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God this post is exciting!
While looking through the shed I found a powerhead and Brinkman H leg already mounted. So what do you do? Well I'm a Merc guy but did sell both Mercury and OMC engines in my boatyard. Seems like I need to join the fun with an OMC. I beleive this old stinger will work fine and be available as a companiom to the TX444DK that we built last year and the new 6 cylinder thats nearing completion. Hopefull this powerhead is a legal starting point! Now we have to get smart with the mods and the exhaust. We hope to run the TX444DK at hillsdale in June.
Alan
You're almost 100% correct
Quote:
Originally Posted by
hydroplay
I get a chuckle out of Tim Kurz saying that absolutely everything he does is completely within the printed rules. I won't argue with that at all but I certainly do remember when he was making a big stink about Jerry Wienandt's 650 Merc. Kurz maintained that it wasn't legal despite the fact that it met every printed rule just like Kurz's projects do now. So now the shoe is on the other foot and he sings a different tune. Wienandt's 650 Merc won a number of Nationals and was pretty much the class of the field at the time. It was so good that Jerry even let Chuck Petersen run it one year for another championship, yet Kurz was adamant about trying to get it thrown out despite it meeting all the rules. Oh how times change!
There's a big difference Sam: Parts for the OMC's I build were/are available for the general public to purchase in 1990. At that time, anyone could create a good FE from dealer parts (45SS or loop triple). The same was not possible with the 650XS. This I know as I apprenticed 1972-73 at the only full race inventory Mercury dealer in Michigan (Fairlane Boats and Motors), and still had decent connections. The mechanic I replaced (Jeff Ettinger) was a tunnel racer with a 650XS on loan from Kiekhaefer. He explained parts were only available to selected racers. There was no published parts list and isn't to this day. But I know where there's a very low time factory 650XS available.....
Anyway, according to Jeff, Kiekhaefer only built 75 of these engine. So it didn't make the 250 rule and parts could not be purchased unless you were very well connected. As a Mercury man this inabilty to construct an XS was quite a disappointment. If you look at the rules (same today as then), it seemed too good to be true a 14 petal reed box engine was allowed to compete with the OMC's. So how did it get approved? To my knowledge, Gerry was the only racer that had not one, but two! And of course his workmanship was/is excellent. Hmmmm. Good connections.
Well, I was just plain pissed that I couldn't have one myself. So you're right, just like Dave Mason, I complained. The difference is I sent a proposal to delete it with documentation to the commisson in the fall of 1992. Politics as it was, the proposal was quickly rejected. Knowing the 45SS Mod could not compete with any of these triples, I began construction of my first triple spring of 1993 at Bud's. It took all summer to build that engine which first ran at Coldwater September 1993. I was looking at 90 MPH going into the beach turn - incredible - just before I melted my first piston.
Gerry told me he'd seen the "Century Mark" with his 650, but was happier propping it short for better punch to mid-90's. Naturally, I was eager to see the mark. After a rebore/piston in October 1993 and driving downwind with my nose on the windshield, I saw 101MPH in "The Pink" a 12' Ropp (have got great video). Though the speed later proved to be 96MPH after Keller calibration, this was simply incredible. All was forgotten about the 650XS, and things got progressively faster. I still have that first engine and it will still break 100 on a long wheel - still a great feeling.
What did I learn from all this? It's easier and much more satisfying to take a Smokey Yunick look at rules and build more power than waste time with a frustrating political fight. Does that satisfy you?
Tim