OSS racing in 09
 

Hello, my name is Randy Schleuss and I am a new board member for OSS. I have been racing for 10 years in all the organizations and have seen it all. At present I race in Super Vee lite in the Typhoon boat.
My question to all of you is what can OSS do to make the future of racing more enjoyable to go and watch or just be a fan of? I feel there needs to be more of a connection between racers,poker run's,average boaters and kids.
What do you all think would make a better
Race site
Pit area
Classes
Fun factor
ect.
I feel it is important that we at OSS listen to what EVERYONE has to say to make this a better sport. And that we ALL work on having more fun together.
Lets start with suggestions and work from there.
MD

nice start, how about a schedule??

Do you guys have the headsets that fans can rent to listen to the drivers, like Nascar? That would be really cool.

I also think a race weekend combined with a poker or fun run, always brings a much bigger crowd for both events. I know it makes me want to be there even more. It's nonstop boating action, and the best of both worlds for the fans to see the top race boats, and run around with the best pleasure boats, all on one trip. You could make it an extended weekend by having the run on Friday at whatever time, and the races on Saturday & Sunday. For a regular weekend: Race Friday afternoon, have the fun run (or breakfast run) Saturday morning, and start the races after lunch finishing Sunday.

Some folks can only plan for 1-2 boating trips a year. This would be a definite must do event essentially killing two birds with one stone. It gives people that don't have, or don't want to mess with their boat a reason to come, and entices people with boats to bring them along to run, show off at the docks, or tie up to watch the races from the water.

I agree...combine with a PR or Fun Run....

That would be an excellent idea. I'm sure that you could pick up a sponsor or two for the Fun Run.

Simple, merge the other competing race orginizations together to form one viable racing series that the average fan can follow. There are so many racing orginizations out there competing for fan interest that it is about impossible to follow who is competing in which series; thus average fans like myself wind up not caring about any of the offshore series.

Being from Indianapolis and seeing what the powers there did to destroy the huge fan base that Indy car enjoyed for generations, I'm amazed to find that Tony George and Roger Penske couldn't hold a candle to offshore racing when it comes to destroying a fan base.

Short of consolidation I'll continue to not give a hoot.

My dream race site would be a combination of a Poker Run,Boat race, Boat show mfg. and parts.,swap meet,Street party,venders and entertainment. Everyone in one location!!! Have fun things for boaters to participate in. Have possibly question and answer sessions in the pits with Tec people. I would think 30-50 race teams and 100-200 PR teams could generate some real noticeable revenue for any town.
MD :ernaehrung004:

How about Galveston? They need it after Ike and there sure was a lot of Mississippi/Alabama/Louisiana race support after Katrina.

I no longer live in Galveston but the races there and Corpus in years past were a blast and there are a lot of poker runners in Texas

Ernie

That is a great start!

I would like to see the Offshore Racing org's try to get, race courses where the fans can see the whole race if possible, a race course where the race boats can race as close as possible to the race fans on the docks or on shoreline, a shorter race course, 4-5 miles in lenght so that spectators can see the boats going by more often then on a long course where they go by occasionally. I'd like to see the org's, racing together as one, as I stated in my previous post. Let's face it, everyone knows what the fans want but no one is willing to give an inch, or it would of been a done deal. All we hear is, in a perfect world Bull**** but in reality if everyone really wanted to sit down and try and resolve the ego thing/control thing and the long standing bickering then maybe things would come together but you all have to be willing. I'm still holding out, hoping for the future will bring change, because I know that there are a lot of very smart people running the show, most of the time and have the ability to change it if they really want to. Lets hear the positive things and not the negative things and get it done. One last thing i'd like to hear the Turbines making more noise or music then they are right now. Fans what to hear the roar of the engines as they race by in any motorsport.