Top Five Tunnel Boat Drivers of All Time

[jackie wilson]

I believe that John Hill drove ON/OZ later in his career.

T2x

John did race Class O.E.for many years and was world champion. He came to the original formula one class, and after the politics the name was changed to Formula grand prix He won the series twice before his needless accident in the emirates,[ entirely due to to uim political stupidity ]. He never did race O.Z. He was a very nice ,quiet man and respected throughout the sport. Jw

[jackie wilson]

Just a little kick, nothin too exciting----------Gene did win the fi series in 86 i think and billy won the grand prix series. but these were the only 2 U.S drivers until scott won 2 fi titles. the period does cover more than 30 years. not really exciting biting or total dominance but i suppose you could put it under the heading of -------some butt-----just kidding, TOTAL DOMINANCE IS WHAT BILLY DID IN BRISTOL 7 TIMES.

[jackie wilson]

Think it's time to start another thread here
which is the toughest racecourse in the world? were talking inshore, and tunnel boats. the toughest i ever raced was Bristol on a bad day, second would have to be Paris in the 60's and early 70's before they stopped the barges running. and third Rotterdam at any time. Rollers come in like mountains and you just cannot take 'em on. I'm listening!!!!!!!!! JW.

[minto]

I don't think the Thames was too clever either.

[Jeff_G]

Jackie, Robertson won the World F1 3 times, so add him to Billy and all. I'm not ranking anyone though. You can also add all of his Offshore stuff recently. Including that insane kilo record with Reggie.
T2X he has gotten better in rough water, hasn't he?

[jackie wilson]

I don't think the Thames was too clever either.

Hiya David, forgotten the thames races, Don Ross won the L.M.B.R.C. race and Peter Inward the Battersea race. If i remember rightly there were only 3 boats left running, the floodtide debris and the dead donkey accounting for some forty boats. Biggest pile of boating debris in history. Even Chas Shooter in the Huge K.T. boat succumbed, Yeah that was a rough one

[T2x]

.
T2X he has gotten better in rough water, hasn't he?

Not really...... I think he keeps thinking the boats gonna flip when the bow goes up ........

BUT.... He's a wonderful driver and a great competitor....

[slowverado]

way late on the thread, but my 5 would be

1. Mr. Bill
2. Joe Burgess (could drive ANYTHING on water, and do it better than most)
3. Buck Thorton
4. Mike Seebold (maybe #3)
5. Molinari

There are so many that a list is really unrealistic. On any given day any one of the many greats could have beaten the others. However as far as being the baddest on the water for a LONG time, and doing it in many different classes. Billy Seebold is the man. He could strap in today and still be highly competitive if not dominant I'm sure.

[Mark75H]

What a lot of people don't know about Mr. Bill is that he had a long and very successful career as a kneeldown driver before he even started driving tunnels. He was already regarded as one of the all time greats before he ever took a ride in a sit down raceboat.

Renato also raced kneeldown with some success in Europe, but not to the degree of Mr. Bill.

[slowverado]

bottom line is that Bill could drag a boat out of the shop tomorrow, spend a few minutes in it at George Winter, and go over to Creve Coure next weekend and Dominate. The man is on the level that few others ever will be/have been. I was witness to God stopping the rain FOR Billy at St. Louis once...who else can do that?

[jackie wilson]

wasn't god, it was bill's old lady lynne. It's also said she can turn water into wine

[slowverado]

I remember one year, mid 90s I believe Billy won some kind of bonus or something of that nature, it was like an extra $1500, it was cash, Walt handed it to Bill, and Lynne yanked it right out of his hand and pocketed it. One of the funniest moments ever.

[jackie wilson]

All femalers are like that, or maybe it just happens in Saint louis. Against fierce competition from Jimmy H, i bought son mark in the Calcutta for $20. He finished a poor 5th. But Felix S, and Mikey were both underwieght and got disqualified so Mark was elevated to 3rd, i i won about $2500. Same damn thing, got given the money, but before i could close my fist around it, Jilly grabbed it and spent the whole wad with Charles the Truth [ fenton pawn and honesty shop]. I weep every time she puts that damn ring on ' cos i know she's taking me out to dinner AND I HAVE TO PAY.!!!!

[slowverado]

I remember that, if Mikey had just put the damn thing on the trailer after winning he probably would have been ok, but he did about 10 victory laps. The scale wasn't working real good that day anyways, it was reading negative numbers when unloaded and crap, it was a screwed up deal that Mike got hosed on.

[jackie wilson]

Y'know Kipling once wrote a poem called "IF". But in any kind of racing there has to be rules. ie. weight , length, engine size, skidlids, lifevests, and all those little niggly things that somebody put together so we could go "boatracing". If you don't stick to those rules, you get thrown out. No good bitching about it,. If you don't like it , join a club and put your point of view to them, rules can be changed, but not during a race. If you think about it, the minimum weight rule was put there for a number of good reasons. As i recall, only Mike and Felix didn't make the grade, could have been that both the boats were brand new that week and there was a shortage of the regular plywood so they had to make do with some of that lightweight stuff just happened to be hanging round the shop that week.Anyway scales are temperamental little jiggers, put i don't think they have a mind of their own yet. Just pullin' your chain Matt.