TT Powerboat racer is Guinness World oldest professional racer

Trinidad and Tobago Powerboat racer Ken Charles dubbed “Mr Solo,” has been recognized by the Guinness World as the oldest professional powerboat racer in the world.

Charles, 76, the owner/driver of perennial TT Great Race winner Mr. Solo, has been racing since the early 1960s before the Great Race began.

The Guinness World Records website posted recently: “The oldest professional race boat driver is Kenneth Charles (Trinidad and Tobago, b.1 August 1944) who is 75 years and 17 days old, as verified in TTT on August 2019, Mr. Kenneth Charles has been awarded a lifetime membership from the TTBA (TT Powerboat Association) for his participation and contribution since the association’s inception in 1970”.

Charles, who competed in Florida for several years, has only missed one edition of the TT Great Race. Mr. Solo has won the TT Great Race 18 times.

In 2018, Charles sister decided to write Guinness World Records to inquire if her brother was the oldest racer in the world.

Charles said after all the background checks with her it was found that he is the oldest powerboat racer in the world.

“I am elated to be in the Guinness Book of World Records,” he told a daily newspaper