Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[lars strom]

Here is the status of the Benson & Hedges drivers today.



#1 Cees Van Der Velden passed away December 27, 2006 from health issues.
R.I.P my friend.



#2 Arthur Mostert is living a good life in Monaco and visited us in Florida last year.



#3 Francois Salabert died in a boat racing accident in Bristol 1990. Driving the ON 2 liter class.
R.I.P my friend.

[lars strom]

Not sure where this is (maybe London GP) but its from 1983. Frost in the #6 boat, Ken Stevenson #88, #1 is Velden, #9 Jenkins and probably Vidoli last boat.

[lars strom]

A race boat calendar.

[lars strom]

Roger Jenkins in his F1-V8 Velden boat 1981. Roger was not happy with his Velden boat and David Burgess did lots of changes. 1982 Jenkins switch to a Burgess built boat and won the Formula One Championship.

[lars strom]

Jimbo McConnell in front of his Evinrude V8. This is from 1982. I think Pittsburgh/Three Rivers Regatta.

[ron54]

It seems every photo you see of J.Mc he is smiling at the camera as if he is greeting you personally...he must have been a sponsors dream.

Picture some of the F1 car boys........wouldn't give you a nod if you met 'em in the desert!!!....

[lars strom]

Yes Ron54..Jimbo always took time for his race supporters and sponsors.

I think the very best spokesperson for the sport after retirement is Billy Seebold.
He is just so good and does a lot of voluntary work for boat racing.
To bad Mercury cant supply him with a free outboard for his Parker CC boat in Florida. Its powered by a Yamaha V6.
Billy and me at a fishing tournament Lake Truman, Missouri a few years ago.

[2us70]

I met Jimbo a couple of times at races. He interacted with me as a fellow driver and racer even though he was a big time factory driver and I was a privateer sport D driver at the time. And the smile was not just for the cameras.

[WaterZebra]

IMO, that's the answer. IMO, Merc wouldn't allow it.

BTW, I misspoke. Formula 150, not 100.
I had a guy funding an engine project early in and I liked what I saw.

The paradigm shift is, there will no longer be factories offering motors.
We only need somone to fab up a mid w/interchangeable tops (similar to Wayne Taylor's 16" Mids) and a gear case. On mids, I always meant to draw one up that was alum plate Allen screeed together.

On gear cases, I don't know. Run Mecs and the supply tap would likely be shut off.
I don't see the issue in doing a CNC program for your own housing.
Find a gear ratio that works for everyone and send it out for bid.
Lots of people cut gears.

Formula 150 was spawned in Region 10 to keep the old equipment on the water. SST classes became a joke..........sealed (software) "green" motors you couldn't even work on in your garage. "Stock" classes weren't really "stock" when dealers / distributors who raced could pick thru their business inventories to find dimensionally "perfect" parts. When the nationals at Kankakee came down to DQ''ing a guy in inspection for using f broken-in case-hardened water pump impellers, I decided I'd had enough. We should have had a "generic" SSM gearcase and mid-section (Wayne Taylor type) 20 years ago. This "production run" mentality was a lot of bull. Didn't help much when you had Merc and OMC employees on the APBA motor tech committees (conflict of interest? LOL). Anybody remember when Brian Daley won Havasu with a Yamaha powerhead, Merc mid and gearcase? It wasn't in writing anywhere, but the gossip society said that any of us with Merc racing accounts caught buying/selling to anybody trying to "adapt" other brand power would have our accounts red-flagged and cancelled. I sold all of my racing equipment for 10 cents / 1 dollar seven years ago and was happy to recover that much of my investment. Don't blame Merc and OMC entirely for what's happened. The APBA "safety" committee dreamed up these "what-if" scenerios what caused all of us to purchase hardened cockpits (which was a good thing), but then it didn't stop there, mirrors, collapsible nose and pickle forks, flood vents, radios, airbags, etc. If I were to do it all again? Old cheap tri-hulls with 4 cylinder ? 150 hp power, have fun, bump into each other and trade paint and not a lot of $$$ tied up in it.

[lars strom]

Team Nordica 1985 was run by Renato Molinari. Molinari boats-Evinrude V8 power. Kicco Vidoli of Italy was driving the #19 boat. Barry Woods, USA was the pilot of the #35 boat.
You can see Kicco standing in the truck.
One note: Ron Anderson was the engine guro for the team.
The picture is from Lyon, France 1985.

[lars strom]

Very good news today.
I got a phone call from the local post office and picked up the letter from Cathy & Jimbo McConnell. Need to scan a few things.

So nice to have pictures with my racing hero Jimbo McConnell. We have been to Needles two times with our motorhome to visit Cathy and Jimbo. We stayed 3-4 days and Jimbo took us to many different places. Well..I also helped him with his RC airplanes.
Here is one picture..more is coming.
Thank you Cathy.

[lars strom]

.. Anybody remember when Brian Daley won Havasu with a Yamaha powerhead, Merc mid and gearcase? It wasn't in writing anywhere, but the gossip society said that any of us with Merc racing accounts caught buying/selling to anybody trying to "adapt" other brand power would have our accounts red-flagged and cancelled....

I did this story on my Svera.se website a few years ago..
http://svera.se/blogg/yamaha-outboar...-classic-1987/

Yamaha outboards win Havasu Classic 1987.

[lars strom]

I strongly disagree with you Jackie.
1983 UIM made it clear after a few years of argue about Formula classes.
OE was named F3
ON was named F2
OZ was named F1
That was the UIM rule not an OMC rule.

Just for the record because I know I am 100% right about this.
If you check the advance program for the London GP 1983 and 1984 in Jackies home country it clearly says according to the UIM Formula rule.
Formula 1 Red marker
Formula 2 Blue marker
Formula 3 Green marker

Starting with the 1983 advance program.




Next below is the 1984 advance program

[powerabout]

What was Jackie trying to say?
That was the Fonda era i thought?

[lars strom]

Lassie, you do not want to get into a pissing contest with me on this one, believe me.!
you are looking through rose coloured specs at this ----
Take a look at that line up again my friend-------Cees was hurt so bad in his accident he never raced again.
Jimbo, hurt real bad , Tom, Bob and Francois deceased.
Mora was a hydro pilot----Andy Bullen was a club racer with a pushy dad in Alf.
im tired and I want to go to bed. So for tonight, I'm done.
If the V8 was so damned much easier to drive than an OE, why the hell were you always at the back instead of out front like you were in the OE ?
You were right of course, OMC didn't "Force" anyone to drive------just offered sums of cash never before heard of in powerboat history .

Lassie,you should do some research into the birth of the F1/2/3/4/. It was Charlie Shepherd at Bristol who thought up the idea, to make it easy for the public to understand. It was very successful, so much so, that OMC hijacked the iron curtain countries bloc vote AND the UIM. To steal the title. FONDA, had run the F1 for two years. But then you knew all this Lassie didn't you ?

Here is Jackie's post powerabout.
Fonda/ON 2 liter was Formula 2, (a UIM rule) and the OZ class was Formula 1.

OMC had run the F1-V8 in the OZ class for two years also. Started in Brodenbach, Germany in the beginning of the 1981 season. They did not steal the title.

When Mercury introduced the 3.4 liter T4 in the OZ class 1979 it was called the Formula 1 engine.. (See red mark on the Merc T4 cowling below) The Formula 1 name belongs to the OZ class, not the 2 liter ON class. That's the way it was.