User:AmeliaJamesStinson/Alan stinson

Alan Stinson

Alan raced boats back in the late 60s and early 70s. He was waterskiing everyday with a friend (Buddy Burnette) in Jacksonville, FL when a boat racing series came to town. Never lacking from confidence, he bet his buddies he could win the race without any boat racing experience. He did in fact win and was hooked. He tossed the skis into the closet and began working on race boats. Boat racing was very young in this era and was much like the same era of Nascar. The Driver worked on his equipment with friends and family doing most of the pit crew jobs. His first big break came after meeting Paul Allison. Paul was considered by many to be the best race boat designer at the time and Alan knew driving for him would be a win win for both. Paul initially declined Alan's offer. This motivated Alan to beat Paul's current driver at the next race. He did beat him and that was the beginning of Alan and Paul's dominance in this era of boat racing. (Insert more awards and events here)

Alan's boat racing career was winding down and he wanted to get into designing Bass boats. In the mid-'70s Jerry Meyer from Skeeter hire him to designed the Skeeter Starfire. He later started his own boat company -- Nitro, which he sold to Bass Pro Shops in the late '80s. Bass Pro SHops still sells this line of boats today After that he went to work for Stratos.