What Does "MOD-VP" Mean? Evolution/History Lesson

[Mark Poole]

The Key to the success of the class will be to come up with good class rules and then LEAVE THEM ALONE! Lock the rules for at least five years. The only thing that should be changed are those things pertaining to driver safety. What is so complicated about hull size, weight and cubic inches? So what if brand X does not make an engine that maximizes the rules? If it becomes popular enough then maybe they will realize that they need to. This is how things were done in outboard racing's glory days. Remember SE, FJ, SJ? I remember the old 100 c.i. V bottom class. Most guys ran Mercs but it was not uncommon to see an OMC or a Chrysler show up that would give them a run for their money.

[hydroc888]

Dont you relalize that the rules are made AFTER the motors are made and who can put up the most money to get there motor in first place and they dont care a bit about the stock classes , thats why the stocks all run yamatos . Boat racing needs to get out of the manufactures pockets. There are a ton of AMERICAN made motors out there that would put on a good show without the YAMATOS being there if there was classes for them , but APBa is in the deep pockets of the manufactures and wont change things. WHY IS STOCK 90 % JAPANISE MOTORS. Answer that question and I will shut up .
Jack

[Mark Poole]

I guess I should have clarified that I was talking OPC. What this sport needs is to throw away the rules and start from scratch.

Go to an tunnel boat race. SST 45 nothing but OMC.....out comes SST 120 nothing but Mercury.....out comes SST 60 nothing but OMC.....out comes F1 nothing but Mercury. Now....HOW STUPID IS THIS??? One of the things that has hurt this sport more than anything else is no manufacturer competition! Manufacturer competition has always been the backbone of great racing. How many fans would F1 car racing have if there were only Ferraris on the track?? European race fans would overthrow the government if you did that to their racing.

[Rusrog]

don't like to get beat. If the narrow minded manufacturers would look beyond the winners circle for just a minute you might see that change but they don't. The manufacturers want their motor in the winners circle no matter what. It has happened time and time again. OMC came out with the V-8 and pumped money into the sanction so that the courses got longer and the short legged Mercury's couldn't compete. Then Mercury came out with the T-4 but wouldn't build enough of them to get legal and instead of building a few extra they went to court and argued until the motor was obsolete and un-competitive. In ODBA a few years ago, Mercury lobbied, and threw money at ODBA until an SVS equipped non-warrantied Drag motor was allowed into Super Stock. Why? Because up until then the OMC's and Yamaha's had a decent shot of winning. Look at St. Louis back in; what was it; the late 80's when Al Stoker won Mod VP and Mercury impounded the motor and spent several weeks trying to find it illegal. When the whole time several prominent Mercury drivers were showing over 200#'s on a compression guage. They would have looked muuuuuuch better simply handing Al a big trophy, with a smile on their face, and going about their merry way. But no. What it comes down to is the engine manufacturers are not going to race if they don't have a nearly air tight chance of winning. The closest thing now is ABPA Super Sport racing. The manufacturers are staying out of it and the sanction is running the deal. In my opinion the only reason that has happened is that the manufacturers are too busy trying to appease the EPA right now. Just my thoughts...

Russ Rogers
Ft Worth TX

[Ted March]

This must be the day you are referring to. St. Louis 1985.

The picture is not great. But it tells a great story.

[Rusrog]

I have always been a big fan of Mercury but I also like to root for the underdog and when Al Stoker won I was certainly hoping that Mercury would do the right thing, in the right way. So much for that idea.

Hey Ted it seems we have a mutual friend. Do you remember David Goodfellow from Texas? Very good friend of mine and he was telling me about running around with you in Il for a weekend years ago...

Russ Rogers
Ft Worth TX

[Ted March]

We had some good times together. Haven't seen or talked to him in years, and I mean years. I would appreciate iif you could put us in touch. I bet we can swap a lot of lies.

Thanks for bringing his name up.

[Rusrog]

I sent his contact info...

Give him a shout.

Russ Rogers
Ft Worth TX

[M.R.Bowen]

OK, how about this. Take F-150 motor rules, add a Mod VP style boat ( capsuled ), keep it simple, call it PRO STOCK/MOD VP and have a ball.
Carbs, anybody's motor, what ever gearcase you can scrouge up, dig out all that stuff you've been hiding in the back of the garage, no efi or fancy stuff. Like Russrog said, the factories are too busy trying to duck to EPA. Let's have some fun before time runs out for all of us.

[Ted March]

Is right