Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[lars strom]

Pretty sexy looking 3 cyl. race engine..

Thanks

[lars strom]

More info about the sexy looking 3 cyl. above.

831cc FT-19s powerhead,
The exhaust housing is not a 45ss, it is a shortened production 3-cyl part (same as FT) with the exhaust outlet added.
It used the special sandcast FT-19S powerhead adapter, to be compatible with the special sandcast Mod50 FT/FR exhaust manifold.
45ss swivel and stern brackets
45ss gearcase


The intended use was for hydros and runabouts in APBA Modified FEH/850cc
_____________________________

[Amberjack1234]

I have to ask you what year did you raced the Super Strangler V4 and what race in Florida did Jack Leek told you not to race..??

It was either 73 or 74 because I only raise the the four for about a year before I went back to t3 mercury. It was in the Miami Marine Stadium and shortly after the boat show so it had to be March or late February. I had just gotten the boat built by Al Martin in Miami and purchased the engine from Mike Osborne in Winter Haven the fellow who got me the engine was Bert Ross the local Johnson rep for my dealership, who by the way, was a boat racer and a great guy. I believe he was married to a lady who was a member of the Briggs family or possibly the Evinrude family. Can’t remember everything as my memory is failing went on my head too many times .

[lars strom]

OK @Amberjack1234

I am really trying hard to figure out why Jack Leek told you so..

A quick V6 history..the first ever Merc V6 was raced in Koblenz, Germany a week or two before Paris 6 hours in the fall of 1973.
Merc did have a few factory V6 engines and so did OMC in Paris 6 hours 1973..
So it was not 1973 Jack told you so.
In 1974 only factory drivers could get the Merc & OMC V6 engines. So maybe Jack told you that 1974...but why..??
..because in the Miami race 1975 there was still plenty of racers using the Merc in line six and OMC V4 engines.
So it could not have been 1975.
The famous Miami triple flip 1975 involved no V6 engines..

Here is my story from the Miami race 1975

The triple flip at Miami Marine Stadium in August 1975 was NOT the big story.. The big story was Jimbo McConnell’s #191 Scotti-Craft with an Evinrude V6 Super Strangler “looper”

https://svera.se/blogg/the-triple-fl...angler-looper/


The triple flip in Miami 1975 below..You can see two OMC V4... Stinger GP / Super Strangler.

[lars strom]

This is from the 1974 Johnson Sales brochure and OMC is promoting the Stinger GP V4 race engine.

[lars strom]

More from the 1974 Johnson Sales brochure and OMC is promoting the Stinger GP V4 race engine and the Rotary.

[Amberjack1234]

So I guess that would put it in 1975? Boat show in Miami was always in third week of February. I know that I had just built the boat and quit racing on Molinary with the blue stripe twister. I know in August 1975 I had already switched to the T3 and was at the stadium in a different heat from the famous triple flip. Went to EUAFAU LA a couple of weeks later and ran mid pack, because the water was flat called by then the yellow boat was highly modified from when I had run the V4 strangler on it. We had added a second step to the bottom and move the lift in the front of the pickle fork back about 18 inches by modifying the deck so you could run the boat level with the added power of the T3, but even with all the stock modifications that we did do the T3, we still could not compete with the factory boys. As an added thought and I just ramble I think when I tried to run the yellow Almartin boat in the stadium against the first T threes on the mile and 1/4 course that I had switched from the one to one gear case for the long course to the 1517 ratio that I had for short courses and that seem to give me the acceleration that I needed to come out of the corners a little better against the V6 T3‘s so you are probably right Lars. Definitely was not 73 because I was racing, a mercury blue stripe twister on a Kitson hull and then switched to the little Mollinari that peacock got for me from the boneyard up at Lake x which Al Martin had to totally rebuild the front of it and add steps to the bottom. I know that in the short time that I raced the super strangler on the yellow pickle fork the fastest boat that had another super strangler on it in the state of Florida was driven by Mike Downard out of Kissimmee Florida. I believe it was a full tunnel Scotty and I raced against him twice and never beat him . Sold all the Outboard boats in 1976 at the end of the year and got out of Outboard racing.

[Amberjack1234]

As an afterthought on buying the super strangler from Mike Osborne in Winterhaven, it could’ve been that he just wanted to offload the engine as he was getting out of racing at the time and since I have just started my Johnson dealership in 73 as part of the Zuki Motors cycle shop that I had already sold my blue stripe twister, and the little Mollinari the super strangler was the only engine available as I could not get a V6 mercury at the time. By the way, and 73 and four, I was also the first of two Suzuki outboard dealers in Miami Dade county four-cylinder engines that look like Chrysler’s with a 115 hp being the biggest, we put it on a custom built flats boat and it ran circles around the 115 Johnson that it replaced.

[WaterZebra]

Nope ........beg to differ with you on the "big story". This photo ran on the Associated Press outlet with every US newspaper publishing the photo on page 1 or page 2 of their daily editions on NOT on the sports page. This shot exposed every average American reader to what tunnel boat racing was.

[Amberjack1234]

Nope ........beg to differ with you on the "big story". This photo ran on the Associated Press outlet with every US newspaper publishing the photo on page 1 or page 2 of their daily editions on NOT on the sports page. This shot exposed every average American reader to what tunnel boat racing was.

I believe the untold story was the fact that Reggie was going around the pits soaking wet and that is a wet Bantu rooster mad as hell, proclaiming that those drivers purposely got in his way and that he could’ve out run Jimbo and all the OMC boats if they hadn’t blown him over! That’s how I remember it

[Bob V]

Charlie - You must have known Jan Whitton?

[Amberjack1234]

Course I knew Jan Witten/nice guy, but more money than sense/dated cute women, Maryland I believe one of the McSwiggens. Came to all the Caribbean Club boat races. Had a lot of fun got killed in a plane coming out of treasure key I believe in MU2 prop jet. Clarence Davis, the pilot survived. don’t want to go onto too much more detail as it may be self incriminating lol.

[Amberjack1234]

I believe the untold story was the fact that Reggie was going around the pits soaking wet and that is a wet Bantu rooster mad as hell, proclaiming that those drivers purposely got in his way and that he could’ve out run Jimbo and all the OMC boats if they hadn’t blown him over! That’s how I remember it

Seems like Reggie was running a Merc V6 in that flip! I could be wrong. My eyes aren’t as good as they used to be and my memory sure isn’t.

[WaterZebra]

Seems like Reggie was running a Merc V6 in that flip! I could be wrong. My eyes aren’t as good as they used to be and my memory sure isn’t.

Inline six T2

[John Schubert]

I believe the untold story was the fact that Reggie was going around the pits soaking wet and that is a wet Bantu rooster mad as hell, early believe sproclaiming that those drivers purposely got in his way and that he could’ve out run Jimbo and all the OMC boats if they hadn’t blown him over! That’s how I remember it

Can you honestly believe that someone would risk personal injury or serious boat damage to take out another driver? NOT!Look at the sequence of pictures you’ll see the boats were squeezed in tight. Hydros & tunnels when they get too close will blow over every time. Reggie walking around & making statements as you quoted was just his ego.