1976 Mod 50 winner @OPC nats

**Roy Hodges** · 03-07-2009

This hydro ,with a merc 650 X won 1976 mod 50 at the dayton hydro bowl. Had a custom altered 3 blade quicky prop (Michigan) , made from 2 - two blade props . Tom Ireland was afraid that if the hydro got in the lead ,it would win . It DID. The power head chewed up quickies (D units) , so, they was changed after each heat. I think the #43 was Jeff Titus , in "odd job". a Sport E , one of the winningest -EVER. The other pic -A VanderVelden , with OMC V-6 , i think the most beautiful shape &lines on a tunnel- EVER. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..................................................
Notice the custom fabbed tower housing on the merc - looked like Stainless steel sheet metal rolled to the required shape ?

**Roy Hodges** · 03-07-2009

I just found these pics , lookin for "something ELSE" ; had not seen them in over 30 years .

**Danny Pigott** · 03-09-2009

I saw that race, Lee Sutter drove one he## of a race . The tunnel boats made the water as rough as they could. Hydro was A an H. There is another side to this story. OMC would have had a Hydro too if not for one problem the PRO. Nat's

**Roy Hodges** · 03-09-2009

O K , i'll bite . What did the PRO nats have to do with the O P C nats ? I'm not being critical, i am just curious . Because i never heard of O M C doing anything in the pro's. Maybe i'm just ignorant on that subject . But, my ears are wide open . Thanks

**Danny Pigott** · 03-09-2009

It really had nothing to do with OMC an the PRO Nat's.This is what happened when OMC found out that Mercury was going to have a Hydro at Dayton they were worried that in the calm water the Hydro would win. So they made plans to have a Hydro also. They called Tim Butts an wanted him to build a MOD 50 Hydro an come to Dayton an run it. The PRO. Nat's happen to be on the same date, Tim told me that there was no way he could miss the PRO. Nat's, that was his bread an butter where he sold the most boats. So if things had been differant we might have seen two Hydros in the front. I wanted to tell this on the Butts thread I will put it there also. Roy you could put this in history, it was a historical race the first an probably the only MOD 50 win on a Hydro.

**Mark75H** · 03-09-2009

Originally Posted by Danny Pigott

Roy you could put this in history, it was a historical race the first an probably the only MOD 50 win on a Hydro.

Copied. It now exists both places

**Master Oil Racing Team** · 03-10-2009

There are a couple of interesting stories regarding OMC and Pro. One is not specifically Pro, but the bulk of the racers were Pro, and was organized by Pro racers. It was the 1978 UIM OE World Championships. OMC had UIM illegally change fuel rules in the middle of the game in order to bring down the speed and reliablility of the hydros. Then there was the time when OMC had Tim build a boat that turned out to be too fast. It was banned in an emergency meeting the night before the race. Even though it had 10 or more miles per hour on the other boats, Tim told me that it was dangerous. He never got a chance to correct the problems though, since the rule changes outlawed it. Some of this has been posted before. Some day I might post all the correspondence and history of OMC's highjacking the 1978 OE World, and the final results.

**Roy Hodges** · 03-10-2009

I'd bet that Mercury must have been jealous of OMC "highjacking" the OE worlds champ in 1978 ,I guess they (Merc) didn't think of it -or they didn't have a really competitive motor ?

**Master Oil Racing Team** · 03-10-2009

It was not so simple as that Roy. There was a lot of political intrigue. OMC pumped a lot of money into UIM in those days. Everyone knew. But all the focus was on ON and OZ. OE was very popular and much covered by the European circuit, but not here in the U.S. When the first ever UIM OE race came to America, OMC needed their "goodwill" to push for a rule change to affect the outcome of the race. Our UIM representative at that time was Gary Garbrecht. a Mercury guy. He voted for the rule change because he had no clue. To him, it was just a bunch of Mod 50 guys that wanted to make the fuel be gasoline. As that was the norm on motors from OE and above, he did not see the problem we had. I was in Berlin when we got the word, and Dieter told me I had to call the Pro VP immediately to get things changed. I have Dieter's handwritten note, the telegrams, the reply to Gary and his response, and then there were several months of correspondence to get UIM to abide by their own rules...but to no avail. Gary, BTW....when he understood our positiion....he stood with us all the way. That would be Mercury's response I suppose.

**Roy Hodges** · 03-10-2009

Well, easy or not- it sure seems that if Mercury had had a competitive motor , they would have jumped into the OE , after all we know that Merc has NEVER been shy about advertising their victories . Not that I blame them . And IF merc had a potent O E motor, on gasoline , another feather in their cap.