"Mr. Bill" Seebold My dream come true

ISBN: 979-8-218-69453-1
By: Stoff, Rick

ABOUT THE BOOK

This is the story of the family boat racing dynasty launched on the Mississippi River by Bill Seebold Sr. in 1938. He became a national champion and Billy Seebold Jr. followed in his wake. Billy won his first race at the age of 11 and his last race at the age of 57, cementing his legacy as the world’s most successful powerboat racing driver. He earned 69 championships and an estimated 900 races. Billy claimed his first American Powerboat Association national points title in 1958. He won six national class championships in one weekend during 1970 at Alexandra, La., a feat still unmatched. His career took off in 1970 when he joined the legendary Team Mercury during a glorious period in boat racing. The Seebold name became renowned on lakes and rivers around the world. Mr. Bill, as he became known, won the Paris 6-Hour Race and six Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) world titles. He won the Duke of York Trophy in England five times, was North American champion five times and a seven-time winner of the St. Louis Grand Prix, known as the “Indy 500” of boat racing. A career highlight was winning two races in one day on the treacherous Bristol Docks course in 1982. In the second race Bill and his 2-liter Mercury engine topped a fleet of boats powered by 4-liter V-8s. The race is still considered by some as the greatest boat race ever in England. Billy received the UIM Medal of Honor in 1992 and has been inducted by the Gulf Marine Hall of Fame, Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame. In 2009 he was one of the first inductees to the International Hall of Fame for Formula One Boat Racing. During much of Bill’s career he competed against drivers young enough to be his sons. Two were his sons. They ended their careers as multi-time champions ranked first and second in career Formula 1 victories in North America.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rick Stoff

Rick Stoff grew up on the grounds of Lake Hill Speedway. His father was manager of the popular St. Louis-area stock car racing track. Stoff played high school basketball and edited his high school newspaper before graduating from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He joined the city desk staff of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat when it was one of the 20 largest newspapers in the country. Nonetheless, the paper folded after he reported and edited there for nine years. Then he embarked on a career of newspaper and magazine writing and editing, public relations and advertising Stoff was the St. Louis contributor for Time Magazine from 1977 through 1983. In 1983 he received the national aviation writing award from the Aviation/Space Writer’s Association for the series “Lambert: How Safe?” He earned regional awards from the association for space writing in 1980 and 1984. Stoff also has received awards for medical writing and motorsports photography and writing. Automotive and medical writing were among Stoff’s specialties for 40 years. In 1992 he published the book “Motorsports Medicine: Race Faster! Longer! Safer!” with co-author Dr. Harlen C. Hunter. Stoff served as a publicist for racing tracks and national racing series. His motorsports stories were published in several national magazines. For six seasons he drove a midget racing car on dirt tracks in Missouri and Illinois, scoring a career total of one feature race victory. In 1994 his racing connections led him to Bill Seebold. Stoff was retained by the sports marketing group of Anheuser-Busch Companies to handle public relations for the Seebold Bud Light Racing Team. He represented it for 13 seasons at boat races in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.