Stracener Pushes Nordic 28 SS Above 150 MPH

Although 140 mph is nothing to scoff at, Ivan “Buck” Stracener of Moreno Valley, Calif., is eyeing top speeds of more than 150 mph at the upcoming Desert Storm Poker Run Shootout in late April and the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout at the end of August.

Ivan “Buck” Stracener (inset right) and his friend Louis Marchese (left) ran Stracener’s Nordic Boats 28 SS catamaran up to 148 mph at the 2011 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. Photo by Robert Brown, inset photo by Jason Johnson. 

After last week’s brief test run on California’s Lake Elsinore in his Nordic Boats 28 SS powered by a 1,350-hp engine from GT Performance coupled with an IMCO Marine SCX4 drive that was recently blueprinted by Wilson Custom Marine, Stracener has no reason to think he won’t pull it off in the 28-foot catamaran.

The GPS doesn’t lie.In what will be his ninth year participating in the popular Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Missouri, Stracener, who owned a 34-foot V-bottom from Kachina Powerboats before the Nordic, is actually hoping to top 155 mph. He’s not quite sure he’ll get there at next month’s shootout in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., since it’s less than six weeks away, but the 71-year-old expects to put on a show.

In fact, after reaching 151 mph according to the boat’s Livorsi Marine GPS speedometer (see photo) with a 35″-pitch Mercury Racing cleaver propeller on loan from GT Performance, Stracener and Gary Tea gue of GT Performance are confident the boat is capable of more.

“I took two quick passes on the lake, and on the second one I found the sweet spot, and was able to get the boat up to 150 mph before I had to back off,” Stracener said. “I was right about 6400 rpm so I knew there could be more in it. Then I called Gary and he said, ‘Buck there’s nothing special about that prop,’ and he recommend that we get it lab-finished. So the prop is off getting worked on. I’m going to try a 36″ pitch as well and see where that gets us. I really think if we can get up to 6800 rpm, there’s no reason the boat shouldn’t run 157 mph, maybe faster.”

Stracener gave a lot of credit to the beefy IMCO SCX4 drives, the blueprinting techniques by the crew at Wilson Custom  Marine and, of course, GT Performance, his engine builder of choice for many years.

Check speedonthewater.com for more updates on Stracener’s testing progress.