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Bio
GET TO KNOW TYLER SPEER
Tyler Speer began racing motocross at age 5, moved to go-karts at age 12, then shifted into the Allison Legacy Series upon turning 15. His diverse racing experience includes street stock, late models, paved oval, dirt track, and road course events. In 2010 Tyler made his ARCA Racing Series debut driving for ARCA national driving champion Andy Hillenburg.
Four years later Tyler began making preparations to transition from racing on land to water, a move that follows in the footsteps of his father Tim Speer, who raced drag boats in the 1980s and 90s. The father-son duo put together a capsule boat from a bare hull they purchased (pictured below) and the younger Speer earned his license in the Pro Modified class of the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series (LODBRS) in 2014.
The 2015 season marked Tyler’s first full year campaigning his Pro Modified drag boat, Climax. He got up to speed quickly, becoming the #1 Qualifier at the first race. By the end of season, Tyler and his team Amphibious Motorsports, had worked themselves into a solid 7th place finish.
In 2016 Tyler began gearing up for a bigger and better year of racing. His banner year included winning the season high points 2016 World Championship title in the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series Pro Modified class in just his second full season, as well as advancing into the Top Fuel Hydro class where he earned his license and competed in 2 races. Tyler also returned to the ARCA Racing Series for two races, tying his career-best finish of 7th place at both events.
In 2017 Tyler stepped up to the faster Pro Outlaw drag boat division full-time, mixing in the Top Fuel boats when he can. He is currently ranked 3rd in the nation in the Pro Outlaw division, and won in only his second time competing in the class earlier this year at the April race in Parker, AZ. His career-best stats in Top fuel Hydro are a breezy speed of 242 mph and an ET of 3.6 seconds in 1,000 feet.
In what is becoming an annual tradition, Tyler will again run two ARCA dirt track races at Springfield, IL and DuQuoin, IL.
FUN FACTS:
Tyler once raced with 2 broken arms, after falling off of a ladder while prepping the race trailer a few days before the event.
Tyler is as hands-on as a racer can be, spending much of his time in the shop - he designs, fabricates, and welds all of the custom brackets and parts for his drag boats, in addition to performing much of the preventative
maintenance after each race.
Tyler named his Pro Modified drag boat Climax
as a tribute to the late Gary Brigham, a longtime friend and mentor who owned and raced the original Climax
Top Fuel Hydro in the 60s.
Like stock cars, every drag boat has a number - and Tyler's Pro Modified and Pro Outlaw boat proudly sports #410, which was his father Tim Speer's number when he used to race drag boats in the 1980s and 90s.
The Hemi motor which powers Tyler's Pro Modified / Pro Outlaw drag boat, came from an
NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car owned and driven by Andy Bohl. In the Summer of 2014, the team drove all night to Chicago to pick up and dyno the motor just a few days before a race where they would "shake-down" the boat for the first time.