IN THE BEGINNING

REPOWERING FOUNTAIN HULL NO.1

- CHARLES PLUEDDEMAN

Who is the OG of performance power boating, the founder of gofast? Gar Wood, Ray Hunt, Jim Wynne, Don Aronow, Art Carlson and Larry Smith immediately come to mind, and all were certainly influential. But only one builder put his name on the fastest, safest and best handling boats in the world” Reggie Fountain Jr. designed, built and raced the boats that bear his name, and made a staggering impact on the sport in the process. His influence started in 1980 with the creation of the Fountain 10 Meter Executioner, 33 feet of go-fast sizzle that rocked the performance world. This is the story of how that first boat was created, how it came back to Fountain, and what it took to repower a 43-year-old performance boat.

The origin story 

In 1979, Reggie Fountain Jr. had earned a law degree, was a successful Northwestern Mutual insurance agent, was investing in real estate in his hometown of Washington, North Carolina, and was a national and world champion tunnel-boat racer as a member the Team Mercury factory effort that dominated the sport. When Mercury disbanded the race team during the Arab oil embargo, it was racing-team manager Gary Garbrecht who suggested that Fountain consider building offshore-style performance boats powered by the same Mercury high-performance engines he was supplying to Cigarette.