Offshore racer Billy Mauff says he is walking away from the sport after a storied career.

By Jason Johnson

The man known around offshore racing circles as "The Plumber" is calling it quits after four decades in the sport. That's right, Billy Mauff—one of the most colorful characters and decorated racers the sport has ever seen—resigned his post as president of the Offshore Super Series (OSS) and is selling all of his WHM Motorsports equipment.

"For 33 years, racing has been my heart, my passion, my love," Mauff said from his office in East Setauket, N.Y. "I have raced many organizations including NPBA, USPBA, US Offshore, OPT, SBI, APBA, OPA, POPRA and OSS as well as in Europe, and I have been blessed to race with such great throttlemen as Joey Imprescia, Jose 'Pepe' Llama and, most recently, Jay 'Hollywood' Muller, who is a force to be reckoned with.

"The one thing I will say, is no matter how I walk away, at least I walked away with dignity and respect from a lot of racers I raced with."

Mauff was one of the driving forces behind the creation of OSS, an owner-driven organization that broke away from APBA Offshore to form its own circuit in 2003. He has served on the board of directors since the series' first season in 2004, and was president this year.

In mid-July, Mauff sent his letter of resignation to the board and rumors started that Mauff was giving up racing all together.

"I can understand Billy stepping down as president, but what I don't understand is why he decided not to race," said Ray Delaney, OSS vice president who is serving as interim president for the remainder of the season. "I'm disappointed he's not going to be racing with us. It won't be the same without him there. I hope it's a temporary thing. Maybe he just needs a break—we all get burned out."

Mauff didn't rule out racing again, but he leaves with some negative feelings.

"Am I sad? Yeah. Am I happy to walk away? Nope," he said. "But I can't race with people who can't be honest with themselves."

Mauff alluded to a group of racers who broke away from OSS this season after a somewhat controversial turn of events in Destin, Fla., at the 2006 OSS World Championships. Serving as the class representative for OSS Cat, Mauff said he found out that one of the boats—Tony Marcantonio's J.D. Byrider—was too short for the class and didn't meet the technical rules. He filed a protest, which some racers in the class felt was uncalled for since the boat had been racing in the class all season. However, as the class representative, Mauff contends that he had an obligation to make the protest and not to look the other way.

The catamaran was disqualified, although Marcantonio could have raced under appeal but he elected not to. The protest didn't sit well with a group of racers and they ended up forming the Offshore Pro-Series, opting to race wherever they wanted rather than under one organization. (For more on the Pro-Series check out "On Their Own," Page 76.)

"I've never been a quitter in my life, but it gets to a point where you lose interest," Mauff said. "I'm done fighting the battle. Is this about OSS or is this about me? All I know is that I can look myself in the mirror and say everything I did was for OSS and to make the sport better.

"For me, it was never about WHM," he added. "OSS came first, WHM was second. I wish the board and OSS all the luck in the world."

Delaney said he hates to see Mauff walk away, but respects his decision.

"In my opinion, I think he basically threw himself on the sword for what was best for OSS," said Delaney, owner of the OSS Vee boat Fury. "He devoted a lot of his time and money into this thing."