Offshore racing on CBS
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11-09-2009, 01:42 PM
#54
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I've got a new idea: Lets invite all the drug dealers or con artist to get back involved with racing!! They bring there own entourage to the races, their own helicopters, multiple boats, and that "great image" we currently don't have. They can race in parade formation-just like the old days. Then to top it off, they can hire someone to do press releases. This would allow them to boost their ego's, let everyone know how great of a racer they are, and let everyone know how tough they are to have raced!
11-09-2009, 01:53 PM
#55
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You know what they say about a few bad apples. They are always the ones that get the press. No deifferent than any other sport or any other part of society. Were Al Copeland and Tom Gentry con men and drug dealers? They were the 2 biggest spenders out there, but you don't hear about them. They also never backed down from rough water. The majority of poeple racing back then were not invlolved any illegal activities. That's not to say there weren't some white collar criminals. But you get that in any era.
What do you mean by parade formation? Are you saying we were not racing to win. If that's the case, you could not be any more wrong. The reason I quit, was because I could not race to win anymore. I was afraid after my accident. I figured why race if you can't race to win.
What do you mean by parade formation? Are you saying we were not racing to win. If that's the case, you could not be any more wrong. The reason I quit, was because I could not race to win anymore. I was afraid after my accident. I figured why race if you can't race to win.
11-09-2009, 02:19 PM
#57
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The bottom line is, 99% of the population doesn't care about powerboats or watching them race. With essentially no one to watch it, the advertisers won't invest. With no ad revenue the networks will never produce it.
I could see Racing POSSIBLY growing in popularity/awareness IF the interest was developed off of just the RIGHT documentary/reality style tv show, with TRULY interesting personalities. I spent 10 years at DCI and another 10 with SPEED and other networks more recently. I'm sure it is possible, but alot of things have to fall into place.
Last edited by socalstone; 11-09-2009 at 02:25 PM.
11-09-2009, 02:21 PM
#58
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I've got a flash for you....... without that "industry" the offshore performance market probably wouldn't exist today ...and as bad as those guys were in some ways....they actually raced against each other..... flat out and balls to the wall..... something you don't see today. Even the "legit" racers (Gentry, Copeland, the Lavins, Kaiser, et al) loved to race against....and respected.....the bad boys. Other (respected to this day) legendary throttlemen, crew chiefs and drivers had no hesitation in selling, rigging, and getting in the same boats with these guys to test or race.
One more thing........ their budgets were probably smaller than Geico's.....yet there were a bunch of them...so you at least had a competition.....not a bunch of GPS addicts locked side by side by 3 satellites 100 miles out in space making believe (or being fooled into thinking) they are "deck to deck" racing.
So, the point is...... If you have "issues" with the bad boys.....
Get over it.
You'd probably be surprised how some of today's party boy "playahz" make their money.
T2x
Last edited by T2x; 11-09-2009 at 02:41 PM.
11-09-2009, 02:40 PM
#59
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totally agree. TV brings it to the masses.
The bottom line is, 99% of the population doesn't care about powerboats or watching them race. With essentially no one to watch it, the advertisers won't invest. With no ad revenue the networks will never produce it.
I could see Racing POSSIBLY growing in popularity/awareness IF the interest was developed off of just the RIGHT documentary/reality style tv show, with TRULY interesting personalities. I spent 10 years at DCI and another 10 with SPEED and other networks more recently. I'm sure it is possible, but alot of things have to fall into place.
The bottom line is, 99% of the population doesn't care about powerboats or watching them race. With essentially no one to watch it, the advertisers won't invest. With no ad revenue the networks will never produce it.
I could see Racing POSSIBLY growing in popularity/awareness IF the interest was developed off of just the RIGHT documentary/reality style tv show, with TRULY interesting personalities. I spent 10 years at DCI and another 10 with SPEED and other networks more recently. I'm sure it is possible, but alot of things have to fall into place.
I spent years trying to develop stars for offshore.... and we had good material...... JT (personable and talented-- sort of a Jimmy Johnson). Joey Imprescia ( the earthy hired "gunslinger" and rough water genius)....... Stevie Curtis (The unpredictable mad man with hair trigger reflexes and no limits). Richie Powers ( who quietly beat you). Jim Dyke ( master of the late race "charge"), (Jerry Gilbreath master set up guy who got more out of less than anyone- he could take his and beat you...and then swap boats....and beat you)....etc. But these stories never came out. Instead you had travelogues of the race site, interviews with sponsors and big money owner/drivers who didn't stay around long enough to make a name for themselves, and race promoters telling everyone how they were re-engineering the competition model....again.
Hard as it is to believe, talented people can become stars without winning "American Idol".
T2x
