Bear, to give you an idea of the professional circuit:
The Mod C Kilo record is 99 mph.
Mod C is a modified motor of 30 cubic inches or less, minimum weight of 600 pounds after the run, fuel must be liquid.
That's 99 mph with no nos, all motor. Record was set back in late 90's with a 3 cylinder Yamaha 25hp motor. Again, it is a "MOD" C, highly modified motor.
First Class I ran was Sport C. A STOCK motor of 30 cubic inches or less, BOX STOCK, no nosecone, no mods. I ran a 2 cylinder, single carb, Tohatsu 40hp twin. Set up for a long circle race, the boat would run 60mph down the straightaways. Yep, those old junky 2 cylinder Tohatsu's would turn 18 pitch cleavers 7200 rpm.
The KILO record for a STOCK 50hp Tohatsu is 82.7 mph. That's 7400 rpm with a 12" diameter 24 pitch cleaver.
Ask some of your buddies, I played with them back in the 80's, like Hank....great guy, Duane, the Borels, all great people. Listen to Hank, that guy is smarter than most people think he is. I never met a guy on the Sabine I didn't like. We could get out there and race then go to the bank and remain friends. Great bunch of folks.
Jerry has a knee rider in his attic. It is a 7' boat running mid 80's with JERRY in it, with a 25 merc on it. It is the "stop the BS" boat. Darrel knows more about mod motors than most people will ever know. I have the utmost respect for those guys. They are the tinkerers, the ditch racers, the folks that experiment with stuff that becomes production. I have respect for the ditch racers, and I call them that as a compliment. The ditch racers do their thing with very little safety equipment, it takes guts. Racing professional, we had capsules, Kevlar vests, helmets, safety crews. Our APBA sponsored racing was 100 times safer than ditch racers. Ditch racers are the blue collar segment of boat racing. They deserve much more credit than they are given.
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