A month ago, Jimmy Shane was celebrating his seventh National High Points National Drivers title in San Diego, piloting unlimited hydroplane’s undisputed top boat, the U-1 Miss HomeStreet.
Thursday, he announced he was retiring from the sport at 34 years old.
The Miss Madison team announced the retirement of Shane, who won his seven drivers titles, tied for second on the sport’s all-time list, in 12 seasons. Shane has 25 career wins, which is tied for fourth in the sport’s history, and five Gold Cups.
Shane, who is originally from Baltimore, lived in Maple Valley until last winter when he moved to the San Antonio area. He has two young sons.
“I’m the kind of guy who sets goals and makes plans and my goal now is to go to every sporting event and every extracurricular activity with my kids that I can,” Shane told the Madison (Ind.) Courier. “Colton test-drove a junior-class hydroplane last year and he plans on doing that next summer and that’s what I’m going to be doing. I’m going to be his crew chief.”
Shane, as he did when lived in the Puget Sound area, works for Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin as an integration engineer test and flight operations.
Shane broke through in 2012 with the FormulaBoats.com, driving one of the former Miss Budweiser hulls owned by Ted Porter. He earned his first win in the Tri-Cities that year. The next year, he drove the boat, with Graham Trucking as the sponsor, to the national title.
When Shane, who is from a boat-racing family, was 13 he was in Seattle for Seafair as his mom, Robin, who won an inboard championship, was in town for a racing convention. He got a tour of the Miss Budweiser shop in Tukwila and he said seeing that boat hooked him on the sport.
“I told myself in my head that I’m going to drive that boat one day,” Shane told The Times in 2019. That boat was what Shane drove to his first title.
After the 2013 season, he was hired by the Miss Madison team (which had Oh Boy! Oberto as its sponsor then) to replace the retiring Steve David for what has become the top seat in the sport. Shane paid it of by winning the next four national titles and cementing himself as one of the best drivers in the sport’s history. The Miss Madison team won eight national team titles with Shane, but he didn’t win the drivers title in 2021 as he split time with Jeff Bernard.
“Jimmy has been a phenomenal member of the team, and a member of the family for a long time. He has certainly achieved monumental things, personally, professionally and for the team and for our sponsor partner,” Miss Madison president Charlie Grooms told the Courier. “We’re extremely happy for our time together and certainly want to make this transition celebratory. More than anything else, we just want to give a heartfelt thank you from the team and organization for what Jimmy has brought to us.”