As the son of longtime Southwest Florida offshore racer Cory Shantry, who currently shares the cockpit of the Bracket 300-class Justice League raceboat with Richard Davis, 19-year-old Austin Shantry has been around the sport for most of his life. His father’s racing career goes back 20 years and includes Super Cat Light and Super V Light competition, as well as working as a crew-member for the Extreme V Twisted Metal, Super Cat Broadco and Super Stock DoubleEdge Motorsports S-111 teams.

“Austin was always a good kid to be around,” said Billy Glueck, the owner of the Sarasota, Fla.-based Twisted Metal team. “He was generally quiet, but you could tell he paid attention to things going on around him and I expect that he probably learned quite a bit from everyone, including his dad.”

Austin Shantry (left) and his father, Cory, have an adventure ahead of them with the Mod V class.

So it’s fair to say that Austin Shantry has a lot more exposure to the sport than the average teenager. And late next month at the Race World Offshore-produced American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series season-opener in Marathon, Fla., he’ll put it all to good use as the rookie driver of Bad, Inc., a 32-foot Phantom running in the Mod V class. Shantry will share the cockpit with throttleman Larry Fontecha, a veteran offshore racer who co-owns the team with the rookie racer.

“I have run boats before though I’ve never beenn in one with canopy, so I am a little nervous,” Shantry said. “But I am not super-nervous about getting tossed around out there. I’ve been drift-car racing for a while.”

His father chuckled.

“He had his drift-car before he had his driver’s license,” he said, then laughed again. “Larry is excited to teach Austin how to run a boat. They both can’t wait for the Marathon race.”

Austin Shantry (left) has been around offshore powerboat racing for most of his young life.

Added the Shantry’s mutual friend Glueck, “I look forward to watching Austin compete. I expect he will do well.”

In the meantime, the Bad, Inc., team is prepping the 32-footer, which they purchased from Mod V-class booster Jorge Arellano, for the 2023 season. The boat’s engine currently is being built at a shop in Fort Myers, Fla. In what will be a family-oriented effort, Cory Shantry will be the team’s de facto “crew chief” while his son and Fontecha are on the racecourse, and Serena Shantry—‚Austin’s 17-year-old sister—may also be part of the crew.

According to the senior Shantry, the team plans to run a full Mod-V schedule this year. Asked why he isn’t joining his son in the cockpit, he laughed again.

“I wanted it to be fun for him,” he said. “And I didn’t think it would be with me yelling at him the whole time.”

As 19 years old, Austin Shantry will be among the youngest competitors—if not the youngest competitor—in the Mod V class.

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