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KENNEWICK -- Steve David looked around the pits at the APBA Detroit Gold Cup a few weeks ago and laughed.
David, 55, had just finished second driving the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto in the final to Dave Villwock, the 53-year-old driving the U-16 Miss Elam Plus.
"Dave and I were joking that if you added together the ages of the third, fourth, fifth- and sixth-place drivers at the Gold Cup, it still wouldn't equal ours combined," said David.
As Villwock said after winning the Gold Cup, "Old age and treachery wins out over youth and exuberance."
These two guys can get their AARP cards. Yet they continue to get better with age, and they drive for two of the best teams on the circuit.
For David, he comes into this week's Lamb Weston Columbia Cup -- set for Friday through Sunday in Columbia Park -- as the defending Columbia Cup champion.
More importantly, he and the Oberto team are the defending national champions.
They won the title by being consistent, only winning one race during the season, and that being in the Tri-Cities.
"Once you've got it, you don't want to lose it," said David of the title.
The team set two big goals for 2009 -- win the Gold Cup and retain the national title.
Villwock and the Elam team ruined the first goal when they won the Gold Cup.
"We would have liked to have won the Gold Cup," David said. "We had outstanding equipment."
Now, David turns to the Northwest portion of the season. While he would like to win here this week, a victory in Seattle -- the home of Oberto patriarch Art Oberto -- on Aug. 2 would be sweet.
"That's our West Coast Gold Cup," he said. "That lake (Washington) is a great equalizer."
Elam also stands in the way of the Oberto team's national title aspirations.
Villwock and the Elam are in first with 3,377 points, while David and the Oberto are second with 3,110.
J.Michael Kelly and the U-7 Graham Trucking are a distant third at 2,651.
How is it these ageless wonders continue to win?
For David, he continues to work out six days a week, doing cardio and weights, giving him the fitness level of about a 30-year-old.
But it's also about the driving experience.
"With the new setups and the new fuel restriction (down to 4.1 gallons of fuel per minute) these boats are virtually the same," said David. "Our experience can count a half-second faster per lap."
The Oberto boat is now in its third campaign, and David said almost all of the kinks are gone.
"It's really good everywhere," he said. "It doesn't have any bad habits. (Crew chief) Mike (Hanson) and the crew made the setup awesome."
It's basically a half-degree change here and there on the boat. That's all.
"The speed increments are smaller now," David admitted. "Not like last year when we could get 3-5 mph more out of it."
And financially, there are limits.
The boat, while sponsored by Oberto, is owned by the city of Madison, Ind., and its 13,000 residents. The team has to run on a tight budget.
"For instance, the Elam team builds our propellers," David said. "The difference is we can't run a bunch of them. They each have to last us 150 laps."
There is one other thing.
If Villwock were to win the rest of the season's races -- Tri-Cities, Seattle, Evansville and Doha, Qatar -- he could tie the late Bill Muncey for the most career victories at 62.
"I can't let that happen," said David. "From a legacy standpoint for Bill Muncey -- although records are made to be broken -- I can't let that happen."
So he'll continue to battle, keeping an eye on defending his national title.
"Hey," he said, "I'm just getting into my prime."
