Great bio - thank you for sharing!

I know the author :kiss:

Great BIO

Good luck with what ever he does. They are large shoes to try and fill.

A few pics of many ... :drink:

Dave I was there when you wheeled that pallet of Budweiser into Haggins pit. Didn't you lose a bet or something? That was a fun day(every day was a fun day in the Miss GEICO pits). :)

Thats where I first met him !! Poker running with that big OL before they converted it into a raceboat

So what does the future hold for Team Geico? That's the real question.

"congrats" on moving from one hole to dump money into (boat racing) to an even bigger hole (horse racing):drink:

I would love nothing more than see them retire the Turbine and get into a Super Cat Class and see how they measure up to Talk'n Trash, JD Byrider and WHM.... :evilb:

Now its should read JMF

John moving forward

I never had the pleasure of meeting you However I would
like to thank you for taking Turbine boats where they are today.
If it was not for you there would not be a turbine class.


Good luck in your future endeavors I,m sure whatever it is there
will be Big Big Smiles:drink:

Who's going to buy all that stuff?? Haggin must have at least $5m in team assets. Whispering Turbines might buy the motors but who's going to buy all the rest??

Are you kidding ?

It's Miss Geico. You can't sell her... ! :eek:

She belongs in a "Hall of Fame" Museum with other Offshore boats with great achievements.

If not, it would make a great Canopy for the entrance to Geico's Corporate Headquarter's entrance to their building.:evilb:

It least from my seat, Haggin has proven that those details are irrelevant.

He can just peel the top off of one of his raceboats, & have an instant poker run machine to play with.

If he wants to go compete in a different class of raceboat, he'll go compete with a different class of raceboat, & be a problem for anyone else competing in the class he chooses http://smiliesftw.com/x/yumslap.gif

Ummm...does the word "retire" not get your attention? Stick a fork in Haggin he's DONE. He'll probly keep the 51OL because that's his personal boat but he'll put everything else up for sale.

My $.02

At any rate we'll have to wait until Marc and/or Scotty gives us the word. Maybe the Sheik from Qatar will buy the team...

DID YOU MISS THE PART THAT HAGGIN IS RETIRING? NOT THE TEAM.

Geico is continuing involvement, that will support the efforts in any class or organization they choose.

He Steps Back To Solve The Sbi Problem ?

Care to explain that ? :confused:

No, why should it?

Haggin's not retiring from being financially capable of not having to care whether his boats sell or not. With sponsorship in place at least in the short term, he may just monitor the teams success, like he already said he was going to do.

DS is "retired" as well, but still finds the time to put up new Top Gun records for people to chase, between his Hopscotch action. :drink:

Lawsuit Falling Out,geico Might Need At Least
One Boat To Race With

Not sure how Haggin's retirement would effect anything that pertains to the lawsuit. He was not the one the filed it.
As I recall, it was Geico Corporate "The Company" that filed the lawsuit, not Haggin.

So Haggin was just the front man? GEICO owned the team not Haggin? He sure spent a lot of his own money being a front man. Who's going to take his place?

I think the only logical person would be you along with Jimmy Carter in case any negotiations need to be had to hold a race in a Communist or Radical Islamic country :evilb:

Now THAT right there is funny!

Tim, you are absolutely correct. I have a copy of the filing, which was provided to me by the attorney for Geico when I reported on the lawsuit. Mr. Haggin's name is not listed anywhere on the filing. Geico is listed as the plaintiff. End of discussion on this one.

As for what will happen to the AMF/Geico team, I don't think anyone really "knows." This is new stuff that was announced just four days ago.

Geico and AMF should bring back The Factory Classes.

Agree... Great racing!

Wouldn't that be up to the factories???:lolhit::party-smiley-004::drink:

The most competitive racing I have ever witnessed were the world championships held in St. Pete in 2000.

The "class attendance" was unbelievable.

I remember (approximately)

15 - 18 F-1
20 - 22 F-2 boats (including the one Stinson put upsidedown LOL!)
17-18 Supercats

Absolutely amazing racing to watch

Sarasota 1998 my first race
24 Factory 2 boats
SBI Key West Worlds 18 at the start!!!
That was great racing. Back when racers wanted to race other boats not just collect trophies and flags and make new classes!!!

Those were the days when "those who knew better" complained endlessly about the rules and the sanctioning body, wasn't it? :party-smiley-004:

Hindsight is not always 20-20, but it's usually much better that what you see through the red mist...

Absolutely the worst idea ever in the history or offshore racing was to get rid of the factory classes. That was the only time I really followed offshore racing closely. That was a fun and exciting time that at a minimum, doubled attendents, participants and coverage. They really should bring the class back.

The manufacturers would be on board if the sanctioning bodies would bring the rules back.

Single 525 V - 26-32'
Twin 525 V - 35-40'
Twin 525 Cat - 30-36'
Twin Outboard Cat - 30-36'
Twin 850 Cat - 36-40'
Twin Unlimited Cat - 40' plus
Twin Unlimited V - 40' plus
Twin Turbine Cat - 40' plus

8 classes should be enough.
Crash tested canopies required for over 100mph.

I know there is a lot more but this is just my gut feeling.

Brilliant idea!! I'll be the front man and Jimmy will be my negotiator! Russia and Libya here we come! :lolhit: :angry-smiley-038: :rolleyes:

How about we just cut it down to this?
Single 525 V - 26-32'
Twin 525 V - 35-40'
Twin 525 Cat - 30-36'
Twin Outboard Cat - 30-36'

Because then the millionaires won't be able to play with their big toys...

Looks to me like the length / hull are great. Replace the 525 with a spec 500 horsepower engine and you'd be perfect!

Spec engines are both the answer and the problem. Ideally, you want more than one manufacturer involved, but they have to have equivalent packages. Right now, that's a bit tough. The 525 is certainly a proven package, and the experience is there from before in terms of providing certification (Innovation or an equivalent company). Given the rumors from the last go-round 10 years ago, I'd make everyone turn the ECU's in after every session, and fit them with data loggers to watch for tampering.

What twin cat outboard > 32' ?

28'-32' And more Estuaries!

Better yet swap props and ECUs at the beginning of every race, everyone just grabs one from a box. But then SOME corporate sponsors might object.....:angry-smiley-038: