Growing up in Asharoken, Peter Meyer’s childhood was that of any adolescent Long Islander. Getting his feet wet in boating began with zipping up and down the shoreline in an aluminum 12-footer and then a Boston Whaler with his six siblings.
Eventually Meyer bought his own boat, a 1977 Signature manufactured by Tommy Adams, called Lady L, powered by twin small-blocks. Meyer was the master of the throttles, Tony Luccaro behind the wheel and Thomas Lampus in the navigator’s seat. Their maiden voyage was at the 1982 NPBA race at the historic Greenwich, Connecticut Showboat.
Meyer rose from rookie to rock-star status after a few seasons of tweaking and dialing in the Lady L. In 1989, he hoisted his first checkered flag in front of the long-defunct Trump Plaza hotel and casino.
In the late 90’s, Meyer and the late Joe Sgro in the Activator were having their way over the Fountain and after another victory in Key West, Reggie Fountain approached them about racing a Fountain. Meyer said he was welcomed into the family and stepped into his first twin-canopied 40-foot Fountain (also frequently listed as a 38’ due to the cut-down deck). Initially competing in the B class with a pair of 750s, in 2000 supercharged blower motors were added when Meyer switched to the Unlimited class.
“The boat was incredible. From 1999 forward it dominated the APBA, SBI and the U.S. Offshore in races from California to New York down to the Bahamas,” Meyer said. But nothing lasts forever. The time had arrived to move into a single-canopy Fountain. The deal was sealed in 2007 after negotiations at the New York City Boat Show, the same year Meyer celebrated his 25th year of racing.
Meyer and the Instigator team have won a remarkable 16 world championships with Super Boat International (SBI) and Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA). They also remain untouchable bringing home first-place finishes in all Florida races, the nationals and the world championships, earning an unimaginable eight triple crowns between 2008-2017.
The Fountain Instigator team takes speed very seriously and is also the current kilo record holder (124.52 mph) in Superboat Vee Unlimited set by Meyer and Stanch in 2010. Previously, Meyer and Sgro held the Superboat Vee kilo record of 114.27 mph run in 2002. Aside from the kilos, Instigator holds multiple Superboat Vee and Superboat Extreme fastest lap-speed and fastest average lap-speed records.
