The Man Who Laid The Foundations to F1H2O: David Parkinson Has Died

David Parkinson, the public relations manager who laid the foundations of what became UIM F1H2O, has died. Most people watching the championship today won’t know his name. Before Nicolo di San Germano, before H2O Racing, before Grand Prix weekends in the UAE and China, there was David, working the phones out of a Bond Street office, trying to build a single unified championship for inshore powerboat racing almost from nothing.

I first met him in Chalon-sur-Saone, at the 1992 French F1 Grand Prix, and the introduction could not have gone worse. I was there in the middle of a boardroom battle that was playing out back in David’s Bond Street office. Part of his team had decided it was time to update the series photographer, and I was the one lined up to replace his long-standing friend, Brian Dewey. You can imagine the reaction I got when David clocked me in the pits.

Building the Championship

David had come to powerboat racing sideways, as an experienced PR manager rather than a racer. In 1978, one of his clients, Mercury Marine, asked whether he could put together a single unified championship for inshore powerboats out of what was then a scattered, manufacturer-driven scene. He built the Canon Trophy, sponsored by another client, Canon Inc., and that became the starting point for everything that followed.

It landed in the middle of an engine war. Mercury and its rival, Outboard Marine Corporation, pushed each other hard through the early eighties, and the result was the OZ class, built around monstrous 3.5-litre V8s, running alongside the more standard 2-litre ON class. OZ boats dominated on raw power, and the imbalance did not sit well with a lot of the grid.

In 1981, David worked with Jackie Wilson to form FONDA, the Formula ON Drivers Association, built around the fairer 2-litre formula. The UIM gave official Formula 1 status to the higher-powered OZ championship instead, backed for a time by John Player Special, and left FONDA’s series carrying the secondary World Grand Prix title.

The OZ era did not last. Rising costs, promoter trouble and a run of fatalities in the mid-eighties brought it down, and Europe had no official Formula 1 championship at all between 1987 and 1989. FONDA’s World Grand Prix Series, sponsored for a while by Budweiser, kept going regardless, and picked up drivers as OZ faded away.

By 1990, with no rival series left standing, the UIM turned back to David and reinstated Formula 1 World Championship status, folding it into the FONDA structure he had built. He carried on running and promoting it until the end of 1993, when he finally handed it over to Nicolo di San Germano, who leads it to this day as F1H2O.

Jazz, Boogie and Swing

One time I drove up to London with the 500-print colour run of the winning Mercury-powered raceboat that, along with a single-page press release, went out around the world on Mercury’s behalf. Over a very boozy lunch, I finally asked David what the agency name JBS actually stood for.

David Parkinson, on what JBS stood for:

Jazz, Boogie and Swing.

When it came to choosing race venues, David was particular. He always made sure there was an excellent restaurant near the pits, a golf course close by and, most importantly of all, a good range of shops nearby for the drivers’ wives and girlfriends.

The Surprise Party

David eventually lost a battle with the then UIM president, Ralf Frohling, over the future direction of the F1 World Championship, and stepped away from promoting it. His wife, Muriel, together with Eric Michell, whose production company FM Television had put the series on the world map through the Powerboat World programme, organised a surprise party for him in Maidenhead. Among the guests was Guido Cappellini, who presented David with the original FONDA World Championship trophy to keep.

Colleagues and Drivers Remember Him

Eric Michell, of FM Television, said:

Working with David Parkinson in Fonda and then Formula 1 was never dull; it was great fun! His priority was always the drivers and what was right for them. We evolved our TV coverage for him as he developed an outstanding global race series. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard people say, “oh those were the best years, when David was in charge.” I shall miss his friendship very much.

Guido Cappellini, 1993 UIM F1 World Champion, said:

This is very sad news, but I’m comforted by the fact that he had a long and successful life.

Fabrizio Bocca, 1992 UIM F1 World Champion, said:

I had the privilege of being one of David’s drivers from 1986 to 1993, first in the FONDA series and then in F1. It was a fantastic period of my life both personally and as a driver, I thank David for the incredible work he did for us during that time. He set in motion a group of drivers who went on to be protagonists in F1 for decades. Dear David, you will always have a special place in my memories. Rest in peace.