05/27/2026
2016 KMHOF Hall of fame Member.
"They put a jacket and a helmet on me and I'd get in there and pump air for the fuel to get up to the carburetor. One day, one of the guys didn't show up and I got a chance to ride. Then I got a chance to drive it, and that was it."
That's how it started for "Wild Bill" Cantrell. A riding mechanic in two-man boats in the 1920s. A kid from West Point, Kentucky, whose job was to sit in a boat and pump air so the fuel would reach the carburetor. One absent driver. One chance. One ride. And that was it. For the next 40 years.
Bill Cantrell drove everything. One-lung outboards. Unlimited hydroplanes. Indianapolis Speedway cars. If it had an engine and moved, Cantrell drove it. The Hall of Fame bio calls him "a connection to a past when a daredevil would drive anything that was fast — car or boat." That's not nostalgia. That's a job description.
Eleven major race victories in the Unlimited Class of hydroplane competition between 1949 and 1964. The Unlimited Class — the top of powerboat racing. The fastest boats on water. Speeds that would terrify most people in a car, achieved in a machine that sits on top of a liquid surface with no brakes and no guardrails.
Before the Unlimiteds, Cantrell was a champion in the 725 Cubic Inch Inboard Class of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association during the 1930s and early 1940s. Champion many times over. Building a reputation on rivers and lakes across the Midwest before the big time came calling.
The big time came at the 1939 APBA Gold Cup in Detroit. Cantrell showed up with Why Worry — a boat powered by a Hispano-Suiza engine and a limited budget. He led heats one and two. Led the field. With less money and less equipment than the established teams. A propeller failure forced him out. But the racing world noticed. Wild Bill Cantrell was a competitor to be reckoned with.
Ten years later, he proved it. 1949 was Cantrell's greatest season. Five wins in six major races. Including the Gold Cup — the crown jewel of APBA racing — on the Detroit River. Driving Horace Dodge Jr.'s My Sweetie. Outrunning the best boats in the world.
When he brought My Sweetie back to the dock after winning the Gold Cup, Cantrell climbed out of the cockpit and kissed the deck of the boat. Then he pulled out his old dollar watch to check the time. To note his moment of triumph. Not with champagne. Not with a trophy overhead. With a kiss on the deck and a look at a dollar watch. That's Wild Bill.
He won the National High Point Championship three times — 1949 and 1950 with My Sweetie, and 1963 with Gale V. A span of 14 years between his first and third High Point titles. Still winning at the highest level after a decade and a half. Still competitive. Still Wild.
After retirement from driving, Cantrell didn't leave the sport. He designed boats. He served as shore mechanic. He won as a designer and builder many of the same trophies he had won as a driver. The same races. The same trophies. Different role. Same results.
Born January 31, 1908, in West Point, Kentucky. Died January 22, 1996 — nine days before his 88th birthday. A career that spanned from the 1920s to the 1960s. From pumping air in a two-man boat to winning the Gold Cup. From a kid who got a ride because someone didn't show up to a Hall of Famer who kissed the deck of his boat.
Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, Class of 1992. Category: Power Boats. Because Wild Bill Cantrell was born on water and never really left.
