I want to open up the exhaust on my 01 2ltr Tracker  but I noticed they have 2 cat's on them. Is there some magical reason that it needs 2 or could I cut out the second one and run 2.25" pipe out through a muffler with a little less restriction. I think this would wake up this motor in combo with a less restrictive air filter.
Opinions or thoughts??

It depends on the emission tests where you live 

The first cat is usually a small one, to give quick warm up protection, and the second is the main one.  If you remove the second, it will likely give too much emissions to pass.  If you remove the first, and the test doesn't worry about the first ten minutes, you may be ok.

We replaced the factory muffler on our GV with a straight through Magnaflow of the same size.  Nice sound and a nice little kick in the pants performance gain.  Nothing huge but it was there.
Minimal investment to.

If you've still got an OEM crappy muffler than that's restricting your exhaust flow more than the cats are.  Modern cats are pretty free flowing compared to their ancestors.

Ill post pics this weekned of mine. I have 2.5" downpipes with a merge collector. to a 2.5" manderal bent ehxuast with a flow master. Best mod ive done so far.

jbauto.ca check my site out this weekend ill post some pics

Seriously, how much sound did the Magnaflow and Flowmaster add, and which model numbers did you use?  I'm talking to you V6 boys. 

I do *not* want LOUD with my convertible top, but a bit throaty would be fine.  Right now it's quiet, like a mouse, running through the 2.0's stock exhaust.  My G-Tech shows 7.9 seconds 0-60, but I have to believe I'm giving up 15-20+ horsepower right now, easy.

beer, I forget the part number but it was just a simple Magnaflow 2" in/out stainless steel muffler.  It was one of their oval ones that had the rear offset.  I just found one that was the same configuration as stock and had it put on with about a foot of pipe as it was much shorter than the stock garbage can...errr...muffler.

As far as loudness goes it was noticeably louder...but not obnoxious by any means.  A nice rev noise and a good growl when you leaned on it.  No where near as loud as most Slowmasters.

I like Magnaflows because they're straight through with no baffles or chambers to restrict them.  That and they're stainless steel for the same price as Slowmaster's regular mufflers.  As I mentioned above they've got a nice sound without being obnoxiously loud either.

I think I'm gonna pick up a Magnaflow, the only way I know it's running is to look at the tach and I'm sure that gi-normous muffler has to be choking it. Thanks for all your advice guys

I swore by the Flowmasters I had on my Corvette, but I did have to replace them twice...which sucked..  Open pipe was still 3/4 of a second quicker to 60, so there's that, but 5.5 for an '85 was just plain silly, so 6.2 with Flowmasters and letting the automatic do its thing didn't piss me off too much.  I guess it was an anti-lemon, motorwise..  Remember, it was a freakin' '85 C4.  6.2 was nuts.

Retired it for a '96 Tracker.  You guys know the rest of the story..   So far.

So.....Magnaflow?

You know my vote.  I've had both and won't buy Slowmasters anymore.