By CHRISTOPHER ANDERSSON
North County Outlook
Earlier this month Arlington resident and hydroplane racer John Peeters won his sixth national championship in a row in Tennessee.
Only one other person has won six consecutive U.S. national championships in hydroplane racing, according to Peeters.
“Having the opportunity to win one was amazing, then two was super amazing, and now six is just kind of surreal,” said Peeters. “People ask ‘Six, what’s that like?’ and I say, ‘I have no idea. I’ll let you know when we don’t have six anymore and maybe we have seven or maybe we have zero’,” said Peeters.
Peeters’ run of championships began in 2008, but he mostly says it happened by accident. His team, Team BBOPP, had put together a boat and found that the pieces fit together really well and made for a lightning fast hydroplane racer.
The next year was their most dominant season because they improved on their build. “We developed the program. No one had caught up to us and we were way ahead of the curve,” he said.
