Miami Herald outdoors writer Susan Cocking reports on an extreme sport growing off South Florida’s shores: underwater scooter racing.

The third competition in the new Wreck Racing League’s Formula H2O circuit took place off Key Largo last weekend.

According to Cocking, “Racing underwater scooters, or diver propulsion vehicles (DPVs), is the brainchild of Joe Weatherby, who spearheaded the 2009 sinking of the Vandenberg as an artificial reef off Key West, and Dave Sirak, who works with Vivona at WFTV-Channel 9 in Orlando.”

After an intial race off Key West, the WRL “took its fledgling Formula H2O circuit to Fort Lauderdale for the Gold Coast Underwater Grand Prix on Aug. 22. A fleet of 24 racers did laps around the sunken freighter Tracey at 70 feet, with Ulloa, an underwater cinematographer from Reddick in Central Florida, taking the trophy.”

Cocking quotes one of the competitors: “This sport is not cutthroat,”’ he said. “It’s camaraderie. It brings people together from all types of diving for a very fun activity.”

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The retired missile-tracking ship Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg was sunk on May 27 and now sits in 140 feet of water six miles off Key West. The ship is reportedly sitting upright with its keel in the sand. After mooring buoys were installed, the site is now open to divers.

The 523-foot Vandenberg was one of the three largest ships in the world to be intentionally sunk as an artificial reef. The ship was at first used to transport troops and was later converted to defending the United States against missile attacks. It also tracked Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and even early Space Shuttle launches. The Vandenberg also played a role as a Russian science ship in the 1999 motion picture “Virus,” which starred Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland.

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The retired missile-tracking ship Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg is destined to become the next artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary just south of Key West, according to the Florida Keys Newsroom. Workers are preparing to sink the ship onm May 27.

The 523-foot Vandenberg is to one of the three largest ships in the world to be intentionally sunk as an artificial reef, the Florida Keys Newsroom said in a statement. The ship was at first used to transport troops and was later converted to defending the United States against missile attacks. It also tracked Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and even early Space Shuttle launches. The Vandenberg also played a role as a Russian science ship in the 1999 motion picture “Virus,” which starred Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland.