BattleCry

Why not incorporate this with the World Championships in Key West? You could race from Miami to Key West on the outside and have the race a day or two days before the Key West races. Poker Runs are usually going on at the same time and fans are heading to Key West for the Worlds. Its an easy way to kick off the World Championships. Its probably too simple of thinking.

26scarab

Here's what I would like to see:

First no classes. Well maybe just two, open cockpit and canopies other than that run what you brung. Whether it be a twin turbine 42 MTI or a 29 Activator with a Merc 850 in it. Remember it's not just boats racing other boats , they are battleing distance and seas. Anything can go wrong.
I'm into boats and racing , but my eyes just kind of glaze over when someone starts asking questions about classes. I can't keep up with all the rules between all the sanctioning bodies.

Second, I think the venues have to be from point a to b and back to a.
For instance

Port Huron MI to Lexington MI and back (Lake Huron)
Mentor OH to Kelly's Island OH and back (Lake Erie)
Grand Haven MI to Ludington MI and back (Lake Michigan)
Luna Pier MI to Put in Bay OH and back (LAke Erie)
Mackinaw City MI to Cheboyagon MI and back (Lake Michigan)
Key West to Miami and back


I think if you start having races like this you will see a change in the boats.

offshoredrillin

Will be nice to see it come together.

BUIZILLA

If your going to do this, you must create, embellish the public impression, and perception, that this IS OFFSHORE RACING , not OFF-THE-SHORE racing, like we have now...

BIG difference in venue's....

I think it would work, I really think it would....

the Miami to Key West idea has a LOT of merit... they race from Govt Cut to Marathon checkpoint, then on to Key West. Return the same route on Sunday. It needs a BIG purse... Nextel would be a natural, as racer/spectator/team communications is everything in this race.

A Miami-Bimini-Ft. Lauderdale-Miami race would also be very cool... this gives open water, then close to shore racing. Everybody on the beaches for 35 miles would be looking out for it, and talking about it for weeks afterwards.

Who's gonna make this dream happen??

Jim

ChiToWn TapouT

Velocity your right with the points you have made,
not profitable and no fan base. Why would big name
corps take their money out of cars and dump into boats.?

So we now have the "Big Race" setup but the reality is
we have to start out small.
I believe OffshoreDrillin said "grassroots"and ED suggested
an "internal OSO club run".
This is definitly a start.

Now who wants to take charge?

LostinBoston

great idea, in theory, but too many boats woudl break going down and would not want to risk breaking for the worlds. Same with coming back, too many boats woudl be limping, with exhausted crews.

mr_velocity

I'd like to see around LI, NYC is the media capital of the world however the SBI races show up and there is no media coverage even on the local channels. Next thing you know KiloKat is on the Today show. Talk to Dave about attracting media attention, here is someone that knows how to make it happen.

Offshore vs inshore, the typical fan doesn't know the difference. It's been a while since I've been in a race boat but Cape Cod is usually rough, as is Daytona, Corpus Christi, Sarasota 50% of the time so you can find big water close to shore where the fans can actually smell the race fuel. I'd like to see teams running 200 miles instead of the 80 - 90 miles they do today so double the laps on the current courses. But that brings up another problem, how much of the fleet would actually finish? If 60% of the boats don't finish the fans will get bored with that as well, in the end it can't be a 1 boat race. In fact the rules should state that you need to finish 50% of the races to qualify for next year. You need to eliminate the bad teams.

Wasn't Ron P involved with the Miami to NYC run? Where has he been??

BROWNIE

You guys are way off base. If you want media coverage, you must manufacture it. Think of wrestling. There is nothing duller than Greco-Roman wrestling. Build up some characters like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, and ta da! Big time boat racing. We could have interviews before the race..."I'LL TELL YOU ONE THING, SKIP BRAVER, I'M GONNA STOMP YOUR ASS WHEN WE GET TO SANDS KEY LIGHT!"

We could have cheating; "Reggie threw a magic potion powder in my eyes at Bimini"....

I can just see the Reggie in feathers and one of those eagle masks, with a John Carbonell voodoo doll tied to his waist......

Top Banana

Brownie

Check out the picture in post #75.

It was the start of a Miami Nassau back in the 60's....I think you took a third in that race.

Love Machine

I work for Nextel (now Sprint) and I approached the marketing team that landed the Nascar deal. I wanted to see if they'd be interested in spending some marketing dollars at the OPA Cambridge, MD racing event.

They gave me a one liner "We only sponsor or participate in professional sporting events!"

OUCH!

However, I'm with the others here. We make this an OSO event. One race a year for all the marbles. Screw everyone else. If after a while others want to play in our sandbox, then we can have discussions about putting more structure around the event.

So, how do manufacturers get involved? Indirectly by racers going to builders asking for their boats to be beefed up to take the punishment.