One of Powell’s own has quickly become a standout in the boat racing world.

Randall Dilworth is one of the top boat racers in the United States, having won two national championships and various other titles in only five years on the water. Most recently, the 37-year-old won the Faulkner Trophy in his hometown of Burley, Idaho, which he calls his greatest achievement to date.

Dilworth’s infatuation with the sport came early, as his uncle, Glen, has raced since before he was born, but Dilworth himself didn’t hit the waters until recently. The Powell resident bought his first boat just five years ago and entered a local competition in Idaho. 

Instantly, he fell in love with the craft.

“It wasn’t even a fast boat, but I was able to pass a guy and beat him throughout the weekend,” Dilworth said.

That got him hooked.

After that race, Dilworth tracked down one of Glen’s old boats in Washington and bought that, racing it twice on an old motor. Then, in his third year (2018), Randall and Glen built a new motor for that boat — one Randall described as a “rocket ship.”

But that rocket ship had a similar fate to the Space Shuttle Challenger. Prior to the Idaho Regatta race, Glen took his nephew’s boat out for a few warm-up laps and crashed while driving 95 miles per hour. 

A 70-year-old at the time, Glen didn’t suffer any severe injuries, but Randall’s boat was filled with water and in poor condition just a couple weeks before the Burley race. 

In dire need of a solution, Randall’s cousin, Joe, offered an idea.

“He asked if he could take the motor out of my boat and put it in his dad’s, so I was like ‘yeah,’” Dilworth said.

It’s a good thing that Dilworth was on board with the plan.

“He was like, ‘Good, cause we already did it,’” he said.

With the new set-up, Dilworth placed sixth in the 2018 Idaho Regatta’s Comp Jet division. 

He entered more events in 2019, chasing the SCSC National High Points championship. Dilworth finished second in the overall comp jet standings that year, just five points behind first-place Vance Lund. He also won a national championship in Long Beach, California, that season.

The next year, the High Points weren’t kept, due to COVID-19, but Dilworth picked up another national championship and then achieved something he had dreamed of since he began competing.

At the 2020 Idaho Regatta, Dilworth beat out Lund, his uncle Glen and others to take the Idaho Cup. He also shattered the class record in comp jet, setting it at 101.82% of the previous record.

Because of his percentage of the record, Dilworth won the Faulkner Trophy, one of the sport’s most elusive accolades and the top honors of his career. To win the trophy, a driver must beat their competition and also beat the class record with a high enough percentage.

In just five years on the water, Randall achieved something Glen never had in several decades. Glen set the class record in Idaho earlier in his career, but the percentage wasn’t high enough to win him the Faulkner Trophy. 

But make no mistake — Dilworth knows he wouldn’t have developed so quickly without his uncle’s knowledge and assistance.

“It’s all respect,” Dilworth said. “I took his knowledge and applied it to my boat.”

As he continues to reach new heights in the sport, it’s less about a structured training pattern and more about repetitions and becoming more knowledgeable. He said much of improving within the sport relates to “trial and error” and setting up a good boat.

Though Dilworth has already attained several noteworthy accomplishments, he has other goals. He wants to break 100 mph on the water, compete in American Power Boat Association Racing and race at Black Lake in Olympia, Washington.

And Dilworth doesn’t see himself abandoning ship any time soon.

“There’s just no other feeling like it,” he said. “I’ve always loved it.”

When he isn’t winning trophies and trying to break his own records, Dilworth lives in Powell with his daughters in the community he’s fallen in love with. He moved to Powell with his sister more than a decade ago and hasn’t left, other than temporary trips to race boats or set up engines. 

Though Powell doesn’t have the same boat racing capabilities as Burley, it’s somewhere Dilworth sees as home: a place that supports his dreams of becoming one of the world’s top racers.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “My sponsors are in Powell, and I have a really good support team here.”