Key Figures · Racer

Larry Rippenkroeger

A 1988 magazine's results lines print him second under Slalom and Superstock Closed Course and third under Modified Closed Course; the archive reads them as results of the 1987 IJSBA World Finals.

1. The early years, in print, 1981 to 1993 (this page's records)
2. The makers and their machines, 1985 to 2005 (this page's records)
3. Noise, safety and federal rules, 1996 to 2002
4. The rule book years, 2002 to 2018
5. Three rule books, 2021 to 2026

1990200020102020

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Results

1987 · Likely

Personal Watercraft Illustrated, volume 2 number 1 (1988), read only as search highlights, prints a caption saying that Larry "The Ripper", whose family name the scan garbles there, made his X-2 debut, finishing in Modified Closed Course, with the place garbled, and second in the Slalom, both won by the rider it calls the points champion. Its results lines print Larry Rippenkroeger third under a Modified Closed Course list and, cut short to Larry Rippenkro, second under a Slalom list, each headed by the rider the caption names as the winner of both. The highlights print no event heading beside these lines; the archive reads them, from the issue's own pointer to its results section, as results of the 1987 IJSBA World Finals, which is an inference.

Sources: PWI 1988 search text: 1987 racing

1987 · Likely

The same highlights print Larry Rippenkroeger third under another Modified Closed Course list, whose heading the scan cuts to the letters Pr, and second under Superstock Closed Course. The archive reads these too as results of the 1987 IJSBA World Finals, for the reason given above, which is an inference.

Sources: PWI 1988 search text: 1987 racing

1987 · Likely

The issue's rankings, headed Final 1987 IJSBA World Rankings, print 3, Larry Rippenkroeger. The highlights run several ranking tables together and print no table heading beside his line, so the table he is ranked in is not known.

Sources: PWI 1988 search text: 1987 racing

Contested

An advertisement by Arai Helmet in Cycle News of 7 January 1987, headed in its scanned words 1986 CHAMPIONSHIPS WON IN and ARAI HELMETS, lists Larry Rippenkroeger in its ARAI ALSO CONGRATULATES block as LAKE HAVASU WORLD JET SKI FINALS OVERALL CHAMPION; the line prints no year of its own. It is an advertisement and says what the advertiser said; no result sheet of that event is held. The association's champions page, held as a finding aid and not as evidence, gives its 1986 Pro Ski entry to David Gordon, and the archive does not reconcile the two. The tie to the racer of the magazine's 1987 results is the full name and the jet ski racing both describe, which is the archive's inference.

Cycle News 7 January 1987 Arai ad says

The advertisement, headed with the 1986 championships won in Arai helmets, credits Larry Rippenkroeger as LAKE HAVASU WORLD JET SKI FINALS OVERALL CHAMPION.

IJSBA champions page says

The association's champions page, a finding aid, gives its 1986 Pro Ski entry to David Gordon.

Sources: Cycle News 7 January 1987 Arai ad

Likely

An advertisement for the Extrude Hone machining process in Cycle News of 6 January 1988 says that back in 1982 Larry Rippenkroeger, World Champion Jet Skier, won his first World Championship, and that the motor and pump in his Jet Ski had been Extrude Honed. It is the advertiser's telling, printed years later, and it names no association, venue or event. The tie to the racer of the other documents is the full name and the jet ski racing, which is the archive's inference.

Sources: Cycle News 6 January 1988 Extrude Hone ad

Elsewhere in the archive

• History chapter: The IJSBA and the World Finals
• Event: IJSBA World Finals
• Organisation: International Jet Sports Boating Association
• Era: The early years, in print
• Era: The makers and their machines

What the archive has not read (3)

• No IJSBA result sheet from the 1980s has been found (searched archive.org's full text and 645 issues of Cycle News from 1980 to 1992, 2026-10-07), so no title is recorded. The association's champions page, a finding aid, lists him in its Pro Ski table for 1982 and 1984 and in its Pro Freestyle table for 1982 and 1989, lists him in no table for 1986, and gives its 1986 Pro Ski and Pro Freestyle entries to another rider; Arai's credit for the 1986 overall title and that page are not reconciled here; the claim on Arai's credit sets the two side by side.
• Personal Watercraft Illustrated volume 2 number 1 can be read only as archive.org search highlights, because the item's files are gone (checked 2026-10-07). The highlights print no event heading beside the results lines used here, and they print, just before the list headed Pr, a sentence on Personal Watercraft Federation action in Ventura, California. The issue says its Racing Review section carries the full World Finals results, and it also prints the heading of that Ventura race, of 9 November 1987, so reading these lists as World Finals results is the archive's inference.
• The association's hall of fame roster lists a Larry Rippenkroeger among its 2006 inductees. It prints names only, so it is not tied to this racer and is not used (checked 2026-10-07).

Documents cited on this page

• PWI 1988 search text: 1987 racing (archive.org): Personal Watercraft Illustrated volume 2 number 1 of 1988 (archive.org full-text search highlights: results section, 1987 results and rankings, racer mentions), Personal Watercraft Illustrated, read through the Internet Archive's full-text search, 1988; enthusiast media, medium. Search highlights from the same emptied item as the PWI February 1988 search text: short OCR passages around the term searched, not the pages, and not in page order. They hold the issue's pointers to its results section (the Racing Review, which it says carries the full World Finals results, and a heading there for a Personal Watercraft Federation race at Ventura, California, of 9 November 1987), results lines whose class headings are partly cut and whose event heading is not printed beside them, passages whose shared words give the order in which the scan prints those lists, the rankings headed Final 1987 IJSBA World Rankings with several tables run together, a caption on X-2 results, a feature on Jet Ski Bay, and the caption that names Bill Chapin. Medium as a period magazine read as highlights only. Places beside names and the names of four riders the archive leaves out under its minors rule are replaced in the held copy. The link opens the item's archive.org page; the highlights were read through the full-text search, as the held copy says.
• Cycle News 7 January 1987 Arai ad (archive.org): Cycle News, 7 January 1987, Arai Helmet advertisement of the 1986 championships won in Arai helmets (OCR excerpt), Cycle News, advertisement by Arai Helmet, issue held by the Internet Archive, 1987-01-07; enthusiast media, medium. Heading lines, the page date and the first lines of the ARAI ALSO CONGRATULATES block of a helmet maker's year-end advertisement, from the issue's raw OCR. The block's one watercraft line credits Larry Rippenkroeger as LAKE HAVASU WORLD JET SKI FINALS OVERALL CHAMPION; the season is 1986 by the advertisement's heading. Medium as a period advertisement, which proves what the advertiser said and not that a result sheet agrees. The excerpt keeps no company address.
• IJSBA champions page (ijsba.com): World Champions 1982-2007 (IJSBA page), International Jet Sports Boating Association; sanctioning body, high. The association's own list of world champions, titled 1982 to 2007 and running to 2016. Held as a finding aid, not evidence: a World Finals title on a Key Figures page rests on that year's result sheet, and the list is the association's compiled work.
• Cycle News 6 January 1988 Extrude Hone ad (archive.org): Cycle News, 6 January 1988, Extrude Hone advertisement naming Larry Rippenkroeger (OCR excerpt), Cycle News, advertisement for the Extrude Hone process, issue held by the Internet Archive, 1988-01-06; enthusiast media, medium. The opening of an advertisement for a machining process, from the issue's raw OCR: back in 1982 Larry Rippenkroeger, World Champion Jet Skier, won his first World Championship with an Extrude Honed motor and pump. Medium only as a period advertisement for what the advertiser said, six years after the fact; it names no association, venue or event, and it is not a results document. The telephone number is not copied.

Changes to this page

• 2026-10-09: The owner's answer on the advertisements: the significance line now leads with the 1988 magazine's results lines read as 1987 World Finals results, not with Arai's credit. Both advertisement claims are kept, attributed and moved after the results. Arai's 1986 credit is now contested against the association's champions page, which gives its 1986 Pro Ski entry to David Gordon. Extrude Hone's 1982 stays likely, as no held document contradicts it.

Cite this page

“Larry Rippenkroeger”, BaddJet archive, https://baddjetarchive.com/key-figures/larry-rippenkroeger/

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