ST PETERSBURG, Fla. — APBA (American Power Boat Association) Offshore Power Boat Racing LLC and its chairman, Michael D. Allweiss have instituted a libel and defamation suit against John O. Crouse II, for material Crouse disseminated on the Internet.

The suit states Crouse's November, 2001 column, Seatalk, was written to maliciously injure APBA Offshore and Allweiss, to bring them into public scandal and disgrace and in reckless disregard of the rights of the two plaintiffs. The suit adds that the Crouse column publicly disseminated false and scandalous material.

"I'm an attorney by background who doesn't like this type of litigation," Allweiss said, "but we have an obligation to pursue Mr. Crouse and those who provided him with the scandalous and false accusations contained in his article. We are simply not going to allow anyone to defame or damage our teams, the business and sport of offshore racing or our families."

On January 8, 2002, Offshore's legal counsel sent a certified mail request that John Crouse retract the libelous statements. No response was forthcoming from Mr. Crouse and the suit was filed on January 15.

The American Power Boat Association is the official race and record sanctioning body in the United States of the worldwide organization, Union Internationale Motonautique. As such, APBA Offshore's races are the only ones recognized at the international level.

"Over the past two and a half years, the staff of APBA has brought discipline and an even playing field to the sport of Offshore Racing," the 38-year-old Allweiss said. "What we've done is very similar to what other motor sports organizations have had to do over the past few years. We've created a level playing field and we're moving toward an entire circuit of stadium-style racing where the public can actually see these powerful and incredibly fast boats race.

"We're scheduling races in new venues that meet these criteria," Allweiss added, "and those venues that can't handle it are being dropped. We've got nine races firmly on the schedule for 2002 and may add another city or two before the season starts in April.

"But many of the old-time racers don't particularly hold with the discipline demanded by our sponsors and the television series," he continued. "There have been some ruffled feathers. John Crouse has been involved the sport since 1957, but this doesn't give him the right to libel and slander anyone. As a former publicist for a number of racers, he should realize that. Basically, I've been accused of being dishonest — and a lot of other things as well. I don't like that, my wife doesn't like that, my Dad doesn't like that and my partners certainly don't like that. And I'm not going to let Crouse get away with it."