Billy Boat

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William "Billy" Leonard Boat (born February 2, 1966 in Phoenix, Arizona) is a former American open wheel driver. He raced in the Indy Racing League.

Boat was a graduate of Arizona State University. He began his career in USAC where he won 11 straight Western Series races on his way to the 1995 championship. He won the Turkey Night Grand Prix midget car race in 1995. He was a three-peat winner in the event after winning in 1996 and 1997. He made his first IRL start in 1997 Indianapolis 500 driving for A.J. Foyt Enterprises. In 1998 he won 6 poles, including 5 in a row, both league records, and won his first race at Texas Motor Speedway. It was his only IRL victory. He is one of the few drivers with the distinction to have started from both the pole (1998) and final 33rd (2000, 2001) starting position in the Indy 500. He has not appeared in an IRL race since the 2003 Indianapolis 500.

In 1986 he founded Billy Boat Performance Exhaust, a company that makes performance Exhaust systems for luxury and high performance cars, light trucks, and high performance watercraft.

[edit] Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
1996	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	Failed to Qualify
1997	Dallara	Oldsmobile	22nd	7th
1998	Dallara	Oldsmobile	1st	23rd
1999	Dallara	Oldsmobile	3rd	3rd
2000	G-Force	Oldsmobile	31st	15th
2001	Dallara	Oldsmobile	32nd	9th
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	23rd	18th
2003	Dallara	Chevrolet	29th	32nd