Trying To Stay On Topic...
Does Yamaha have distributors or just dealers?
I remember at a Long Beach boat race, my nephew, Bunker Hill, was maybe 14, he's 50 now, asking Charlie Strang, "Why don't you have oil injection on your outboards, like my 125 CC Yamaha motorcycle?"
I don't recall the answer, but I do remember my brother telling Bunker, there at Long Beach, "World War II isn't over and if he were Charlie Strang he'd wake up at night with cold sweats thinking the Japanese were building outboard motors..."
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Trying To Stay On Topic...
Hehe Ron..
Well..the Yamaha Motor Corporation is the importer/distrubutor for Yamaha in North America.
I meet the OEM National Sales Manager..Mark Tracy for some time ago.
Yamaha Motor Corporation sell the Yamaha outboards to US dealers and the dealers to
the final/end user.
Dont know if Yamaha Motor Corporation is owned by Japan or a have a private US owner.
I can tell you that they are very good and up to speed big time..
Mark D. Schwabero is the President and CEO for Mercury Marine and I know him to..
Here he is with my son Richard..
See..now both Merc and Yamaha got some time at the OMC/racing thread..:)
My first visit to OMC..USA.
Back in the late seventies I went to Florida and Miami Marine stadium for a boat race.
(not to race, just to watch)
I think Jimbo McConnell was driving a light blue Mod 50 Molinari..
Well..Jack Leek invited me to the OMC Test station in Stuart, Florida the next day.
Jack was always very friendly to me and I was out in a rescue boat with him when Jimbo was testing the 3 liter OMC V-6 that normally was fuel injected.
but the test was with carburetors.
If I remember right was there a Merc/ OMC conflict about Ron Anderson.
He left Merc for OMC and OMC could not use the fuel injection for 6 month or so..
Later that year Jack Leek invited me to Waukegan.
This was my first visit to Sea Horse Drive and I remember how extremely cold it was
that winter day.
Next surprise was when Jack took me to a big building down by the lake..
He wanted to show me some thing..
It was Jacks sail boat..I smiled and said..
Jack..I came here to see the OMC factory and Engineering and hopefully some nice new racing equipment..not a sail boat but I guess that was his hobby...:)
Thanks Jack..I always is going to remember that trip and my first vistit to OMC over here.
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1978 I raced..SD-Z- ON and the OZ class.
After I left Volvo Penta/König late 1977 I had to come up with a plan to get back with OMC Racing..I was 100% sure that Paul Kalb was not the right way to go..
In Sweden Volvo Penta Outboars was big in the SD class..and made a deal with Bengt Nilsson the CEO
for Outboard Marine in Sweden to be 100% OMC sales and racing.
He wanted me to beat the Volvo Penta in the SD class and than race the very popular Z class.
Offshore with a cat and the new Evinrude 235 hp.
On top of that.. one of the biggest bakery's in Sweden..Delicato signed up the be the sponsor for both boats.
Well..there was one more thing in this deal..I placed the biggest pre-season Evinrude order OMC Sweden ever seen..
Clerici built me a special SD cat for the new 2 cylinder 55 hp Evinrude and a brand new design Z class cat from Argo racing boats in Finland.
Now my outboard dealership was full of Evinrude outboards and racing boats..
Lots of work but I had very good help from my employers.
The first SD race was a enormous success..as the quote below says..
Same thing with the Z class Offshore boat..
We won the first overall 2 hour Offshore race with an average speed of 90 MPH with a stock Evinrude 235.
So..now I was back on the OMC racing map again..
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lars Strom
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I was asked by OMC to try to make this engine work in the SD class.
There was one big success..the Stockholm Grand Prix 1978..
I grabed the overall win...Well the race was one hour and most SE/OE boats
broke down..
As always..you win on the last lap..not the first..
This was a fun experiment and a way for me to get back to race for OMC again after one year with Volvo Penta/Konig (1977 )