THEJOKER

How much of Panasonic $$$$ goes to the racers?

T2x

VERY good question....... answer yes.... But...

There was also fried chicken money, beer money, Panasonic sponsored a boat, HFC money, Casino money, foreign sponsors coming over at the World's, Auto paint "Systems" money, retail shoe store money, Japanese restaurant money, Cognac money, etc etc etc....

Nice try....but the loss of drug bucks, ain't the reason for today's problems.

T2x

Interceptor

T2x,
Isn't todays problem more with the multitude of classes and series ? Although the classes provide a place for just about every boat and engine combo the first time spectator is confused vs. a series like NASCAR/IRL/CART where there is one formula ?
ed

louietherigger

Got it! regular it is lol, yours and Phragles are goin out with todays mail, I'm also putting in my company tee shirt I think you'll like my slogan. These are last years tee shirts from the race teamnext years are gonna be a big improvement, ae soon as we get them done I'll send you one or should I hold it till you come to Long Island?
Louie

Flashwave

[QUOTE=He caused a debate and several other teams with non corporate names came to his defense.

Steve[/QUOTE]


... and why do you think that was? Could it be because this is only a hobby and any effort to get corporate sponsors makes it a job. And, if you already have a job (that is not related to a corporate type sponsor) that allows you to race, then do you really want another job that comes with having a corporate sponsor?

J

louietherigger

Here we go again, people relate to different things, some just want to see supervee's or supercat's most just want to see boats go by flying on the water, it's not that complicated. Take a rock band for instance, some people like the bass, some the guitar, etc. , most of the fans don't know or understand now to play they just like it. Before we started racing we went to a few events and naturally we were magnetized to the big cats, though most were fan friendly, a few of them went down in my book as the most self centered, self important dweebs on the planet, while the P class guys were laughing telling stories, when we talked about getting into racing they said hop up in the boat see what it feels like, they hooked us on racing. So called BIG sponsors who enter our world with demands and select what classes they want involvement in aren't worth the effort. I think we should stay with the premise of racing, supporting racing and keeping the sites alive while adding new ones will ultimately work. Inteceptor, I cant help but like you since you have a Fountain lol, But has Drug money ever helped a President get elected? What about running Alcohol? has it ever help any nascar guys hone there skills? I don't know where this question is coming from but everyone I work with in racing or promoting racing gets there money from working there asses off and from local businesses who sponsor the events. Good questions though, they got me going lol.
Louie

Interceptor

Louie,
Sorry about bringing up the drug money subject and I'm not trying to p.o. anyone. I just found it interesting that drug money probably have a impact on offshore racing during an era.
In no way was I suggesting it has a impact now.

Regarding classes.
My though is NASCAR draws a lot of fans because it's simple to watch. One class of vehicle tha tthey feel they can equate with and lots of soap opera drama with the drivers. Roadracing is the opposite and draws small crowds, at least here in the USA.
I also know you need the many classes to support offshore racing as everyone does not have a NASCAR budget.
ed

VinMan

One factor that I feel alot of people dont realize, is that probably about 80% of offshore race fans are boaters themselves. The other 20% are friends or family. Boaters comprise what % of the population?? Very, very small. The remaining percentage couldnt gives a rats ass about boat racing. It has no appeal to them. Not the way auto racing does. It is much easier for the average guy to relate to driving fast in a car rather than a boat. The drivers are household names. Do you think most of the offshore fans even know the names of the drivers and throttlemen? Other than a few of the big name guys, I doubt it.
This sport will advance when the egos go away.

THEJOKER

We got em beat there!

phragle

iTrader: (3)

true..most of the fans today are boaters. But that significance only plays a part in one form of success. Theres 2 forms of success ingrowing the sport

1. if all we want is to keep the sport alive and for boat racing to continue.
or
2. if we want success on a much larger scale. TV exposure, large crowds, corporate money, larger purses etc.

To acheive the latter, it's important to realize what the general public wants, not the boating enthusiasts. What the public wants is entertainment. Look at big time wrestling as an example. Everyone knows it's fixed, everyone knows the winner is chosen well before the match. But theres big guys in colorfull costumes flying thru the air..its ENTERTAINING. Another good example is monster trucks. Its not even really a race, just a bunch of huge, loud, brightly colored vehicles flying thru the air, causing destruction, crashing etc..its ENTERTAINING. I was down at the condo in sarasota a couple years ago, heard the monster trucks were in tampa...what to do on a sat nite, well that sounded fun, got in the car with some family and headed up to tampa, couldnt get in..they had sold out the entire stadium!! I was in disbeliefe! monster trucks are cheesey! though my actual first thought was good god..how many rednecks do they have in florida??
Supercat and SuperVee ad the turbine boats ARE the money makers if we choose success in this route. They are the big colorfull loud flying thru the air, throwing gigantic rooster tail monster boats. They are entertaining. look at other boat racing, how many orginizations are there racing little hydros, but its the thunder boats that sell tickets when they come to town.
Dont get me wrong, I am NOT discounting all the other classes racing offshore. Just adding my perspective. everybody likes to bring up Nascar, well how many oval tracks are there in this country? how many racers go there and race every weekend in cars they built in their garages?? in front of a couple hundred people.. All those guys..there having fun racing, they are living there dreams, everyone of them is a dedicated professional worthy of respect, but can you name a handfull of them?? no. but bring on the big guys, the best, the fastest, racing the most hi tech clorful loud flashiest of racecars, thats nascar, its entertainment on a grand scale.most still cant name 10 of the drivers though, much less tell you what kind of car thier driving, they just watch on tv because its flashy, its loud, big crashes, good commentators..they watch because its entertaining. The politics of racing arent important. Who wins isnt really important. understanding the rules isnt important. Whats important is that its ENTERTAINING. winning, rules, politics, organizers, promoters are only important to the actual race teams. Joe Blow in Yuma Ariz. doesnt care. he wants to be ENTERTAINED. if he's not he is going to change the channel, if he wasnt entertained when he went to the race while he was on vacation in florida last year, he definitly isnt going to go again. If he was, he is defintly going to tell his freinds and coworkers how incredibly cool it was seeing these monster boats flying thru the air, throwing huge roostertails, he is going to wear the t shirt he got with pride. He is going to go to the races again and he is going to bring people, when hes channel surfing and see's a race on, he is going to tune in.
A lot of people had fun at kart 2 kart over the weekend, but if they were having a formula 1 race or indy cars next door, would you have been watching go karts?

if we want success on a grand scale, it we want it to rain big corporate money, we have to provide maximum exposure to the big guys, we have to shake our moneymakers for all there worth.

.