Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[lars strom]

$350 in 1973 → $2,024.00 in 2019..still a very good deal for a complete gearcase.

[lars strom]

Gary Garbrecht and the real Second Effort Boat Racing.

[lars strom]

Well..I have been to many OFF meetings in Tavares, Florida and also invited overseas drivers to enjoy the meeting. Some of them have done so.
I guess this year was short of old farts and that's sad.
Not sure how to get the OFF going again but a good start must be to not beat up on some of the the old drivers/supporters that you expect to be there.
We all know Mr. Bill is the greatest and the very best spokesperson for tunnel boat racing and he is solid as a rock.
I can also inform you that I was asked by a friend of mine ready to pay up to $5,000 to bring Evinrude's most famous driver to an OFF meeting.
Sadly I could not talk him in to going.
Maybe the right way to do it is to have something going on at the same time for our wife's in Tavares.

[Instigator]

I hate to admit I’ve never been, even when I lived down there.

Need to figure out how to keep it going Lars.......

[Bob Zipps]

"Powerabout", Responding to your request for photos of the 1931 Johnson Stern Drive Unit in your post #5700, I have attempted to show 2 photos of the Stern Dive Unit that is on a boat that is on display at the Glen Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, New York, but I was unsuccessful. One of the photos is taken from the rear, and shows the Stern Dive Unit mounted on the transom being powered with an inboard engine directly ahead of it. The engine hatch cover has been removed allowing the top of the engine to be seen. The second photo is a close-up of the large Identification Plate that attached to the top-rear of the Stern Drive.

[Bob Zipps]

In discussing the Johnson Motor Company in the early days, please remember that Johnson was a separate company at that time. Their first production Johnson Outboard Motor was introduced at the 1922 New York Boat Show. Their motors were so well received that by the end of the 1920s, Johnson not only sold more Outboard Motors than any other brand, but also sold more Outboard Motors that all of the other brands combined.

I was saying in my earlier Post that by 1931 Johnson had to cut back. Unfortunately because of Johnson's earlier success, Johnson Management did not recognize the impact that the Great Depression would have. Johnson brought out a line of Boats in 1930. Plus they introduced the half-speed external rotary valve on Service Outboard Motors as well as Racing Outboard Motors. The Racing Outboard Motors included the 1930 Horizontally Opposed, Twin Cylinder, 20 cubic inch Class, Model SR-50; 1930 Horizontally Opposed, Twin Cylinder, 30 cubic inch Class, Model PR-50; and the 1930 Horizontally Opposed, Four Cylinder, 40 cubic inch Class, Model VR-50 with dual Carburetors.

In 1931, Johnson also introduced the Horizontally Opposed, Four Cylinder, 50 cubic inch Class, Model XR-55; and an Alternate-Firing, Twin Cylinder, Model KR-55. With the exception of the Model XR-55 Johnson made improvements to their Line of Racing Outboard Motors throughout the 1930s. Up until WW II, Johnson dominated the Classes in which their Outboard Motors competed.

The Johnson Motor Company went into receivership in the early 1930s, and eventually became part of the Company that would eventually be OMC. After WW II, OMC made the decision not to support any of their Racing Classes. This gave rise to specialty houses such as Randolph Hubbell of California, who not only manufactured parts for the Johnsons and Evinrudes, but also produced a complete equivalent of the Johnson Model SR into the early 1950s.

After Johnson was absorbed into what would become OMC, all of the Johnson PR technology was used in producing the Evinrude Racing Speeditwin, which was basically a Johnson Model PR made to look like an Evinrude.

[lars strom]

[FUJIMO]

….Electro-Magnet gear shifting - Wonder why they stopped making this?

[FUJIMO]

...1966 17' Johnson Deluxe boat stored in a warehouse for over 40 years...

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