Billy Boat

William Leonard Boat (born February 2, 1966) is an American former open-wheel driver who raced in the Indy Racing League.

Racing career Boat began his career in USAC, where he won eleven straight Western Series races on his way to the 1995 championship. He won the Turkey Night Grand Prix midget car race in 1995. He was a three-peat winner in the event after winning in 1996 and 1997.

Boat made his first IRL start in the 1997 Indianapolis 500 driving for A. J. Foyt Enterprises. In 1998, he won six poles, including five in a row, both league records, and won his first race at Texas Motor Speedway. It was his only official IRL victory. (He appeared to have won the same race in the 1996-97 season, but a scoring error meant he finished second). He is one of the few drivers with the distinction to have started from both the pole (1998) and final 33rd (2000, 2001) starting position in the Indy 500. He has not appeared in an IRL race since the 2003 Indianapolis 500.

Personal life Boat is a graduate of Arizona State University. In 1986 he founded Billy Boat Performance Exhaust, a company that makes performance exhaust systems for luxury and high performance cars, light trucks, and high performance watercraft. Boat has four children, with three girls and one boy.

In 2014, Boat's son Chad began competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, driving a family-owned No. 84 Chevrolet.

Motorsports career results

American open–wheel racing results (key)

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

Indianapolis 500 YearChassisEngineStartFinishTeam 1996 Reynard 94i Ford XB V8tDNQ Pagan Racing 1997 Dallara IR7 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 22 7 A. J. Foyt Enterprises 1998 Dallara IR8 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 1 23 A. J. Foyt Enterprises 1999 Dallara IR9 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 3 3 A. J. Foyt Enterprises 2000 G-Force GF05 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 31 15 A. J. Foyt Enterprises 2001 Dallara IR-01 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 32 9 CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports 2002 Dallara IR-02 Chevrolet Indy V8 23 18 Agajanian/Boat Racing 2003 Dallara IR-03 Chevrolet Indy V8 29 32 Panther Racing

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series NASCAR Busch Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Pts Ref 2003 Braun Racing 30 Dodge DAY CAR LVS DAR BRI TEX TAL NSH CAL RCH GTY NZH CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA PPR IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM ATL PHO29 CAR HOM 135th 76