Johnson promo poster circa '85 - New Orleans to St. Louis, V-8 powered Concord

[Ron V]

Hey guys, I don't know how many of you saw this in the Concord thread, so I thought I'd re-post it in its own thread. I've mentioned this poster a couple of times over the years and I know a couple of you were interested. Finally got around to photographing it. It's from circa 1985/1986. My uncle was an OMC mechanic and he got it for me.

At any rate, enjoy...this poster is all I know about the boat and the record assault. I know it's been beaten since. I also saw a magazine article about it back in the day, but I have been able to find NOTHING on the net about it. If anyone knows more, please share! Almost funny that the whole thing originated in STILLWATER...

[jjmalkow]

Thanks for sharing!! Love stuff like this.

[Velocity72]

Very Cool....

[Instigator]

Very cool piece of history. Thanks.
I have several of the old OMC posters but never seen that one.
Would have been a fun run too.
Was a local legend back in the day in Ohio that was an OMC/Concord dealer and had an identical rig as a demo. He swapped some parts around on the 3.6 and had the boat set up perfect. Not sure of top end #'s but I have personally seen a video of him spanking a 24' Skater w/twin 2.4's 2 out of 3 times!
The boat was brutal and everyone was scared of it.

[johnboy 88 vegas]

Any info on the tank size in the boat or how many fuel stops they had to make for a 1,000 miles? My boat runs about 90 miles on 25 gallons with a slightly modded 200 Merc at cruising speed. I could only imagine V-8 bein run balls to the wall for 18 hours so either they had a lot of pit stops or one heck of big gas tank. Someone has to remember this boat from back in the day.

[Da Bull]

I don`t know any details of the Ellingson/Jackson run with the Concord/V-8 combo but two buds of mine broke it i think two years later. Roy Fulton and Jimmie Jackson reset the record with a Performance Eagle/225 Yamaha Excel (Laser 380 copy). Roy had it all planned out very well with fuel stops in various places in the middle og nowhere. I belive the record was broken a few years later by Howard Arneson with a 30ft turbine powered tunnel that could run something like 150mph. It hasn`t been broken sence, Probably never will be.

DB

[Instigator]

I don`t know any details of the Ellingson/Jackson run with the Concord/V-8 combo but two buds of mine broke it i think two years later. Roy Fulton and Jimmie Jackson reset the record with a Performance Eagle/225 Yamaha Excel (Laser 380 copy). Roy had it all planned out very well with fuel stops in various places in the middle og nowhere. I belive the record was broken a few years later by Howard Arneson with a 30ft turbine powered tunnel that could run something like 150mph. It hasn`t been broken sence, Probably never will be.

DB
Yep. I remember a guy held it for a while w/a bass boat ;)

[Da Bull]

I remember that too Gator. I think he broke the Reagan record.

[Instigator]

I remember that too Gator. I think he broke the Reagan record.
That sounds right. I think the Reagan record was in 39' Sutphen w/4 V-8 OMC's. Thought it was hilarious that some red neck in bass boat broke it ;)

I think your correct on Arnesons record still standing too. When he did that I figured the show was pretty much over.
Thinking of Arneson, there is a way cool article (2nd of 2 pts) in Boat Builder magazine about itlaian boat racer/builder Fabio Buzzi and his version of the surface drive. Very interesting. Basically shows the Arneson @ a 7* angle of thrust where his is 3.

[OMCD]

After the other thread I also did a lot of research and found nothing....I really thought I remember reading something years ago and was sure it was a LS7, but it doesnt look big enough to be a LS7 in the photo.
I did find the Arnesons info a like mentioned it still stands.

[Ron V]

Arneson did it in 12 hours and change as I recall. Was able to pull it off entirely in daylight I think.

I'd like to make that trip sometime just for the ride and the scenery. I figure it would be about $800 in gas one way. Trouble is, you've probably got about a 30% chance of making it without losing a lower unit. Late summer/early fall is the only hope when there hasn't been much rain. From what I hear, it's really bad around Memphis. I wouldn't do it unless someone was running back with the truck and trailer with me.

[MODVP22]

Very cool piece of history. Thanks.
I have several of the old OMC posters but never seen that one.
Would have been a fun run too.
Was a local legend back in the day in Ohio that was an OMC/Concord dealer and had an identical rig as a demo. He swapped some parts around on the 3.6 and had the boat set up perfect. Not sure of top end #'s but I have personally seen a video of him spanking a 24' Skater w/twin 2.4's 2 out of 3 times!
The boat was brutal and everyone was scared of it.

my dad almost bought that boat, but opted for a 200 Mariner instead. I'd love to get a hold of some of those older engines with today's injection systems, lower units, and prop technology

[JWTjr.]

the guys who broke Mike Reagan's record in 1983 were Bob Cox and Dean Pink. Cox was president of Charger Boats and Pink was his partner (Pink now makes the Wizard pistons for 2.5 Mercs). The did it in a 19' Charger bass boat with a 235 Johnson. They did it in 23 hours 9 minutes. They did it again in 1987 in 20 hours 45 minutes.

Tiger

[Greg G]

Very cool piece of History

[SCT]

Reagan ran a Scarab for the record.

[OMCD]

Reagan ran a Scarab for the record.

Is that tripple Formula 1 V8s on the back? Any speed info,etc? Very intresting boat.

[Da Bull]

Arneson did it in 12 hours and change as I recall. Was able to pull it off entirely in daylight I think.

I'd like to make that trip sometime just for the ride and the scenery. I figure it would be about $800 in gas one way. Trouble is, you've probably got about a 30% chance of making it without losing a lower unit. Late summer/early fall is the only hope when there hasn't been much rain. From what I hear, it's really bad around Memphis. I wouldn't do it unless someone was running back with the truck and trailer with me.



If it`s scenery youir looking for then the Mississippi River ain`t for you. I raced in the Brent Marathon out of Greenville Miss fro 1984 till 1989 and it pretty much looks all the same. At least the part of it we raced on did. I only ever hit one log in those years but it was the year of my best chances to win. We were in the lead by a good margine at the time. After the bent prop was replaced we went on to finnish in second place after falling back to fourth. That river is full of junk so i guess we were lucky all those years.

DB

[Li'l Toy]

As far as just dong it for a pleasure trip, fuel may be a problem. There is an interesting book floating around called "Only in America." Four guys maybe 20 or so take their California 17' Whaler, launch in South Florida, and go up the East Coast, across the Great Lakes, and down the Mississippi. They could not run a big stretch of the lower Mississippi because there were no fuel docks at all--ran off into something like the Tennessee River of the Cumberland River.

[Ron V]

I don't know, I haven't really looked at it close. I can get 5-6 mpgs cruising at 4 grand. I could add another topside tank or two, plus some jerry cans, and probably get 200 miles without a lot of trouble. As for the scenery, I'm sure it looks a lot the same, but I think it would be a trip that you'd remember forever and as long as I'm looking at miles and miles of rural shoreline with no condos on it, I'm happy. Just a pipe dream at this point, but you never know.