THEJOKER

Here ya go - notice Richy Rich in the picture and my handsome self! Also some good shots of old F1 Racing in Toronto and W.Palm.

T2x

I notice you got my best side...............

T2x

T2x

Actually Brian....This is proof that Offshore racing really was on Speed at one time. As opposed to "The 1/4" socket channel" or wherever it's buried today.

In fact the later broadcasting on TNN was a step down from Speed which was a spin off from Speed Vision, which was a Step down from MSG, which was a step down from Prime, which was a step down from "The Deuce" (ESPN2), which was a step down from ESPN, which was a step down from ABC/ESPN.

It was a nice train ride for me, as I made all of those stops, but, unfortunately, it was in the wrong direction......as budgets and contract $ declined with each step down the ladder.

This in a nutshell is the journey that Offshore has taken since 1984......... You could look it up.

T2x

THEJOKER

We used to have well over 100 boats at races in 1999 and 2000. Don't think we'll ever see that again. Good things and good racing will be around in 2007 though. AMF - OPA - ORL - SBI - it ain't all that bad! Signed...the eternal offshore racing enthusiast!

FeverMike

1999-2002 were the best years in Offshore Racing in a very long time. The best TV, events, promotions, sponsors, direction were starting to take place. It has gone down hill since.

T2x

Yeah...........

Gene did a nice job of bringing it back.

T2x

FeverMike

Yes he did...but Gene was not running it during 2000-2002 either.

Boatnutz

Oh the memories of the "good old" days when boat racing on television lived! Loved Rich's rundown (and I do mean "down" ) of the tv road to decline. The sport was on the way to making it but few in the boats realized the potential of growing it through television. Getting it back to that point is probably next to impossible now.
It was a great broadcast team Rich!

Zudnic

I don't care if anyone steals my idea. For specialty programs think the net is the way to go. Sites such as OSO could very easily create a net based TV station. Programing content to create could be less money then alot of people would think. Extra membership dues could cover most of the cost of doing so. Build a grass roots base and sell out to the networks when you can show your programing offers good ad revenue!! It will never be NASCAR, but could be built into at least more mainstream.

Mike Allweiss

Gene absolutely saved APBA Offshore racing from extinction in 1997. No question. No doubt. God rest his soul.