“In 2003, after Dennis Cavanaugh died unexpectedly, Fred Kiekhaefer offered me the opportunity to move over to Mercury Racing as the custom propeller manager,” said Reichow. “At the time Mercury Racing offered just a handful of propeller models, and we were selling in a year what we sell in two months today. The sales emphasis at Racing was moving from serving competition boats to serving performance pleasure boats, and that opened up a lot of new opportunities for us.”
Reichow spent five years under the tutelage of propeller guru Ron Steiner.
“I’d always been into performance, racing motorcycle and karts, but I’m not an engineer, so I had a lot to learn,” said Reichow. “Ron was a key contributor to my growth in that regard. He lived and breathed propellers, designing them and using them. For five years I was a sponge, soaking up all that knowledge and experience. Every time Mercury Racing came out with a new product, there was an opportunity to develop a propeller for that engine or drive. The prop line really expanded.”
Reichow says the development of the modern Mercury Racing propeller line started with a phone call from Fountain Powerboats.
“Marty Boosinger at Fountain was setting up a boat with our Maximus props, and was just getting too much stern lift,” said Reichow. “We got the idea to cut down the barrel of a Bravo prop by 5/8 inch, and took some diameter off the blades. Boosinger called and said he’d picked up 7 mph with those props. That was a real ah-ha moment for us, in terms of thinking of ways to tune propellers.”
An avid walleye angler, Reichow was disappointed with the performance of the three-blade Tempest prop that was popular with walleye and bass tournament anglers. The prop produced too much bow lift on hole shot, and would not stay hooked up in rough water.
“I modified a four-blade Bravo prop by cutting down the barrel, and adding vents, and came up with our Pro Finish for that prop,” said Reichow, “so it would be more precise than a stock prop but not as expensive as a Lab Finished prop.”
The result was the Mercury Racing Bravo I XS for Mercury Pro XS outboards, and later the Bravo I FX for Verado motors, props that offered better stern lift and bite, and could run higher than the Tempest, while often matching that prop’s speed.
“We have always looked to opportunities,” said Reichow. “We developed the MAX5 prop specifically to match the performance of the Mercury Racing 400R outboard, for example, and that was another home run.”
Over the years Reichow developed an intuitive understanding of how propellers worked and, more importantly, how a propeller could influence boat performance.
“We could always trust Scott’s experience,” said Myrick Coil, veteran racer and shop foreman at Performance Boat Center in Osage Beach, Mo. “I could often just tell Scott how the boat felt on the water, and that was enough. He knew what it would take to make the boat run better and faster, and he’d take care of us. More than once I was waiting on the UPS truck in a hotel room in Key West, trusting that Scott would have a perfect set of props in my hands for race day.”
Reichow plans to devote his retirement to hunting, fishing, biking and spending time with his grandchildren.