It’s a career that has featured celebratory stands on top of his hydroplane and spectacular flips that nearly ended his life.

And the career that arguably has been the greatest in unlimited hydroplane history started in Port Orchard.

As a youth, Dave Villwock would have his mother drive him down to the foot ferry and he would ride to Bremerton to help his uncle, Al Villwock, with his 135 hydroplane.

“When I got old enough, I got a chance to get qualified in one of the boats he had and I guess I was good enough that other people wanted me to drive their boat,” said Dave Villwock, adding that he started racing Crackerbox boats at 16. “I guess if you’re too stupid to quit, you end up here.”

Decades later, Villwock’s streak of first-place finishes in the finals ended Sunday at Stan Sayres pits as he placed fourth. Despite his finish in the Chevrolet Cup at Seafair, Villwock (7,794 points) leads Sunday champion Steve David (6,429), who is in second. With one race left — the Sept. 16 San Diego Thunderboat Regatta — Villwock is poised to earn his first national championship since 2004 and the ninth of his career.

THE MAKING OF A LEGEND

Villwock, 53, graduated from South Kitsap High School in 1972 and used his experience in the family plumbing and heating business in Bremerton to race limited hydroplanes and work on rudders and skid fins before earning his first job on the unlimited circuit as a crew member for Miss Circus Circus in 1989.

“The people at Circus saw (my work) and they asked me to get involved with their team,” Villwock said. “I told them I thought (Chip) Hanauer was the way to go at the time because I didn’t know anything about driving race boats at the time. Chip learned a lot from Bill Muncey and I was lucky to be in the position to work with Chip closely to learn a lot for two years and learn from the very best.”

Hanauer had a reputation for defeating the Miss Budweiser boat, which had more resources than others in the sport, and eventually was hired in 1992 by Bud owner Bernie Little. The work Villwock did with the Miss Circus Circus team helped earn him his first job as an unlimited driver and he won his first race in 1992 as pilot of the Coors Dry.

“His intelligence and work ethic (stood out),” Hanauer said. “He would do anything to win.

“Frankly, when we started driving unlimiteds, I didn’t think he was all that good. But I think anything Dave sets his mind to he’s going to become good. If Dave decided to become really good at croquet, he would spend every waking moment becoming good at croquet. If he decides he wants to be good at it, watch out.”

That experience led him into the driver’s seat of Fred Leland’s Pico American Dream, and he won Seafair for the first time in 1994. His first national championship came two years later.

At that point, Villwock said he thought it would be fun to try something new. Ron Hornung told him about an opportunity to work on the IRL auto racing series with Kelley Racing and Villwock thought it “looked like a fun thing to do.”

But Little had other ideas. Hanauer left the sport early in the 1996 season after a nearly fatal accident in Detroit and a successor was needed.

“After that, Bernie approached and said he would like to talk me out of leaving, so it kind of fell out of the sky,” Villwock said.

A DEVASTATING INJURY

Villwock could break Muncey’s record as soon as the next year, but that almost didn’t happen. Those within the sport like to say that only one hydroplane racer, George Stratton in 2000, has been killed since Dean Chenoweth’s fatal crash in 1982 in the Tri-Cities. A decade ago, Villwock also nearly lost his life at the same site.

In the first turn of the final, the boat blew over and landed on its back. Villwock wasn’t breathing when paramedics pulled him out.

“I made it through the sheet-metal work for years and years and had all my fingers and toes,” Villwock said. “I thought I made it out of losing fingers, but the boat just happened to land the wrong way at the wrong time. It’s too bad I had to lose a couple of fingers, but we redesigned the entire cockpit at Budweiser when that happened and hopefully no one else will have to suffer those types of injuries.”

But instead of it slowing him down, Villwock seemed to improve after the accident. He won the national championship every year between 1998-2004, placing first at Seafair six times. Bud also won 22 of 28 races at one point with Villwock.

Despite the injury and his subsequent success, Villwock never developed the fan support Hanauer and Muncey enjoyed. Dr. Ken Muscatel, who has competed in the unlimited ranks since 1991 and is vice chairman of the American Boat Racing Association suggests Villwock has a “Darth Vader” persona.

That doesn’t mean Muscatel finds him unlikable, though.

“Dave sometimes can rub people the wrong way,” said Muscatel, who considers Villwock a friendly acquaintance. “He doesn’t lack self-confidence. He doesn’t sweet-talk anyone. He’s not a negotiator.”

Hanauer said respects Villwock, but agreed that his interpersonal skills aren’t strong.

Villwock said he isn’t bothered by the criticisms.

“I’m just trying to be known as the hardest racer anybody ever saw,” he said. “I think that’s a kinship I have with Dale Earnhardt. He didn’t really care whether people liked him or didn’t — he was there to race and it wasn’t a popularity contest. I sleep at night knowing I raced as hard as I could and that doesn’t always make everybody happy.”

LIFE IS A RACE

When the hydroplane season ends in September, Villwock enjoys flying airplanes and running remote-controlled boats. In winter, he fills his need for speed on the slopes.

“The Northwest is great for that at that time of the year,” he said. “When it’s raining down here, it’s whitewater up there.”

Of course, skiing only is an option for one season and Villwock found himself looking for a job when Bud left the sport after the 2004 season. He said he had discussions with crew chief Erick Ellstrom about driving the Miss Elam Plus, but Ellstrom instead hired J.W. Myers.

The relationship with Myers didn’t last long when the Elam suffered extensive damage at the 2005 Gold Cup race in Detroit. Ellstrom fired Myers and hired Villwock, which caused some controversy. Some believed Myers wasn’t given a fair opportunity.

Ellstrom disagrees with that sentiment.

“He flipped the boat in Detroit and my feeling and fear was that he wasn’t up to snuff for the next race,” he said.

After driving the Bud for eight seasons, Villwock maintained he wouldn’t accept just any job to get back into the sport. He was happy to take the call from Ellstrom, though.

“They were having some problems and I think Erick was trying to find the right pieces to the puzzle,” Villwock said.

The team has been successful with wins in the final heat in four of its five races this season — one more first-place finish than he had a year ago.

Now, the driver with the highest winning percentage will try and become the sport’s winningest racer.

“I don’t think about it much,” said Villwock, adding that he plans to race as long as he is competitive and healthy. “I know it’s going to be a difficult task to do. To win any of these races, luck has to be on your side.”

The luck not only to win races, but to stay alive.

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.