Hydroplane driver Jimmy Shane part of team that put Jeff Bezos into space
Jimmy Shane declines to say what can be the more exciting event — winning a Gold Cup, or being part of a company that sends people into space.
The 33-year-old Shane had both experiences this month.
Shane won his fifth career APBA Gold Cup on July 5 in Madison, Ind. The space launch was Tuesday.
For Shane, they were both incredible moments.
“They both were historic, special days,” Shane said.
On Tuesday, he got to watch Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, 82-year aviator Wally Funk, and 18-year-old Oliver Daemon successfully launch into space in Blue Origin’s First Human Flight, going 62 miles up into the air before coming back to Earth.
The flight was a success.
The company has announced plans to fly two more human missions before the end of this calendar year.
Shane is part of the team that helped build the capsule. He is an integration engineer for Blue Origin, which is owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.
Shane is one of a handful of the roughly 3,600 employees at Blue Origin who are, or who have been, involved in unlimited hydroplane racing.
Others include current U-12 Graham Trucking crew chief Tom Anderson, former driver Jon Zimmerman, and former crew members (who worked for numerous teams) Dan Heye and Aaron Salmon.
Shane was in Texas for the launch and re-entry on Tuesday, and he couldn’t stop grinning.
“It was great to see the entire system work,” Shane said. “It was the most rewarding thing.”
Shane has worked at Blue Origin for eight years.
“I applied in 2013 while I was working for my family as a metal fabricator,” Shane said. “I was looking for a job. And found something called an integration engineer.”
He’s been part of the capsule assembly team, but he’s also helped with work on the rocket boosters and engine.
Just don’t call him a rocket scientist.
“No, I work with a lot of smart people,” he said. “I’m fortunate to gain knowledge from them.”
This weekend, Shane turns his attention back to the water, where he’ll be driving the U-1 Miss HomeStreet Bank in the HAPO Columbia Cup.
Winning that Gold Cup on July 5 was special for a few reasons: It was in the older Madison hull, the one built in 2007. And he did it in front of the home crowd.
“Dave Villwock had the better start,” Shane said. “But we got the inside lane. And we got through the first turn first. We put ourselves in a great spot. And we knew the 2007 hull would do well.”
Shane has been an unlimited driver for 11 years.
Besides the five Gold Cup wins, he’s won five consecutive national titles — six overall — and he has 20 career unlimited victories.
But winning the Gold Cup always is special — especially the most recent one. It is the boat racing’s equivalent of the Super Bowl, or NASCAR’s Daytona.
“It was one of the most historic victories,” Shane said. “It was my fifth Gold Cup win. It was the team’s sixth Gold Cup win. It was 50 years to the day Jim McCormick won the Gold Cup (in the Miss Madison in Madison, Ind.).”
Madison team manager Charlie Grooms agreed.
“There were just so many historical perspectives to that weekend,” Grooms said. “It was also the 60th anniversary of the Miss Madison racing. The team started in 1961.”
That weekend, Shane drove the older boat sponsored by Goodman Real Estate (owned by Seattle businessman John Goodman), and it was painted black, gold and white.
This weekend, the team is running the 2018 hull.
“That boat has been proven to be fast,” Shane said Friday. “We’re itching to get out there on the water.”
The 2018 boat originally was never in the Madison team’s plans for this season.
Grooms had made that clear during Spring Training in Lampson Pits in early June. The idea was to get through this short, pandemic season with the older hull.
But things change.
“The sponsor. Our goal is to always meet the expectations of our sponsors,” Grooms said.
In this case, HomeStreet Bank wanted the Madison team to run their blue and white painted U-1.
“Mr. Goodman has been very generous working through our needs, HomeStreet’s needs and his needs,” Grooms said.
Grooms added the team also wanted to get a good evaluation of both boats before getting ready for the 2022 season.
“(Crew member) Jimmy Gilbert does his tech evaluations, and we’ve got a good idea about the boats,” he said.
But Shane hasn’t been the only driver in the cockpit this season. Teammate Jeff Bernard raced in Alabama in June.
That was by design.
“Our team had specific goals,” Shane said. “One of the goals was to keep both drivers (Shane and Bernard) eligible by driving in races. We’ve done that, and both Jeff and I are good for the next two years.”
That’s why when you look at the drivers’ high-point standings, Shane sits in fourth with 1,900 points. He sits behind Andrew Tate (2,425), J. Michael Kelly (2,330), and Corey Peabody (2,075).
But if you throw in Bernard’s 1,029 points, the U-1 duo has a best 2,929 points among drivers.
Shane would like to finish this week like it started: on an all-time high.
“I just want two things this weekend. I want to hear one more sonic boom in the F-35 (jet in the airshow),” he said. “That would be two in one week. And I’d love for the boat to perform well.”
Whatever happens, it’s already been a great month of July for Shane.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” he said.
This story was originally published July 24, 2021 at 12:37 PM.