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TUNNEL
BOAT RACING WORLD CHAMPION
Fountain's
drive to dominate was
born at an early age.
At a time when most
kids were watching cartoons
on Saturday morning,
Reggie entered his first
boat race in 1954 at
the age of 14. After
winning everything there
was to win, he moved
into professional competition
in 1970. A year later,
while driving for Glastron
Boats, he was named
the Houston Gulf Coast
Marathon Association
Champion and the Outstanding
New Driver at the Lake
Havasu World Championships.
Relying on an uncanny
knack for speed and
the ability to reap
major gains from minor
adjustments, Fountain
launched a superstar-racing
career. The following
year, operating as an
independent, he made
boat-racing history
by setting two world
records and earning
three national closed-course
championships all in
one day at the Marine
Stadium in Miami. Fountain's
dominant performance
as an independent earned
him a place on the vaunted
Mercury Factory Team
where he teamed with
Bill Seebold and Earl
Bentz to become the
most dominant trio in
tunnel outboard history.
Sporting the Mercury
corporate colors, Fountain
won an amazing 20 of
31 races entered in
1973. In 1975, he followed
up by winning 10 of
19 events. But it was
the bicentennial year
of 1976 that will be
remembered as the pinnacle
of Fountain's tunnel
racing career. He finished
first in 15 of 23 races
entered, capped by a
well-deserved title
at the St. Louis OZ
World Championships.
Fountain won the prestigious
St. Louis race again
in 1978, then retired
from active competition
the following year to
pursue an extensive
R&D testing program
commissioned by Mercury
Marine while continuing
to manage his growing
real estate interests.
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