Champion racer and driver of the record-setting T-17 hydro “Scandalous” Kelly Shane sustained a serious back injury during a Jersey Speed Skiff racing accident at the recent World Championships held in Valleyfield, QC, Canada. Doctors at a Montreal hospital surgically stabilized Kelly’s spine and she is now home in Maryland recovering. Although we all know that Kelly will travel the “road to recovery” as quickly as she drives her T boat, please help speed the process and keep Kelly and the entire Shane family in your thoughts and prayers.

REGION FOUR PROFILE: Valerie Wilson

Longtime racer Valerie Wilson has been active in the Region Four boat-racing family for nearly two decades, crossing her first finish line in 1989. The Wilson family has been at the heart of Region Four far longer than that, however; Valerie’s father Durward Wilson has been involved in the sport since 1978, and she’s been front and center since she was only nine years old!

Valerie’s first ride was a 1.5 Litre Stock, painted solid pink from stem to stern. She recalls that during the first race she won, in Essex Maryland, she kept looking around from the front of the pack, “to make sure I didn’t do anything wrong.” Beating out nearly a dozen boats that race, Valerie says she couldn’t quite believe it was happening, but crossing the finish line ahead of everyone else put her “on top of the world.”

Even that memory can’t compare, though, to Valerie’s first North American Championship, which she won in Rocky Fork, Ohio. She had flipped her hydro just two weeks before and recalls being “really nervous getting back in that boat.” Those nerves didn’t get in the way of her taking the checkered flag, though; she says she was going so fast she was wondering, “What did my dad do to this engine?” Combined with Valerie’s driving chops, whatever he did paid off; Valerie won the North American Championship, a moment she describes as “the best feeling in the world.”

Other than her family, of course, Valerie says her favorite racer is Tommy Thompson. She’s seen him race in just about every class, from Jersey Speed Skiffs to Unlimited Lights. She’s impressed by Tommy’s ability to adapt to any class; “He does a great job in anything he drives.” Of the boat racing community in general, Valerie considers most everybody involved to be like family. When asked what she thinks could improve the sport, Valerie responds, “I would like to see the boat racing community get along.” She recalls a time when everybody at a race would help each other; “Now it seems some people are trying to destroy the competition.” Of course, boat racing is a competitive sport, Valerie explains, but she fears that if racers destroy or steal equipment from someone else, then new teams might think twice before they buy a raceboat. It’s important, she says, to maintain the overall sense of family to ensure that the sport continues to grow and succeed.

When she’s not working on her family’s team, Valerie is a nurse with a family practice. She says she’s heard amazing stories from her patients and often gets asked questions like “how can you drive a hydroplane knowing how dangerous it is?” Valerie just tells them that boat racing is her passion; she says, “I love the feeling when you’re skimming across the water and going fast and having that blood pumping. I still get that feeling now, even though I can’t drive any more.”

Although this champion has logged many miles on the course in her ten years of racing, unfortunately she sustained a neck injury that keeps her on shore these days. Valerie now owns the Pink Panther II, which is driven by her brother DJ and crewed by her father, who does all the engine work as well as many other things around the pits. Her uncle Glenn and sister-in-law Lisa are both crew members as well, and her mom Diane runs the excellent Region Four homepage! (You can check it out at region.freehomepage.com.) In fact, it’s the family atmosphere that keeps Valerie so involved in the sport she loves. Getting to spend time with her parents, her uncle, her sister-in-law, and her brother has kept them very close” As Valerie says, “I’m very proud to say my family and I have been in this sport 30 years this year.”

As a final note, Valerie wants us to know that her brother DJ is serving a second term in Iraq. Let’s all keep DJ and the entire Wilson clan in our thoughts and prayers this summer.

—Caroline Fleming & Mike See