Team Nashville Marine’s McMurray Excited To Show Off New Seebold F1 Boat In NGK F1 Opener This Weekend

New to the F1 tunnel-boat racing scene in 2017, Nashville Marine owner David McMurray competed in four races before going all in last season and finishing in seventh place overall in the 2018 NGK Spark Plugs Formula 1 Powerboat Championship. This year, the owner of the McMurray Racing F1 Team is going to race a new state-of-the-art carbon-fiber Seebold F1 hull with a distinct patriotic look—starting this weekend (May 3-5) at the NGK F1 season opener in Port Neches, Texas, the Port Neches River Fest.

Team Nashville Marine/McMurray Racing is ready to race its new Seebold F1 boat in Texas this weekend. Photo courtesy David McMurray

“The new boat is perfect—Timmy (Seebold of Seebold Sports and promoter of the NGK F1 series) did a great job with it,” said McMurray, who raced motocross, ATVs and drag cars competitively across the Southeastern U.S., for many years before turning his attention to tunnel boats. “The rigging is so neat and tidy and it was built with everything I need. It’s super light; we’re probably going to have to add 50 pounds or so to it to make race weight, which is 1,175 pounds. It’s all carbon fiber and it’s equipped with an airbag system, which most boats that race here in the States don’t have. We’re really looking forward to this season.”

Earlier this week, McMurray broke in the boat and its Mercury Racing 2.5 engine, and told speedonthewater.com that everything went great. He knows he still has a lot to learn, but he’s hoping for a top-five finish this year.

“In 2017 I bought Mark Proffitt’s second boat just to see if I wanted to race,” said McMurray, who started the Lebanon, Tenn.-based Nashville Marine in 2005 after running a fiberglass repair business for 10 years prior to that. “I really didn’t know much about the sport or anyone involved with it, but it looked fun. I ended up connecting with Tim Seebold and ran his 2017 gold and black boat last season while he was building me a new boat.”

According to McMurray, Nashville Marine has eight full-time employees. And while they’ll all likely assist the race team one way or another this year, the team’s crew chief is marine technician Dewayne Lambert with the extremely versatile Travis Grisham by his side. The dealership, which is a five-star-certified Yamaha and Mercury Marine repair center authorized to handle warranty work on those engines, sells more than 100 fishing and pontoon boats annually from G3, Phoenix and more.

Not one to shy away from the spotlight, McMurray has embraced social media and other promotional opportunities. In fact, a photo of his new boat, which features team-branded graphics designed by the MOTO Marketing Group and wrapped by Pro Dezigns, got a lot of attention in March when he craned it into his pool (above, click to enlarge) to get it wet for the first time.

Editor’s note: Speedonthewater.com plans to provide complete results from the NGK F1 Powerboat Championship season opener in Texas as well as the rest of the series events in 2019.

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