Racing with Wild Bill Strain

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WILD BILL STRAIN

Wild Bill caught the hydro bug. He started coming to the races after helping his friend Marty Porter fix a 5 Litre boat with a blown hole in the fiberglass.   

Although Wild Bill became a rookie to hydro racing he had been drag racing since he was 16 years old. Will Bill Said, "I drag raced Super Pro for years. It runs 9.07 seconds and I went 147 MPH in a standing quarter. There were a 147 cars last year in the class I wanted to run, there's only about 20 in this 5 Litre hydroplane class, yeehaaaa. This is a lot better adrenaline fix, you get 15 to 20 minutes in hydros compared to 8 or 9 seconds in a car. And there's lots of water to cool off in."

Purchasing a 5 Litre boat Wild Bill began the qualifying heat process. Wild Bill said, "We have to run 8 heats and start where the officials tell us to start. Basically we start about 10 seconds back from the faster boats that have been racing for years. Maybe not faster, but the drivers who have been racing for years just to keep us all safe."

He's a Chevrolet guy who says "Just that I am loving life, you have to live for all your worth, you never know when its going to be over. When asked about his three best strengths as a driver he said "Thats hard for me to say. I guess I just don't have enough brains to know better than to just keep her on the deck. You just have to trust your piece, I built my boat from scratch, I did all the work on it."

Wild Bill got his capsule from J.R. in July of 2002. He said "I had put a motor in it just to drive it before I put the money into buying the capsule. Coming from my drag racing background I have been on fire a couple of times in a race car and I know safety equipment, I love my safety equipment, so of course I bought the best capsule on the market. I turned the boat over in the front yard to set the belly pan and the neighbors thought I had lost it. Basically, everything on this boat has been a learning experience, and I have done it myself. I set the capsule, thats the first paint I have ever shot in my life, I did all the body work, all the paint, I built the motor from scratch. P.D., Gary helped me with the machine work, but I assembled the motor. I had a few learning experiences with that too, stumbled a little bit, but thats how we learn."

Building his own boat with the best equipment available made Wild Bill feel more confident, saying "You have to trust your piece." He describes himself as  just a go get em kind of guy, he tries to always be happy, and chase that adrenaline fix. Other than Marty who is a racer himself, his crew were new to hydro racing and we're all loving it. Wild Bill said with a laugh "I just dove in head first. I don't even think I looked off the high dive, is there water in that bowl."

There isn't much outside of racing for Wild Bill except Speed Channel which is the only channel that works on his TV, its all racing, just all racing. He likes to slalom ski, has made three buoys at 28 off, and he can barefoot water ski doing spin turns, hasn't long lined yet, but off the boom and a handle, he can do spin turns and all that in his tournament ski boat. And yes, he can swim too.
Racing with Wild Bill Strain
INSIDE LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENING WITH WILD BILL STRAIN
Racing with Wild Bill
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