U-12 Racing LLC / Graham Trucking Racing
Rob Graham, Team Owner
Rob Graham and Graham Trucking, Inc. first became involved with racing through one of his employees, Jerry Hopp, who along with his son Greg became one of the most successful ULHRA teams. In 1995, GTI became a sponsor of the Unlimited Light class and continued to play a vital roll until the group disbanded in 2008. The Graham trucking cup now features the Formula 1 series.
This partnership lead to GTI’s sponsorship of the Graham Trucking Cup at Seafair, as well as being the title sponsor of the Thunder Cup in Tri-Cities and the purchase of the U-12 Racing Team. He is now the Team owner and excited about it.
U-12 Racing LLC / Graham Trucking Racing
Tom Anderson, Crew Chief U-12
Anderson has been involved in unlimited hydroplane racing as a crew member for over 30 years. Tom’s early years in the sport were spent primarily as a turbine engine specialist for several teams including Mr. Pringles, T-Plus and Miss Budweiser. He first became a crew chief for Ron Jones Jr in the mid 90’s and went on to work with owners Jim Harvey and Fred Leland.
Tom joined Ted Porter’s PPE, LLC team in 2007 and moved to Crew Chief of the U5 in 2008 where he and Jeff Bernard scored their first victory in only the second race of the season at the Indiana Governors Cup in Madison Indiana. The team went on to be the only repeat race winners in 2008 by capturing the Bill Muncie Cup in San Diego, California. Since 2008, Tom has twice been awarded Crew Chief of the Year and the U5 team along with drivers, Bernard, Jimmy Shane and J. Michael Kelly have compiled an impressive record of 3 World Championships, 1 National Championship and 18 victories, and 1 Gold Cup, making them one of the most successful teams in recent years.
Professionally, Tom left full time boat racing in the late 1990’s to work in Boeing’s wind tunnels operating the Transonic and Super Sonic tunnels. He has since left Boeing and is a manager for Blue Origin where he enjoys building space vehicles. Tom, wife Kellie and son Brody live in Renton, Wa.
U-12 Racing LLC / Graham Trucking Racing
Jeff Bernard, Driver U-12
Jeff Bernard is a 4th generation boat racer and has been racing powerboats since he was 9 years old.
Jeff’s first ride in an unlimited hydroplane was in 2005 at 20 years old, driving Fred Leland’s U-99 Miss Lakeridge Paving at Seattle Seafair. In 2006, he joined the Precision Performance Engineering team at the Seattle race taking over the U-5 Formula Boats and remained with the team through the 2011 season.
Bernard’s 1st unlimited race victory was the 2008 Indiana Governor’s Cup in Madison, Indiana, in the U-5 FormulaBoats.com. Later that season, he won the Bill Muncey Cup in San Diego. His 3rd career win came in 2009 at Evansville, Indiana. Jeff has finished 2nd in H1 Unlimited National Driver High Points 3 times.
Jeff has additional driving experience with the U-7 Spirit of Detroit in 2018, U-7 Graham Trucking in 2016, U-21 Fox Plumbing & Heating in 2014, and U-17 Miss Red Dot in 2012. He also has been the back-up driver and radio spotter for the Spirit of Qatar racing team in 2013 and for Miss Madison Racing in 2015. He drove the U-1918 Oberto Specialty Meats hydroplane in 2019, U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estates 2021-2022 for Miss Madison Racing INC.
Bernard has 20 National Championships in limited hydroplane racing, 16 Regional Championships, 3 Grand Prix American Championships, 4 Summer National titles, 2 World Championships, 6 Western Divisional titles, 4 Eastern Divisional title, 1 North American Championship, and 11 World Records in various classes on APBA Inboard Racing. He has been inducted into the APBA Hall of Champions 4 times.
Jeff is a native of Allen Park, Michigan and currently resides in Kent, WA with his wife, Christabelle and their daughters, Blakely and Rilynn.
