Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[lars strom]

The Marlboro Man.

[lars strom]

The Marlboro Man.

[lars strom]

The Marlboro Man/World Champ

[lars strom]

This is the Marlboro Man's first really nice design. The #11 UIM ON class Marlboro/Velden Racing/Johnson V6 RS 2 liter from 1976.
The picture is from the ON World Championship race in Auronzo, Italy 1976.
Cees was by far the fastest boat and won the first heat. In the second heat Cees was on the way to lap Zoppi, an Italian back-marker..instead of just letting Cees lap him, Zoppi run over him on purpose and took a large part out of this beautiful #11 Marlboro/Velden Racing tunnel boat out.
I was standing on the shoreline watching and could not believe what I just saw..
Sometimes this was part of racing in Italy..(sorry my Italian friends..just another fact)

[lars strom]

September 11 is a date with mixed feelings for most of us.

The terrorist attack in New York is always the first memory.
It is also the day when the famous Swedish F1 driver Ronnie Peterson died after the very bad accident at the Monza F1 race in Italy September 10 1978.
I was racing my first UIM F1 race at Idroscalo/Milan/Italy only a few miles away from Monza the same Sunday.
After my very successful race in the #29 Saffa/Molinari/Johnson V6 RS I got the news of the Monza accident.
Ronnie passed away the day after.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Peterson

[WaterZebra]

This is the Marlboro Man's first really nice design. The #11 UIM ON class Marlboro/Velden Racing/Johnson V6 RS 2 liter from 1976.
The picture is from the ON World Championship race in Auronzo, Italy 1976.
Cees was by far the fastest boat and won the first heat. In the second heat Cees was on the way to lap Zoppi, an Italian back-marker..instead of just letting Cees lap him, Zoppi run over him on purpose and took a large part out of this beautiful #11 Marlboro/Velden Racing tunnel boat out.
I was standing on the shoreline watching and could not believe what I just saw..
Sometimes this was part of racing in Italy..(sorry my Italian friends..just another fact)

I always liked the lines of Velden's boats. They just got better with time up til when the V8's started running in the USA. When Velden was running with the Kool tobacco sponsorship they had just integrated their safety cells with their new hulls. Their white boats with green accents were beautiful. Saw Mostert get in a racing accident in Sacramento CA and the hull was deemed unrepairable. Decision was made to cut the hull up with chainsaws and put the cell in the truck for the trip home. I guess they didn't want the hull lines to be copied or cloned? Veldens hulls were definitely better than what Hodges had at the time. However, team NAUI had USA built Furnels (sp?) that still ran faster than Veldens (Robertson /. Thibideau).

[lars strom]

I am sticking to my own thread and love Mr. Bill.
Not sure when & where but he is swimming..!!

[Lake X Kid]

Swedish F1 driver Ronnie Peterson died after the very bad accident at the Monza F1 race in Italy September 10 1978.
I was racing my first UIM F1 race at Idroscalo/Milan/Italy only a few miles away from Monza the same Sunday.
After my very successful race in the #29 Saffa/Molinari/Johnson V6 RS I got the news of the Monza accident.
Ronnie passed away the day after.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Peterson

Lars did you also identify with champions from a neighboring country — Finland ?

[lars strom]

Lars did you also identify with champions from a neighboring country — Finland ?

Arno Hakkinen of Finland in his #17 Velden Racing/Johnson F1-V8 3.5 liter 2 stroke looper.
Yes he is related to the F1 car racer Mika Hakkinen.

[lars strom]

I always liked the lines of Velden's boats. They just got better with time up til when the V8's started running in the USA. When Velden was running with the Kool tobacco sponsorship they had just integrated their safety cells with their new hulls. Their white boats with green accents were beautiful. Saw Mostert get in a racing accident in Sacramento CA and the hull was deemed unrepairable. Decision was made to cut the hull up with chainsaws and put the cell in the truck for the trip home. I guess they didn't want the hull lines to be copied or cloned? Veldens hulls were definitely better than what Hodges had at the time. However, team NAUI had USA built Furnels (sp?) that still ran faster than Veldens (Robertson /. Thibideau).

Not sure but those Velden boats was very fast and great looking.

[lars strom]

Johnnie Sanders and the Evinrude V6 Super Strangler. Pretty sure its outside OMC racing in Brugge, Belgium.

[lars strom]

OMC

Nice picture..just sad so many are not with us anymore.

[lars strom]

Fred Hauenstein/Ron Hill Molinari/Evinrude V4 Starflite SS
2nd place at the Parker 9 Hour, 1971.

[Rotary John]

OMCnt row.
Nice picture..just sad so many are not with us anymore.

Jack Leek- Jim Wagner front row. Far left -Ward Cox gearcase man.
Far right Mouse- Ziggy. I don't recognize the others. Maybe Mike Gualtny can help out.

[lars strom]

Thank you Swedish Powerboat Federation for this picture.
1977 was the year and three names is very important
Rutger Friberg offered me the extremely good deal to switch to Volvo Penta/Konig.
Dieter Konig and Gert Lowisin built the engine and helped me to many good racing memories.
Molinari/VP/Konig.