SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!
 

I remember years ago, when there was a race in town, you knew about it weeks in advance. It was on the radio, the boats were parked in front of every hot club or resturant in town. The day of the race you would have to park and walk blocks t the beach to watch the race. That was far from the case this weekend. I only knew about the race from OSO. The pits were hidden 2 blocks off the main road. I was at the pits 3 times. Every time I was there, there was not a spectator in sight. The people on the beach had no idea there was a race. There was absolutly no advertising at all. There was not even a sign or banner with anything about the race. I feel bad for the racers that really have their hearts in it. They travel from all over. Get there boats and equipment ready for weeks. They spend all that money to race and the people that live in the town of the race don't even know about it. What sponsor would put any kind of money into the sport. It's really a shame!

SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!

Re: SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!
 

I smell a hidden agenda.

Every community responds differently to the races. The smaller towns embrace them because they may be the only event that particular weekend. That's not exactly the case with the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area.

Re: SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!
 

Mike, you may be right however:

With the sport so splintered right now, boat count is down, interest in the races is down, number of spectators is down, number of sponsors is WAY down and ultimately the money is down. Promotors are not as easily able to afford all the advertising as they were six or eight years ago.

The race here in Sarasota over the July 4th weekend was promoted but NOTHING like it has been in years past. Plus the race organizers managed to piss off everyone on Siesta Key. Despite all the accolades given to Sarasota for the race, reality is that as far as the general public is concerned, it wasn't handled well at all. And the general public is what ultimately makes, or breaks, a race. General consensus is that there were actually fewer spectators at this year's race than any other race in Sarasota's history.

Not having the Hyatt involved just seemed wrong. Everything that was different about this year's race (with the exception of the choice of location for the actual race course) was all about "the money", plain and simple.

Re: SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!
 

We were discussing this Friday night in the pits, this has bothered me for about 2 years ever since the Lauderdale race 2 years ago, a friend paid big money to display his product(boat lifts) in the pits, and very few spectators even came thru. I am sick of telling the locals whats going on, when we show up on the beach in uniform to watch, these towns need to get involved in this sport, and we really should advertise this stuff, how can we expect to grow the sport, when we dont even let the public know what where, and when it is happening. I am sure we can grow the fan base, if we just make them aware of the happenings, heck this crap is free to watch, people love free stuff!!! We all spend big $$$$ to go out there and have fun, we should also have a large, informed audience.

Re: SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!
 

lets face it the racers of yesteryear were much more colorful........and had much more disposible income............mark..........

Re: SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!
 

10-4 guys...
Yeah Rick... I forget what I paid for that space, but I certainly didn't recover the expenses. I think I only sold one lift because of that exposure.

As far as this weekend...
The pits were set up nicely, but as said, you/passers by, couldn't see it from the main road.
The boats looked great running. I constantly heard beachgoers asking what was going on...Terrible.

A little promotion could go a LONG way for the sport.
Sponsors would be more willing to get involved if they could rely on the exposure... :rolleyes:

Re: SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!
 

NOW IT"S POKER RUNNERS...

Re: SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!
 

"There was a lot of stuff, politcal, personal and bad business that happened to Offshore recently and the sport I once followed, loved, raced in, worked for and met many good friends is no longer a part of my life...it's actually very sad!"

Same thing is happening to unlimited hydroplane racing. The Gold Cup races yesterday and Sat. drew small crowds in Detroit.

ed

Re: SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!
 

No hidden agenda at all. Some of the smaller towns embrace racing more then others. In years past, i'm not talking 6 or 7 years either, the races drew large crowds in Fort Lauderdale and Deerfield. Face it, It's free to spectators. The thing is, if no one knows theres a race, no one is going to show up to support it. I'm not saying they have to spend huge dollars on advertising. For example, This weekend in Fort Lauderdale there was a bicycle race.There was a small segment on it on almost news channel. If the news station is willing to do a small segment on a Bicycle race, I would assume a boat race would also be "news worthy". Any time there is any big event going on "especially free events" it's all over the radio and TV. We watched the race from the Marriott right on turn 1 and 2. The people at the hotel didn't even know about the race.

Re: SBI "One of the best kept secrets in racing"!
 

It's true, most of what made racing big in the 80's-90's was the EGO's of the racers. Now the money and EGO's are all in Poker Runs.

Back then they raced where virtually no one could watch except on TV. Now they race where thousands can watch on the beach and they don't try to promote it enough.

Face it, from a promoters stand-point,if it doesn't mean $$(gates, sales, etc.) why add headaches to your gameplan.