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Tag Archives: stern drive
Kiekhaefer Pushes the Limits of Racing Technology
Fred Kiekhaefer
Fred Kiekhaefer describes the demands that racing places on marine drives, engines and systems this way: “It’s like motocrossing a fully loaded semi over the Continental Divide, only the mountains are moving.”
Kiekhaefer is president of Mercury Racing and a 1972 UW-Madison graduate with a master’s degree focused on engine design and noise control. He is the son of legendary entrepreneur, engineer and Kiekhaefer Corporation (later renamed Mercury Marine) founder Carl Kiekhaefer, but his path to the top of marine racing and manufacturing was anything but certain.
He started his education as a physics major at Ripon College, but finished his degree at UW-Madison after plans to attend MIT hit a snag.
“There was a brochure at Ripon that said I could spend three years at Ripon and two years at MIT and graduate with a degree from MIT,” he says. “After a couple of years, I went to ask about the transition and the staff looked at me like they’d never heard of it.” (more…)
Posted in Focus on Alumni, Newsmakers
Tagged innovation, kiekhaefer, Mercury Racing, power boats, stern drive
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