Thursday, July 20th - For most people who follow the UIM F1 H2O World Championship on a regular basis, American Greg Foster was just a “flash in the pan” when it comes to the overall history of the sport.
Greg managed to race just one year during the 2019 season. He finished runner-up in the “Rookie of the Year” standings earning 12 total points with the Blaze Performance Team and a career best six place finish at the Censtar Grand Prix of Xiamen in China.
Greg laughingly was deemed the “grand old man” of the sport, coming over after three resounding decades racing in North America.
But, he was so much more than that on and off the water!
Like so many young racers in the Los Angeles basin in California in the 1970's, Greg, like fellow competitor four-time World Champion Scott Gillman, was and off-road racer who would eventually turn to water sports and in 1974 ran in the 72cc Inboard Hydro class earning the National High Points title before eventually venturing into the ultra competitive Mod-VP class and the North American F1 (IOGP) champ boat series.
Once there, he became part of the “California Gang” of racers that dominated the series for almost a decade that included Gillman, Don Johnston, Jimmy Johnson, Fred Bowden and the Wendt Brothers to name just a few. These “left coasters” competed against drivers from not only “back east” and Florida like Steve DeSouza, Chris Bush and Bill and Michael Seebold, but international competitors as well in the mid to late 1980's.
Greg, once on tour, instantly became known as the “life of the party” when the racing had stopped for the day. One good example of his high jinks, was when he used his very successful Crane Rental Service expertise and “borrowed” a heavy weight crane to actually lift a competitors raceboat from his trailer in the hotel parking lot over the roof and into the hotel pool to the surprise and amusement to everyone on tour that race weekend!
Greg was a fierce competitor on the circuit and gave no quarter to anyone. He won the North American championships in 2001 and 2002, winning 15 Grand Prix events before stepping back to concentrate on his Crane business in Los Angeles and Arizona only to return years later winning his final title in 2017 racing for the Dillard family.
Current UIM F1 H2O rookie driver, Brent Dillard, with the CTIC China Team, was a three year teammate to Greg in North America and to honor his old teammate recently wore his “Foster logo” on his helmet a few weeks ago at the Grand Prix of France in Macon knowing that Greg would be watching via the live television broadcast on his computer for what would turn out to be Greg's final Grand Prix event that he would see.
Always an optimist, hoping to beat his aggressive cancer, Greg refused to sell any of his racing equipment feeling that he would beat the odds and be back on the UIM F1 H2O starting grid in the near future.
That hope never came as he passed away peacefully early this week finally reaching the “finish line of life”.
He was a bright shinning star in the sport of powerboat racing. Gone too soon and will always be remembered as a funny, generous man, who forced his fellow competitors to push and race hard while on the edge keeping them honest, or, he'd find a way to take the “top step” when the race was done!
Greg Foster lived life to the fullest in his 63 years, earning glory on the water, while living life with gusto off it as well!
