The son of the late legendary offshore racer Bobby Moore—the North Carolina gentleman credited with inventing the throttleman position—his son, Billy, is one hell of a stick-man in his own right. The same goes for Brit Lilly, the son of the late renowned offshore racer Art Lilly, and Nick Imprescia, the son of late throttling ace Joey Imprescia.
As cool as father-and-son legacies are in offshore racing world, they come as no surprise. They are simply examples of sons following their fathers into the “family business,” though not all such legacies have the success and staying power of the Imprescia, Lilly and Moore clans.
Now Nick Buis and his 17-year-old son, Owen, and J.J. Turk and his 18-year-old son, Cameron, find themselves on a similar path—but with a cool twist. The fathers will run together again under the XINSURANCE banner in the Pro Class 1 ranks, offshore racing’s most high-powered, big-catamaran class. The sons will run together under the XINSURANCE banner as rookies in the Super Stock class, the sport’s largest class.
No doubt, it will be fun follow the success of the fathers and their sons, and speedonthewater.com offshore editor Eric Colby and I will do exactly that this season. The storyline of Owen Buis and Cameron Turk, both of whom are in the American Power Boat Association Hall of Champions, is particularly intriguing as they will be first-timers offshore racing’s most competitive class. Their only previous catamaran-racing experience involved the single-outboarding Cat 300 class. And it’s fair to say they didn’t get a whole lot deck-to-deck competition the then fledgling/struggling category.
As the saying goes, reporters deliver “the first drafts of history,” and we have already started with the Buis and Turk boys. We can’t wait to see what’s next.
