Growing up over the years a buddy and I always heard story's about his moms cousin being some old-school famous drag boat racer they called "Billy the kid"

His real name was Bill Todd and the story was he held some world records and ended up dying in a tragic accident during a pass.

This was before the capsule days and shortly after his death was when they started enforcing the capsules...

So the story I've heard for so many years finally came to life today when the family dug up this photo. Pretty cool, so I thought I'd share with all of you!

Thanks for sharing this.
Bill Todd Sr. was always a hard charger.  I met his son, Bill Todd Jr., 'The Kids Kid', at Lake Ming back in the late 80s or early 90s.  My friend was pitted next to him.  Nice friendly guy.  I think the family still has a masonry business in Auburn Ca.
I remember going to a Billy Todd memorial race at Castaic Lake.  Those were the days.
THD




Sent from my iPhone using SoCalJetBoats