Sandra Tate, a Winner in a Racing Family

Sandi Wray standing in the cockpit of the S-511 Country Girl (the yellow hydro).
Photo taken at Lake Tapps in 1985 by Randy Hall.

By Craig Fjarlie 

Sandi Wray was introduced to hydroplane racing almost by accident.  She grew up in California, and her mother had a competitive spirit.  “She grew up with horses,” Sandi remembers.  “She showed horses and she also drag raced.  When we were little kids, we used to go to the dragstrip and watch her race.  Then, for whatever reason, she got out of that.”   

Sandi’s mother had a coworker who raced inboard hydroplanes.  “We went to a few races.”  Boat racing looked like fun, so Sandi and her mother started talking to people.  One person they met was boatbuilder Marcel Belleville.  “He was a French-Canadian guy that we met in California,” Sandi explains.  “He offered a boat, probably an old Jones.  It was pretty beat up, sitting in the back of his garage, doing nothing.  He threw this boat together and made it raceable.  We went and got our physicals.  My mom told me she and I were going to take turns driving it. If I didn’t like it, she was going to race it. Obviously, I liked it. My mom and my dad supported my racing for a few years.” 

Belleville built a new 145 class inboard hydroplane for Sandi the next season.  She named it Country Girl, S-511.  Sandi was a charger right from the start.  In 1983 at Oroville, California, she set a one-mile course world record.  She also was the class High Point Champion in 1984 and 1985.  It should be noted that Sandi sometimes spells her name Sandy, but it was Sandi on her boat. 

Some flatbottom drivers helped her with driving tips.  She specifically remembers receiving ideas from George Woods and Dave Villwock.  She also was good friends with Mickey Remund. 

Sandi’s success caught the attention of Mark Tate, a third-generation inboard racer from Michigan.  “Sandi was coming back east racing for a couple years.  I wanted to get introduced to her,” Mark says.  “A mutual friend, Jerry Hale, introduced the two of us at Decatur, Illinois.” 

Sandi and her father went east for a couple of years.  One year they stayed at Mark Tate’s parents’ home.  “We got to know each other better.  Then, when they went back west, I flew out there for two races,” Mark notes.  Sandi remembers the year, “That was 1985.”  Mark had a special reason for going to the races on the West Coast.  “That’s when I decided to ask her to marry me—when I was out there.” 

Sandi moved to Michigan in October of that year, and in 1986 they were married.  She did race a few more times, but hung up her helmet when she was expecting their first son, Andrew.  Mark continued racing and moved into the Unlimited class in 1990.  He won the APBA Gold Cup twice, in a boat owned by Steve Woomer. 

A few years later, Andrew and his younger brother, Brent, began racing outboards.  Both also played hockey.  Mark and Sandi turned their attention to encouraging their sons as they developed their driving skills.  Andrew is currently racing in the Unlimited class.  He won the APBA Gold Cup in 2018, and won the National High Point Championship that year and again in 2024.  Brent remains active in outboards, and Andrew occasionally races outboards, especially the Top O’ Michigan marathon. 

Sandi enjoys watching Andrew compete in Unlimited regattas.  “Not just the racing part of it, but watching him grow as a young man,” she says.  “I’m very happy that he’s had good paths with racing.  It makes us proud to see the person that he has become.” 

Sandi and Mark Tate both were competitive drivers when they raced hydroplanes.  That desire to win has been passed down to their sons.  It’s remarkable that Sandi’s mother happened to have a coworker who raced boats, and that connection initiated a new course for Sandi’s life. It first made her a champion in her own right, and now makes her part of a family that continues those winning ways. 

It confirms the adage that boat racing really is one big family.