MIAMIBOYZ

As a T/M myself I can say that Tommy is a great choice here. I have been with him in Predator and numerous other boats and he can throttle without skipping a beat.

bri460

t2x nice catch it was a joke

WeaponX

The ladies call me by my first and last name first name LARGE.

northernoffshore

Toughest t man Chuck Norris.

RELIABLE ONE

The guys that made the most money
Steve Curtis
Jerry Gilbreath
John Tomlinson
Jim Dyke

T2x

Oh I think Bobby Moore made a buck or two in there someplace.

The biggest bargain, by far, is Joey Imprescia. He could still give JT or Stevie a run for someone's money......

T2x

Maximus

I bet you could too..... but not as fast as ScottyB

7xchamp

T2x: Thanks for the mention. Offshore is basically the only form of motorsports that, cares little about it`s history, other than John Crouse who wrote the book: Searace. In his book he took the time to research the sport and was able to put statistics together which is basically all we have from the past, and his book was more about the drivers and their stats opposed to the throttlemen who made the drivers winners, and established the stats. Unfortunatly his book only covered the sport to a certain era, which for the new guys few remember back then unless they had family or friends involved, and they went to the races when they were to young to understand. At one point in time when we were racing the HFC circuit with Micky Markoff someone was going to do baseball type cards with everyones stats. but again never happened. I guess to sum up this message re: best throttlemen, first anyone who has ever had the guts to throttle any kind of boat in rough seas, deserves an honor, and especially anyone who has won just one race, there is no other feeling like it, the mental and physical part is like nothing else. second everyone only focuses on the more present days, and very few take into consideration throttlemen from other countries who were and are greats, and from the start of offshore racing. I can think of so many from the past who were bad to the bone. ie: to mention a few, Davey Wilson, Jack Stuteville, Barry Cordingly, Knocky House, Don Aronow, Harold Smitty Smith, Bill Sirois, Wayne Vickers, Bud Larow, the list goes on, and I don`t even mention the throttlemen from other countries. I believe if you judge the best it should be on stats, not emotions, however until some of the guys take the time to sit down and go over there past, it`s emotion as to who is best, and there is nothing wrong with that, we all have our favorites, as someone compared Offshore to Golf, or any other sport, there is only one Tiger Woods, and his stats indicate he is the worlds # 1 player, stats also indicate the era etc. as do all other sports. My vote for the #1 is Johnnie T. he is our Tiger Woods. #2 Steve Curtis from the Cougar family that really started the offshore cats, great setup guy and not afraid of anything or any type of sea.. Both of these guys have the stats to support those positions and both ran and won in the old school days, JT ran the four motor super boats, as well as he is the star of today, and is one of the greatest representatives of the sport we could ever have. His name should be there with Dick Bertram, Sam Grifith, Odell Lewis, Carl Kiekhaefer,and Betty Cook etc. not only should is. Please why can`t we record offshore history like every other motorsport in existance. What makes us so different.Thanks for reading, its just my opinion.

stainless

Let's not forget old golden arm Tony Caligure! of ocean outboard fame !

BROWNIE

I will try to resist saying "You young whippersnappers"....When my gang started, there were no sterndrives, stainless props, etc. The engines were weak, the boats short, and they jumped a lot more. There was no trimming, trimtabs, etc. We looked for "co-drivers" with a size 3 hat, and size 20 neck. No bolsters. Races 8 to 24 hours long. With bronze props, 1 jump would ruin the props if you didn't throttle properly. I say Sam Griffith then Bobby Moore, then JT (It would be Steve C. if he wasn't so fricking ballsy)