TGOR

...that SBI, OSS and OPA could fall under the auspices of "mother APBA," or in this example, "WPR" since they hold the current offshore racing license from APBA?

That is to say, WPR would consist of representation from SBI, OSS, OPA, POPRA and whoever else that would want to be a sanctioned offshore racing organization. WPR could then develop the rules (tech rules, eligibility, fees, etc.) in which all the organizations operate under yet allow each organization to develop it's own schedule, promote it's own races and have it's own national championship. Then, WPR (APBA-UIM) would schedule the World Championship where all organizations could participate for a true "North American World Championship." No demands among organizations required...teams qualify according to the rules set forth by the WPR.

It seems the mechanism is in place to make this a reality...for the betterment of the sport. I can only imagine how big offshore racing could be with the combined leadership of SBI, OSS and OPA.

SBI seems to have the southeast covered, OPA the northeast, POPRA on the west coast and OSS central U.S./international. It seems the different organizations have established themselves in certain areas with success...we should continue to ride that success.

From what I've seen in my short racing career, SBI seems to have the national TV coverage figured out. OSS has worked some great cross-promotional ideas. OPA has figured out how to make racing cheaper for the teams. Each brings something unique to the table that can ultimately better the sport.

I'm not asking why this hasn't happened, instead I'd like to hear some constructive ideas on how to make it happen.

I post this to spark fresh ideas, encourage some out-of-the-box thinking and maybe open some minds to possible new ways of managing our sport. Please keep it constructive or you may face "penalties" from SBI/APBA or OSO...and it's not my intent to get anyone penalized with this post.

Thanks,

Sean

Fast 1

Sean, you completely stole my idea for starting a thread this morning based on that same thinking - - and I'm glad you did!!! I believe that with the collective positive thinking of the individuals involved in racing and who participate in this forum that a solution is possible. As you said, it will take some out of the box thinking. There are quite a few successful business owners on here who know what I mean. I personally instill in the people who work with me the importance and value of being able to solve a problem (there are no problems, just challenges to be overcome, right??!!). It doesn't take much talent to say "yup, we've got a problem here" and then get a resounding chorus of "yup, we sure do's" and then start pointing fingers and establishing blame. If you have a successful company, you know the importance of solving the problem quickly (you're losing money every minute this problem remains unsolved) and efficiently while also taking steps to insure that it doesn't get repeated. The "oh, whoa is me, I've got a problem and it's all someone else's fault" line of thinking is a direct path to failure.
Let's put our heads together here and see if we can come up with a solution (we already know we have a problem!!). We all seem to already have two major things we agree on: 1) we love to race (and it sure isn't because of all the $$ it puts IN our bank accounts!). 2) we want to race against/with as many boats as possible. Sean's thinking is along the same lines as mine: Why can't all the organizations(the ones that want to) be brought under the main banner of APBA/UIM and then be allowed to subdivide into individual groups and allowed to basically do their own thing (within reason) and at the end of the year (or even various times throughout the year) EVERYONE gets together for the big one. I know this is an oversimplified version, but it's just a starting point.

vinny kostelac

Great Idea, but if it was that easy we would all be racing in key west. Money and fees are the big stumbling blocks, greed and lack of communication has killed key west. I think that the WPR could care less about a big show, he used 2004 to convince the CR he could put on a big show and now is taking the money and running with it , JC could care less about larger boat count it is just a pain in his ass, if there is less than five boats in a class he does not have to pay prize money either. The only way it would get back together is if the cr or some independent promoter could bring it together. I am sure somebody could get threw the legal ease of apba rules, how about it dhaw.JMO

Xtremeracing

Vinny,
Thats not true every boat that races SBI/APBA no matter how many boats in the class gets paid .
SBI/APBA has has a 5 yr deal with KW, possible after that something can be done. The main problem from what I see is OSS doesnt want to join APBA UIM (understandable) but that is a major issue with SBI/APBA lic agreement.

Fast 1

I don't think we need to get hung up on just the Key West/Conch Republic issue. We need to be looking for a solution that will work for the whole year that will allow all the "sub-groups" to be doing their racing within each group as well as with whatever other "sub-group" they'd like to go to. All (or at least some) of these races could possibly be used to provide points towards a single National Championship title or just let each "sub-group" have their own national title and then everyone be eligible for the World Championships.
As Vinny said" if it were just that simple ...", believe me I know there is nothing simple about trying to fix this - - - but we have to start somewhere.

Alan

Bullhead

I know I don't begin understand at all the politics in all of this (I'm just a fan) but couldn't the OPA put on a race, make it not conflict with another race date, invite everyone, come up with classes that would apply to the most boats (no way to satisfy everyone), and call it whatever they want and not step on a bunch of toes? Maybe thats what they do with every race they put on now. It seems, just by reading previous posts, that the OPA is the only nuetral party that could pull this off. I know I have oversimplified this. Just a thought from a fan.

vinny kostelac

Maybe they should re think their lic agreement it does not seem to be helping with boat count or venues! Seems like diminishing returns. Good luck with the five yrs at this rate!
Understand I was only interested for a large event to help the sport, we have the bulk of the boats in our class to race............ ...I give up on this subject, got to get ready to kick wil's ass!

Ron P

It's not that simple. Each orgainzation has points assigned to each race. These points go towards the year end high points championship. Most boats won't race outside of their primary club and risk breaking the boat and miss the next race on their home turf.

All OPA races are open to anyone that wants to join us. Just pay the $500 equipment fee and $100 per racer fee and your good to go. We don't even charge a race entry fee. Just come and have some fun.

We normally only run the 5 p classes but our rulebook does extend through all of the closed canopy classes if needed.

SCRAPMAN1

YOU GONNA TAKE THAT WIL?

racesdad

I WOULD RUN OPA BUT AUGIE IS AFRAID OF ME, AND HE MIGHT GET HIS GOONS ON ME!