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This story, if I had the room would be over 100 pages of one of the greatest families in boat racing in the world. When you think boat racing here in the US and in the World, the name Kirts has to be in the mix at the get go. This is a family that has been racing for most of my 75 years and continues through to the 4th generation in Andy Kirts, but the 2nd and 3rd generations are still in competition on the water today. Andy’s Great Grandfather Mel Kirts got it started and it continued through son’s Dan, Tom, and Jerry with great success over the years. From there it went to Dan’s son Jim and Tom Sr’s son Tom Jr. I do not think the average home would have room for the National and world titles this family has accumulated over the years. Dan Continues to run in the 500/1100H capsule boats and won a 500H title a couple of years ago, while son Jim continues in the same classes, and Jim’s son Andy runs the big 500/1100R class in addition to the capsule classes that he started last year. Mel, the patriarch, Tom Sr. and Jerry have passed on but the Kirts clan is still out and about on the racecourse. In fact, at Constantine and Clarksville, Ar race, Grandpa Dan, Son Jim, and Grand Son Andy were all in the 1100H race together. That was a fun call to make as an announcer and gave me lots of fodder to visit with the fans on.
This all started with Mel Kirts a rough and tumble kind of a guy, short in stature, but that never kept him from telling you what and where at any given time. He had a tremendous heart and was a competitor that instilled that into his children and left a great legacy for them and his Grand Children and Great Grand Children who have continued on with this great sport of boat racing. I remember him at one of the nationals being chopped in a heat and that was not going to be taken lightly and he sidled up alongside the culprit, gave him the “peace sign” and then hosed him down well enough to leave him on the back stretch sitting there. Great grandpa Mel was the man that got their family started.
Dan, Jerry, and Tom Sr. picked up the baton and continued the Kirts winning ways in H-2, H-3, and H-4 winning many races and world and National titles. Dan in fact won 4 titles at Depue in a single year and set the mark along with Gerry Waldman, and Brandon Thirlby in terms of that many wins at a single Nationals. There may have been one with 5 but cannot remember. Whenever you had a Kirts in a heat, Dan and Jerry in Hydro’s or Tom in the Runabout’s, you knew you were up against it. At one time Dan held the record for most world titles won in worldwide competition.
Currently as I have indicated Dan, Jim, and Andy continue the Kirts name on the water yet today. I remember a race we had up at Morris Illinois on the river with a great pit area of sand right down into the water. Dan called me just before the race and was asking about the pits as he was contemplating bringing Jim, his son to his first boat race and was concerned as to the pits. Well Jim did come and run his first race with the Illinois Power Boat Association at Morris.
I will concentrate on Andy here for a peek at his career and his goals. Now if you know Andy, you know that he is a “little person,” he is our Rico Abreu and is as driven as anyone on the beach ready to do battle on the water. It has never held him back, never asks for a quarter, and never quits. Andy’s pedigree does not let him be complacent and he is looking for opportunities to increase his abilities both driving and mechanically. He has purchased a capsule boat to go along with his favorite thing to drive his 500R. Some of our folks will remember Brianna Johnson who raced this capsule that Derek Gesler had built for her and now finds Andy at the wheel.
Andy tells me that his first big rush in boat racing was riding deck for his Father Jim in 1100R and they won one heat but jumped the gun in the other and finished second. Andy says after that, I was hooked. His Dad Jim picked up a stock boat that they were going to convert to a 125R but college got in Andy’s way and he put that off for a few years. He came down to Lake Alfred for the world championships to help his dad in the capsule classes and started to feel that burn once again I have always said, you cannot quit boat racing until it quits you, that’s my fact and I am sticking to it. Jim was running an MJR capsule that had quite a pedigree in and of itself, having been owned by some of the best talents boat racing has to offer, Nick Davis, Tim Borway, and Doug Hall. Jim was the kind of guy, if he had the equipment it was going to be raced as he ran 500R, 350H, 700/1100 hydro and was very competitive in all.
So Andy began to feel that itch that so many of us have had to scratch and started back in with a 350 DeSilva Runabout, said it was a little rocky as first time in a boat, running a Koing against the VRP’s and Rossi’s and was not competitive, but gained seat time for starts, and how a boat handles. He then converted a Krier laydown Runabout into a kneeler and raced again in the 350 category. His Grand Father Dan was racing a capsule at the time and suffered a head injury from getting banged around inside the capsule distressing the whole of the boat racing world. Happily, Dan recovered and is still competitive in capsule racing. At that juncture, Andy pulled back from racing to deal with the issue for Grandpa.
Andy returned racing again in 2017 but this time things were serious, as his dad Jim’s knees couldn’t take much more of the bouncing of the runabout so he decided to step down from runabout and just focusing on capsule. Andy purchased his 500 Koing from his Dad that Jim’s Dad, Dan had run back in the 80s-90’s. It was 1 of 2 prototype 5 port 500’s that dieter built, and Andy spent a few weekends at grandpa Dan’s and said, we had that thing singing a tune. it was still competitive up until last year at Clarksville where he trashed it when he cracked the block.
In 2018 it got more serious as Andy repainted the boat his own colors, bought his own truck and trailer and had the drive to be at every race, I wanted to be in the points race. Andy was all set for a banner 2018 when boat racing bit him pretty hard at Pleasant Prairie where coming up for the finish line, the boat hooked and he took a bad spill and the turning fin almost took his leg off. As I said before, Andy may be a little person, but nothing is going to slow him down though as during his recovery time my dad and put my boat back together and he was able to get back on the water racing at Constantine in July. Any one of us who’ve been on our head know that you must find your bearings which Andy said took a couple heats of racing. Suffice it to say, he ain’t going away as at Depue it all came the following weekend when my deck rider and I took third in 1100 R, my first podium being a driver. This was a complete rush for not only Andy, but for us who’ve known him and his family, and the fans at the greatest race course in the world, Lake Depue.
This all started with Mel Kirts a rough and tumble kind of a guy, short in stature, but that never kept him from telling you what and where at any given time. He had a tremendous heart and was a competitor that instilled that into his children and left a great legacy for them and his Grand Children and Great Grand Children who have continued on with this great sport of boat racing. I remember him at one of the nationals being chopped in a heat and that was not going to be taken lightly and he sidled up alongside the culprit, gave him the “peace sign” and then hosed him down well enough to leave him on the back stretch sitting there. Great grandpa Mel was the man that got their family started.
Dan, Jerry, and Tom Sr. picked up the baton and continued the Kirts winning ways in H-2, H-3, and H-4 winning many races and world and National titles. Dan in fact won 4 titles at Depue in a single year and set the mark along with Gerry Waldman, and Brandon Thirlby in terms of that many wins at a single Nationals. There may have been one with 5 but cannot remember. Whenever you had a Kirts in a heat, Dan and Jerry in Hydro’s or Tom in the Runabout’s, you knew you were up against it. At one time Dan held the record for most world titles won in worldwide competition.
Currently as I have indicated Dan, Jim, and Andy continue the Kirts name on the water yet today. I remember a race we had up at Morris Illinois on the river with a great pit area of sand right down into the water. Dan called me just before the race and was asking about the pits as he was contemplating bringing Jim, his son to his first boat race and was concerned as to the pits. Well Jim did come and run his first race with the Illinois Power Boat Association at Morris.
I will concentrate on Andy here for a peek at his career and his goals. Now if you know Andy, you know that he is a “little person,” he is our Rico Abreu and is as driven as anyone on the beach ready to do battle on the water. It has never held him back, never asks for a quarter, and never quits. Andy’s pedigree does not let him be complacent and he is looking for opportunities to increase his abilities both driving and mechanically. He has purchased a capsule boat to go along with his favorite thing to drive his 500R. Some of our folks will remember Brianna Johnson who raced this capsule that Derek Gesler had built for her and now finds Andy at the wheel.
Andy tells me that his first big rush in boat racing was riding deck for his Father Jim in 1100R and they won one heat but jumped the gun in the other and finished second. Andy says after that, I was hooked. His Dad Jim picked up a stock boat that they were going to convert to a 125R but college got in Andy’s way and he put that off for a few years. He came down to Lake Alfred for the world championships to help his dad in the capsule classes and started to feel that burn once again I have always said, you cannot quit boat racing until it quits you, that’s my fact and I am sticking to it. Jim was running an MJR capsule that had quite a pedigree in and of itself, having been owned by some of the best talents boat racing has to offer, Nick Davis, Tim Borway, and Doug Hall. Jim was the kind of guy, if he had the equipment it was going to be raced as he ran 500R, 350H, 700/1100 hydro and was very competitive in all.
So Andy began to feel that itch that so many of us have had to scratch and started back in with a 350 DeSilva Runabout, said it was a little rocky as first time in a boat, running a Koing against the VRP’s and Rossi’s and was not competitive, but gained seat time for starts, and how a boat handles. He then converted a Krier laydown Runabout into a kneeler and raced again in the 350 category. His Grand Father Dan was racing a capsule at the time and suffered a head injury from getting banged around inside the capsule distressing the whole of the boat racing world. Happily, Dan recovered and is still competitive in capsule racing. At that juncture, Andy pulled back from racing to deal with the issue for Grandpa.
Andy returned racing again in 2017 but this time things were serious, as his dad Jim’s knees couldn’t take much more of the bouncing of the runabout so he decided to step down from runabout and just focusing on capsule. Andy purchased his 500 Koing from his Dad that Jim’s Dad, Dan had run back in the 80s-90’s. It was 1 of 2 prototype 5 port 500’s that dieter built, and Andy spent a few weekends at grandpa Dan’s and said, we had that thing singing a tune. it was still competitive up until last year at Clarksville where he trashed it when he cracked the block.
In 2018 it got more serious as Andy repainted the boat his own colors, bought his own truck and trailer and had the drive to be at every race, I wanted to be in the points race. Andy was all set for a banner 2018 when boat racing bit him pretty hard at Pleasant Prairie where coming up for the finish line, the boat hooked and he took a bad spill and the turning fin almost took his leg off. As I said before, Andy may be a little person, but nothing is going to slow him down though as during his recovery time my dad and put my boat back together and he was able to get back on the water racing at Constantine in July. Any one of us who’ve been on our head know that you must find your bearings which Andy said took a couple heats of racing. Suffice it to say, he ain’t going away as at Depue it all came the following weekend when my deck rider and I took third in 1100 R, my first podium being a driver. This was a complete rush for not only Andy, but for us who’ve known him and his family, and the fans at the greatest race course in the world, Lake Depue.
