Perhaps better known as an US speedboats legend. A former driver, he became a co-owner, manager, mechanic and boat builder in the discipline, only bowing out full time from the sport in the late 1980's, although he visited historic events until his death from cancer. Cantrell raced for many years in boats until a huge crash in 1965, at the Indiana Governor's Cup Race (a race for hydroplanes) saw him suffer injuries which forced him to stop racing. Cantrell lived in Louisville and Detroit, but spent the last 25 years of his life in Madison, where he set up the C & H Machine Shop on Wilson Avenue. Cantrell won very first Indiana Governor's Cup Race that featured unlimited hydroplanes in 1954 but also won, that year, the President's Cup on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. He won the 1949 APBA Gold Cup and the National Championship, and also won the 1963 national title. He also designed and built the My Gypsy hydroplane which raced between 1979 and 1983 and supported boat racing locally. Cantrell received many awards, the last of them being an induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in Michigan in 1992 for his boat racing achievements.

Biography last updated 26 Jul 2017