Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[Lake X Kid]

Novels give writers artistic license to larger than life characters and amazing storylines. Hollywood script writers are professionals and give us a synopsis of what is successful.
Future historical-novel writers of Boat Racing can learn wise techniques from the Hollywood pros.

Exaggerate the Hollywood suave and good looks of (i.e. Johnny Sanders, Bob Spalding, Bill Seebold) the drivers (women readers are attracted to approachable, confident, and good looking leading men). Include the pressure to secure and maintain a corporate sponsor (i.e. OMC, Mercury, NGK). Disclose the driver’s motivation to win, and to place the sport’s danger in a convenient perspective of risk and reward.

Add hyperbole to the owners (i.e. Carl Kiehkaefer, Bernie Little, Al Copeland) wealth, lifestyle, play toys, and extravagant spending. Over the top celebrations post wins.

Include Drivers dynamic with wives and/or girlfriends; integrate on the pages the ladies’ charm, beauty, vivacious, romance, sexiness, flirtations, affairs, and loyalty.

Reveal the drivers’ family members at home, shop, and in the pits. Nepotism, work ethics, and friction with the race team will help, the readers to better identify with the characters.

A rogue’s shady dealing adds counterpoint to the protagonist’s lifestyle. And the storyline is always better with a mischievous counterpart (Don Aronow, Cocaine Cowboys). Many cowboy movies have the bad guys wearing black hats.

A great novel which people/readers can identify with the protagonist (main character) and root-for, will bring extra new fans to the Sport of Boat Racing.

[lars strom]

10 Years ago today Roger Jenkins posted this on my FaceBook page.
R.I.P..








Roger in the #9 Velden/Gordon's Gin/Johnson V8 1981

[lars strom]

#15..Barry Woods in a Scotti-Craft/Evinrude Super Strangler V-4.
Paris 6 Hours 1972.

[lars strom]

The 1981 Molinari F1-V8 model boat, made out of wood/fiberglass. (I wish this picture was color.)
Renato racing in UK.

[lars strom]

One more thing from the Racers Reunion in Havasu..

[lars strom]

Renato Molinari in his titanium and carbon fiber F1-V8 boat powered by a racing Evinrude V8.
Probably the "Hottest Single" ever.
The year is 1982.
Thanks Alan Green.

[Noah Burns]

Those V8 era boats were so cool, a great time of innovation for the sport. I wish I had been able to see them run.

The post from Mercury about Havasu is great but also disheartening because it shows their continued irreverence to American tunnel racing. the APX series of engines are great, true works of mechanical art but they are not relevant to the NGK series at this time, nor in the near future in my opinion. The series (teams in this case) is low budget, that is obvious to anyone watching, and the engine package they are running is so dumbed down it's ridiculous but they're essentially forced to do so for lack of real options. The APX engines would be awesome to see in competition here in the US, and I am fully on board with four stroke tech. but these teams can build a dozen steel bore 220hp carb motors for what one of those four strokes will cost them. I don't pretend to know the answer, and maybe there is no answer other than continue on the course they are on now I don't know. I do know that the racing today is neither as competitive nor as fun to watch as it was 20-25 years ago.

[lars strom]

@Noah Burns

Thanks,
Without digging to dip in the Mercury racing on this OMC thread but sponsorship and popularity has always been the biggest issue for tunnel boat racing.
Paris, Pittsburgh and Stockholm GP did get hundreds of thousands of spectators..but no income for the race organization..
I think Charlie Strang hit the nail in this report..

The last pictures is me in Pittsburgh 1983..lots of spectators..

OMC F1-V8 racing by Charlie Strang

USF1 United States Formula One

The when, where, who and why of the V-8 racing circuit will all be found in the following story.

When we at OMC were developing a V-8 “fishing motor”, circa 1980, we decided to build a racing version of it to replace our Wankel outboards which had been barred from most European races.

Since there were few places to race a 3-1/2 liter outboard in the USA at that time (other than enduros) we decided to race them primarily in Europe. In UIM, the 3-1/2 liters put the V-8 into class OZ (unlimited displacement). At a meeting in Europe the UIM decided OZ would henceforth be known as Formula One. In 1981 the John Player tobacco company of England sponsored the John Player World Championship series for Formula One. There were 10 V-8s running there in 1981, plus a number of Merc V-6 engines.

In the fall of 1982 Bob Spalding realized that the V-8s were running faster in competition than the Class X outboard hydro record—so he ran a Kilo on Lake Windermere in his tunnel boat at 139.66 mph. Not long after, Rick Frost—also of England—ran a Kilo in his F-1 tunnel boat at 144.16.

In those days tunnel boat design had not kept up with the available power and we had 4 deaths in 4 months. This led to the development of the safety cockpit—financially sponsored by both OMC and Mercury—which did a fantastic job of reducing risk.

During 1985 OMC’s European operation had a problem with a race promoter who spent ridiculous sums on F-1—about 3.2 million in one summer! As a result, I pulled the plug on F-1 in Europe for 1986.

This incident, plus all we had spent on racing in the factory battles of the 1970s and early 1980s, convinced me we were not getting our money’s worth out of the sport—with top-notch factory teams holding great races in remote locations—and the publicity was zilch.

We then decided to concentrate on racing the V-8s in the USA—where most large outboards were sold—and to try to fund it with sponsor money. In other words, to use other companies’ money to promote our product through racing.

We hired the top sports promotion company in the USA—or maybe the world—to find sponsors for outboard racing. Four months and $600,000 in fees later they told us that outboard racing was of no interest to the public and sponsorship was not to be had.

We decided to try it anyway, following where possible the example set by car racing. OMC’s VP for Marketing, Ron Ingram, and I decided on a USA Formula One circuit with the following points in mind:

1. We would have a series of 6 to 8 races in the USA, open to drivers from all over the world.
2. It would be an F-1 series with the only limitation being that the engines must be available to anyone on the open market—to avoid the expensive and promotionally useless factory competition of the past. I think we set the required number of engines produced at 50. (This led to an interesting and even amusing lawsuit with Mercury.)
3. Our races would only be held at metropolitan locations with good press facilities.
4. The race would always be held in conjunction with existing major waterfront shows or events to insure a maximum crowd on race days.
5. We would have large prize purses, never before seen in boat racing, to excite the media—and the teams.
We then met with representatives of ABC, NBC and CBS to determine the ideal format. The networks designed a one-hour format for ideal TV coverage. This was the source of the 45 minute feature event—still used today at times.

We found a great series sponsor in Champion Spark Plug who regularly brought their distributors and dealers to the races and who also promoted the F-1 races in their ads. OMC also put much money into each race to make it a top-notch event worthy of media attention.

If I remember rightly, we started the US F-1 series in 1986—with over $600,000 in prize money for 7 races. We had plenty of European teams and plenty of US entrants. Probably the top event each year was Pittsburgh—where the police had a real job keeping the huge crowds in safe viewing areas.

The US F-1 series went on for about 4 years with all the top US and European F-1 drivers involved. There were always a few Mercs in the field, but only Bill Seebold was ever competitive—particularly on the shorter courses where the big V-8 boats had a bit more difficulty on the turns. The speeds were high—on the 1-1/2 mile course at Beaumont, Texas, Ben Robertson set a lap speed record of 141.33 mph. They were great races.

We thought it was a great series—as did the teams and the boating press—but the public interest did not warrant the cost. The TV networks finally told us that the F-1 events were great—but that boat racing simply could not draw enough attention to create adequate advertising income for the networks. As I recall, they commented that car racing could attract huge followings because, at that time, about 150 million Americans had cars and could relate to them—while only about 10 million Americans had boats.

At any rate, it became very clear that what was probably the best outboard racing circuit of all time could not justify its cost in terms of promotion, publicity and sales.

So – in 1990 I pulled the plug on the OMC F-1 circuit and we went to putting the money into grass-roots racing by producing the 2, 3 and 4 cylinder engines for OPC and sponsoring activity for those classes.

Now you know why I smile sadly when I hear a would-be promoter telling how he will make millions by turning some boat-racing class into the “next NASCAR”!

The V-8 Johnsons and Evinrudes are long gone. About all that remains on the record books is Bob Wartinger’s 176.586 mph speed record of 1989—with a V-8 on a three-point hydro.

So who did all this? As I recall, from the technical side, Jim Nerstrom handled the racing version of the V-8 in OMC Marine Engineering, where Edgar Rose was OMC’s VP. Gary Garbrecht and Les Calhoun did a great deal of development work and boat testing at Gary’s Second Effort operation in Florida. Jack Leek, OMC’s race boss had a finger in everything every where.

Bob DeGrenier was the guy who actually set up and ran the events. OMC Marketing guy, Barry Caris, oversaw OMC’s PR and promotional activity and co-ordinated the race setup with DeGrenier.

Charlie Strang

[Rotary John]

Strang was correct, watching a bunch of OMC engine running around didn't create a lot on interest. Same of UIM in Europe where a bunch of Merc's run around. Nascar is partially successful because you have Ford Chevy, Dodge and Toyota running around. People can relate to that cause they also drive Ford, Chevy Dodge and Toyota's. One thing Strand didn't mention was when the rotaries ran, record crowds showed up and race promoters begged for it to run at their race. Something new and exciting drew crowds. I wonder if a 2l race class whether it is 2 stroke, 4 stroke or rotary would generate enough interest?

[Noah Burns]

Lars, I fully agree about the point of the org. not making any money from events being a big downfall to the overall success of racing, I still don't understand why it is done but it is not my pill to swallow. When I was young and going to the races there were some you had to pay to attend and some you didn't, in my experience the ones that had a gate, were the better races. Save for Augusta, Pittsburgh and some others.

The V8 generation of the series seemed to draw huge crowds, I guess all we can do is ask what was different about that versus any other time that attendance was lesser?

[Noah Burns]

Some sort of something "new" as you say to evoke interest is a great start, the problem is cost at this point. And with Mercury being the only ob company with a racing division it hampers the nascar aspect of things with multiple entries. In my lifetime it has been mainly mother merc on all of the series save for the mid 80s with the v8, I was too young then to have understood. I have seen OMC as well as Yamaha powered boats win in the years since I really started to understand what was going on late 80s ish.

If the APX series of engines is what will lead to the increased interest that we all desire, I am all for it, I just fear that it is not in the cards.

I have long thought that the resurgence of a Mod-VP type class would help as much as anything to get the grass roots level interest back. Draw them in with a boat that looks and sounds like the one in their garage, and keep them wowed with the tunnels. That's how my family got into racing, no reason it couldn't happen again!

Something new and exciting drew crowds. I wonder if a 2l race class whether it is 2 stroke, 4 stroke or rotary would generate enough interest?

[Lake X Kid]

Some sort of something "new" as you say to evoke interest is a great start, the problem is cost at this point.

3. Our races would only be held at metropolitan locations with good press facilities.

Location, location, location.
We all have been to race sites, where there were more waterfowl then resident’s homes on the lakefront. I never understood the logic. How will you generate excitement for people to come and watch a boat race in remote areas?

Like Charlie Strang mention, you need to go to “metropolitan locations” to draw people to the new experience of watching a boat race in their neighborhood. I have witnessed crowds in Amsterdam, and Bristol England, where the race was a local big event. And today, I see healthy spectator numbers at Long Beach and San Diego California.

I understand the importance of a series formula (competitive and affordable) and media coverage, however location is paramount for regional success and national attention. If I were a promoter/organizer my first attention would be the race site location. A prime location (is sort of free advertising) would be an attraction for larger attendance by locals and media coverage.

[Noah Burns]

I absolutely agree. The last NGK race for example, excellent location for a race, beautiful area, everything... could not have been more than 1000-1500 people actually spectating.

3. Our races would only be held at metropolitan locations with good press facilities.

Location, location, location.
We all have been to race sites, where there were more waterfowl then resident’s homes on the lakefront. I never understood the logic. How will you generate excitement for people to come and watch a boat race in remote areas?

Like Charlie Strang mention, you need to go to “metropolitan locations” to draw people to the new experience of watching a boat race in their neighborhood. I have witnessed crowds in Amsterdam, and Bristol England, where the race was a local big event. And today, I see healthy spectator numbers at Long Beach and San Diego California.

I understand the importance of a series formula (competitive and affordable) and media coverage, however location is paramount for regional success and national attention. If I were a promoter/organizer my first attention would be the race site location. A prime location (is sort of free advertising) would be an attraction for larger attendance by locals and media coverage.

[WaterZebra]

Strang was correct, watching a bunch of OMC engine running around didn't create a lot on interest. Same of UIM in Europe where a bunch of Merc's run around. Nascar is partially successful because you have Ford Chevy, Dodge and Toyota running around. People can relate to that cause they also drive Ford, Chevy Dodge and Toyota's. One thing Strand didn't mention was when the rotaries ran, record crowds showed up and race promoters begged for it to run at their race. Something new and exciting drew crowds. I wonder if a 2l race class whether it is 2 stroke, 4 stroke or rotary would generate enough interest?

Nah............OMC's marketing efforts were non-existent. I would have driven 12 hours to any USA site to watch/hear it run. Running in Provo UT was virtually unheard of by dealers in Seattle. The rotary racing was much akin to that of the turbine running at Indy.

[lars strom]

3. Our races would only be held at metropolitan locations with good press facilities.

Location, location, location.
We all have been to race sites, where there were more waterfowl then resident’s homes on the lakefront. I never understood the logic. How will you generate excitement for people to come and watch a boat race in remote areas?

Like Charlie Strang mention, you need to go to “metropolitan locations” to draw people to the new experience of watching a boat race in their neighborhood. I have witnessed crowds in Amsterdam, and Bristol England, where the race was a local big event. And today, I see healthy spectator numbers at Long Beach and San Diego California.

I understand the importance of a series formula (competitive and affordable) and media coverage, however location is paramount for regional success and national attention. If I were a promoter/organizer my first attention would be the race site location. A prime location (is sort of free advertising) would be an attraction for larger attendance by locals and media coverage.

I think the tunnel boats popularity (if it ever was one) peaked in the seventies..As a very good friend of the Seebold's I hate to write this but all the work they put in to the 2021 Havasu race a few weeks ago..the race did not get a big crowd..