OMC's now dominate J Class again in 2015??

[Big Don]

We could see 43 with our Runne OMC's with the 2 blades. I don't think we ever saw that with the 3 blades with an OMC.

[Matt Dagostino]

Big Don..............not to show my age but in the 1970's when my stepbrothers were running JSH against the like of France, Holt ,Marcell, Boylan, Shuman etc etc we had matching Z-Craft boats. Billy and Greg (my stepbros) got also matching props from Czapluski (2- blades of course). Both 60-J rigs ran between 38-39 mph. Sue and Tom Marcell were the fast one's during those years and JSH was a battle!!. I remember Zorkan charged us less than $500 per boat with hardware and a coat of varnish.

[PittmanRacing]

Matt, if Nathan gets a little experience this season in J and learns to drive sufficiently to make a good comparison, we are more than happy to set him up with your OMC at Wakefield. We have a competitive boat and can convert the transom for the OMC relatively easily. He just needs to gain some driving experience first.

[Arcticracer]

Does anyone know what the fastest Kilo records were with the 60J before it became obsolete?

[Matt Dagostino]

............great question. back in the 1960-70's there were no height restrictions and dads would 'throw' the little boats on plane as they started them up! my 1972 APBA reference rule book shows a young lady named janis lee driving a karlsen hydro held it at 38.239 in JSH. the runabout JSR record at the time was 32.873 held by dale powell in a price craft. my rule books for the rest of the 1970's are lost. but i am pretty sure those records were increased in the late 1970's. matt.

[Arcticracer]

Yes Matt those were both set in 69 I think. The fastest we got the JSH going was almost 37 at D-Lake. Janis Lee went out right after and set the record you mentioned. The Lee's used very large diameter George Lockhart props and ran the propshaft above the waterline a bit I believe with the engine tucked in a little. The Joe Price props we used were tiny in comparison, very good in competition but 1.5 mph slower than the Lee boat in the Kilo. We acquired a Lockhart prop and tried everything, it never matched what we were using.

The first time we put the new Price JSH in the water, with our best prop, we started with the engine very high and took maybe 12 tries to get the boat on plane, finally dropping 1/16" at a time I got it on plane it was perfect water, using the same Keller speedo we always used the needle went 360 degrees, past 32mph and way up scale on the second trip around. We have no idea how fast it was. We were never able to duplicate that test run, a mystery. I still have a bunch of props, here is a photo of that Lockhart prop and a Price prop that was a little similar to what we were using. All the good ones were sold with the complete outfits in 1970.

Maybe someone still has some later record books and can post where the 60J records ended up...

[Matt Dagostino]

I believe Joe Price was doing all Shuman's props in the day along with a few of the Northwest teams. Czapluski was doing a lot of J stuff for the guys in the midwest. Of course this was way before Craig Dewald came on the scene. I believe both Price and Czupluski were better at the J props for the 60-J than Pop Smith?? Not sure if he did many J propellers.

[brian]

UPDATE:

PELL LAKE: top three... wait for it.............all mercs

Note 1: day two in JR an OMC took 3rd (Guess how many boats? Guess how many Mercs?)
Note 2: Ash would have finished 3rd of 5, but for a dislodged buoy that the kid said he never hit. Team Cafarelli official response to this call....we will wait for the replay review.
Note 3. Thank you to all that helped Ash get on plane this weekend. Very frustrating. We got it thank you.


My take...Ash ran great and had a great time in his OMC powered rig. A merc would not have helped his starts or helped him avoid the patrol boat. LOL I am very lucky to add Ashten to Team Cafarelli.

[brian]

Ashten was less than a half a lap down, but started about half of that distance behind the leaders at the start. I did not gps. It was better, but not faster. We have a solid ASH motor. It is fresh and goes 53-56 as a 200mod when we need to use it.

[18W]

No need for the replay review. I was in turn 2 and made the call. It was the 3rd buoy in the corner on the way to the start. Just enough to break the tie wrap, but not puncture the buoy. Must be those rounded pickle forks working well there. He did a good job and you could see him smile while he was racing, that's the best part!

[brian]

Someone must have put the tie wrap in backwards!

[jsilvestri]

Matt, I still have my round nose Zorkin that was originally yours. Its hanging on my dad's garage wall. Won two J-Mod Hydro titles and set a J-Mod Hydro record with that boat and the J-Mod Hot Rod. I even starting off in ASH with it the second year the OMC was new. Very fast, just fell out from time to time because the cockpit sides were so short. Will probably start my boys off in it at the lake when the time comes. Frank has built some really good boats at times over the years.

ps-My dad still has my 60-J and J-Hot Rod. Will look good some day on a motor rack in my basement.

[Matt Dagostino]

Joe..........i remember in 1977 driving to Texas to meet up at the Alky West Divisionals and pick up both boats in my dads truck during spring college break. Those boats were identical and were two of the most nationally competitive J boats in the day. I believe a few years later Zorkan went away from the 'duck bill' design with his son Curtis. But i thought the duck bill J boats were faster.

[Team B&H]

The best speed we ever saw with our Merc JSH -not counting the time we raced the first test motor at Lock Haven with a larger restrictor plate- was 44.7 mph, early spring with cool water at 800 ft elevation, Burlington WI. That was 2001 with the 2 blade props. We were tweaking it around but couldn't get 45 out of it- didn't have any jet assortment at that time. Never went that fast again but it was still fast enough to set the 3/4 mile record and win both the North American and National championships that year, beating Hannon's OMC every heat at those championships. Stock carb with stock 72 jet, Union 76 race gas with some oil, standard bore, stock 15 standard rings, stock Mercury bearings, no blueprinting save a ball hone job, standard water flow with thermostat in place and ATF in gearcase. I don't think all the new engine tricks are enough to get that speed now with the lower height and 3 blade props.

[pav225]

For what it's worth...
We had the opportunity to race in Oregon this last weekend with the Olsons. First off, I need to say that we had an awesome time and were very impressed by the local club and their GREAT hospitality!
Second, we think the J Committee did a nice job by increasing the size of the OMC restrictor plate. Well done J Committee!! While it was only one race, it seems like the new restrictor is just about right. For a variety of reasons, we chose to run our Mercs. The OMCs made a good race and ran in front of a few Mercs. Seems like the folks who did a lot of the testing (Adams??) did a good job with the restrictor size.
From our perspective (from one weekend) it seems as if the Mercs run well, but the OMCs are VERY competitive. Kids can run the lower cost OMC motors and still have a great race. I think this shows a lot of common sense by the J Committee and should help get more kids on the water.
We will see what happens at Nationals, but our first impression is very positive!
I'd like to thank the J Committee for working to make the OMCs more competitive and fir getting more kids on the water.
- Mike

[Matt Dagostino]

Hey Mike.........good feedback. We are short on J's this year and Price has yet to test the OMC but if what you are noticing is happening in regards to speed then perhaps the J Committee may have to re-tool the "Motor Of Choice" philosophy favoring the Merc for the past 10 years or so. Having 'cheap motors' (like the Yamato 80) available and competitive no doubt helps boat count and puts people on the water. Guess the rub would be if a J family spends $4500 on a new APBA motor all race ready and gets beat by 40 year old obsolete $1200 engines is that really fair??? Guess that's why Gleason get paid the big bucks to reconcile those issues.. from the pics on Facebook looked like it was a bit chilly in the great Northwest. We had 102 degrees in Jesup, Georgia. Glad you and the kids had fun. Matt

[Racerkyle20]

Glad you guys came out! Pavlick and Olsen families were awesome!

Matt- It wasn't bad weather wise. About 70 and sunny Saturday, once you get to the ocean (6 miles away) it probably drops 10 degrees.

[Team 12R]

Thanks to the Olson's, Pavlick's and Kip the "Road Warrier" for racing with us this past weekend. Sure was fun with all those J boats. Hope your season continues well until Wakefield. Lol Thanks again for making the trip.

[Jason Diamond]

My daughter is running an OMC in J, as we have been for the previous two seasons. We run the OMC and an older boat because our/my goal is to train my 11 year old daughter how to become a great driver. Some parents goals seem to be buying HOC by spending astronomical amounts of money on an entry level training class. We do not plan to make a career out of running J and AX, so the larger restrictor has been great for us. We had pulled out of JH and were only running KPRO and JR (only JR because there is no other runabout class for an 11 year old to run). My kid spent all of last season getting half lapped by Mercs in region 10, and fully lapped at the Nats. I could see that driving laps in open water with no other boats around was of little value to her growth as a racer. What the new restrictor has done for her, is reward her for killing the start, by letting her compete for all three laps with both Mercs and OMC motors. She now can get the experience that only close racing can provide, holding your lane, overlap, watching out for others etc. Last weekend in Oregon we ended up 5th out of 11 on Saturday due to tech DQs, gun jumps, and driving infractions. No secrets here, we ran 38.3 on a cheap etrex gps, and weighed in at 385 heat one, and 373 heat two. Obviously we are way overweight in the class, but now my daughter can have some fun running J for a while longer.

So if the mission of the J committee was to train young racers for the future, this is a total win. If it was to preserve the ability of the deepest pockets to be able continue to run away unchallenged regardless of driver ability, then it was an epic fail.

Thanks to the J committee and all involved for promoting Junior Racing.

Jason Diamond, Owner
Tay Diamond, Driver 30-R

[runabout333]

Well Said!!!!!!