Driving Force: Mercury Racing’s Rick Mackie
When it comes to news, the rebranding of Mercury Racing’s classic 250 XS and 300 XS outboard engines isn’t likely to “move the needle,” as new outlets often say in reference to a strong story, but it’s still newsworthy—especially for a company website blog written by longtime Mercury Racing stalwart Rick Mackie.
Rick Mackie (left) and Scott Reichow, two of the long-standing Mercury Racing employees behind the company’s blog, can often be found at events with the Mercury Racing Experience Truck. Photo courtesy Mercury Racing
I clicked on Mackie’s most recent blog to catch a glimpse of the new design, which Mercury says emphasizes the horsepower rating and the latest “Racing” word mark to give the engines a powerful new look. It’s definitely pretty and it fits in nicely with a style similar to the Verado lineup.
Although I immediately noticed that the OptiMax name was gone, that wasn’t part of the news. What was is that new for the 2017 program year is the adaptation of the 1.75:1 Verado 4.8 gearcase, which comes standard on 25” and 30” offshore models and is designed to withstand the rigors of a saltwater environment, making it ideal for performance center consoles. Also good to know—the 300 XS models fitted with Verado gearcases are available in right-hand and left-hand rotation.
and then