The Then And Now's Of Racing
02-01-2016, 04:33 PM
#22
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Thread Starter
If you have never raced SOMETHING, you have missed a very important part of your life. When I came to Florida in the 50's, my goal was to be in a race against my hero, Sam Griffith. I did that. Then I wanted to BEAT Sam Griffith. Not so easy. I came here in 1956. Offshore racing started in 1956. Coincidence? I think not.... We became a racing group who cared for one another, helped one another, and had fun. Hell, if somebody got hurt or sick or broke, we sent a guy around to drink with him until he got over the urge to race. Those days, unfortunately, are gone. When racers started to worry about their own asses more than the blue eyed groupies asses, it was all over.
02-13-2016, 11:50 PM
#25
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02-21-2016, 05:39 PM
#27
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Thread Starter
I hope offshore racing doesn't follow the footsteps of NASCAR anymore then they have already. That was a boring race. I like the run what you brung with a top speed cap. No one knows what the other guy has and let the best guy and team win. Like the seventies.
02-22-2016, 01:23 PM
#28
Registered
I have written before about my opinion of today's type of offshore racing, but it bears repeating.
First and foremost...... the racers of today, yesterday and tomorrow will race in a bathtub if it is offered. The change was not the idea of the racers. The racing changed from the old glory days where we did point to point racing to modern circle racing because of the promoters of the races themselves.
The pitch was that the spectators...read sponsors felt this, but it was never proven, that if they could run the races closer to shore then the spectators would grow so quickly and be so big we would soon out do the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500, in attendance and the sponsor money would follow for the racers. Wow, doesn't this sound really good?
Let's forget that the BENIHANA race was so big that it had to be raced on the Wednesday of the week held, because there were over 400,000 spectators in boats and along the shoreline. It was felt that if held on a weekend, the amount of spectators would be uncontrollable.
So the big races are gone........BUT, the courses are still there, why can't those races be run again? All it would take is a few people willing to try it. Just like Brownie spoke of with the group that started it all in Miami.
Anybody?
First and foremost...... the racers of today, yesterday and tomorrow will race in a bathtub if it is offered. The change was not the idea of the racers. The racing changed from the old glory days where we did point to point racing to modern circle racing because of the promoters of the races themselves.
The pitch was that the spectators...read sponsors felt this, but it was never proven, that if they could run the races closer to shore then the spectators would grow so quickly and be so big we would soon out do the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500, in attendance and the sponsor money would follow for the racers. Wow, doesn't this sound really good?
Let's forget that the BENIHANA race was so big that it had to be raced on the Wednesday of the week held, because there were over 400,000 spectators in boats and along the shoreline. It was felt that if held on a weekend, the amount of spectators would be uncontrollable.
So the big races are gone........BUT, the courses are still there, why can't those races be run again? All it would take is a few people willing to try it. Just like Brownie spoke of with the group that started it all in Miami.
Anybody?
I'd think a $100,000 engine would last longer...
02-23-2016, 07:13 AM
#30
Phragle, is that a chenowth mini max buggy? If so I was just a kid when Lynn developed that buggy/class and he and my father were really close friends. I loved that little buggy. I watched dean sundahl and Rory race each other for a demo video Lynn was doing it was bad ass.
