• Mercury Racing Blog: Team Mercury - Part 2: Reggie Fountain

    “That boat was a rocket sled!” said Reggie Fountain about his first boat with Team Mercury.

    Reggie began racing in 1954. He was 14. He started in B class hydros and runabouts. When I asked about engines, “I’ve always used nothing but Mercury’s….My first race engine was a Super 10 Hurricane with Quincy straight pipes. They were very loud. The hydro ran 60-70 mph which was pretty fast back then,” said Reggie.

    Reggie claims the first thing he wanted after law school was to race. He bought a tunnel boat in 1968. “It was a twin-engine, 21-foot Glastron…I did pretty well at local races. You could tell the difference between independent boats like mine and the ones from the factories,” said Reggie. “My boat weighed 775-780 lbs, less driver. Joe Felder [on Glastron's factory team] had an identical rig – but much lighter at 515 lbs.” Reggie saw the advantage of factory support and the need to build a factory network.

    Joe Felder destroyed his Glastron in a crash at Havasu. So Glastron declared Reggie as their new factory driver. Reggie continued to network, becoming friends with Team Mercury driver Jim Mertin Sr. “Jim would supply…worn-out Mercury factory engines. My boat ran better…than it did with the Mercury’s supplied by Glastron.”

    Mercury and Outboard Marine (OMC) agreed in 1971 to switch from twin- to single-engine racing to reduce expenses. “Gary [Garbrecht] called me and said, ‘You’re going to be our secret factory team boat. We’ll get you better engines.’” Reggie explained this was Gary’s way of keeping a hot, twin-engine rig on the course. This time, Glastron supplied Reggie with a new, lightweight boat.

    “That boat with the Mertin/Garbrecht [Mercury] engines went like hell! I raced it 23 times and won every race except one. I lost the Washington, [NC] race by a lap. I ran out of gas 400 yards from the finish. I paddled to 2nd place.” said Reggie. With this success, he was finally invited to meet Gary Garbrecht in person. He would continue as the “undercover, twin-engine, factory team boat.” Reggie summarized his twin-engine racing days by saying, “I could out run Billy [Seebold] with twins; he’s tough to beat with a single.”

    Read the full blog post here >>
    Comments 8 Comments
    1. PARKER RABE's Avatar
      PARKER RABE -
      i have lots of pictures of this boat , ill send them to u greg if you want to scan them .
    1. Scream And Fly's Avatar
      Scream And Fly -
      Parker, that's great. Are they slides or prints? I don't have my slide scanner anymore.
    1. MODVP22's Avatar
      MODVP22 -
      wait, so Garbrecht & Mercury were cheating??
    1. PARKER RABE's Avatar
      PARKER RABE -
      there all prints , have about 50 of them, i was digging around in my moms attic , and hit the mother load of pictures , all twister , 1750 xs , t 1 t 2 all opc stuff , i mean killer stuff !!!!
    1. PARKER RABE's Avatar
      PARKER RABE -
      i can box them up for you greg , i have about 800 5x7 prints, killer stuff. we can make a new gallery for them ...Randy Rabe photos , the legend lives on !
    1. FasterFaster's Avatar
      FasterFaster -
      Quote Originally Posted by MODVP22 View Post
      wait, so Garbrecht & Mercury were cheating??
      No, they were suspected by Leek and OMC ' cause they were being outrun.
      Having a "non-factory" back-up was Merc's plan B -- in case OMC ran twins. Even if OMC had run twins, that wouldn't have been cheating, either. It was an agreement between rivals, not a rule of competition.
    1. PARKER RABE's Avatar
      PARKER RABE -
      greg let me know if u want me tobox the pics up?
    1. SUPAJAY's Avatar
      SUPAJAY -
      incredible history, good read!
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