It’s been a tragic month for powerboat racing. Saying that, I know it’s also been a month of celebrating national and world titles for several racers. However, whenever we experience a tragedy—one that likely could have been prevented—any championship is diminished. The tragedy I write about is the deaths of the driver and throttleman (Mohammad Al Mehairi and Jean-Marc Sanchez) in one of the Dubai-based Victory Team’s Class 1 boats.

As great as the loss of these two racers is, I’m angered by the cause. While pragmatically the deaths were caused (as best as can be determined) by the failure of the canopy—the hull also suffered significant damage—I will in part blame the multiple sanctioning groups around the globe.

For whatever reason, be it ego, economics, pride, whatever, there are several sanctioning groups in all forms of powerboat racing. There are, at a minimum, APBA, UIM, POPRA, OSS, OPA, SBI, AOF, WPPT, Class 1, Powerboat P1 and more. That likely will not change. What has to change—what must change—is the one thing we can or should all agree on: safety.

The fact is this: We have the technology in place that may have prevented the Victory Team deaths. But without a universal safety council, endorsed and participated in by all sanctioning groups, we cannot ensure that the best systems are being employed.

We need every group to agree to, and abide by, the rule-making authority of a single safety coordinating council. Keep all of your sanctioning groups if you will (however ludicrous that is), but agree to one well “brained” safety group. The people and builders are there to make this happen: Rich Luhrs, Mike Hanson, Dave Villwock, Ron Jones Jr. and Sr., Peter Hledin, Bob Teague, Bob Wartinger, Jim Poplin and so many others who would help at the drop of a hat.

What we’ve learned is that all the money in the world will not prevent a racing death. But we’ve also learned that the combined knowledge of thousands of crashes exist to improve safety systems and rescue. In Unlimited hydros, for example, we’ve had hundreds of crashes over 180 mph and have lost one driver (George Stratton) since the early ’80s.

We’ve had crashes virtually identical to the Victory crash (a blowover landing directly on its canopy) and our systems have prevented death. It was Dave Villwock’s terrible crash in the Tri-Cities (Wash.) race in the late 1990s that caused us to redesign our canopies and cockpits for a backward, upside-down entry at high speed. Villwock lost some fingers in that crash, and was not conscious when rescue got to him, but he survived because of the superior training of the rescue teams.

Information that can be shared universally through a safety coordinating council could exist through UIM. In Villwock’s crash, his boat entered the water at approximately 160 mph. It is estimated that the Victory Team was doing something less than that speed. The back of Villwock’s cockpit was blunt and it gave way, which in turn caused the canopy to fail. His boat was Miss Budweiser. Again, no shortage of money. Subsequently, most of our Unlimited cockpits are rounded in both directions, above and below decks. Our canopies are reinforced with roll cages that are integral to the canopy itself.

Bob Wartinger, holder of more than 70 straightway records, has chaired the UIM safety committee for a long time. He knows the people who know safety, as do the other names I mentioned and more.

Can we agree on a few principles?

No. 1. If we can prevent racing deaths and serious injuries, let’s do it.

No. 2. Let’s all agree to join in a unified safety council that is inclusive of every racing organization.

No. 3. Where possible, let’s make safety rules and technology universally enforced and available to anyone who asks.

I am alive today because of the loss or serious injury to a lot of great people, including Bill Muncey, Dean Chenoweth, Steve Reynolds, George Woods, Mark Evans, Dave Villwock and others. I’ve crashed in about every configuration you can imagine. The people who prevented my death (aside from the Lord) are here today to share, to help, to do everything humanly possible to prevent the next racing tragedy.

We have the power to make racing safer.

I'm writing this from the shores of Doha, Qatar (next to Saudi Arabia), where we just wrapped up the final race of the season for the Unlimited hydroplane circuit, which is now known as H1 Unlimited.

Many of you know Qatar from its offshore teams led by his excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al Thani. It was in fact Sheikh Hassan who brought the Unlimiteds to this magical place.

The results from this race tell only a small story of the roller-coaster ride the weekend presented. I was leading in the points standings going into the event and just needed a win in Heat 4 to wrap it up before the Final. While leading that heat, I did what we know as a “blowover.” Click here to see the video.

Our boat (Oh Boy! Oberto) did a 360-degree flip and landed right-side up with minor damage. However, we were not allowed to reenter that heat because our accident stopped the race.

I was afraid our chance for the national championship was lost—but “it ain’t over till it’s over” proved true once again. Heir apparent for the national championship after my crash, was the U-5 Formulaboats.com piloted by Jeff Bernard. In the start of the final heat Jeff also blew over. That left the U-16 Miss Elam Plus piloted by Dave Villwock as the favorite for the championship.

I was in Lane 3 with the U-16 in Lane 1 and the U-7 driven by J Michael Kelly in Lane 2. As the heat wound down, it looked like the U-16 would pull off the win and I’d lose the championship by 165 points. Waiting for the fat lady to sing, the U-16 started to compressor stall and we passed her half a lap before the end of the race to clinch the national title. Actually it was back-to-back championships for 2008 and 2009—something not achieved since the Miss Budweiser era.

This also gave me my fourth national driving championship in the past five seasons, putting me in the rare company of Dean Chenoweth, Bill Muncey and Chip Hanauer. A total of six drivers in our 105-year history have four or more driving championships.

Looking back to 1988 and my first Unlimited ride, I was lucky to not get lapped twice let alone once in a heat. Sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs to get where you want! That’s probably happened to you too. If you’d like to ask questions or share your stories please e-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .