UPDATE: Grand Prix Returns To Point Pleasant Beach Later This Week

POINT PLEASANT BEACH — It won't be long now before the roar of power boats tearing through the ocean echoes throughout this small borough.

The Point Pleasant Beach Grand Prix is returning to Point Beach after an absence of many years, beginning on May 20.

The event is sponsored by the host club - The New Jersey Powerboat Racing Association - which has been the host club since the race began more than 40 years ago in Point Pleasant Beach.

"There is probably no single race more famous than The Benihana Offshore Grand Prix," according to the Offshore Powerboat Association's website. This race was known as the Indy 500 of Offshore Racing and was held in Point Pleasant Beach during the 1970s"

The name of the race has changed over the years and so has the length of the course. Back in the Benihana days, the race course was over 200 miles long, from Fire Island to Seaside Heights, the website states. Now the race is a small, four-mile overall as close to the beach as possible.

A series of events, beginning on Thursday night and through Sunday, click here.

For more information about the powerboat association and the event, visit www.oparacing.org/race8.

Photo credit: Offshore Powerboat Association.