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Thread: More EP and Mod VP, 1977-1981

  1. #1
    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    Default More EP and Mod VP, 1977-1981

    1. Neck and neck with Louis Collins at Lake Dallas, June 1977. Jay Cox sent me the money, I bought the red/white 13' Allison/Stinger from Meatball Murray in the fall, rebuilt the motor (identical to mine afterward, and as fast). Jay drove the rig at Guntersville and it sunk during the race! But he went on and won the 1978 EP Closed course Nationals with it.

    2. Havasu 1978, worst ride of my life while it lasted. I was taken out early after being hit during the start by a Checkmate. Fred Schoellkopf's rig, steering on right side with ride guide steering-we didn't have time to do it right that year. All three Mod VP boats that I drove were owned by Fred. Alan Stoker ("John's Custom Marine") won in 1978. Alan was, in my recollection, the only OMC driver to be able to run with the Mecurry loopers after 1981.

    3. Taking off after pit stop, Havasu 1979. Motor on loan from Evinrude, courtesy of Tom Ireland and Jim Nerstrom. Alan Stoker ran 2nd with his self-built Evinrude 235, Kenny Shaw won with the factory sponsored Johnson. Bill Muncy ran the 2nd factory Evinrude on a Glastron and bounced unmercifully around the rough course.

    4. Two EP speed records held in 1985, my straightaway record was never broken.

    5,7. 235/Laser, Havasu 1981. 13/50, not competitive because at the driver's meeting under gearcase waterpickups were allowed, allowing the Mod VP tunnels to jack up the motors and run with the gearcases above the water. Speeds went to 100 mph, but V-bottom speeds stayed at 85 mph. This was the beginning of the end of V bottom racing in APBA. Louis Collins won a year earlier with a 225 Mercury on 'Texas Twister', but was disqualified for allegedly cutting the right-turn buoy. I saw the video, it appeared on the video that he did not cut inside the buoy. In any case, the video did not show him cutting the buoy. Because of the small lift strakes on the outer chines, the Laser came out of the hole fast (the strakes tunneled water to lift the transom), then ran faster down the straightaway because instead of spilling up the sides of the boat, air was directed opposite the direction of flight. The boat also turned inside every other boat on the course. It was the most fun ever to drive that boat for 4 hours even if it wasn't competitive.

    6. Team decal from 1979. I still have it.

    8. Today's activity

    9. 3rd place in 1979 (where the decal in item 7 was first used).

    10. Page 1 of a 1982 Trailer Boat article
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    Last edited by Smokin' Joe; 01-15-2010 at 04:33 AM. Reason: trying to rotate photo!

  2. #2
    - Skoontz's Avatar
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    They need to bring back the Vees. Plain out most fun looking boats on the water, espcially when they had to be counter steered to keep straight.
    Bill Schwab
    Dirty Deck Brewing
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    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    You can't see it in the picture but the skeg is 'cupped' with Bondo on the 1981 235, that straightened out the motor and eliminated blow out with the short gearcase hub (the 1979 motor had no blow out problem, it had a longer hub).The off set-bungee cord was tight enough that I could nearly turn loose of the wheel wide open, but had to work hard to go straight or turn right at idle speed ... .




    Quote Originally Posted by Skoontz View Post
    They need to bring back the Vees. Plain out most fun looking boats on the water, espcially when they had to be counter steered to keep straight.

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    Joe:

    We stopped the rock by installing solid mounts and raising the engine slightly. It was weird, the solid mounts all but stopped it, but when I hit the up buttom ever so slightly, the rock stopped, dropped it and the rock came back. Plainly weird if ya ask me.

    It seemed around 1981, is that not when OMC ruined the 99 cubic inch 140 by making it a looper with one of the larger gear cases? And that gear case was the V-6 gear case you haad to correct?
    It seemed all kinds of the problems you corrected came about at that time period.

    My best motor was a 1979, 99 cu in 140 Johnson, it had a steady diet of 155XS Merc grain silos and loved them. The motor would get the runs every now and then, eating only Mercs could give it indigestion so every now and then I would have to find some Yickifgion engine to give it balance it's diet.
    Bill Schwab
    Dirty Deck Brewing
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    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    Hi Skoontz,

    We didn't have a problem with the motor rocking since we tied it down with bungee cord (also used bungee on the steering bar to offset the torque). The 140 looper didn't come out until 1988 or thereabout, I was out of racing after 1985. It was believed at Havasu '81 that one needed a nose cone plus the wedge on the skeg to avoid blowout, Roark Sommerford was unhappy that I wouldn't let him bondo a nose cone on my short gearcase's bullet before the race, but I was afraid it'd break and run my run. So I ran 4 hours with the wedge alone (was the only one to do that) and had no blow out problem. Before the wedge, blow out had really plagued the short-bullet gearcase. OMC sometimes made 'improvements' that made the motors slower. Witness the 3 cyl. 75, 1975 was faster than 1976, which was faster than all later models on a V bottom. To be fair, I also had a 1979 75 that, on a tunnel, was as fast as my 1975 model, but not on my V bottom. There, the big skeg and heavy rods and pistons killed the performance of the 1979 motor. The other thing was that the bigger carbs of the '79 motor didn't work on my '75 model, slowed the older motor down. I ran with original '75 small throat carbs, ignored the larger reed stop insert, and set the record in EP (70.560 mph) that was never broken.

    Joe


    Quote Originally Posted by Skoontz View Post
    Joe:

    We stopped the rock by installing solid mounts and raising the engine slightly. It was weird, the solid mounts all but stopped it, but when I hit the up buttom ever so slightly, the rock stopped, dropped it and the rock came back. Plainly weird if ya ask me.

    It seemed around 1981, is that not when OMC ruined the 99 cubic inch 140 by making it a looper with one of the larger gear cases? And that gear case was the V-6 gear case you haad to correct?
    It seemed all kinds of the problems you corrected came about at that time period.

    My best motor was a 1979, 99 cu in 140 Johnson, it had a steady diet of 155XS Merc grain silos and loved them. The motor would get the runs every now and then, eating only Mercs could give it indigestion so every now and then I would have to find some Yickifgion engine to give it balance it's diet.

  6. #6
    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skoontz View Post
    They need to bring back the Vees. Plain out most fun looking boats on the water, espcially when they had to be counter steered to keep straight.
    Move to Minnesota and run GT-Pro .... . Lake Wobeggon country!
    The old 35s on a light boat are a lot of fun for ex racers like me.

  7. #7
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    TEmpting, but uit might be more fun just to get a bunch of guys to run them down here....Hell we sure could have used them at havasu yesterday and today....
    Bill Schwab
    Dirty Deck Brewing
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skoontz View Post
    TEmpting, but uit might be more fun just to get a bunch of guys to run them down here....Hell we sure could have used them at havasu yesterday and today....
    I'd say so too! But I wouldn't set foot in an 11' boat at Havasu, 18' was short enough...

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Smokin' Joe View Post
    I'd say so too! But I wouldn't set foot in an 11' boat at Havasu, 18' was short enough...
    You should have seen the 9' boats running Havasu! Smooth as glass at 7AM...Then 10 rolled around... I have to say for the most part, boaters on the lake were pretty respectful when they saw the races going on and idled around. Other than the Dreamcatcher ferryboat, which threw 4' rollers off transom....
    Bill Schwab
    Dirty Deck Brewing
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skoontz View Post
    You should have seen the 9' boats running Havasu! Smooth as glass at 7AM...Then 10 rolled around... I have to say for the most part, boaters on the lake were pretty respectful when they saw the races going on and idled around. Other than the Dreamcatcher ferryboat, which threw 4' rollers off transom....

    Which year or years?

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