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TV....my memory is getting foggy, but I remember somewhat seeing one of the east coast races, all the heats, on speed channel. And I do rememeber being on ESPN....I won the West coast D stock series one of the years, and was interviewed after the awards ceremony. Money wise? It was fairly significant prize money. Fred mentioned they paid down to 5th place....you got a check from Mercury a week or two after the event, and at the end of the year you got another check depending on how you did. It was cool having the Mercury factory truck at the events....you could walk up and buy any racing part you needed.
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Actually at the awards ceremony on stage you were awarded a large simulated check and a medal inscribed........the real check arrived a few days later. I still have most of the old cardboard stage checks and medals in storage. Mercury made a big deal on the East Coast Challenge to have the podium set up and a film crew in place. The filming was done by Phipps Entertainment out of New York. Mercury contracted them to film the events and then edit TV. The speed channel and ESPN 2 i believe aired the events. It was a fun time. In 1986 i believe Mercury flew the entire SORC (including me) to Fond Du Lac- Oshkosh, WI to tour hi-performance, which i understand few people get to see. At the time Mercury was attempting to get the Merc 44xs and the Merc 25xs approved. That tour still is one of my racing highlights. I remember seeing a endless row of Merc engines everywhere. It was heaven on earth.
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Some where in my archives I have a VHS tape of one of the challenge series races recorded from the TV broadcast.Comment
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Matt: I remember at the awards ceremony getting the cardboard check as well as the nice medals. We also received a very nice wooden engraved plaque at seasons end....tv crews from what I remember filmed the Moses Lake event in 1990 as well as the season final event at Capitol lake the same year. I would love to get ahold of those tapes! A lot of people did not agree with me, but I felt money events like the challenge series were great for racing..look what it did for both 25xs and DSH! I have all of the roll call sheets for the Nationals I have attended, and when I get home from Mexico I am going to take a look at them just for fun....I think we had 4 eliminate heats in DSH at Youngstown Ohio in 1991.....as well as the Mercury factory support truck.Comment
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Racing for money may be different now. On another thread there was a comment regarding this and insurance. I think it said most personal medical insurance policies cover you if involved in hobbies but if the race pays money it is considered a professional event and no longer a hobby. They may not cover you if injured in an event paying cash any more.
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Man....that race course in Michigan looks narrow....do they still race there?Comment
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Maybe Fred can answer this question.....I remember the 25ssr class drawing props supplied by Mercury...why didn't the hydro classes do the same?Comment
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No more races at Saginaw, Michigan. I was there racing ASH/ASR. Yes, it was narrow but looks worse on video.
As for the prop draws, only did it in 25SSR because Dewald was dominating the first couple years and they had to do something to level the playing field, unlike 25SSH where the Dewalds didn't compete.
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Brinkman was dominate too...and of course, making his own props. So 25SSR was a monopoly by 2 guys.
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I watched the Dayton video....kinda cool to see all the older motors running. What was the first Challenge series race that the 44XS ran at? Sitting around the pool bar in Puerto Vallarta I seem to remember having the prototype 44xs on display at Yelm in either 1986 or 1987...and Yelm could have been a challenge series event also....not sure.Comment
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Dave,Originally posted by daveracerdsh View Post
Yelm, .... Lawrence Lake was a Challenge series race in 1986 for sure.sigpic
Dean F. Hobart
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Dean......that's what I thought. Was the 44xs on display at Yelm that year? Or was it in 1987? I do remember ordering my first 44xs from Mercury high performance right after 87 Yelm race....$2250 plus 100 bucks shipping.Comment
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Dave,Originally posted by daveracerdsh View Post
I think that the 44XS was a legal motor in 1986... But not real sure.
However, I think that Dan Schwartz was the fastest then with a 55H.sigpic
Dean F. Hobart
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The 44xs became legal in 1987 i believe...............Bobby Humprey and Jon Stone dominated in 1987-88. I bought mine from Chucky Z. in 1988 and after Harold Barnes tuned it up we went on to join the frey and did pretty well. The 44xs was a SMOOTH motor and was controlled by Mercury Racing. There was only certain serial numbers that were legal as the engines were all approved by the factory first to assure they were reasonably close to each other in performance. In my view the 44xs engines were pretty close to each other. Unlike the 25xs engines that Mercury did not hand pick at the factory. The 25xs blocks were all over the place. Wienandt blueprinted many of them and on the dyno saw a range of 26.5hp to 33hp. That disparity in part contributed to killing the class.......
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1986 was 55's. 1987 up was 44XS.Originally posted by daveracerdsh View Post
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To Matt's comment above, that was my brother Mike who was working on the 25's. They were all over the place with differences in blocks and carbs, especially.
I worked on the 44XS and I built 5 of the first 25. I ran two, one for me and one for Lee Dingman. Tested all day, couldn't find any difference between the two except one flywheel was better. Always raced that flywheel. All five of those motors were virtually identical in performance and reliable as anvils. My big disadvantage was I was 85# overweight in the class.
I had one guy complain that I must have built a better one for myself... my response was OK, we'll trade motors. If you thought that, why would you come to me? (Idiot!)
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