Headlines

It's about time!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave,

I couldn't agree with you more. Before we worry about things like television and sponsorships and all the rest, we have to build fleets to respectable sizes. Your Point Pleasant event example is exactly what I'm talking about—regional/divisional club racing pushing from the bottom up.

As for 20 boats in 18 classes, I'm not sure that I've seen anything quite that absurd. But you know, 40-something boats spread across 15 classes—give or take—is something I have seen. And while two competitive boats in each class might be enough for the teams in each boat, it doesn't make for great viewing.
 
Matt Trulio said:
Obviously, Rich, Mark Weber got me thinking. So much of what is discussed these days involves things like "the television package" (are you kidding?) and "taking the sport to "the next level" (I still have no idea what that means). And yet the discussion rarely turns to the micro level, which, in turn, feeds the macro.

I would love to see the various associations merge. But based on history I am not overly optimistic. To my way of thinking, strong regional clubs "pushing upward" hold the best hope for the future, and anything that can be done to help them grow is essential. I get the sense that you agree.
Click to expand...

It's a "Chicken Egg" issue. What fostered Offshore racing in the first place? Was it Don Aronow's image bringing guys out of the woodwork to race smaller ( "Little Cigarettes") boats locally, or was it the Miami-Nassau and Around Long Island races creating National interest in a "man against nature" event that actually attracted Aronow himself? (For the record, it was the latter).

Today we have a totally different dynamic, more of a men's club cum Poker Run combination which defies simple explanations to the newcomer. Yes I agree that the local/regional guys are the backbone of boat racing (I started there myself), but the driving force was always a major event featuring the best the sport has to offer in a simple racing format.

That having been said, a loosely organized collection of diverse racing formulae under various banners and brands using only initials to differentiate them one from the other (SBI, OSS, OPA, LSMFT, P-1, X-Cat, etc, etc) is certainly not the prescription for long term success or fan recognition.

This American Power Boat Association opportunity is a valid antidote to the current mess and all I can do is strongly urge the racers to drop all of their strident loyalties to this or that "alternative" group and press for true unification under a single Worldwide UIM banner.

The endless debates over competition models and class minutiae should be put aside until a single sanctioning body is embraced.

T2x
 
One more thing, and I'll leave this alone

Sadly, the events of the last week have proven that the sport still has a Lot of work to do in the safety arena. This effort, also, is best accomplished under a single banner wherein we pool all of the resources available Worldwide, rather than multiple organizations playing in the sand with issues they have limited knowledge about and insufficient budgets to leverage.

T2x
 
Amen Rich!

There´ other venues for watering the mouth and race in the world at the end of the season.... the true grande finale in December, in Dubai.
 
Off topic, to a degree: The video I saw of last week's UIM tragedy left me sad and speechless—and angry and appalled. You're right, Rich, we do have a lot to learn.

Major event racing will, I agree, attract national attention. But for that to happen we need competitive racing first on the regional level to feed those major events. Not everyone has the budget to buy a big Skater with a Sterling engine program, if you will, and then truck it around the country every other weekend.

I also agree that unification under the APBA banner is the only path that makes sense. Chris Sunkin made a really great point earlier in this thread when he said he never went to a race because it was an APBA sanction. The hardcore fans, as well as the general public, could not care less who sanctions a race—nor should they have to. But the racers should care. A lot.

And if growth is what the racers really want, they need to work under one sanctioning body. Splintering has not worked. That's not an opinion, it's fact based on the history of the sport. (And show me a motor sport that splintering hasn't hurt.) There simply is not enough interest in offshore racing to adequately support more than one sanctioning body.

That's why I laugh and shake my head when people talk about offshore racing and television. Before that has a chance of happening at even a modest level, the sport needs to get its house in order.
 
The first thing to do, then, is become a sport, rather than a rich man's exhibition and/or enthusiast's hobby. Ten years ago it was getting close, with a limited number of marquis classes for the big show/crowds, and a series of bracket classes for those without the wherewithal to fund dedicated equipment programs. It will take a long time to unwind the damage of the last few years, where boats were built and or modified to be competitive in only one of a wide range of specialized classes. Now the inventory of race boats is so widely varied, a lot of boats and competitors will wind up not fitting in competitively when the classes are reduced, but it has to be done.

Sanctioning organizations aside, how bad would things really be if the 2000 APBA LLC rule book were dusted off and updated safety-wise?
 
Last edited:
Another one of my whacked perspectives...

You need 2 layers to really grow and succeed. Everybody keeps comparing to Nascar, but nobody has really hit what makes oval track racing successfull. They have 2 distinct layers.
1. The big show. Nascar. You only have X amount of cars on the track, but you have how many thousands of people dreaming about being in one of those cars? About doing donuts in the infield after winning Daytona?

2. the local 5/8th's (or whatever mile track) Here you have thousands of people across the country banging fenders in old Monte Carlos they built in their garage.
They are living their dream the best they can.

Number one creates entertainment and fuels the fires of number 2. Number one is supported in a big way by number 2. Say simpson gives helmets and money to a driver in numer 1, they know that if 2 or 3 people at each one of the thousands of podunk short tracks across the country buys simpson helmets, they are making money.

You need Gieco, Aquamania, CMS etc. to generate the dream. Seeing this makes BillyBob decide he wants to sell his 19' bayliner and buy an old 98 fountain. Then he takes the motors to one of those "race engine shops" he has heard about and gets them upgraded... Now he has some boat handeling skill developed and his boat (in his mind) is a rocketship.. he see's that race originzation "X" is having a race in a couple weeks... h e checks out the info "hey! class P? is limited to 80 mph, my boat does 85, I CAN DO THIS!" He does and has a blast. Next year he travels and does a bunch of races, the year after he gets a bigger boat and moves up in class.

If you are EVER going to grow the sport, you need the guy out there launching his 19' bayliner dreaming he is kicking the chit out of Marc and Scottie. You need to give him something to dream abut and you need to give him a way of experiencing those dreams first hand. you can play with the curents in the puddle you have now, but the only way you are ging to have a lake is if you bring in more water.

It's like porn, You have Aubrey aAddams twisting herself into a pretzel while getting pile driven creating fantasies for the butterfaced drunken chick at the local dive bar to fulfill.
 
C_Spray said:
The first thing to do, then, is become a sport, rather than a rich man's exhibition and/or enthusiast's hobby. Ten years ago it was getting close, with a limited number of marquis classes for the big show/crowds, and a series of bracket classes for those without the wherewithal to fund dedicated equipment programs. It will take a long time to unwind the damage of the last few years, where boats were built and or modified to be competitive in one a wide range of specialized classes. Now the inventory of race boats is so widely varied, a lot of boats and competitors will wind up not fitting in competitively when the classes are reduced, but it has to be done.

Sanctioning organizations aside, how bad would things really be if the 2000 APBA LLC rule book were dusted off and updated safety-wise?
Click to expand...

Better, but not as good as if the 1990 rule book was dusted off. Of course the 1980 rule book would be even better methinks. This is a case where each succeeding generation did little but add classes along the way.
 
phragle said:
It's like porn, You have Aubrey aAddams twisting herself into a pretzel while getting pile driven creating fantasies for the butterfaced drunken chick at the local dive bar to fulfill.
Click to expand...

Well, we know what you spend your spare change on.... now don't we?

:D :D
 
phragle said:
Another one of my whacked perspectives...

You need 2 layers to really grow and succeed. Everybody keeps comparing to Nascar, but nobody has really hit what makes oval track racing successfull. They have 2 distinct layers.
1. The big show. Nascar. You only have X amount of cars on the track, but you have how many thousands of people dreaming about being in one of those cars? About doing donuts in the infield after winning Daytona?

2. the local 5/8th's (or whatever mile track) Here you have thousands of people across the country banging fenders in old Monte Carlos they built in their garage.
They are living their dream the best they can.

Number one creates entertainment and fuels the fires of number 2. Number one is supported in a big way by number 2. Say simpson gives helmets and money to a driver in numer 1, they know that if 2 or 3 people at each one of the thousands of podunk short tracks across the country buys simpson helmets, they are making money.

You need Gieco, Aquamania, CMS etc. to generate the dream. Seeing this makes BillyBob decide he wants to sell his 19' bayliner and buy an old 98 fountain. Then he takes the motors to one of those "race engine shops" he has heard about and gets them upgraded... Now he has some boat handeling skill developed and his boat (in his mind) is a rocketship.. he see's that race originzation "X" is having a race in a couple weeks... h e checks out the info "hey! class P? is limited to 80 mph, my boat does 85, I CAN DO THIS!" He does and has a blast. Next year he travels and does a bunch of races, the year after he gets a bigger boat and moves up in class.

If you are EVER going to grow the sport, you need the guy out there launching his 19' bayliner dreaming he is kicking the chit out of Marc and Scottie. You need to give him something to dream abut and you need to give him a way of experiencing those dreams first hand. you can play with the curents in the puddle you have now, but the only way you are ging to have a lake is if you bring in more water.

It's like porn, You have Aubrey aAddams twisting herself into a pretzel while getting pile driven creating fantasies for the butterfaced drunken chick at the local dive bar to fulfill.
Click to expand...

the problem with the NASCAR logic is the money is different. An 'old '98 fountain' is still expensive relative to an old car. Boats are also physically bigger. Forget the garage, you need a damn warehouse to store and work on the thing.

The guy that bought the old monte carlo and slowly fixed it up didn't need a ton of money to do it. He did it in his own garage with tools he already had. He did it over winter because it was inside his garage and he was bored anyway. He could do it almost anywhere because it's easy to find a road and/or racetrack. not so easy across America/World to find good water.

A shoestring budget in the boat world carries a sum so large you need a forklift to pick up the bill.
 
Vette's point about the money is correct. There's really no way to make offshore racing affordable "to the masses," if you will. Would be nice, but based on what the average American makes a year (and I don't have that number in front of me) it's probably unrealistic. Even Factory 1 and Factory 2 racing back in 1999-2000 were nothing a person of modest means could afford.

My point is: We have race boats out there competing under different umbrellas. It's not a huge pie, and by dividing it we make it smaller and less relevant. Getting everyone under the same roof and standardizing the rules as fairly as possible (big goal) is the sport's best hope for future survival, at least in my view. Then again, it might limp along as it is for awhile. But is that what anyone wants?
 
I wrote a column that was cautiously optimistic about the sport when then APBA Offshore head Don Jones, John Carbonell and others all sat down and had a summit meeting, but nothing happened. I want to see things improved as badly as the next guy, but this sport has always been about cycles. A few strong years are followed by a few weak ones.

People will get together for awhile and be content until someone who's unhappy about the way the sport is run will decide to band together some of the big names and form his own group. U.S. Offshore, OSS, Offshore Professional Tour (for you really old guys), even POPRA were formed by people who thought they could do it better. As I said in another article a long time ago, as long as the inmates are running the asylum, there are going to be problems. Here's another example, Super Cat 750, Super Cat 850, Super Vee, Super Vee Extreme...

Happy Holidays everyone and since it's the time of year, I'll try to be optimistic again.
 
True its not cheap. but if you do not make the sport attractive enough to draw new blood into the sport, you will end up with an inbred mess. A bunch of genetically mutated oddities fighting for their unique spot at the family table on christmas eve.
 
Phragle,

I think that even if you don't make the sport "cheap" there's enough people out there who can afford it and will keep it from becoming that inbred mess (one that would even give pause to Aubrey Adams) you describe. I'm not sure expense is the problem.

Appeal, on the other hand, is a fairly big problem, and one that's not helped by the current mess.

And I remember Eric C's column. It was a good one. Wish the principals involved had taken the time to read it.
 
T2x said:
It's a "Chicken Egg" issue. What fostered Offshore racing in the first place? Was it Don Aronow's image bringing guys out of the woodwork to race smaller ( "Little Cigarettes") boats locally, or was it the Miami-Nassau and Around Long Island races creating National interest in a "man against nature" event that actually attracted Aronow himself? (For the record, it was the latter).

Today we have a totally different dynamic, more of a men's club cum Poker Run combination which defies simple explanations to the newcomer. Yes I agree that the local/regional guys are the backbone of boat racing (I started there myself), but the driving force was always a major event featuring the best the sport has to offer in a simple racing format.

That having been said, a loosely organized collection of diverse racing formulae under various banners and brands using only initials to differentiate them one from the other (SBI, OSS, OPA, LSMFT, P-1, X-Cat, etc, etc) is certainly not the prescription for long term success or fan recognition.

This American Power Boat Association opportunity is a valid antidote to the current mess and all I can do is strongly urge the racers to drop all of their strident loyalties to this or that "alternative" group and press for true unification under a single Worldwide UIM banner.

The endless debates over competition models and class minutiae should be put aside until a single sanctioning body is embraced.

T2x
Click to expand...

it,s real easy to break the loyalty cycle!!!we need all the org,s to run their program as usuall,,then you neen someone like APBA to step up and pick two or three races from all the org,s and call it the NATIONAL CIRCUT,, THAT WILL FORCE the org,s to run their own regin, knowing their is a national circut.the racers that can afford to, do so run it ,,the ones that can,t ,simply stay close to home,, something close to that?
 
Bring back the Ostrich please, Phragle.

I should have searched for the correct spelling of Ms. Addams' name. Until today, I'd never heard of her.

All this job stuff interferes with time I'd like to spend watching DVDs. Last thing I watched? The History of Skater. (But it was kind of like boat porn.)

Back to the topic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Serious News
Englewood Beach Waterfest, 2025
Replies
1
Views
730
Bobcat
Bobcat
Serious News
New 300 Stock Outboard Coming, S-12 "Nuff Said Bermuda"
Replies
6
Views
1K
Ratickle
Ratickle
Serious Offshore
Offshore In 2024, Outlook Overview
2
Replies
21
Views
8K
fund razor
fund razor
Serious News
New offshore racing partnership to begin between P1 and OPA
Replies
2
Views
2K
Ratickle
Ratickle
Serious News
11th Annual Michigan City Grand Prix
2 3
Replies
43
Views
36K
Serious News
Serious News
Back
Top