Go, Johnny, Go!! As we’ve all found out, once the Offshore Racing bug bites you, its venom gets into your blood and it stays with you for your entire life. Just look at Billy Mauff, he got bit when he was only five years old and he’s still scratching the itch. But when John Haggin got bit, it must have been a REALLY BIG BUG because John’s got the fever like no one else.
EBM first met up with John two years ago during his first Kilo Run. John had plans for a stand-alone event in Crescent City, Florida. He really had no idea of what he was getting into, but he wanted to do it and that’s all that mattered. The Kilos came off as planned as has become an AMF trademark event.
From that point, John joined up with the Jersey Boyz and ran shotgun in the old Wazzup boat for an entire season, he was the only navigator that lasted more than one race with Smitty and Sticks, the rest of them either jumped out during the race or ran away once back at the dock. From there, John’s sickness only deepened, the bug has bitten him hard and he was now fully engrossed in a quest to improve the sport and help take it to the next level.
Last year, John started sponsoring a few teams and assembled a troop of AMF’ies giving them the mission of setting up camp and feeding everyone in the pits. For that, we want to personally thank all the AMF’ies! John even managed to dust off Ken Warby and Billy Martin, bringing them back to the spotlight where they belong. He gave Scott Begovich and Marc Granet the opportunity of a lifetime to race against the best in the world, and all John asked in return is that you wear a big smile and dream of a bigger and brighter tomorrow.
Last year, John helped OPA by sponsoring the race in Camden, New Jersey and this year stepped in to sponsor the Point Pleasant, NJ race. Earlier this year, John introduced a new Turbine Class to OSS and most recently, he produced live television coverage of the races.
