I have way to many to choose from but a few come to mind.
Past- Sonny Jones, Bill Kuhns, Jim Ermshar, John Morris, Deno Dog.
Present- Don Ermshar, Ken Singleton, Johnny Heidemen & Hangdaddys'not doing to bad a job either.
E.K.

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Eddie Knox Racing

Thats easy...AL BUSH

Greg Cooper, Marvin Savage and Ronnie Anderson come to mind from the past. There are some good ones now that have been doing well just have not gotten the exposure yet like David aka Mr Dixie, Blake Lust, Gary Linsey,Ken Reedy and several others. These guys are the up and coming.

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Juan Blanco

Ermshar Plural....John White....Ronnie Sapp....Miles Dickenson....Chester Montgomery....Marvin Savage....

RONNIE ANDERSON TOM BLACK AND DOWNTOWN DANNY

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NOTHING TURNS ME ON LIKE NITRO AND DIRTY STRIPPERS I LOVE THOSE STRIPPERS

CAPSULES WHO NEEDS THEM

Gary, I'm going to add Wayne Barrett and Doyle Day to your's also. I can't argue with anybody that's been listed.

I forgot one Robert Moore. No matter what boat he got in he always went quicker and faster than the normal driver. He also has layed up some good boats and rigged plenty more. He is just an all around nice guy. Brownie points.

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Juan Blanco

....Lee Oglesby....

Padgett...the thread was best flatbottom drivers...NOT SCARIEST FLATBOTTOM DRIVERS!

....Joe Singleton.....

Right John, can't leave Robert out because he's made more than one guy listed here look pretty dang good!

Greg Cooper, Greg Snyder, Ronnie Anderson, Johnny Heideman, Al Bush, Ray Casselli, Ron Sapp

How about Steve Loporchio& Jim Bandelin both record holder's!

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gavin baker

To many to list!! I think anyone that drives a flat successfully over 130 is a good driver (present day).

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Hellbound Train Racing

I think that a lot of drivers giving the opportunity to drive a boat with HP may swing some heads!!!

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Hellbound Train Racing

Greg Snyder, Gerg Cooper, Mike "Runnin Wild" Coccaltto, Jeff Martin, and Tony Scarlata. Scarlata, in my opinion is at the top of the list. He can hang fin in a ski flat then jump into a TAF and do the same. Not many can do that! Who's better? The west coast drivers or the boys from the east? I think all Flatty drivers are good, the ones that stay dry are the best!

Keep it safe!!!

BDEEMS

I don't really watch many flats but I`v heard some story's.
From what I`v been told I would have to say Joe Don was one of the past and Jeff Martin would be the present. From what I`v heard when either diver put`s the hammer down your going to see a race. Besides Joe Don is my friend

Steve, Joe "I don't need no stinking down peddal" Don is one of my buds also. I've never seen him race or even met him but from what I hear he can also shoe a jet. I'm told that he only knows one speed and that is wide open so the ET classes probably won't have to worry about him too much when he decides to come out of retirement. Since he will run a Ford (of course), he will no doubt get DQ'd for violating the 7.70 in the PGF class as well. If we're talking just flats in general, I would like to throw in Gerry West and Maurice Fox. Gerry has told me a lot about the good ole days of flats and has explained a lot about how they work. Maurice ran a flat in the 10 sec bracket and was perhaps one of (if not the) most consistant racer running ME.

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Sam

Well ofcourse I would love to say my dad and my grandpa but i wouldent want to be too bias lol. My vote for the past goes to Mike Bell and also the driver of the "Aussie Express" back in the day I am pretty sure his name was Stan Tindell??? Present I think my vote has to go to Jerry Davis and also Andy Dement. It's kind of tough though to say who a great driver is if they dont have top notch equiptment. There are alot of guys out there that can drive the heck out of a flatbottom but because they dont put up the huge numbers nobody really gives them to much recognition. I think in 04 there will be some PCE guys and most definatly some TAF guys that will really turn some heads. Almost forgot about some of the other guys mentioned earlier, ofcourse Singleton, Ermshar and Hiedimann have to be apart of this group because of they way they have performed recently. I think also that if Scarlatta could attend each event that he could really be a big contender for a Championship. It's a shame that there are drivers and teams out there that are top notch but just cant contend for a National Title due to their budget.

quote:

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Originally posted by TAF 084

Well ofcourse I would love to say my dad and my grandpa but i wouldent want to be too bias lol. My vote for the past goes to Mike Bell and also the driver of the "Aussie Express" back in the day I am pretty sure his name was Stan Tindell??? Present I think my vote has to go to Jerry Davis and also Andy Dement.

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Ricky, I agree your Dad & Grandpa are included. Fortunately your Dad never needed my assistants unlike Grandpa did, in Columbiaville Richard tried to crash but just bounced a few times until his chute jacket deployed to pull him into the water!

That was the same year that the t-shirts said baot just like the starter! LOL

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IHBA Preliminary report on the crash of the Madness TFH now available at http://IHBA.DragBoatRacing.com

I wish I would have been able to see the early Flat drivers. Not being familiar with them I would have to rate only the present. I would say that David Skalicky is looking good behind the wheel. Brian Pinckney at NJBA is driving the **** out of his Canyon. Mike Wardall is up and coming. Jeff Martin is at the top of the heep. Johnny Heidemann is bad ass. Back east, Buddy Tippet does a great job. There are a lot of young guys that are hanging it out there. Fun to watch. Joe Don was always a prize to watch and race against

Some of my favorites and how can we forget Sonny Jones, forgive me on the spelling on these, Chilli Willy Thomas, Emmett Pagluiso, Larry Schwabenland, Al Bush, Chuck Noriega, and my personal Flatbottom Coaches and friends "Jerry The Hammer Hanks", "Mike Bell The Chatsworth Badman" and Ray Capaldi just to name a few and give you food for thought. Great Topic Guys.

Tim Cooper
ICE COLE #660
BGF

Back in the day Dan Aaseth could shoe a flat as good as anyone and busted all of the records in C/F and PGF while doing it, I am glad to have been there to see it.

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Joe Don Lewis
FLAT'S ARE WHERE IT'S AT
God Bless our Soldiers and our Country

Ha Ha DBS, I definatly remember that weekend lol. I was really too young to remember but having it on video never hurts. The great part about telling that story about grandpa is how he got wet on Saturday, and won the race on Sunday. Hmmm I wonder how he got Lifeline to re-pack the chute over night??

I agree with all of the guys everybody has listed in the earlier posts. But there is one guy they forgot to mention. That person is Rex Childers, he can drive the s_ _ _ out of a flat just as he can the Top Fueler that he drives now. He has gone 220 in the fueler and jumped right in Don & Debbie Jones TAF Barley Legal and ran 160 at 6.70. I would say that should put him somewhere at the top of a few lists of top flatty drivers. Don't ya think.

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Dave Glass
Whiskey River II, TFH

I agree. The list would not be complete without Rex!

No doubt about it!!!!

I am just dissapointed he he jumped ship to the hydros. Oh well, he is still a left footed driver

one thig about Andy that makes him stand out in the crowd is the fact that he built the Red Alert machine part for part from the ground up himself. He builds and also tunes the thing himself, he also runs an engine program that is about 80 cubic inches smaller than most of the class and runs mostly on his own money,no major or big sponsors as of now, and he can still run 6.80's. very impressive in my eyes.

True Dat Bill !!

Andy and the little motor that could.

A little "old School" on these names. Rapid Ray Casselli in Panic Mouse.Larry Schwbenland in Jokers Wild,Al Busch in Crazy Horse.I don't know if anyone mentioned Tom Black?
Current drivers Tony,Johnny,Don and Dino are all really good ,for drivers who have to use both feet.

Todd, what is impressive about the 1st two listed, Ray and Larry both drove true flatbottoms,Hondo and Sanger consistently over 130 MPH before the runner bottom came into exsistence. The list could go on but I'm afraid I would leave some names out and offend some of the old veterans of the past. The same goes for the present drivers of today, a special breed.

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"PUT IT ON THE TRAILER"

The best flat driver of all time, and my hero, was AL BUSH. I saw him drive Crazy Horse in 1976 at Aqua Festival at 176 mph. He and I got to be good friends, he crashed a BFF, 10 times and TFH twice before he hung it up. He use to carry his balls in a dump truck!!!Kyle Walker

I will agree with Kyle on Al bush. I do believe Jeff Burns was quite the shoe, looking back. Present, It would be hard to beat Tony or Jeff Martin.These guys drive open boats that are as fast as some Taf boats.There is a trend here,THE NJBA PRODUDES GOOD DRIVERS. SEAT TIME IS EVERYTHING.

Is it more difficult to drive a flattie in a capsule than in an open? My uneducated guess would be to say yes? You definitely can not overlook the Ermshars and their long tenure. Also, what Ken Singleton achieved in such a short is nothing short of amazing. He was almost unbeatable for the last two years, setting a new WR 3 times.

AL BUSH IS THE MAN.

Kyle,
I remember at Puddingstone when Al Bush crashed Crazy Horse then jumped right in Joe Pisano' Fuel Hydro and Hauled A$$. Now that takes some dump truck size balls.

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Dave Glass
Whiskey River II, TFH

Sunny Jones is by far the best flat driver I have ever seen hands down. Even to this present day!

And what about Eric Morris, in his short tenure managed to rack up a championship! Bill Kuhns still remains a favorite, owning BGF from the late 60's through early 70's. he also used to run his gasser in the BFF shoot outs from what I understand and didn't do to bad.
Ol' Teddy Faggart used to shoe a UBGF way back when with some success.
Who else have we forgot to mention?
P.S. I too, have to go with the Rex Childres vote, helluva a flat shoe as well as TFH as well as a helluva guy.

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Eddie Knox Racing

as a kid i went to all the races in calif my dad drove the shockwave TFH i loved watching the TFF ray casselli was with out adout the best flatbottom driver of all time.there were a lot of other great flatbottom drivers bob dice wayne mettler robert jorden lLarry the shoe JAN BARRET

All that you have mentioned are great drivers, but the biggest name I see you have left off the list is a guy who, if I am not mistaken, has a DL for every class and a few that no longer run. Kyle Walker. Any guy who can get his Fuel license with the helment up over his eyes has to be at the top of any ones list.

Another xlnt driver that no one has mentioned as of yet is my old partner, a guy who also was licensed to drive any boat made, was one of the funniest guys I have ever hung out with, racked up a bunch of wins, brought one of the first, if not the first corporate sponsorship to flatbottoms, and also could do it all, build em , rig em, drive the hell out of them.  All while holding a cold beer in one hand...   Anybody know who?       Roger Way

carter reed used to do the flatty thing didn't he Roger?

yes Carter Reed was a great flat drive and i wish i could still get some of that new york seltzer

Westerfield where are you???  Shane and I are always doing our top five or top 10 list of flat drivers.  I sure wish I could have seen or remembered the drivers from the early and late 80s that would have.
Luckly I have Jeff Martin as a best friend and he remembers everything that has to do with a Flat! 

Tony Scarlata-  I'd put him up against anyone at anytime.
Sunny Jones- I grew up going to his shop with my dad, watching him at the races and seeing him at the lake.  Everyone knew "Sunny"
Ray Caseli- I never saw him drive but was great driver and fabricator.
Jim Walders-  Pretty damn good BGF driver and a funny SOB
John Morris-
Jeff Martin- he was business at the track and drove well, lots of wins
but we still had fun doing it.
Greg Cooper- This one is for Westerfield, He was bad ass at his time.
Johnny Heideman-
Brad Simons
Ken Singleton
Greg Snyder

i'm here i'm here i wanted to see what everyone else here was going to say...but Cole took all the good ones....

how about .....
Bob dice BFF BAF

Curt stewart  BAF

Scott booth BGF

Jim Ermshar BGF

I'll think of some more...get martin on this he knows forsure!
              

I added a couple

Thank you Cole, I feel very honored to be in that company. I would have to concur with your list. All the guys listed on there are well deserved. I truly think you will be there in short time. You have a natural ability and a good feel for the boat. You just havent had the seat time that we have. Brad Simons was bad ass. I think he had a couple demons haunting him after a few close calls in the Bitz. Ken Singleton definitely stepped up.Its no secret Im a big fan of Jeffs. Ive said it before I would drop everything I was doing to watch him lay it down. I only got to watch Greg Cooper a couple times in Flatzilla and it was impressive to watch. Each one these guys had their own style and thats what makes driving a flat BAD ASS! You will see when you get the Afuel deal going that these things get real fun with a ton of power.  Whatever we can do to help just drop a dime.
Merry Christmas.

CARTER REED

How bout Tommy Thomason in master blaster. Which is now the blurred vison boat. Marvin savage in wild child. Danny gundlach in alcohauler which is now the war party boat. Jerry Spencer in fuelish pleasure.

Terry Thompson

Terry is what I meant. What about tom black, ermshire brothers, I loved some sonny Jones. Ronnie Anderson in the gambler boats

What defines the "best"?