This was fantastic, i didn't realize how much the rotary engines actually dominated outboard racing

I grew up racing in the APBA circuit back In the 70's. I had heard the story of Jimbo McConnell  slowing down and waving at the Mercury pits while racing the Rotory. I laugh every time I think about it

Great video!  Had no clue rotaries ever made themselves into outboards, snowmobiles, and chainsaws!
Thanks for all the hard work for putting this together.

Omc was a powerhouse. And still to this day you cant beat the reliability of the 70's80'sand 90's Evinrude and Johnson 2 strokes. Period.

My father worked at Johnson Outboards until 1986. I remember all the hype about rotary engines and how they were essentially mopping the floor with Mercury. I never knew about all the controversy and politics that went on behind the scenes. Thank you for posting this video. As an OMC brat, this was beyond intriguing. 👍😁

Such a shame OMC went under, they did push the boundries all the time. Made some amazing products.

Awesome little documentary! Had no idea OMC/Johnson/Evinrude produced so much more than just outboards.

I can’t believe OMC went out of business. I wish that company was still around. I have a 1999 Johnson 150 Ocean Pro and it’s a great engine.

Fantastic work! Never knew this happened as it was well before my time, and it was extremely interesting to hear about. You absolutely nailed it with the video essay, made 40 minutes feel like 10.

When you talked about lapping the field I remember in F1 Hakkinen and Coulthard lapping the field in their Mercedes’. That was awesome.

Amazing documentary! I love rotaries but I didn’t even know there was such a big market for these engines back then…this engine was insane!

OMC should never have given Mercury any work during their transition to Brunswick.

Wow awesome video I've always been a fan of OMC and rotary engines I never knew they carried the technology that far and was kicking Mercury's butt again a great video and breakdown of their racing heritage I loved watching it

Great video! Keep it up! You will have an audience if you keep making them like this! God Bless!

Great video! I would love to see a video on the Evinrude G2 it is such a great motor that unfortunately got a bad rap and was discontinued.

That was amazing.  Thanks for all the time and effort to make this video!

Mercury 2000cc V6 2 stroke are great engines they make 330hp max at 11 000rpm.
I raced F1 powerboat racing in Sout Africa from age 16.

Such an awesome video. I've been a boaty my whole life of 59 years, and this is the first time that I heard of the OMC rotary. Trust a rival to F up their progress.

Only one additional bit of Information here.  I worked in the OMC rotary snowmobile engine department until it shut down in 1974.  My supervisor, Ronald Tetslove, raced with the rotary engine for Team Evinrude.  Dick Wishe ran every engine built and also dyno tested them at the same time.  I know that they were making as much as 47 hp at the shaft at that time.

My Dad, Ron Capp, was a regional Sales Manager for Johnson Motors in the 60"s, 70's and early 80's .  He /we had a Wankel powered snowmobile back in the day.  There would be tons of people that would stop by to check it out and test drive. We also had a Rampage that we would work on with performance parts he'd pick up from the Waukegan plant so I could Kick the Polaris's, Rupps and Artic Cats butts  on a Saturday .