Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

**STV_Keith** · 11-12-2019, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by lars strom

Renato Molinari
Martini/Evinrude

Attachment 452549

Renato looks like Gene Hackman from back in the day. LOL

**lars strom** · 11-12-2019, 06:08 PM

Johnson RS 3 liter V6 looper with fuel injection.
100% purpose built race engine by OMC

**Greg G** · 11-12-2019, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by lars strom

Johnson RS 3 liter V6 looper with fuel injection.
100% purpose built race engine by OMC

Wow, very, very cool Lars. Thanks

**FUJIMO** · 11-13-2019, 01:34 PM

I take it, the "OMC Ralph Evinrude Test Center - 5th Annual Reunion" was postponed? Didn't catch the photo's...

**FUJIMO** · 11-13-2019, 01:36 PM

**FUJIMO** · 11-13-2019, 01:40 PM

The above photo's were from the 4th Annual. The 6th Annual is almost here as well. Anything going on?

**lars strom** · 11-13-2019, 07:35 PM

Jack Aylsworth‎

Evinrude - Johnson outboards. Facts, history, racing and future.

Remembering Charles D. Strang - Charlie was born April 12, 1921 in Brooklyn, NY. and died in 2018 at 96. His love of boating started at 10, when his mother took him to the 1931 New York Boat Show. He saw a Century Cyclone racing boat and fell in love with it. His mother finally bought one for him when he turned 15 in 1936. From then on, racing was his major passion. The next summer, he started racing and became a consistent winner. When World War II put an end to racing, he was the reigning New York state champion. Charlie loved racing PRO and Stock outboard motors as a kid and made time in his adult years to serve the American Power Boat Association in many ways – including being their President. (He also became the only American who has served as the President of the U.I.M. – a federation of some 50 nations that governs powerboat racing on a worldwide basis.)
1943, he graduated from Polytechnic University of Brooklyn with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He then enlisted in the United States Army Air Corp and instead of being sent to fight in World War II, he was assigned to Wright Aeronautical Corporation in New Jersey as a test engineer on aircraft engines. After about a year there, the Army Air Corp sent Charlie to the Flight Propulsion Research Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (known as NASA today) until 1947. He then became a Research Associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. (In his spare time while here, he designed a stern drive on paper which later was engineered and produced into many stern drives you see on boats today.) In 1951, he became Director of Research at Kiekhaefer Mercury Marine and eventually the Executive Vice President. In 1966, he served as Director of Outboard Marine Engineering (OMC) and later CEO and Chairman of the Board. His Board of Directors, of which he was very proud, included Bill France – NASCAR owner. In 1998, Bill France announced that Charlie would become the National Commissioner for NASCAR and he held that post for 10 years. In 2015, Charlie became a member of the MOPAR Hall of Fame.

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**Bob Zipps** · 11-13-2019, 10:01 PM

In Post #5688 above, the OMC Brochure states: "Johnson Motor Company built their first Stern Drive Engine in 1931." That statement missed the mark because the Johnson Motor Company built the Stern Drive Unit and the Stern Drive's mounting fixture on the transom of the boat. However, the Inboard Engine powering the Stern Drive Unit was built by other Engine Manufacturers. And there lies the problem. Boat Manufacturers along with Engine Manufacturers did not want their Engines married to an unproven Stern Drive. This along with the effects of the Great Depression requiring cutbacks at Johnson were the mains reason why the 1931 Johnson Stern Drive was short lived. But the lesson was learned, and when the Stern Drive was resurrected in the late 1950s, the major manufacturers of Stern Drive units always married their own Units to their own Engines. And as they say, the rest is History.