I have one the SMIDGEN TOO a 24'x 7' beam Cobra with twin 302 Holman Moody Fords. I bought this classic last year, its in rough shape but its all there. I plan to restore it as it raced back in 1975.

Very cool boat. It's great to see these old war horses put back to pristine condition AND period correct. Be sure to walk us through the restoration and post a lot of pics. Just love to see these projects.



Darrell.

I never understood the prejudice against outboards....

Inboard hydro guys wouldn't talk to outboard tunnel racers in the pits, until we obliterated their lap records. Then they lined up like puppies trying to buy our cast off props.

Offshore races have been won on numerous occasions by outboard powered boats of all sizes. I raced a 15 foot Powercat in the 1964 Chicago-New Buffalo Race, and an 18 foot Eltro in the '66 Around Long Island marathon and another in the '68 Milwaukee-Chicago-Milwaukee race...all Outboards. Long before George Linder designed the Challengers, Shadows, Chris Cats, and Conquests he raced 18 and 23 foot Eltros Offshore...also with outboards. The point here is we both learned ALL of our basics with two cycle power. The driving skills and speed secrets that you learn in smaller, nimble outboard hulls is the reason why people like JT, Steve Curtis, Jerry Gilbreath, Joey Imprescia and Richie Powers are head and shoulders over many other "big boat" trained throttlemen........

Where do you think prop cupping and rake advancements came from as well as surfacing drive technology....... for that matter where the h*ll do you think the stern drive itself came from???? For years it seemed that all the inboards gave us was torque and noise...and smoke........ and of course noise....and don't forget noise..... Today's 4 stroke IB engines are a testament to years of engineering trying to overcome the inherent failings of a big block for marine use.

I often chuckled to myself before offshore races as all the inboard guys .....tinkered in the engine compartment...revving engines...rushing around for tools...and generally showing off their chromed hardware, while crowds stood around staring down at them hypnotized and reliving their "glory days" at the local hangouts when they were mesmerized by some guy's Trans AM. Meanwhile the outboards floated quietly nearby untouched...and unnoticed. What I found so interesting is that..even to this day...there are inboard "afficionados"...who continue to think that horsepower alone can give you speed and performance while simultaneously forgetting the role that set up, props, and hull design play in true boating performance.

If you want to talk about "real" offshore boats look no further than my favorite personal Conquest project (picture 1 below) that blew the doors off all the top Modified Inboards of its day....... and had no subsequent development time to reach its full potential. It was the fastest, best handling cat out there in all conditions including this picture taken in legitmate 5 foot seas.

Also look at the Maelstrom (2nd picture) that dominated Open class fleets....... with a variety of Mercury and OMC outboards on the transom.......

So spare me the "eggbeater" crap regarding my outboards...lest your big blocks be renamed "blowhards".

T2x

When I had my AMT I would often respond to the "eggbeater" comments with, "Lets see how my little boat motors do against your car motors...then I'll listen to your comments" That was usually the end of the conversation.
Those were the most trouble free boating days Ive ever had.

Chris, no boat?

I love the anti egg beater guys.

I'll drink to that!

I belive T2X just summed it up for me......