Thread: Super Swede ... Lars Strom

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    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Thanks for the pictures Lars. It's great to see the one of your Dad. I don't know Bo, but I thank you for what you continually add to the history of boat racing. You bring a very personal touch that all boat racers know.



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    Burgess/Evinrude F1 V8 Lars Strom's Avatar
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    Thanks Wayne,

    I think you like this one..!!
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bo have always been lots of fun to hang out with...

    We had many many hard races together in the SE class and I was most of the time the lucky winner.

    When I turned 50 a few years ago, Bo had a very long speech about how much taller I was..then him....!! (First picture)..

    That is not right..Bo is a way bigger and taller person then me..so I was waiting to see where he was heading with this long speech..

    Well..at the end he got to this..
    At the price giving after the races..I was taller than him.. Bo was most of the time second..
    ( Second picture..example..Bo is in red to the left on me..!!)

    Pretty funny and Bo is still one of my best and oldest friends..
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Lars Strom

    Life is good





    Check my own racing history at BRF...http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=6727

    My racing web site SVERA.se....http://svera.se/blogg/paris-6-hours/

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lars Strom View Post
    Thanks Wayne,

    I think you like this one..!!
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bo have always been lots of fun to hang out with...

    We had many many hard races together in the SE class and I was most of the time the lucky winner.

    When I turned 50 a few years ago, Bo had a very long speech about how much taller I was..then him....!! (First picture)..

    That is not right..Bo is a way bigger and taller person then me..so I was waiting to see where he was heading with this long speech..

    Well..at the end he got to this..
    At the price giving after the races..I was taller than him.. Bo was most of the time second..
    ( Second picture..example..Bo is in red to the left on me..!!)

    Pretty funny and Bo is still one of my best and oldest friends..
    Hey Lars, were you doing your best to look taller? Dig those platform heels!

    Great to hear Bo is doing well. I knew him when he was renting an office on the top floor at SunDance in Ft. Lauderdale. Never a dull moment with Bo in town.

  4. #574
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    I had some similar shoes back then Boatmark59. It was 1977 and many of my German friends were wearing leather shoes with elevated wooden soles. Elton John was wearing those platform shoes, but I didn't buy into that. My boat racing friends shoes were slip ons. I thought they were cool and when Debbie and I spent our Honeymoon going across Germany, I bought some. I was wearing them on the way to the Pro Nationals in Hinton, West Virginia when we stopped to get gas and heard that Elvis Presley died.

    I kind of liked the taller feeling wearing them, but if somebody was chasing you...you better step out and haul a$$. The photo brought me back to those days. I get the feeling that it would be a real kick to just sit back and listen to you guys.



  5. #575
    Burgess/Evinrude F1 V8 Lars Strom's Avatar
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    Default Happy 4th of July

    From Queen Larina. (Lars and Carina)
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    Lars Strom

    Life is good





    Check my own racing history at BRF...http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=6727

    My racing web site SVERA.se....http://svera.se/blogg/paris-6-hours/

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    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Laras, you emigrated from Sweden and immigrated to the USA. You, probably better than 99% of Americans, know what it is like to live somewhere else, then live here. Happy 4th of July, thanks for your great contributions to our country and to BRF.

    I'm sure you have some thoughts on our current political scene, but I won't ask.

    Keep, keeping us posted with your life.

    "Life is good", to quote Lars.
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 07-04-2012 at 12:10 PM.

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    Default Bo Nilsson

    If Bo & I met face to face again today, we would simply burst out laughing! That's just the way he was/is. He is serious...but also a great comic & was always making you laugh. Yes, I remember back in the early 80's, he pulled a huge scam on Mercury Marine in south florida. He was selling hundreds of large horsepower Mercurys outboards, that Mercury shipped to him in bulk in full-size shipping containers. These motors were for "export only" & Bo could buy them for thousands of dollars EACH cheaper from Mercury, because they were for export. But not Bo...No...He was taking them & selling them here in the U.S. via mass marketing, never shipping them out of country. Of course this caught up with him. Customers had warranty issues & brought them to they're local Merc Dealers. Problem was, they all had export serial numbers on the blocks. Merc mailed out a big press release & service bulletins, not to honor any warranties. What a mess! Pissed off alot of Merc Dealers too, due to lost sales, etc. South Florida was rife with craziness back then though, so he fit right in with everyone else! lol

  8. #578
    Burgess/Evinrude F1 V8 Lars Strom's Avatar
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    Njaaa..1969Merc800ShortShaft....sorry but that was not the way it happen at all.

    First it was Mariner and Evinrude outboards, not Mercury.
    The Mariner came from AGB..the Swedish Mariner distributor in Sweden and the Evinrude came from OMC Sweden.
    Yes, all the engines was shipped back to the US in containers and sometimes by airplanes.

    Bo did nothing wrong except found a way to buy new outboards for less..

    Yes..there was some angry local dealers, but it was a bad price policy by Brunswick and OMC that made it possible
    Lars Strom

    Life is good





    Check my own racing history at BRF...http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=6727

    My racing web site SVERA.se....http://svera.se/blogg/paris-6-hours/

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lars Strom View Post
    Njaaa..1969Merc800ShortShaft....sorry but that was not the way it happen at all.

    First it was Mariner and Evinrude outboards, not Mercury.
    The Mariner came from AGB..the Swedish Mariner distributor in Sweden and the Evinrude came from OMC Sweden.
    Yes, all the engines was shipped back to the US in containers and sometimes by airplanes.

    Bo did nothing wrong except found a way to buy new outboards for less..

    Yes..there was some angry local dealers, but it was a bad price policy by Brunswick and OMC that made it possible
    A bit like Yamaha that dumped them all over the world....
    ( but were smart enough to start selling prop rated engines against asleep Americans marketing crank rated so every 115 yam went better then a 115 evi/merc etc at the time)

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    Burgess/Evinrude F1 V8 Lars Strom's Avatar
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    Here and a few more posts forward is a short story about selling outboards that have been traveled the world..!! ..Page # 42..

    Quote Originally Posted by Lars Strom View Post
    My racing and selling outboards had a big connection..
    No racing without selling outboards..and no outboard sales without racing..

    This is a interesting letter..
    1980 OMC slowly started to understand that they done the wrong thing in Europe by taking over the distributorship in every country.
    Billy Huzell was now selling lots of Suzuki outboards instead of Evinrude.
    So I got a visit by Robert F. Wallace from OMC in July of 1980

    This was also the start for OMC to cut prices in Europe..specially in Sweden to keep the market shares.

    Well..My favorite President.. Ronald Reagan came to power and made the dollar really strong..
    I was paying way less dealer net for Evinrude in Sweden than US dealers..
    (In Swedish currency)
    That is how my export back to US started in 1982..

    My little outboard business in Stockholm find a way to sell over 10,000 large OMC outboards back to the US over a few years..
    Can not give all the details but the engines was sold in California and Florida.
    This made many US dealers mad/angry at OMC..and lots of fun and interesting things happen..
    We did not stop with only OMC..lots of Mariner outboards also find the way back to the US..
    Lars Strom

    Life is good





    Check my own racing history at BRF...http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=6727

    My racing web site SVERA.se....http://svera.se/blogg/paris-6-hours/

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