Race of Champions, Miami Marine Stadium
Thank you Roy, Mintominto and Bill for all the info.
Well, maybe the $10,000.00 price money was the biggest reason I was so disappointed not
being part of the "Dream race"
I am pretty sure you must be a World Champ in any UIM, or APBA class that year to be part of the
race.
I remember OMC came back to me and said there was no way they could help me
in to the race without make someone else upset.
If I remember right, there was no second race the year after.
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Photo of the boat I used in Cardiff and Amsterdam 1975
My story about the race in Amsterdam is coming up next,
but first I like to tell this little story.
I meet this US driver for the first time in the pit in Amsterdam and he was a fun man and said
this to me:
Lars, in Europe they drive Formula one cars in ballet shoes, in the US we
drive Formula 5000 cars in Texas boots... and then he smiled and
jumped in to his Evinrude powered OZ boat and lead the race.
He later rolled in one of the turns, the water was
really ruff in the Port of Amsterdam
I become a good friend to this man and raced him for many years.
Well, I am going to let you guess who this person is??
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Very interesting Evinrude ad
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4 in a row.... the 1976 Race season
I was very excited about year 1976.
This was my second year as an exclusive authorized Evinrude dealer, and my business was
doing way better than expected.
On top of that the SE Class European/Continental Championship race was going to take place
in Sweden and I could be the first driver in history to win 4 in a row.
I asked Franco Clerici to build me a boat with some of my own input, and for the first time Evinrude/Sweden
sent a driver to Cremona Italy to pick the boat up.
The boat was exactly the way I wanted, and we painted the boat to match the 1976 Evinrude Hustler.
OMC told me to start the season with a stock 75 hp motor, and as soon as the new Evinrude FT 19 S
was ready they sent me one.
There was rumors that Mercury was coming out with a second generation of 650 XS and I was
disappointed that the new Evinrude was delayed.
Early every spring the Swedish Power Boat Federation invited all the Press and Media to a Party
at Gåshaga Wärdshus.
I took my very good looking boat to that place early in the morning and cover it up to make it more interesting.
The press people asked me if they could take a photo of my "secret Boat", and I told them No.
Only the rear of the Clerici Boat.
The day after I got all the headlines in the news papers and many pictures of the Evinrude motor.
Not my "secret boat"....
The plan worked perfect!!
Remember, I was selling outboards not Race boats.
We raced 5 or 6 races, before the Big one in Nora, and my boat was perfect.
First place in all the races and the next one was now the European Championship.
One week before the Race I was told the new Evinrude FT 19 S was on the way to Sweden.
Way to late, because I was not happy starting to change things only a few days before
the Big Race.
I felt pretty good I could win with my stock 75, but OMC told me to install the new engine.
We did and tested.
The top speed was better, but not so good after the turns.
Well, at the Race in Nora there was many people upset because only Bo Nilsson and I had the
new engine.
I told OMC I can win with the old engine, but was told to just race and stay out of politics.
Lots of SE Boats at the Race, and I was worried about sabotage at night, so my friend
Christer "Monstret" Eriksson was guarding the boat all night with jumper cables in his hand to
scare people away.
RACE DAY
Same type of Race, 4 heat 3 counts and clock start or flying start as it was called in Swedish.
Everything was perfect at the last practice: the boat, the balance, set up, prop, engine and the driver was ready.
Without bragging, but I was very good to time the start.
Always wide open when I crossed
the starting line and that is a big part of winning a race.
I won the first three heat and Gert Lowisin was starting to take my engine apart when they
still raced for second place.
At that time I did not want Gert to do that, because he worked for Volvo Penta and was part
responsible for the Volvo Penta/Konig OE engine.
Anyway, he was the Chief Technical Inspector for the race and after 3 hours he said officially that my
engine was 100 % legal.
Now I was 4 X European Champion and celebrated with a big Outboard sale at my dealership.
The next race was the OE World Championship in Aurontzo, Italy and Paul Kalb told me
he was going to use some local Italien Drivers for the Race to save money.
Cut budget he told me!!!
That's when Billy Huzell the owner of the Evinrude Sweden told me to keep the Evinrude Ft 19 S and race Roslagsloppet next weekend
with my Offshore Piraya two seater.
Well, I did and won the Race with Bertil Wik as a co-pilot.
We was so fast, and arrived way to early in Oregrund. (2,5 hour race with refueling)
There was no finish line yet....
Bo and I made a plan to fly to Auronzo, Italy just to watch the OE World Championship.
The ON World Championship was at the same time.
Paul Kalb was not happy to see me there and Roger Jenkins was upset with Paul Kalb to,
so Roger was racing the Volvo Penta/Konig at this race.
This was the first time the Volvo was doing really good and Jenkins was leading the Race
when something went wrong.
Well, my brain started to spin: Me - Volvo - Sweden - Problem with Paul Kalb -
OMC kicking out Billy Huzell who really was behind my success in Racing
The drivers Paul Kalb picked was way behind in the race and I was smiling.
Remember that OMC was using Laughing gas to go faster, but that did not help.
This was also the first time I did see Renato Molinari play dirty, well not really Renato but his
second boat driven by Zoppi I think his name was.
He sank Cees VD Velden on purpose by running in to his boat just in front of us at the far end of the race
course.
Molinari ended up winning both OE and ON at that race, but not really in a proper way. (ON)
Paul Kalb had a bad bad weekend, and after the Race he apologized.
Now he wanted Bo and Lars to race Amsterdam and Rotterdam with one of OMCs OE boats.
That's the next story...
I forgot one important Race 1976
The 2 Hours of Duvnäsviken or The Swedish 2 Hours GP
This race took place in Nacka, my little hometown a few miles outside Stockholm.
Actually where my Dealer ship was located.
Normally this race was in the summertime, but no permit from the local government so Per Benson
the Officer of the Day for the Race changed date to late October.
This was a very popular race, and a mix of all kind of race boats.
I remember there was frost in the morning, before the race.
Well, Barry Woods told me the year before in Amsterdam that they used Texas Boots in the
Formula 5000 cars in USA.
So I put my new Texas boots on and headed for the race and people looked funny at me.
Are you going to race like that? was the question from lots of people.
My answer was yes.
The race was fun with a mix of Outboards, Inboards, Offshore Boats and SE boats.
After two hours, a really ice cold driver with Texas Boots was the overall winner, and everybody was
shaking there heads...and I was laughing.:cool:
Powerboat and Waterskiing Magazine from 1977
Hi again Wayne,
I have to be honest.
I remember this "Profile" in Powerboat and Waterskiing Magazine from 1977, but I have not
seen or read it for 30 years.
Thank you so much for posting it.
Well, I got in trouble over that article in Sweden.
Some people in Sweden was very upset that I was not supporting the SB class.
SB was a class for 25 HP outboards and at that time a Junior class.
I should not have made that statement, but we used to call it the "Hot Dog race".
Meaning when they where racing, the spectators went to get Hot Dogs.
31 years later, I think it is time to apologize for that statement.
I am also really happy to see that my Racing stories is matching this article.
Again the last time I read this article was 30 years ago and I got tears in my eyes reading it today.
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Very good and fast engine.
The Evinrude 70hp? from 1974 was as good as the 1975 and 1976
Evinrude 75 hp used for SE Class racing.
Only when the FT 19S came late 1976 did I pick up speed from more power.
The speed increase 1975 and 1976 was from better boats and set up.
Photo from 1974,
Clerici SE Cat with Evinrude 70 hp
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Before the 1977 Race season.
This year was the year of big change for me in Racing.
OMC did many things I disagree with, like kicking out the Swedish Evinrude distributor Huzells.
My relationship with Paul Kalb, the overseas Racing boss was not so good.
Many people was sick and tired of me winning more or less everything for 4 years in the SE class
and most drivers wanted to switch to OE instead of SE.
Paul Kalb called me and offered me a free OE engine and all the parts and service free and travel cost.
Well, my old Racing deal with Huzells use to be way better and I made money the last 3
years from Racing.
At that point I run across Rutger Friberg, an old friend.
Rutger was in charge of Volvo Penta
and som other Volvo Divisions.
I told him to make me a good offer to Race the Volvo Penta König and after a few days he
got back to me with something really good.
Lots of up front money, paying for boats and racing trucks and a nice budget for travel cost etc.
and to be the number one Volvo Penta-Konig driver.
Access to Gert Lowisin full time for the Race season.
Gert was really smart and good with props and getting horse power out of engines.
OE was a no restriction class and I signed the deal with Volvo the next day.
I also included a Offshore deal to have free equipment to have a shot at the over all winner of Roslagsloppet. A very big Offshore race back then in Sweden.
The first thing I did after signing the Volvo deal was to contact Bengt Nilsson.
Bengt was the CEO for the new company, OMC Sweden.
Bengt use to be the CEO for Huzells Marine Division and he got the job for the new OMC set up in Sweden.
I told Bengt this is maybe no good for my Evinrude dealership, but Racing was a big part of
my life and the Volvo deal was to good to turn down.
Now my next big dilemma happened.
A few days later Billy Huzell came to my dealership with the Sales manager for Suzuki outboards.
Huzells offered me very good net pricing, if I signed up to be a Suzuki dealer!!!.
Way better conditions then OMC.
After a long discussion I ordered 150 Suzuki outboards.
The best part was 1 year credit and no interest.
A few days later Bengt Nilsson called me and asked if the Suzuki rumors was true.....
I said yes, and felt really bad.....
The next day I called Huzells and canceled the Suzuki deal and asked them to pick up all
the 150 outboards ASAP!!!!
//
Next is my 1977 Racing story
Photo:
Rutger Friberg is the man behind the Volvo Penta Outboard.
Lars is to the right.