Unlimited hydroplane racing has afforded me the opportunity to travel to some pretty unique places and meet a lot of people. In looking back over my 40-plus years of racing, I realize (sometimes not enough) that it is the people I’ve met along the way that are most important, not the wins and titles.

In the quiet of the night, it is people experiences that fill our minds. Sure we remember some deck-to-deck racing, crashes, championships, etc. But it always comes back to people, really good people. People whose lives have become, in some manner, intertwined in ours solely because of boat racing.

We may have only met them for a minute, or maybe shared dinner with their family, in some instances stayed as guests in their homes. But for however long the encounter, the memory is eternal.

I was reminded of this when a good friend of 30 years recently died. He was Frank Smith from Lake Hopatcong, N.J. Frank and his brother, Ronald, gave me the opportunity to drive their 1-litre hydro T-22 Constant Pressure. From 1988 on we won five consecutive national championships and set every competition record for the class. They retired from racing in the mid-90s and settled into semi-permanent retirement in St. James City, Fla., on the west coast near Captiva.

Whenever we spoke on the phone, their significant friend of long-standing Stella would always say, “Steve, you gotta visit.” Somehow time always seemed to not allow that opportunity. Well, now Frank is gone, and the excuse of not having time to have seen him is a burden I will carry forever. I should have visited—to thank him for all he did for me, to give him one final hug, to tell him in every way possible how much he and Ronald and Stella brought to my life, not to mention my late father’s life and my daughter’s.

If you’re a racer, you know there are people who did the same for you. Please give them a call or visit them soon, because you just never know when today might be too late.

Racing and winning is great—meeting genuine people is far superior.