Yes Roger and Bob Magoon raced the 40 Cigarette "CAM II" and won the Benihanna Grand Prix, I think 1976.
My friends and I always said when the break off from APBA occured, it set the sport back 10 years. Now we say another 10.:rolleyes:

All of the above makes sense to one degree or another with the exception that none of the "new breed " advocates are addressing the simple fact that large offshore cats and vees are not designed for closed course circle racing. While Chuck's point is well taken that Indy cars compete on short, long, road and circle tracks, they do not enter the Baja 1000...nor should they. Hydros, racing runabouts, tunnel boats and smaller OPC vees are designed specifically for spectator friendly circle racing...... Offshore hulls are simply out of their element on these layouts especially when rough water conditions are also removed from the formula ( Remember the ridiculous barrel rolls when the big cats raced on Detroit's Gold Cup circuit or, for that matter, at St Clair and half the other "tight" courses nationwide?).

Also while Geico's slightly tin eared lead singer/bass player :p has made a plea in favor of turbines, the lack of noise coupled with shameless fuel gulping and need for copious amounts of unobtanium hardware really do make a case to remove these monsters from the long distance/endurance fray in favor of the "Wowee!" exhibition runs that seem to serve their promotional purposes. To this day many of the Unlimited Hydro division's staunchest fans and competitors rue the day Bernie Little, et al dragged in a bunch of turbines and killed the ground pounding, piston powered "thunder boats".

To Mike A's well tabulated and legally researched opinions regarding the "business model" , I believe we can all agree that until you have a real sport with valid reasons for interest and fan support, any time spent on revenue generation models is both wasted and premature. Certainly we do not have those favorable circumstances currently in any Offshore racing group.

T2x

It didn't set it back 10 years...it reversed the success trajectory completely and the sport has not recovered to this day. Wholesale changes and rebellions were made to appease short term complaints by temporary players who didn't know what they were talking about in the first place. Offshore racing went from heads up competition to political dancing and power brokering in one sickening 60 day period and the resulting dumbed down pandora's box has never been closed since.

Fact is this debate is not old school versus new school...it is a clash of two completely different sports, racing versus playing in the sand.

Quit letting the " Overly well to do racers " TRY and run the show !
The Billy Maufs of offshore have always come in and try,ed to take over and fail .
Next time just tell,em to hit the road so the rest can continue building on their current platform , Vs destroying the existing one and starting over every three years . DuH !

Fast Shafts,

Yes, it was 1976 when Roger won the Benihanna GP.
I had my Magnum Sport "Sea Wraith" tied off across the dock next to Roger's Hatteras Motor Yachth. Like all of Roger's things it was in pristine condiction. he talked to us before he got on board to watch some TV.

Yes, Eika Batista is ranked up there with some of the richest folks in the world,, think around #8 or so , he was on 60 Minutes a couple of months back talking about the economy of Brazil as it is the new emerging economies in the world.
thank you
jim

Sorry, Rich, but your ”Baja 1000” analogy simply doesn’t hold. Indy Cars can’t run the Baja 1000 for obvious reasons of setup and terrain. But are you honestly suggesting a Super Cat, Super V, Super V Light couldn’t complete an offshore endurance event? Come on, a stock 38-foot Sonic won the Around Long Island title last year—and won it in style.

I also have to respectfully disagree with you on your assertion about “offshore hulls” being out of their element on near-shore closed-course circuits. If a boat rolls in a turn, you don’t blame the boat, no matter how big it is or how tight the turn was. The overwhelming majority of offshore race boats, in fact, get through the turns without rolling. That’s a fact.

I have witnessed excellent near-shore closed course “offshore racing” action during the years across several classes from Super V Light to Super Cat. Without question, the compelling nature of those races was directly proportional to the number of boats in each class. While it only takes two boats to race, my feeling is it takes four for a worthwhile class. Otherwise, everyone gets to the podium.

Last but not least, while I can see lots of reasons why you might not like turbines in offshore racing, are you seriously attacking them for “shameless fuel gulping?” A Mercury Racing 1350 at wide-open throttle showed a burn rate of 200 gallons per hour per engine during a Powerboat magazine test I was part of. Joe Cibellis averaged 1 mile per gallon during his record-setting round Long Island run with Joe Sgro in a 43’ Outerlimits with 725-hp Ilmors.

My point? When it comes to fuel consumption in the high-performance boat world, it’s pretty much all shameless. And the general public will never accept any of it as efficient or economical.

So going back to my original point, which Chuck also seems to support, I think a hybrid offshore racing series with a mix of “courses” is doable and compelling. I think one or the other is problematic.

Thursday November 10th at 4 P.M. EST. Race 1 of the Amsoil/OPA Offshore race series will air on VERSUS/NBC Sports.

Race 1was the 4th Annual Sunny Isles Beach Offshore Challenge which will cover the Miami Bimini Race and the OPA Offshore Race.

Remember last year was televised and next year will be as well.

Unless I missed something in this thread, we have been doing what has been suggested for four years now. I have already permitted Miami/Key West and Miami New York.

But it just seems that not many actual boat owners are ready and willing to take on this type of open ocean challenge

Brad

I can set up an indy car to run baja. Give me about 150 grand a car, it may not be as competitive as a trophy truck, but it wont be a calss 11 slug either.

Even back in the glory days of the 70's and 80's there were "offshore" powerboat races held in sounds,bays,lakes,and rivers.Growing up with an interest in the sport,I remember races in Long Island Sound, Plymouth Bay,Barnegat Bay,The Great South Bay,The Chesapeake Bay,Lake St Clair,The Toms River etc..I certainly prefer ocean races in rougher conditions,but understand why there have been races held in venues with calm water conditions.I think moving forward,one sanctioning body with a circut of national and regional races in a variety of water conditions is the best format for our sport.Lets all work together to make that happen.

You da man Brad