100 Years of Evinrude Outboards

[Smokin' Joe]

!00th anniversary Evinrude stick pins given to me by my good friend Ralph Lester, Red Wing Boat Co. Red Wing, who sponsored my racing in 1977-78 until Evinrude Service took over, is the oldest Evinrude Dealer in the Houston area, if not in all of Texas.

I drove Ralph's 16' Allison in JP Class locally for several years. The V-4 would only run about 73mph, the Mercurys ran 78-80 mph, so I never won. I often ran 3rd by wracking up two 2nd place finishes. The 16' Allison had good air lift in the nose, I could trim it out and run nose-up through all sorts of garbage water, and could turn inside the Mercurys (Louis Collins, however, was not on the course!). I had to drive looking backwards (no longer allowed!) to avoid being passed on the straightaways.

The second photo set shows Ralph, his boat with me in it, ca. 1978 in Palacios, Tx.

[Mark75H]

The pins are really cool.