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Thread: The Hydrostream V-Wings - Havasu 1981

  1. #21
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Kim Howard, The Gambler

    I need to look things up...

    These are the MOD VP I raced or owned:

    1. I ran a Witch Craft
    2. A 21 Foot Eliminator: Stoker won, Fred Bowden was second in Vee Bottom Baker Stokers
    3. A 19 Foot Eliminator: Fred Bowden won and Ted Miller's son's were second in Fred's # 2 boat...Both were Eliminator Daytonas with low water pick ups.
    4. A red Sleek Craft: Stoker won, Louis Collins had the fastest boat there, a MERCURY
    5. A white Sleek Craft: Kim Howard won.

    I'll look for some magazines to figure out the years...

  2. #22
    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Hill View Post
    I need to look things up...

    These are the MOD VP I raced or owned:

    1. I ran a Witch Craft
    2. A 21 Foot Eliminator: Stoker won, Fred Bowden was second in Vee Bottom Baker Stokers
    3. A 19 Foot Eliminator: Fred Bowden won and Ted Miller's son's were second in Fred's # 2 boat...Both were Eliminator Daytonas with low water pick ups.
    4. A red Sleek Craft: Stoker won, Louis Collins had the fastest boat there, a MERCURY
    5. A white Sleek Craft: Kim Howard won.

    I'll look for some magazines to figure out the years...

    1980: A red Sleek Craft: Stoker won, Louis Collins had the fastest boat there, a MERCURY
    1981, but I thought it was black. Kim Howard is right: A white Sleek Craft: Kim Howard won.

  3. #23
    Team Member Danny Pigott's Avatar
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    Default Mod VP

    Why did Mod V, Mod VP and all the other V botton classes die. Was it because Merc. stopped supporting the Dealers. I never thought i would go to a OPC race an not see an Allison.

  4. #24
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Smokin' Joe View Post
    1980: A red Sleek Craft: Stoker won, Louis Collins had the fastest boat there, a MERCURY
    1981, but I thought it was black. Kim Howard is right: A white Sleek Craft: Kim Howard won.
    We, Hill Marine, ran a white Sleek. Kim Howard won with a BLACK SLEEK.

    Louis Collins was "DOCKED" a lap for cutting someone off....Ask me for my side of the story and I'll tell you.

    Danny...Mod V and MOD VP...Their death, many reasons:

    1. OMC liked the idea of V-8 racing and only built a few MOD VP motors....

    2. Mercury liked selling 2.0 Champ motors and SST 140 motors for HIGH DOLLARS

    3. Mercury REALLY didn't like the idea that Yamaha could win with BOX STOCK motors....

    4. Major corporations use boat racing for THEIR NEEDS, not boat racer's needs.

    Want me to go on????

  5. #25
    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Danny Pigott View Post
    Why did Mod V, Mod VP and all the other V botton classes die. Was it because Merc. stopped supporting the Dealers. I never thought i would go to a OPC race an not see an Allison.
    Danny, Mod VP killed the interest in the small classes like EP, JP. I'm not sure why Mod VP failed, I got out in 1985. I guess the unlimited tunnel class went under because it became too fast, too dangerous, too expensive. Renato Molinari showed up at one point in Europe with twin V-8s on the transom of a 20' tunnel. The current APBA V class makes no sense to me. Only longshaft motors, mix of 50-1900 c.i., limit on how high you can run the motor on the transom. Pretty unappetizing, I'd say. Not the sort of thing we'd go for, is it? I like the GT-Pro Class in Minn. where they run the OMC 30/35 about 50 mph on tunnels and Vs. Would be a good entry level class.

  6. #26
    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    I was right first time, black boat (Sleek)/Merc won in 1981, driver was (I'd forgotten name) Kim Howard!

    The reasons listed above are surely correct. Especially that the factories run for themselves, not for the drivers. Sometimes the different interests coincided. For a while.

  7. #27
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    The biggest killer of Mod-VP was Mercury building "special" but still legal engines for certain (real good) drivers. This was done to try and outrun Al Stoker. When the other drivers found out about this they just threw up their hands and sold their rigs.

    I was racing when the rules changed and allowed Steve Robertson's Eagle to race against V bottoms in unlimited V. Many V bottoms drivers did not like this invasion.
    Outboard Model Concepts
    RC Mod-VP hulls
    Distributor for HTB Tunnels

  8. #28
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default You Mean Like This????

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Poole View Post
    The biggest killer of Mod-VP was Mercury building "special" but still legal engines for certain (real good) drivers. This was done to try and outrun Al Stoker. When the other drivers found out about this they just threw up their hands and sold their rigs.

    I was racing when the rules changed and allowed Steve Robertson's Eagle to race against V bottoms in unlimited V. Many V bottoms drivers did not like this invasion.
    Ted Bravo was a Mariner dealer in New York. He owned three or four Mod VP's. We went to the Aquatenelle (How ever you spell it...) and Ted rented Mod VP motor off the Mercury Racing truck. As I recall we finished third. When they pulled the head for inspection Ted said, "That is NOT a legal block". They said, "Oh yes it is, it came off Mercury's truck."

    So, Ted goes to the Mercury truck and says he wants to buy the engine he just rented. Mercury says, "No, we only rent those motors...".....Really!!! That was Ted Bravo's last MOD VP race...

  9. #29
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    I remember a rule change around 1986 or 87 limiting port height on the mercs. It made our 2 yr old factory merc ModVP engine obsolete. The "new" spec was better than the stock mercs came from the factory, but with chrome bores, you couldn't raise the ports to spec. However, some guys just seemed to get "lucky" and get perfectly blueprinted engines right off the assembly line.

  10. #30
    DaBull Dabull1919's Avatar
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    How do you kill a national class? You take it off of the national circuit wich was IOGP at the time Mod-VP died. If you take away the dream of running the "big" circuit then the class will die nationally.

    I don`t know who`s idea it was to eliminate Mod-VP from IOGP compitition but it worked. One year later there wasn`t a Mod-VP rigg to be found. They all went drag racing i guess. DUMB move if you ask me. Membership dollars, Entry fee`s and interest in APBA all went to drag racing association`s.


    On second thought, Maybe it wasn`t Mod-VP they were trying to kill. Maybe it was OPC!!! Without Mod-VP, I really don`t care about OPC or APBA.

    DB

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