Jackie Wilson..

[jackie wilson]

Hehe Ron..I remember what Gary Garbrecht told me.. when Merc came out with the new 3.4 liter T-4.. V-6 in/for the Bristol race 1979..

Lars.."there is no substitute for cubic/inch"...
...and I know there was way bigger OMC V-8 race engines coming out of the Second Effort shop in Florida..all the way up to 4.6 liter

Lasse ---Gospel truth------Garbrecht told me exactly the same thing in Bristol when i turned up with the "Cosworth"------word for word------told me i was going down the wrong road and he had massive capacity coming and i was wasting my time. Then went to Charlie Shepherd and asked him not to accept my entry. He was wasting his time, Charlie was an honourable man and could not be bought------------that was the "Cosworth's" first race.

[jackie wilson]

Hehe Rotary John..and then he give the real Evinrude-Johnson V-8 racing outboard a hard time..
To heavy, no good etc..bla, bla, bla..

I think it still look modern..25-30 years later..

Have to agree -i will say this only once.

THAT BLOODY MOTOR WAS THE BEST LOOKING-------MEANEST------PROPER RACE ENGINE EVER.

Had to smile at the caption "for selected customers" the meaning being----if you have the cash---you can have one.!!!!!!!!!!

There weren't enough drivers qualified to run the V8 so OMC looked to the smaller classes to make up a series. Some of these were so inexperienced it was pitiful. Jenks was the only one of the lower classes of drivers to get away with it and he retired scared sh-tless after the 3 rivers race.

Not before he won a world F1 title, he was always on the podium--but Molly did have a lot of breakages that year---and GG and Jenks were good buddies-----there goes that mouth of mine again----------but try and find a bit of Molinari history after that race-------you won't ----because there isn't any.

Not a good time in powerboat history. will always be remembered , as are most tragedies but the sport must be monitored by honourable men and not the corrupt few that were in power at the UIM at that time.

If David Parkinson had ever to write his memoirs---the excreta would hit the whirlygig and the ensuing furore would be earth shattering in powerboating circles----but i don't suppose he ever will----------he's an honourable man.

[jackie wilson]

I left S and F a few years back when they tried to tell me Mercury guaranteed their race props. Have not been back since.

Anyway, Jackie speaks pretty well for an Englishman.

One or two things:

1. OMC's race V-8 was a well designed motor, I feel. But their production V-8 didn't have an even firing crankshaft and as a result the PRODUCTION V-8 sounded like a V-4. Loosely translated, it sounded like a TURD! I had a 3.6 V-8, once we got rid of the rev limiters it w as a total animal...On a Production 21' Eliminator, we ran through the kilos at 121....MPH...I know 2.5 EFI's have gone 134 MPH on MOD VP type boats....I've never had a 2.5 Mercury run 121 on a 21 foot Eliminator Daytona...

2. When Garbrecht was running the TEAM for OMC and racing in the races. Anyone with half a brain could quickly figure out that GARY'S boats were faster......Back in the TEAM MERCURY days, I clearly remember Renato asking Gary, at the Six Hours of Paris, if his motor was the same as Sirois's motor. Gary explained it was....Sunday morning before the Six Hours of Paris, Renato again asked Gary again, if his motor was the same as Bill's. Garbrecht assured him it was. Renato then said, "Good as we switch powerheads in the night..." Renato led the first lap and went on to win.....

3. Charlie Strang always kept Bill France from NASCAR on OMC's board of directors....Strang always covered his ***........except maybe in the Jimbo settlement....Strang is the guy who fines the Tony Stewarts...and Kyle Busches now days...

4. I will say it again, it really never was about OMC winning, it was WHO WOULD WIN WITH AN OMC....Tom Ireland and Jeff Brown beat the OMC factory Team at St. Louis one day. The next day they retired from racing.........or they could have lost their jobs in OMC's Service Department....

5. Engineers are NOT MARKETERS!

Love your posts, Jackie. Please feel free to talk about anything....at any time!!!

I was wrong about the Cosworth....but it might have been the first time I was wrong...

Laras was tough in OE...??? I always thought John HILL was the OE KING!!!! (But ALL OMC's PROPELLERS came from me, then through Paul Kalb. I never had favorites...I just made props the best I could).

The only reason you weren't screwed by GG----YOU WERE BIGGER THAN HIM





He screwed almost everybody else he did business with---and the prop deal of second effort was just a comic caper.!!!!!!!!!!

He treated my son Mark very well but he screwed me on a number of occasions.

Rolla sent me my race prop for Havasu via GG. I made do with a piece of useless Merc propapology,
with which i managed to flip the boat and chop my nose off into the bargain.

Some 30 odd years later Willabee hinted that a certain Bobby Herring did rather well with a Rolla prop that day . He gave it me back when i got back to Oshberg.

As my sainted mother used to say ---he runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds.

His right hand never did know what his left hand was up to---he did play both ends against the middle rather a lot.

Had made it all up again years later and was due to play golf with him the month he died, but i had to call it of as i had a rather urgent meeting with a heart doc, the outcome of which was successful [in my opinion].

Wonder if he ever sold his email tag to Bernie Ecclestone ?????? F1---it had to be worth at least $1,000,000. Shrewd or what ????

Lasse tough in OE ??? that's an understatement if ever i heard one. All the English drivers knew Lars was the one to beat? and John Hill and Jenkins and Tony Williams used him as the yardstick. he was dominant for years.!!!!!!

I was lucky that i had a friend in Rolla------he did all Molinari and Scotti's props and he and his wife Renate became lifelong friends [ she died many years ago].

Pruett did not give a rat's asse for protocol or team management-----if he wanted to talk to Jimbo or Sanders or Charlie---he flat went and did it and flipped the finger to GG.

Remember he was goofing off on the OMC truck when he fell and broke his arm---GG tore into him and Pruett looked him straight in the eye---SOOOOOO_FIRE ME !!!!!!!

[Rotary John]

Lars.."there is no substitute for cubic/inch"...
...and I know there was way bigger OMC V-8 race engines coming out of the Second Effort shop in Florida..all the way up to 4.6 liter
Lars: Jim Nerstrom told me he was developing a 5L V-8 before OMC went belly up. Never made it to the race circuit, but was on the dyno under develoment. I still think this was the demise of factory racing, each factory trying to outdo the other. Not racing, but who could bring the most power to the race.

[Lee Sutter]

Lars.."there is no substitute for cubic/inch"...
...and I know there was way bigger OMC V-8 race engines coming out of the Second Effort shop in Florida..all the way up to 4.6 liter
Lars: Jim Nerstrom told me he was developing a 5L V-8 before OMC went belly up. Never made it to the race circuit, but was on the dyno under develoment. I still think this was the demise of factory racing, each factory trying to outdo the other. Not racing, but who could bring the most power to the race.

In my opinion the statement .."there is no substitute for cubic/inch" by GG is only true if the engine has a design that encourages it to turn high RPM's and perform on the back side of the power curve. We found this true especially with the Alky classes and the 122 cubic inch Merc V-6.

So, why did OMC go belly up? When I was a kid, Johnson and Evinrude owned the salt water and Mercury dominated the lakes and races. I wonder if anyone has the outboard industry annual market share information on OMC and Mercury from back in the 70's and 80's. That would really be very interesting data.

It's such a shame and amazing that OMC went upside down... I worked for the Sunbeam Corporation in Chicago ($2 billion in sales) for 23 years and they filed chapter 11 after they were bought by another company. Sunbeam went under because their manufacturing costs were too high and they kept their US plants operating until it was too late. They made great products during a time when the price was more important then the quality.

Oh, how fast did Jimbo and Jeff Brown go in Mod-50?

Lee

[Mark75H]

OMC followed Merc into the boat building industry too late and bought the dregs at higher interest rates ... followed by the Fitch warranty disaster

[Lars Strom]

OMC followed Merc into the boat building industry too late and bought the dregs at higher interest rates ... followed by the Fitch warranty disaster

Yes Mark75H..

Here is more...



The OMC pat to bankruptcy started already in the mid seventies by making enormous
mistakes in Europe.
More here..
http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...?t=6727&page=2


I remember when OMC told the world 1986 they made the biggest deal in the history of the Marine business..signing a contract to deliver all the stern drive power to Bayliner for
3 years..(87-88-89).

Well.. some time later Brunswick told the world they made the biggest Marine business deal..
The purchase of the Bayliner factory and later Sea Ray..
OMC had the possibility to do that before Brunswick but did not at that time, see the need for that..

Many poor decisions where made at the Headquarter in Waukegan.
They hired a President from the washing machine business and he wasted many like an old washing machine used water..

Poor quality and not keeping up with Yamaha was another reason..
In many ways Brunswick was smarter and made better decisions.

I told OMC for many years ago to team up with Merc to fight the Japs..
Not even on the map..
...instead
Merc signed up with Yamaha to fight OMC..
and maybe that is Mercury's biggest mistake ever..Time will tell..
Now Yamaha is slowly taking over the outboard business.
In Europe and the rest of the world ...Yamaha has already done that..

Penske was so close to purchase OMC but Soros/Green Marine and other investors could not agree about a deal..

I was asked by David Jones (the OMC - President) 1998 to come up with something to save the Northern Europe market..
Was hired as a consultant and did lots of work..but no money to do what needed to be done..

I still love the outboard business..but in a way I am glad I left some years ago..

[Rotary John]

Sam: If you recall OMC was in the boat business long before Merc. They were made in Waukegan and sold under Johnson and Evinrude names. They were primarily IO's. They quit this business before the buying binge started. I believe Brunswick started it with buying Bayliner to have an outlet for their motors. But you are correct in that Brunswick and OMC went on a boat buying binge in the late 70's that was crazy. What was OMC doing with Criscraft?
Lee: If I recall, OMC had 80% world market share in the 60's when I started working for OMC. They also were making record sales and profits. At that time OMC had virtually all the salt water business as the Merc's wouldn't stand up to salt water. I believe bad management, no cost control, bad engineering and bad quality caused their demise.

[T2x]

so we come to the waste of space lump of a motor the mighty V8---- Killed and maimed more pilots than any other engine in the history of the sport and was useless as an outboard to the industry due to its weight and awesome power. No manufacturer had a boat in production that could take it------and there weren't too many takers. Died a natural---as was fitting

Sorry Jackie but there were a bunch of hulls capable of handling the big V-8's. We built one of the first, the Shadow Cat, which was designed in 1979 specifically for the T-4's and promised V-8's. The fact is both motors never lived up to their promise, had weak mid sections and generally were engineering failures. We wound up putting 3x 2.4's on the Shadows (4x 2 liters on a later Conquest) to make up for the unfullfilled power that was promised. We did have 1 semi successful season with injected t-4's on the transom but that required one off lowers from engineering and about a mile of bungy cord to try and prevent the motor mounts from failing........ The simple fact was we could run through seas at speeds the big motors could not come close to enduring.

As you can see from the photos we could use all that power and weight plus.......

[T2x]

Even though the Shadow Cat was designed specifically for the biggest outboards, we were forced to turn to inboard power to make them live up to their potential....As a died in the wool outboard racer ......this really wasn't my first choice....but as boat racers.... we had to go with what brought in the trophies.....

While the 4 x 2 liter boat in the post above was the fastest of any of the limited class boats we ever built , including stern drives, it was too complex for the guys who raced it. We used one "DR" powerhead (started 2 ways) to comply with the need for "reverse operation" with SSM 4's, and apparently none of the throttle men back then could get their minds around it.

P.S. Those were course average speeds.......in true offshore conditions.....set over at least 100 miles.

T2x