HONDA 4-Stroke Update?

[T Chance]

Stock out of the box motor

When I became interested in racing a person could walk into any Mercury or Champion (and to a lesser extent Martin and Scott Atwater) dealership look at a stock racing motor on display and buy one. Stock racing died in the late 1950's and didn't have enough sense to know that it was dead. Sure, Mercury and OMC threw the division a bone now and then and Lyle Swanson saved the Champion and it is still around today. But the Champion/Sidewinder is not a “stock” motor. It is a custom built special racing motor. Same thing for the Tohatsu and the 44XS. If a person wants to talk “stock” as meaning unchanged from how it came from the factory. I had new (picked them up at air-freight and uncrated the boxes) Konig's in 1972 - winning 7 races and again in '82 - winning 11 races. I also got a new B Quincy Flathead in 1969 and won the Midwest Power Boat Championship with it. During the first year the only wrenches I used on those 3 motors was a spark plug and prop nut wrench. In my opinion Pro racing today is the only true form of stock racing left!

[26V]

QUOTE "In my opinion Pro racing today is the only true form of stock racing left!"


you may be right, who knows. But I do enjoy running in the current stock division and do not want to move to pro. And while the Sidewinder may not be a "stock" motor in your eyes. It is a "new" motor for the stock division. <!-- / message -->

[BentRod]

I may be wrong

As I recall way back when, Stock meant as it came from the factory. The Mercs were the only motors that had much of a chance of winning any class that they fit into. The reason was advanced design, Worked good on the fishing motors and kicked butt in racing. Remember the little * Horsepower increases with RPM? Face it , it was built with racing in mind. Now the Sidewinder is coming out. Sure it's based on a old design, but with all the changes it's a new motor and should be called stock as it comes from the factory. If it wasn't for new design we'd still be running Speedy Twins and 4-60's.