Roy Ridgell Asked OMC Drivers Vs Mercury Drivers

**Ron Hill** · 03-11-2013

Roy Ridgell How does that OMC rooster compare to Merc’s impressive line-up of contemporaries Bill Sirois, Billy Seebold, Renato Molinari , Bob Herring, Reggie Fountain, and Cees Velden? To name just a few. I'll add: Don Pruett, Buck Thornton, Lee Sutter, Jim Mertens, Brett May, Dick Sherrer and Dave Packer....come to mind.

Evinrude had:

Jimbo
Mike Wallace
Barry Woods
Ted May
Caesar Scotti
Ron Hill

Johnson had:

Johnny Sanders
Tommy Posey
Art Kennedy
Fred Hauenstein
John Schubert
Mac McCune
Bill Shoemaker

**Lars Strom** · 03-12-2013

Well..Renato Molinari was Evinrude Racing, so was Roger Jenkins.
Cees Van Der Velden was Johnson Racing with Tom Percival and Bob Spalding and Bob Hering.

**Bill Van Steenwyk** · 03-12-2013

.....Lasse Strom!!

And in addition to being a pretty fair driver (see the Championship list he achieved while competing, on this site) not many have contributed to the History of Boat Racing on BRF as he has.

**Ron Hill** · 03-12-2013

I woud compare myself and Don Pruett. Pruett and I were both over six foot, hard charging, but not really "TOP THREATS". WE SELDOM CRASHED, we seldom lead the pack.

Bill Seebold and Barry Woods: Both were about the same size, both thought they should win every time they raced. Billy had more talent and more racing experience, I feel, but Barry had more desire to WIN.

Bobby Herring, Benny Robertson and Renato Molinari all came from the same mold. They'd rather crash while leading, than win.....

**peterse90** · 03-13-2013

If we are talking great drivers from the 70's here are some additions IMO to your original list;
Mercury; Lee Sutter, Bob Hollaway, The Berghauers, Michael Werner

Evinrude; The Briggs brothers

Johnson; Ken Stevenson

A few who drove both Merc & OMC; Bob Spalding, Tom Percival, Roger Jenkins, Spencer Dunn

**Master Oil Racing Team** · 03-13-2013

I was at Kaukauna, Wisconsin on the Fox River when Bob Hering took off at around 130 mph with a Merc on the transom that was hanging by the steering and throttle cables when the boat was finally brought back to shore. The next time I saw Bob after recovering, he was driving for OMC.