Yes..the Mercs were fast. One bad thing..can’t remember if it was 75 or 76 – but they had front ends busting – pretty well the entire powder puff class ( actually the chics then were very fast) was wiped out for the season after Peterborough with broken bones. If you lost control – there was a thick plywood wall to stop you –ouch. Nobody really bought much for more speed – we all made it ourselves.
You cannot believe the design talent back then – hundreds of factory sleds of every color in mod. A half mile oval would be packed in the infield with just sleds –no trailers allowed. In stock – most definitely – my second choice would be a Merc.
Most don’t realize. the speed back then. There were so many racers – like about 5 or more heats just to make the final – in 250, 340, 440 and 650. In stock, mod stock and pro. At radar runs in 1979 – there were 79 SRX’s stock doing over 100 mph. On the ovals – there was no runoff – just plywood. In 76 – mods were ticking just under 100 mph (on ½ mile shear ice tracks) with leaf spring skis.
I guess – watching the vintage stuff today – a 440 today would almost be as fast as 340 back then. Our race prepped 340 stock GPX was way faster than an out of the box GPX 440.
Our Yamaha ran away in 340 – and usually top 3 in 400 and 440 depending on the track length. Yamaha gave me a 440 a couple races in – and 440 was usually a win or top 3. We had the only Yamaha in the final.
You would think the T-Jets would be fast. The only sled that was physically faster (and we almost got beat) was when the factory T-Jet driver came from Quebec. He was ahead of us for almost 4 laps – but the Yamaha slowly reeled his light sled in and passed for the win at Peterborough. It must have been that they had only a single pipe. We just kept going at the same speed and about 150 pounds more.
On the Monday – they had a charity race – Jim Adema raced stock ( In 1976 I was the first recipient of the Jim Adema memorial Award) and the same thing – almost…. Jim and the other factory dude were battling – my Yamaha caught the T-Jets on lap 4 – just about to blow by them…and my exhaust spring broke!
74 was the same –mod stock again sponsored by Yamaha Canada East. The mercs were fast – as well as Doo’s and T-Jets. I made a ton of money with my 340 getting protested after wins in the 400 class, as I did the year before. Again –the only Yamaha.
76 they gave me a factory sled. The fields were huge – and fast. We were Yamaha east sponsored - they offered me either SRX 340 and 440 or the 75 factory sleds. We took the 75 sleds in June and my genius tuner and I rebuilt them. Things like arboly tracks (with a special gates rubber). We won by almost ½ a lap in 340 against ALL the other factories and 2nd and smashed in 440. We were working on Eagle River clutching on the 440. Jim was killed the week before. Anyways _ politics would not allow me to go to eagle River the next weekend – and I kind of lost interest.
The Mercs in 76 were rockets. The late Bud Lee and myself and some fantastic battles. His Mercs were sponsored by the Kohler factory in Toronto. What a smart bunch of tuners they were. We often went to the factory – just to look.