Hydro racing’s all-time winningest driver is back in the cockpit. 1st stop Tri-Cities

If there is anything the world of sports has taught us this year, it’s that maybe age doesn’t matter.

• Tom Brady, 43, quarterbacked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Super Bowl title in February.
• John Force, 72, won the Funny Car title in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in North Carolina on May 16;
• A week later, Phil Mickelson, 50, wins the PGA Championship;
• A week after that, 46-year-old Helio Castroneves wins his record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500.

“It’s been a good year for old guys,” said Dave Villwock on Friday.

Villwock hopes to keep that trend going in 2021. At the age of 67, unlimited hydroplane racing’s winningest all-time driver, with 67 victories, is back in the cockpit of a boat this season.

He’s driving the U-40 Miss Beacon Plumbing for owners Kelly and Sharon Stocklin.

Villwock and five other drivers tested their unlimiteds on the Columbia River on Friday, trying to shake the dust off of a fleet that hasn’t raced competitively since September 2019 in San Diego.

For Villwock, the dust might seem a little older.

His last competitive heat was in 2014, with Billy and Jane Schumacher’s U-37.

Since then, he and his wife Holly have been flying model airplanes nationally and internationally — Holly calls out the instructions, while Dave makes the plane do the instructed moves.

Asked about his driving abilities after being on the beach for seven years, and with his age, Villwock believes he’s still got the skills to be a championship driver.

“My reflexes are still good,” he said. “My dad was a Golden Gloves boxer, and I have his fast hands. I have really good hand-eye coordination.”

While the Stocklins have raced the 440 Bucket List Racing boat since 2012, the couple made the move last year to purchase a hull from Go Fast, Turn Left which was never the original intention.

“This was supposed to be a partnership between me, Greg O’Farrell and Mike Jones,” said Stocklin. “I’d provide the propellers. O’Farrell would provide the hull. And Jones would provide the engines and equipment.”

But O’Farrell and Jones dropped out, leaving Stocklin with a T-55 turbine powered system that none of his team had ever worked on before.

Stocklin’s 440 boat runs a smaller powered setup. So Stocklin invited Villwock to join the team.

“I told him ‘Dave, here is an opportunity,” said Stocklin. “If you and I do this, we have to see it through.”

It was a handshake agreement.

“It’s been fun,” said Villwock. “Kelly and Sharon got the opportunity to get this equipment. I was a bit apprehensive at first.”

But really, not for long. It’s just that the original intention was for Villwock not to be the driver.

“When we got this boat, he was going to set it all up,” said Stocklin. “We hadn’t talked about him driving.”

Behind the wheel

But Bill Cahill, the owner of Beacon Plumbing, decided he wanted to sponsors the hydroplane. But he also wanted Villwock to drive the boat. That settled that.

“Even if we had another driver for the boat, I’d still have Dave drive it once in a while,” Stocklin admitted.

The team plans to run both boats in all H1 Unlimited races this season — including the HAPO Columbia Cup on July 23-25.

“We were actually out running this boat last year in Pateros,” said Villwock. “I could tell we’ve got things to fix. We had a control problem with the canard. But it’s just a matter of getting things adjusted.”

He said this boat has a lot of similarities of the last boat he drove, that U-37 that the Schumachers owned.

“The first time I went out in that boat in the Tri-Cities, it got up to 128 mph and just wasn’t balanced,” said Villwock. “I came in and said I can’t drive this boat. But we made adjustments, and by Sunday we had a lap of 163 mph.”

In the driver’s seat

Villwock has raced unlimiteds for 22 years. He won his very first race as a driver in Ron Jones, Jr.’s Coors Dry in 1992, after being Chip Hanauer’s crew chief in the Miss Circus Circus.

In 1933, Villwock drove for Circus Circus, then moved over to Fred Leland’s PICO camp for the next three years.

He’d had enough success that Miss Budweiser owner Bernie Little hired him to drive the boat, and eventually be team manager, for eight years (1997-2004).

For eight years beginning in 2005, Villwock drove for Erick Ellstrom and his family in the ELAM/Spirit of Qatar boats.

After taking 2013 off, Villwock came back the next year for Schumacher.

His resume speaks for himself: 10 national high points titles, 10 APBA Gold Cup victories, and of course those all-time high 67 victories.

Hard reputation

Sure, he has had his detractors over the years. His hard-racing style rubs some drivers the wrong way. And incidents where he purposely ran over bouys in Qatar a few years back didn’t do his reputation any good.

“Here’s the deal with Dave, after all of the time he and I’ve been friends,” said Stocklin. “You are on his side, or you are an opponent. It’s one or the other when it comes to racing. That’s his job. He does his job, and he does it very well.”

One of the reasons he’s been so good over the years is he’s worn a lot of hats: driver, crew chief, team manager, propellor specialist.

About 20 years ago, the Herald did a story in which we would put together $1 million to start a fake race team. We gave everyone we asked in Lampson Pits complete anonymity with their answers as who should be in each position on this team.

When the team was completed, Villwock was picked to drive the boat, be the prop specialist, the crew chief, and the team manager.

Many of the people interviewed answered in ways such as, “I hate to pick him, but he’s the best at (pick the job).”

Good friends

Stocklin and Villwock have been good friends for years.

“We used to race flat bottom boats together,” Villwock said.

In 1997, Villwock asked Stocklin — a pretty good prop specialist himself — to join him in starting a long-term, in-house propellor manufacturing project, which continues today.

Stocklin will be the 440’s crew chief, while Troy Evans — who has been with the team for years — will be the U-40’s crew chief.

Villwock will also carry the job title of team manager, for both boats.

Another key, said Villwock, is some veteran race boat crew members have joined the Bucket List Racing team this year.

Dan Walters, Adam Bratvold and Bob Burks carry years of experience with successful, winning teams.

“It’s nice to have that experience and talent on the team,” said Villwock. “When you bring talent like that around, everyone learns.”

As for Villwock, he understands that boat racing is in his blood, and he can’t get it out of his system.

He appreciates the opportunity to race again.

But when asked if he knows when it’s time that he can’t race anymore, he relates to an older crew member from years ago, who wanted to be on a race team until he died.

“He said, ‘Fire me. I’m too stupid to quit,’” said Villwock.

This story was originally published June 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.