest of the Love Muscle team will continue to survive year after year after year, regardless of what is happening around them. The team’s intense marketing efforts will also continue as will their legend. The Muscle will also continue throwing hot parties, applying sexy tattoos on the bodies of suspecting fans and keeping the industry on their toes, incessantly full of surprises. Each season, Dave Branch’s team does something more over the top than the year before, such as the boat’s ever-changing paint scheme. The year 2005 will be no exception as the Muscle transpires into something that is bigger, faster, meaner and sexier than ever before. Unfortunately, the world will have to wait until then to find out what is in the Love Muscle’s top-secret XXX files. “100 years from now, when people talk about the greatest offshore race team ever, they will talk about us, the Love Muscle,” says Branch, promising, once again, that the Love Muscle team is in a class all their own, that of the true offshore survivor. Terrah Lee Terrahmaria1@aol.com See the entire article in ExtremeBoats Magazine Article written by Terrah Lee / Photos by Jamie Russell / Ron Polli / Curtis Wood all rights to ExtremeBoats Magazine (www.extremeboatsmag.com)

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