James Sheppard – 15/10/08

The newly crowned double Evolution champion looks back two years and recalls how he came to join the #99 Fountain Worldwide team

After four years of winning the Honda championship from 2001 to 2004, my original plan in 2006 and 2007 was to race in the Class 1 championship for two years. I raced in Class 1 with Chris Parsonage in the #50 King of Shaves boat in 2006 and had a commitment for 2007. An opportunity also came up to join Fountain Worldwide in Powerboat P1, though.

The calendars didn’t clash, but the biggest problem was being away from my family and my business, because – with two championships – it was a lot of weekends away from home. My wife said it was okay, but the Class 1 side of the equation didn’t want me to do both championships. Then the UK Grand Prix came out of Class 1, but the Cowes GP was in Powerboat P1. On that ground, I had to do Powerboat P1.

Looking back, the biggest factor in my decision was the people. I didn’t know much about Fountain, even though I’d raced against them when I was driving a Skater in SuperVee. I knew they were ultra-competitive – portrayed as the bad boys of the sport at the time, almost wanting to win at all costs. They clearly knew what they were doing, though, and Reggie Fountain has always had a great name and a reputation in powerboat racing in the US.,

When I won the SuperVee title in the US in 2006, Reggie had been the big, bad opposition. I actually hadn’t spoken to him – I hadn’t met him. In the last race, three people were fighting for the title. It was absolutely brilliant racing. After we’d done, I went to Reggie to say that it was a great fight. He said: “You’re the guy driving the Skater. You drove so well – it was great fun racing against you”. He was so nice and gracious in defeat. He’s such a true ‘want to race; must win’ type of person, but he’s such a cool guy with it.

We had a good drink and a chat that Sunday night. So, when the opportunity came up with #99 Fountain Worldwide [team manager] Mark and [team boss/pilot] Craig Wilson, with their reputation, with Fountain’s reputation and the reputation of Ilmor as the engine suppliers, it was that combination of people in 2007 that got me interested. In many ways, we didn’t need to have the fastest boat, just the most reliable. But they’d always deliver on both fronts.

I knew what the Fountain boat was like and how well it performed, but I didn’t know whether it was better to have a big horsepower boat, a supercharged boat, a long boat, or a small, low horsepower boat. That was all Mark and Craig and Fountain and what they wanted to do. All I knew was that the people involved would put in the time and effort to make it win.

The guys are the first in the pits in the morning at 6am and the last to leave. There’s such a huge team spirit. No-one wants to let anyone else down. If we’d lost this year through something I’d done, I’d be so gutted for the guys and the efforts they put in. That’s the sort of relationship that we’ve built up over the years. If they want me to drive for them next year, I’d be absolutely delighted to sit alongside Craig again in the boat – we get on so well. As long as they keep asking me, I’m theirs.