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  1. #106
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    Morgan City 225 - 1972........

    As I mentioned, 1972 was a strange year for factory racing. Here it is, May already and the two teams are about to have their first head to head confrontation of the year. I have told you how we had prepared our C6's for the Miami 225, but the race got blown out and that we didn't run at Parker. OMC did run Parker with a new engine, so this was the first time our C6's ( still using the Morgan square carbs ) would run against their new power. I also have told you that we had done some NED work on the two powerheads that were put on the Molinari's driven by Bill Seebold and Bob Hering. At this race, Reggie Fountain is now in a team boat and Seebold makes major gains in his climb to become "Top Gun". We have also got Mike Downard, Tom Stickle, Gary Peacock, Bill Allan and Bill Sirois running C6's on their Molinari's and Bill Petty running one on a Twistercraft.

    I think we did all of our setup work at Lake X and then took off for Louisiana. On our first night in town, a few of us headed out to see what the locals did for fun. In the first joint we entered, we ran into a bunch of the OMC team members. At least two of them looked like they had been kicked in the head by a mule! While shaking hands I asked what was up with that, did you have a car wreck on the way? They told us that they had gone out last night and said "When these Cajuns talk, listen very carefully to what they are saying. We learned the hard way that if you get it wrong, you're going to get hurt". Since I already had a hearing problem, I decided I'd best stay pretty quiet for the rest of that trip

    To be continued.......

    Here's a couple of shots of the winner, Seebold in Old Blue II.......one of mine and one from Powerboat, September, 1972.........
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Racing on the Edge 021.jpg   PB68&69 074.jpg  
    Last edited by willabee; 03-01-2017 at 02:12 PM.

  2. #107
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    Morgan City - 1972 ( continued ) ........

    This racesite required the use of cranes to launch the boats and they weren't going to be in place until Saturday, so we went looking for a ramp. The one we found was very old and narrow, made from wood. When the first boat was backed down the ramp, I walked out on this old rickety dock to make sure that the engine was pumping water. I looked around and saw the biggest snake that I had ever seen in my life sunning itself on some pads near the dock. I asked the locals about it and was informed that there were many nests of these water moccasins in the lake and people that step in a nest while swimming are usually dead before they make it back to shore ( brought back memories of the glades with Gary Peacock )

    Sunday morning the wind is really blowing and the lake is already rough. Sirois takes his hot lap and his engine sounds bad, we pull him back out and install a new set of carbs. We have one man assigned to hold each boat for the Lemans start but that turns out to be a difficult task. Someone in the crowd asked if we wanted any help and I said that would be great....several spectators walked into that water and helped steady the boats for the start, I thought that was really cool.

    Jimbo leads to the first pin, then Hering zooms on by him and leads the first lap. Fountain blows over on lap #4 and Petty does the same on lap #8 ( it was still very windy ). Hering leads until he fuels at one hour and Seebold takes over......he leads until he fuels a half hour later and Hering takes over......he leads until he fuels at two hours and Seebold ( who didn't have to pit again ) takes the lead to the end. Those two guys led all of the laps and the C6's clearly dominated OMC's new engine

    Here's a shot of Hering and Jimbo ( who did finish 3rd ) ....Hering's boat cowl looks a little short because he had flipped while testing at the Lake and the damage on the rear of it had been removed......
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Copy of PB68&69 077.jpg   PB68&69 077.jpg  
    Last edited by willabee; 08-21-2020 at 09:17 AM.

  3. #108
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    Great stuff, please keep it coming.

  4. #109
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    Thought this thread might be a good place to get back to the list

    Mercury Big Engine List........
    ( Power available to team boats and to factory supported boats )

    This is what I think we have so far, more research is required to complete the last three years:

    1965 - 1000 ( some 6 pipe stackers )
    1966 - 1100 ( some 3 pipe stackers )
    1967 - 1100 - the first 1250's race in the Salton Sea 500
    1968 - 1250 BP / 1250 SSM stackers - the first direct charge 1350's race at Havasu on four single Molinari's
    1969 - 1250 Super BP / 1350 SSM water injected stackers
    1970 - 1350 "Red" Twister, silo and cowbell - the first C6 with Morgan square carbs races in the Berlin 6 Hour, it performs poorly
    1971 - 1350 "Blue" TI - some team boats start running the 1350 C6 in July in the Miami 225
    1972 - 1350 C6, the press starts calling them TII's - the first 1400 C6 races in June at the Dayton 225, it wins!
    1973 - 1400 TII with Tillotson carbs ........more work required starting here
    1974 -
    1975 -

    Please feel free to jump right in with corrections and comments
    Last edited by willabee; 03-01-2017 at 02:24 PM.

  5. #110
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    I think you got it calendar year correct, but possibly model year confusing for a lot of readers who don't place the model year as early fall, well ahead of the famous fall races late in the calendar year.

    Looking back in old magazines and stuff I still haven't found any pictures or descriptions of any stackers (other than motors & stacks built at Quincy Welding) between the 1960/61-ish Lake X race boats and the 1968 model year BP's raced at the Salton Sea race. Do you recall the names of any of the racers who had them in the 65-66 time period?

    I think you made a typographical error on 1971 (1972 model year) blue decaled Twister-1, I think they are all marked "1400"

  6. #111
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark75H
    I think you got it calendar year correct, but possibly model year confusing for a lot of readers who don't place the model year as early fall, well ahead of the famous fall races late in the calendar year.

    Looking back in old magazines and stuff I still haven't found any pictures or descriptions of any stackers (other than motors & stacks built at Quincy Welding) between the 1960/61-ish Lake X race boats and the 1968 model year BP's raced at the Salton Sea race. Do you recall the names of any of the racers who had them in the 65-66 time period?

    I think you made a typographical error on 1971 (1972 model year) blue decaled Twister-1, I think they are all marked "1400"
    M75H:

    Chuck Mercereau was running stacked 1000's on his Powercat hydro out west in '63 or '64.

    I'd like to add to the big engine list.....first T-3......1974

    First T2x 1975

    First 1750XS.......1977?

    First T-4....... 1979/80

    T2x
    20 Foot Switzer Wing 2 X S3000 (Dust'n the Wind II)
    !6 foot Wood Eltro Vee (2X Merc 1500's) (Dust'n the Wind IV)
    15 foot Powercat 15C (2 X Merc 1500) (Dust'n the Wind III)
    (Single engine boats are lacking something)
    15’ Wooden Switzer Shooting Star...
    16 foot Lee Craft Merc S 3000-(Gold Dust II)
    (The exception proves the rule)
    Obsolete and Proud of it

  7. #112
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    The T2 and T2x both appear in the '74 Hi Perf catalog ... meaning the T2x was a customer motor for the '74 season & probably debuted as a factory race motor in '73.

    I agree on the V-6 Merc as '74; Seebold won & set an X class record with a V-6 in Eufaula in '74. I think they were originally decaled as 1750xs or "1750xs T-3"

    I'm sure there were a few pieces like Chuck's stacks, but I can't convince myself that they were other than leftover '61-ish stuff, Quincy stuff or one off stuff snuck out of Lake X like the dual prop Speedmaster or overdrive Mk75H lower unit.

    You made me get out my notes on the T-4. It was very clearly a '78 motor

  8. #113
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    Willabee

    1957 to 1959= open exhaust bought from Mercury on 6cyl engines..very rare
    1960 to 1961= 6 pipe stacks on 800/850's not made by Quincy. Lake X had three Bubble Cats with this setup..They all showed up for the Around Miami Beach Race. The pipes we used were made by Quincy because they were easier to get. Mercurys pipes were longer and thinner and had a different elbow. The exhaust plate was also slightly different than Quincy's. I don't remember any boats other than Mercurys that ran these stacks. We even bought Quincys for Dave Craigs Power Cat experiment..
    Olegator probably remembers more about it than I do..he was closer to the Lake..

    Butch

  9. #114
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    The Big Engine List.......

    Just to clear up one point for some readers, the list has nothing to do with model years......it is trying to show the biggest power that Merc factory or Merc supported boats ran in each calendar year.

    Earl Welch and one other guy, whose name escapes me ( they were always at the same races together ) , ran Switzer Wings with six pipe 1000's...one was gold and the other black...Kitson would remember who I'm talking about. I thought that I was told that they were 4 of about 10 stacker kits that Merc built for those engines ( they were before my time at Merc, I started in 67, but I saw those guys racing at that time ). I sure think I saw a twin or triple Power Cat back then also with 6 pipe stackers.

    I don't remember what the decals said on the TI's ( someone must have one they can look at ), but they used a 1350 block. The 1400 block would not mount on the Twister dsh and Merc sold TI kits for people to upgrade their Twister which didn't include a dsh.....at least that's how I recall it.

    Agreed, the 74 Hi-Perf catalog does list the T2 and T2x....
    Last edited by willabee; 07-21-2008 at 10:16 AM.

  10. #115
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    Hmmm .... would a 1972 blue T-1 use the same block (135) or would it be based on the 140 & later block with the later base bolt pattern? Meaning are Twister and Twister-1 driveshaft housings different?

  11. #116
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    Quote Originally Posted by lilabner
    1957 to 1959= open exhaust bought from Mercury on 6cyl engines..very rare
    1960 to 1961= 6 pipe stacks on 800/850's not made by Quincy. Lake X had three Bubble Cats with this setup..They all showed up for the Around Miami Beach Race. The pipes we used were made by Quincy because they were easier to get. Mercurys pipes were longer and thinner and had a different elbow. The exhaust plate was also slightly different than Quincy's. I don't remember any boats other than Mercurys that ran these stacks. We even bought Quincys for Dave Craigs Power Cat experiment..
    Olegator probably remembers more about it than I do..he was closer to the Lake..

    Butch
    Just to be sure that I understand, are you saying that 1965 and 1966 are properly listed......Merc supplied/built a few of those stacked engines?

  12. #117
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark75H
    Hmmm .... would a 1972 blue T-1 use the same block (135) or would it be based on the 140 & later block with the later base bolt pattern? Meaning are Twister and Twister-1 driveshaft housings different?
    My memory bank ( at least what's left of it ) says the first two Twisters shared the same dsh.....the TI had the scalloped transfer covers with a third intake port milled into the 1350 block, there was also different exhaust porting. Does that ring any bells?

  13. #118
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    Miami 225 - 1972........

    The February race had been blown out, so we went back in late June to run this event. OMC didn't bring it's factory team to this race ( they had also pulled out of the Dayton 225 ). Jack Leek, their team manager, said " After what happened at Morgan City, we need to play it a little closer to our chest ".

    Only 21 boats started this race, with Bob Hering leading from start to finish with C6 power. Bill Seebold continued his climb towards "top gun" status with another good performance, running in 2nd until just past half-way when his C6 let go. Tom Stickle, also running a C6, did finish in 2nd. Jim Hunt finished 1st in the U class and Charles Craig won Sport J.

    Here's a shot of Hering going past Reggie Fountain who is driving a team supported boat with a TI in the U class. The second photo is Chick Gagen in his Zonkercraft.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails PB72&73 013.jpg   PB72&73 015.jpg  
    Last edited by willabee; 02-22-2006 at 10:28 AM.

  14. #119
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    Willabee

    In 65-66 I was killing commies for christ on eastern front...All I know is thru 63...

  15. #120
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    Dayton 225 - June,1972........

    As I had mentioned earlier, 1972 was a strange year for factory racing That trend continued in Dayton when we discovered that OMC had pulled all of their boats from this event, saying that they didn't have anything that could run with the TII's yet! The 5 mile competition races were held on Saturday, and Bob Hering set a new record in S class at 82.763 mph in his new Molinari pickle fork ( the first one in the U.S. ) pushed by the C6.

    On Sunday, the 225 started with Hering taking a quick lead, but his engine went sour after a few laps ( I think he burned a piston ). Tom Stickle ( driving Hering's old boat ) took the lead and held it until about the two-thirds mark, when Bill Sirois went out in front and took the win.

    To be continued........

    Here's Stickle in #254 with Hering on the outside and a shot of Hering .....
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails PB72&73 017.jpg   PB72&73 019.jpg  

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