They were night lights. Remember the boat ran straight from Miami to New York, through the night. Custom Engine Service of Miami built the engines. Race setup as staggered with #3 Mercruiser drives.

The deal was if the boat broke the record, the engines were MerCruisers and if the engines broke down trying to break the record, they were Custom Engine motors. We all knew who built them and we knew they were not going to break down. Stan Irwin was a master of engine building back then.

Someone posted a pic of current condition of 35' Burn Baby Burn a few years back. Could that person please repost that pic. Original owners son may be interested.

Looks like they ended up being MerCruiser engines, here's a quick and poor cell phone picture of a beautiful 36" framed poster on the wall of my office, I have several of these framed Merc promo posters that I probably should have copied one day to preserve them[ATTACH=CONFIG]554105[/ATTACH]

Here's a GREAT pic in it's prime, I believe the pic is courtesy of Pete Boden. [ATTACH=CONFIG]554106[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]554107[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]554108[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]554109[/ATTACH]
several years ago in it's then current condition.
And last pic in Fords cove.

Billy Wishnick was a great friend---and a generous sponsor----

How fast were 35's with the Kiekhaefer 625's in them, and what drives were usually used, #3's? How much does one weigh, ready to race? Are any currently running besides (I think) Dry Martini?

I recall that American Eagle was recorded at 93mph with the 625's back then.........

I think I remember reading in SEARACE that Spirit/Benihana set some sort of record at 82 mph then, but I don't know what motors they used. 93 is moving really good.

Spirit / Benihana set race records that were in the high 80's. That means the speed is the average for the race distance. So a Miami to Nassau race that was 185 miles or so, to average in the high 80's meant real top speed was actually in the 90's as American Eagle was. Very fast considering they carried many hundreds of gallons of gas, adding a lot of weight.

Hello Marco

I read in a previous message that you have many poster of the 70s.i collect them too. it is possible to send me a HD copy of some of them?
of course i would pay the costs of the reproduction.
pls let me know.

thanks !