Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[STEVERINO]

Attachment 537518

Never saw a boat like that at a race.

James Beard in a boat of his own design.

James Beard picked a seriously rough race to try this boat out in i can remember coming up to pass him and he looked like he had a real handfull on his hands i think i lapped him one more time before he submarined The bow of his boat drove just like a V hull his sponsons just followed on behind.At the prize giving he received a special award for design and inovation the boat was really well made i think it was one of the last boats Chris Hodges built while he was still at Cougar it never raced again.

[2us70]

As I have said before testing or racing the "next big innovation" can be risky business.

[lars strom]

Jack Aylsworth
Group expert All-star contributor

Remembering Charles D. Strang - OMC CEO

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.

(More at the link.)
https://svera.se/blogg/charlie-stran...-have-left-us/

[lars strom]

Currently on display at the Spy Museum in DC.
If you know, you know.

[lars strom]

Mike Bunting

This is an original poster that Evinrude sent out to their dealers at the time the movie was released. My father was a dealer at that time, this one has been in the family since new..

[WaterZebra]

Mike Bunting

This is an original poster that Evinrude sent out to their dealers at the time the movie was released. My father was a dealer at that time, this one has been in the family since new..

a
Interesting sidebar on the jump. It was not made at a blistering chine-walking 70 mph but rather a precise 53 mph approaching the jump bunks. The OMC 135 hp engine choice was influenced by having a lower CG than an inline Merc with more power. Having owned a GT150 myself, the hull had an intense chine walk near 60 mph that only could be eliminated by adding a pad on the stern (Classic Mod VP fix at the time)

[99fxst99]

53MPH? Makes you wonder why the Henrich cleaver.........

[2us70]

I ran in the 1966 Orange Bowl 9 Hour race. The single engine outboard class was won by a boat powered by the first really competitive OMC motor I had seen. This motor was on a European import deep V hull driven by a pair of brothers who had an Evinrude store in West Palm Beach. The brothers usually ran Offshore stuff and I don't recall seeing them around the OPC races. Do any of you OMC guys know anything about this motor?

[OLEGATOR]

a
Interesting sidebar on the jump. It was not made at a blistering chine-walking 70 mph but rather a precise 53 mph approaching the jump bunks. The OMC 135 hp engine choice was influenced by having a lower CG than an inline Merc with more power. Having owned a GT150 myself, the hull had an intense chine walk near 60 mph that only could be eliminated by adding a pad on the stern (Classic Mod VP fix at the time)

this jump took a lot of work and a number of boats to complete. after almost giving up. bob hammond of glastron, called my boss, tommy hagood, about this project as they were good buddies and we were glastron distributors. we had an employee who had a lot of experience with jumping boats at cypress gardens. he went to louisiana and finally got the project done. his name was buddy boyles. as far as the part about chine walk, i spent many a weekend in a gt150. never had a pad, and steering on starboard side. it ran straught as an arrow, no chine walk, into the 70's on a keller speedometer. i was so impressed with this rig, i was tempted to run it in the fj class. i was running in the fj class at the time with a allison and the glastron would not turn as good as the allison.

[WaterZebra]

53MPH? Makes you wonder why the Henrich cleaver.........

I can't remember the name of the university but they science'd the daylights out of the stunt before a propeller even turned in the water.

[WaterZebra]

Turn as good as an Allison? My opinion would be the GT150 would have been a world champion barrel roller!

[WaterZebra]

this jump took a lot of work and a number of boats to complete. after almost giving up. bob hammond of glastron, called my boss, tommy hagood, about this project as they were good buddies and we were glastron distributors. we had an employee who had a lot of experience with jumping boats at cypress gardens. he went to louisiana and finally got the project done. his name was buddy boyles. as far as the part about chine walk, i spent many a weekend in a gt150. never had a pad, and steering on starboard side. it ran straught as an arrow, no chine walk, into the 70's on a keller speedometer. i was so impressed with this rig, i was tempted to run it in the fj class. i was running in the fj class at the time with a allison and the glastron would not turn as good as the allison.

Another sidebar: What ever happened to the famous Glastron Moli twin that Fountain ran?

[Instigator]

Anyone going to comment on the two skids they added to to the bottom so it would leave the ramp level?

You can see it in a couple of the pixs.

[WaterZebra]

Anyone going to comment on the two skids they added to to the bottom so it would leave the ramp level?

You can see it in a couple of the pixs.

Yeah................I remember those too. I'm thinking they were added to keep the hull level during lift off? I bet they had a terrible time getting a vee bottom off any kind of ramp. The GT150 vee bottom profile isn't anything like jump boats used ay Cypress Gardens. The jump boats were nearly flat bottoms (example: GW Invader ten footers).

[2us70]

I ran a 16' Action in J class a few times. The hull on that boat was taken from a Glastron. Sometimes it was like trying to race an outboard powered oil drum.