Dustin will once again pilot the U-40 for the Bucket List Racing team in 2024, following an eventful 2023 season. Following a record-setting qualifying performance at the 2023 Guntersville Lake Hydrofest, where Dustin laid down a 171.294 mph lap, a massive blowover in Madison put the team in a tough place for the rest of the season. Through massive effort by the crew, they did return for the Tri-Cities and Seattle events, and Dustin finished the 2023 campaign in third place with 4181 points.
Dustin qualified as an Unlimited driver in 2017 piloting Bucket List Racing’s U-440, the smallest boat in the field with the least powerful engine, and was named Rookie of the Year. Echols and his team appeared at every points race held during the 2017 campaign and made it to the final heat twice. The team ended the season with a sixth-place finish in the final national standings.
Dustin had extensive experience in limited hydroplane racing before his debut in the Unlimiteds.
- Began racing outboard hydroplanes at 10 years of age
- Rookie of the Year at Seattle Drag & Ski in 2004
- Western Inboard Divisional champion in 2004, 2005 and 2006
- National 2.5 Mod champion in 2005 and 2006
- World 2.5 Mod champion in 2005 and 2006
- Set 2.5 Mod kilometer straightaway record at 137.279 which still stands today
- National champion of N.A.C.C.S. in 2008 and 2009
- Raced Grand Prix from 2010 through 2016, setting a record in 2010 at 116.129 mph
- H1 Unlimited Rookie of the Year in 2017
- Set the 5th-fastest qualifying speed in Unlimited history in 2023 on Lake Guntersville: 171.294 mph
Dustin’s hydroplane is the former Go Fast Turn Left U-21, which Bucket List Racing acquired in February 2020.
A diesel and heavy-equipment mechanic, when Echols is not driving a race boat or watching his daughter race he is operating his business, Eastside Truck Repair. A graduate of Cedarcrest HS in Duval, WA, Echols lives in Monroe with his wife Rena and daughter Findley. He holds a degree in Diesel Mechanics.
Dustin has always admired the H1 Unlimited hydroplane class as the pinnacle of power boat racing and made driving an H1 Unlimited hydroplane an item on his bucket list – an item that is now a dream come true, driving one of the “big boats” in competition for the first time at the 2022 San Diego Bayfair race.
