Photo Courtesy of James Crisp

In April 2005, Jimmy King was a retired hydroplane driver, hard at work running his masonry business near his Wales, Mich., home. Then he got an unexpected phone call from Ed Cooper. Longtime U-3 driver Mitch Evans also was swamped with business – so swamped, in fact, that he was unable to leave his Lake Chelan marina long enough to race hydros. Cooper and Evans talked, and they agreed King would be ideal to drive the U-3 in Evans’ absence.

In 2010, King begins his 6th season in the drivers seat for the Go3 Racing Team.

“Jimmy’s sort of been disregarded by some hydro people, and we think undeservedly so,” Cooper said. “He’s a good fit for our team.”

King helmed the Allison-powered boat in 2005 through 2007, saying he’ll continue until Evans returns. “This is Mitch’s race boat, and I’m just filling in,” King said at the time, before his “filling in” stretched to three years. “It’s a greater opportunity for me than it is for the Coopers. I’m the lucky one. This is the best boat I’ve ever had a chance to drive.”

And King has driven quite a few, especially in the Grand Prix class, where he won three national championships, three world championships, and three Detroit Silver Cups. King stepped up to the big Unlimited-class boats in 1994 when he drove Miss Exide II, earning Rookie of the Year honors. He went on to drive hydros like Miss Wellness Plan, Miss E-Lam Plus, and LLumar.

King won several heats and stood on the podium at several races as a top-three finisher, but he never took home a first-place regatta trophy. He thinks Cooper’s boat offers a chance to change that. “It’s a foregone conclusion this boat can win,” King said. “I want to continue what Mitch was doing with it. We had the Nashville race won in 2005 until the prop shaft let go near the finish line. I’m looking forward to finishing the job.

“The Coopers are outstanding people,” he continued. “They provide cream of the crop equipment. In 14 years of racing Unlimiteds, I’ve never been in a boat where everything was tailored to fit the way it’s supposed to. Until now. There’s none of that ‘close enough’ stuff with the Coopers. Over the years they’ve always done things right, regardless of the caliber of their equipment. Then it all turned around for them in 2002 with the new boat, and I think it’s great.”

King’s most-gratifying accomplishment to date has been taking Miss E-Lam Plus from a boat that didn’t qualify to being a top-three finisher at every event the following year. “It was a team effort, not me alone,” he said. “That was pretty cool.”

After taking the seat of the only piston powered hydroplane left on the circuit in 2005, King guided the U-3 to a 4th place finish in the National points and a 3rd overall in 2006. Despite missing the season closer in San Diego in '07, King took 7th in National points.

2008 was a season the entire Go3 Racing Team would love to soon forget. Many engine failures all season long had King on the end  of a tow rope rather than racing his hydroplane. A 10th place in overall points was the end result.

King and the rest of the Go3 team came back with vengance in '09. A 2nd place finish at Seattle's Seafair was the hilite of the season. A Heat 2A victory over all the top boats confirmed that the team had finally overcame the engine gremlins of the '08 season. At the Evansville Thunder on the Ohio, the team's last race for '09, King had victory all but secure. On the third lap of the 5 lap final, a prop broke and the Master Tire slowed to a stop.There was no way he would be caught, except for mechanical failure. King had the U-3 humming and showing the field the way around the Ohio river course.

The rest of the H1 Unlimited fleet now knows the Go3 Racing Team is ready to stand high atop the winners podium in 2010.