Merc challenge 86 Dayton.

[KG4]

Awesome is all i can say. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dqIE...feature=relmfu

[Dew1us]

I remember that crash right as the starting line as I was on flag duty. Can't remember who it was that crash.

[3rd Chance]

1980's Matt Dagostino. AWESOME.

[jsilvestri]

Great Video! Thanks for the link.

[Big Don]

I remember that crash right as the starting line as I was on flag duty. Can't remember who it was that crash.

Wasn't that Del or Mark Schmerbach (sp) that crashed or maybe both.

[Matt Dagostino]

Crash............

That 25ssh crash i believe was Del Snyder and Mark Schmerbach...........the 'thud' sound when the boats crashed could be heard throughout the Hydrobowl. I believe nobody was hurt!

If i remember correctly it was 80 degrees and Sunny and no wind for all three days. The best weather Dayton ever had!!..........

The Phipps Production crew whom Mercury hired from New York to film all the events were awesome and several of the races aired on Speed Network and ESPN 2 in part.

I believe we had 36 DSH enteries at the first series race in Ocoee that year and Dayton had close to 24 DSH enteries!!.........

The Merc Challenge really heated up the boat wars between Sam Hemp, Leigh Furnal and Shannon Bowman!!...........

[Big Don]

That 25ssh crash i believe was Del Snyder and Mark Schmerbach...........the 'thud' sound when the boats crashed could be heard throughout the Hydrobowl. I believe nobody was hurt!

If i remember correctly it was 80 degrees and Sunny and no wind for all three days. The best weather Dayton ever had!!..........

The Phipps Production crew whom Mercury hired from New York to film all the events were awesome and several of the races aired on Speed Network and ESPN 2 in part.

I believe we had 36 DSH enteries at the first series race in Ocoee that year and Dayton had close to 24 DSH enteries!!.........

The Merc Challenge really heated up the boat wars between Sam Hemp, Leigh Furnal and Shannon Bowman!!...........

Could be wrong but I think there might have been a broken arm.

[snyder]

Yes, that is me and Schmer got a broken flipper.

[daveracerdsh]

Challenge series

I was pretty much a rookie when the series started....I do remember in 89 and 90 we would have over 24 D stock hydros at an event....we ran with the Inboards at Moses Lake (the same site we will be running the nationals at in 14) and they had us do a Leman start....man....12 D stocks starting up at once and going for a single pin..now THAT was cool. Somewhere around there is a tape of all of the races combined...would love to take a look at it. Anybody have any ideas?

[runabout333]

Did anyone notice the tall towers on the 25 XS motors???
Warnock looked like a young kid,,,, God rest his soul.

[KG4]

I always wondered why DSR was never a part of the Challenge series?

[Matt Dagostino]

Dsr

I always wondered why DSR was never a part of the Challenge series?

I believe Mercury had to draw the line somewhere with there budget.......................it was wild to see the Mercury Factory 18 wheeler pull into the pits. You could buy complete motors right off the truck if you wanted and off course any parts or merchandise!

Believe it or not, some clubs resented Mercurys presence at there races claiming that Mercury and it's 'drivers' were hurting the club races. They felt the extra time it took to run the Mercury Challenge extra heats were more trouble than what it was worth. Bet those same clubs would love to see the Mercury 18 wheeler rolling into there races NOW.

In the 80's and 90's we took factory support for granted...............without that support look where we are now. Ugh.

Life was good when OMC, Yamato and Mercury were in bed with us.......

[daveracerdsh]

Mercury

Matt..u are dead nuts on....clubs were asked to bid for the series races, (from what I remember) and there was a person in SOA that HATED the series...and SOA ended up losing the races to inboard groups, who were more then happy to run the events. I was on the club board at the time, and was stunned by how short sighted this was....those were the days...

[tcf284]

so the question is ,how and can we achieve some support from merc /omc/yamato for that kind of involvement to maybe get some races aired on some sports network like speed and espn 2 and what not in this day and age i will tell you these recent youtube videos of the mod winter nats have gotten some of my co-workers interest up been gettin asked lots of question about boatracing

[KG4]

so the question is ,how and can we achieve some support from merc /omc/yamato for that kind of involvement to maybe get some races aired on some sports network like speed and espn 2 and what not in this day and age i will tell you these recent youtube videos of the mod winter nats have gotten some of my co-workers interest up been gettin asked lots of question about boatracing

Those day's are long gone it would be nice but i don't think we will ever see that kind of factory support again.