Can Offshore Racing Survive Without John Haggin
 

One observer's take on the state of the sport, http://boatermouth.com//index.php?vi...ntent&Itemid=8.

Have put on my Kevlar suit. :drink:

Have a great weekend, all, and ... Go Giants! (the baseball kind).

YES, I`ve been around this sport for over 20+yrs, I have seen people come and go, and the sport still goes on.

Mike

I like to thank Haggin and Scott for what they have done for the sport.

Great article as usual Matt. :) And ummm...go Rangers(the Texas kind). :coolcowboy: :D

Thanks, Cat. And the Ranger are one hell of a scary-good team. Last night's late inning meltdown was not indicative. I look at it this way, if Uribe doesn't hit a three-run homer in the first game the Rangers come back from 8-2 to 8-7 and the Giants barely escape with a win.

Back to topic.

By the way, it Offshore Powerboat Association. Apologies to OPA, you guys changed the name a long time ago. I should be used to it by now.

Matt, well written and I'll inject my 2 cents and that is all it's worth if even that. As was mentioned on OSO not to long ago, to bring the sport back you need it like when it was APBA / UIM, less classes more uniform with the Europeans and it stands a chance.

Mr Haggin for all the money spent put on a great show but offshore racing as a semi-professional sport isn't better off as a result of him doing that. For whatever reasons he left - I think he was like others and has realized that he can not turn this around and make it a professional sport by himself and all the money he spent is not uniting the different factions nor gotten them closer to putting it all back under one roof.

I see the pictures from the races on here the past weeks and all I see is empty beaches (for the most part) and a couple boats racing. If the racers don't come together under one organization and leave the others then this is all the sport (be real it's an amature sport at best nothing more) will ever be.

I don't think as you say it will ever be NASCAR because by design with different classes - it can't be a NASCAR event, but maybe more like an NHRA event with broad variations in classes?

It's up to racers not the promoters, they all need to choose one organization and all get behind that 100% and just race there. If that was done race sites would be easier to attract and so on and so on.

I'm done, everyone can jump all over me now!

Matt, the big race is in St Clair, Mi on the St Clair RIVER, NOT on Lake St Clair...... just fyi.......

AND yes Offshore racing will go on without Haggin......as it has after many guys like him have come and gone....... the racers are still out there, guys like Kildahl, Ballough, Meyer, Sgro, Hook, Austin, Mauff, Muller, Miklos and many more......all guys have been racing more than a dozen years. There will always be the latest and greatest but they come and go. We should thank them for what they've brought and offered but, never see it as the end, but just a new begining....... see you all in Key West........

Could u imagine if factory one or two was still around or cat outboard and cat light were the only two classes.....

I would guess you are talking about Orange Beach.
Take into consideration this was a course with at least a 2 mile leg along the beach filled with Condos and Hotels. There was one main area on the beach next to one of the Piers by the start/finish which is where the majority of the people came to watch the race. Others stayed on their balconies of their Condo/Room or watched by boat .

30 boats raced in OB. The event certainly held its own for these economic times.

I feel the boat count would have been much hire if not for 8 races throughout the season in all sections of the country except the west coast.

People must remember, majority of the boats in OPA are racing from low budgets. Many of these teams have Monday thru Friday jobs and anything outside of a weekend makes it even tougher to get to a race. It was great to see the races held on a Friday and a Sunday, but that still means these guys needed to take at least a full week off to get to OB with the time to travel to get that far south and back.

Attrition claimed some of the boats. Had Atlantic City actually gone off, I wonder how many more wouldn't have been able to show?

So, back to my point. OB spectators were spread out over 2 miles. If you were to take the same amount of spectators from KW, I am sure you still wouldn't see crowded beaches. It's all about where they choose to view from.

Start/Finish Pier in the background. Beach is very crowded:

http://sharkeyimages.zenfolio.com/im...80538478-4.jpg

Many balconies had spectators:


http://sharkeyimages.zenfolio.com/im...74038685-4.jpg

and here you had spectators in the 1000's standing in the rain waiting for the races in Solomons Island:

http://sharkeyimages.zenfolio.com/im...03006378-4.jpg

http://sharkeyimages.zenfolio.com/im...23994789-4.jpg

http://sharkeyimages.zenfolio.com/im...55823889-4.jpg

http://sharkeyimages.zenfolio.com/im...48701273-4.jpg

http://sharkeyimages.zenfolio.com/im...80617375-4.jpg

and I have 7 more of these images showing a panoramic view of the back stretch of spectators that came out by boat and didn't leave because of the rain.

Real die hard fans in Maryland I must say !:drink:

http://sharkeyimages.zenfolio.com/im...10904647-4.jpg

On another note, I had one restaurant manager tell me in OB how the Media was killing their tourism.

They were filming "SEA WEED" on the beaches and calling it oil ! :eek:

I can tell you, I went from Orange Beach to Pensacola Fl by boat and never saw any sign of oil anywhere !

Thank God ! Because they do have some of the nicest beaches I have seen there !

For what it is worth - I know, I know, probably not much - I think for sure the sport will survive, and better yet, I believe it can thrive going forward. There are two sanctioning bodies now, with several well established race sites. Smitty and JC know what they are doing and have loyal followings. There is a core of 50 boats running and probably another 20 or so on the sidelines that could come back once the economy turns. Tere is a terrific high profile sponsor - Geico - still in the game. And the AMF team, which manages that relationship, is VERY professional and smart. So the parts are in place. Hit the reset button and drop the green flag.