The first Sanctioned Bathtub race took place in 1969, two years after the inaugural Bathtub race in Nanaimo in 1967. The Kelowna Regatta, which was a well established event, who wanted to expand their water based activities had heard of the new sport of Bathtub racing that took place in Nanaimo. Their Chairman of water events approached the Loyal Nanaimo Bathtub Society (LNBS) organizers of the "Great" INTERNATIONAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BATHTUB RACE and inquired about putting on and hosting a Bathtub race during their regatta. After discussions with the LNBS they agreed to adopt the International Bathtub Racing rules for their race. The Tubbers that had participated in the "Great" Race in July were invited and they scheduled their first Bathtub race on Friday August 8th at 2:00 PM. It was held on the lake adjacent to the Kelowna City Park and was a 30 mile course and was sponsored by Simpson Sears and was very successful. So from the inaugural Bathtub race held in Nanaimo the "Bathtub Racing Capital of the World" the LNBS were lobbied by tubbers to organize and sanction a series of Bathtub races in other communities. The mandate of the LNBS at that time was to publicize the sport of Bathtub racing which would in turn encourage new tub entrants for the "Great" Race. Seeing the value in more races the LNBS formed the Sanctioned Bathtub Racing Commission within the organization to administer this new function. The Sanctioning Commission then took on the task and created the World Cup Sanctioned Bathtub Racing (WCSBR) series.

This new series consisted of a number of races throughout Alberta, British Columbia and Washington State. Communities with suitable water venues that were celebrating special events or civic holidays through the summer were encouraged to contact the LNBS and apply for a Sanctioned Bathtub race, and for a fee, the LNBS would sanction a Bathtub race to be part of their particular community festival. The guidelines, rules and regulations would be laid out by the LNBS Sanctioning Commission and the community group or promoter would stage the race under these guidelines with assistance from the parent body. A points system was developed similar to auto racing and each year the top finisher as well as second and third in two separate classes (Modified and Stock) are presented trophies at the year end "Plug Puller" party in Nanaimo. The WhChShBhR circuit grew to 14 races in 1982. As all the members of the LNBS are volunteers the series has been limited and now the Commission only sanctions races in BC and Washington state but still assists wherever possible with the supplying of information for other area to organize Bathtub races. Races are presently held in the Yukon and Ontario with guidelines and International Bathtub Race rules being used where possible. The season runs from June through to September. The number of sanctioned tubs varies from year to year as do the number of races. The communities of Victoria and Bremerton, Washington have hosted the Sanctioned Races for over 25 years.