JBS turbines explode!
07-27-2010 | 09:33 AM
#142
Registered
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,824
Likes: 0
From: Va Beach, VA
My opinion on how a boat race should be run has been posted many times but i will try this again
I think that the key to success is TV and an event atmosphere. It is more important than a roundy round race course
When the races were run here in Grand Haven Michigan in the 80's the boats ran a course that was something like a 30 mile circle course. There were almost 400,000 spectators on water and land and the sea of spectator boats was phenomenal even though the race boats only passed by a few times during the race. The weekend was full of events and lots of people walking the dry pits and the wet pits and the action that we could see from a boat on the water was great since these guys were running true offshore conditions on a long course (No roundy round) The event was covered on TV and had lots of press.
People come out for the activity and fun not just to see boats go roundy round
When you watch racing of any type it is about the EVENT! It is about the characters , the location, the boats, the weather, the water ,ect... and oh by the way there was a race
Look at the Kentucky Derby, it is a 3 minute race, but it is a weeklong event. Look at the Tour De France, people come out in droves to watch the bikes go by ONE TIME but it is all about the TV coverage and the party atmosphere. The Iditarod dogs run in nasty conditions and again watched by millions on TV and hundreds of thousands that go out to watch them blow buy ONCE
Our poker run had thousands come out to watch the boats and they only came and went twice into the channel but there was plenty of hype, no TV but it had the ever present EVENT atmosphere and thousands came out to an event, that for the most part, was focused on the participants and the Make A Wish kids still people put it on their calendar just to come see the boats and the people and the EVENT not the actual running since we ran 140 mile course
my opinion for success is this
1) A true OFFSHORE RACE - none of this roundy round crap
2) Good TV Coverage with good knowledgeable commentators and coverage of characters, events and locations
3) Just a few classes -To many classes just confuse the fans
4) Make it a 4 or 5 day event with music, car shows, poker run, boat shows ect....
5) Stop thinking it is about the race. It IS About The EVENT
6) Unity in race organizations
7) Great location that can handle many components of an EVENT
I have been involved in putting on races and poker runs in the past, and I have discussed putting on another race here (a true OFFSHORE RACE) Until we realize the racing itself is just a small component of the entire event we will not get where we need to go. Contrary to what is popular, I do not believe you need a spectator friendly course to have success. You need to have an event that makes people just want to be around the atmosphere in general. And Oh Yea there is a boat race
a little Video of Grand Haven Races in the late 80's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3xr-3gVEEw
Picture of spectator boats
I think that the key to success is TV and an event atmosphere. It is more important than a roundy round race course
When the races were run here in Grand Haven Michigan in the 80's the boats ran a course that was something like a 30 mile circle course. There were almost 400,000 spectators on water and land and the sea of spectator boats was phenomenal even though the race boats only passed by a few times during the race. The weekend was full of events and lots of people walking the dry pits and the wet pits and the action that we could see from a boat on the water was great since these guys were running true offshore conditions on a long course (No roundy round) The event was covered on TV and had lots of press.
People come out for the activity and fun not just to see boats go roundy round
When you watch racing of any type it is about the EVENT! It is about the characters , the location, the boats, the weather, the water ,ect... and oh by the way there was a race
Look at the Kentucky Derby, it is a 3 minute race, but it is a weeklong event. Look at the Tour De France, people come out in droves to watch the bikes go by ONE TIME but it is all about the TV coverage and the party atmosphere. The Iditarod dogs run in nasty conditions and again watched by millions on TV and hundreds of thousands that go out to watch them blow buy ONCE
Our poker run had thousands come out to watch the boats and they only came and went twice into the channel but there was plenty of hype, no TV but it had the ever present EVENT atmosphere and thousands came out to an event, that for the most part, was focused on the participants and the Make A Wish kids still people put it on their calendar just to come see the boats and the people and the EVENT not the actual running since we ran 140 mile course
my opinion for success is this
1) A true OFFSHORE RACE - none of this roundy round crap
2) Good TV Coverage with good knowledgeable commentators and coverage of characters, events and locations
3) Just a few classes -To many classes just confuse the fans
4) Make it a 4 or 5 day event with music, car shows, poker run, boat shows ect....
5) Stop thinking it is about the race. It IS About The EVENT
6) Unity in race organizations
7) Great location that can handle many components of an EVENT
I have been involved in putting on races and poker runs in the past, and I have discussed putting on another race here (a true OFFSHORE RACE) Until we realize the racing itself is just a small component of the entire event we will not get where we need to go. Contrary to what is popular, I do not believe you need a spectator friendly course to have success. You need to have an event that makes people just want to be around the atmosphere in general. And Oh Yea there is a boat race
a little Video of Grand Haven Races in the late 80's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3xr-3gVEEw
Picture of spectator boats
One thing is...Grand Haven is a great venue on any course...
But like I said...we all have are input....but the proof you have to look at who had the best TV shows and on what racing format....
With APBA on the Speed Channel....they had a lot of classes..but they only aired the Pro Sereis classes....they gave the finall results on all the P-Classes..but did not air there racing..
Also there were 2 shows for each race...
The F1's, F2's and SVL and the Super Vees and the second show was the big boys....
07-27-2010 | 12:50 PM
#144
Registered
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 283
Likes: 0
From: Central City, La.
My hats off to Jeff Stevenson and team JBS. This team has had more than their fair share of bad luck over the last couple of years. Hulls continuously delaminating and problems with their turbines. Undoubtedly the biggest damage has been done to Jeff's wallet. One thing that can be said about this team is that they have the desire to race and the desire to put on a good show for the fans. Here's to hoping they get these setbacks figured out and they get back on the race course, where they deserve to be. Thanks Jeff for all your efforts.
07-27-2010 | 02:32 PM
#146
VIP Member
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,281
Likes: 773
From: Tulsa, GLOC
My opinion on how a boat race should be run has been posted many times but i will try this again
I think that the key to success is TV and an event atmosphere. It is more important than a roundy round race course
When the races were run here in Grand Haven Michigan in the 80's the boats ran a course that was something like a 30 mile circle course. There were almost 400,000 spectators on water and land and the sea of spectator boats was phenomenal even though the race boats only passed by a few times during the race. The weekend was full of events and lots of people walking the dry pits and the wet pits and the action that we could see from a boat on the water was great since these guys were running true offshore conditions on a long course (No roundy round) The event was covered on TV and had lots of press.
People come out for the activity and fun not just to see boats go roundy round
When you watch racing of any type it is about the EVENT! It is about the characters , the location, the boats, the weather, the water ,ect... and oh by the way there was a race
Look at the Kentucky Derby, it is a 3 minute race, but it is a weeklong event. Look at the Tour De France, people come out in droves to watch the bikes go by ONE TIME but it is all about the TV coverage and the party atmosphere. The Iditarod dogs run in nasty conditions and again watched by millions on TV and hundreds of thousands that go out to watch them blow buy ONCE
Our poker run had thousands come out to watch the boats and they only came and went twice into the channel but there was plenty of hype, no TV but it had the ever present EVENT atmosphere and thousands came out to an event, that for the most part, was focused on the participants and the Make A Wish kids still people put it on their calendar just to come see the boats and the people and the EVENT not the actual running since we ran 140 mile course
my opinion for success is this
1) A true OFFSHORE RACE - none of this roundy round crap
2) Good TV Coverage with good knowledgeable commentators and coverage of characters, events and locations
3) Just a few classes -To many classes just confuse the fans
4) Make it a 4 or 5 day event with music, car shows, poker run, boat shows ect....
5) Stop thinking it is about the race. It IS About The EVENT
6) Unity in race organizations
7) Great location that can handle many components of an EVENT
I have been involved in putting on races and poker runs in the past, and I have discussed putting on another race here (a true OFFSHORE RACE) Until we realize the racing itself is just a small component of the entire event we will not get where we need to go. Contrary to what is popular, I do not believe you need a spectator friendly course to have success. You need to have an event that makes people just want to be around the atmosphere in general. And Oh Yea there is a boat race
a little Video of Grand Haven Races in the late 80's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3xr-3gVEEw
Picture of spectator boats
I think that the key to success is TV and an event atmosphere. It is more important than a roundy round race course
When the races were run here in Grand Haven Michigan in the 80's the boats ran a course that was something like a 30 mile circle course. There were almost 400,000 spectators on water and land and the sea of spectator boats was phenomenal even though the race boats only passed by a few times during the race. The weekend was full of events and lots of people walking the dry pits and the wet pits and the action that we could see from a boat on the water was great since these guys were running true offshore conditions on a long course (No roundy round) The event was covered on TV and had lots of press.
People come out for the activity and fun not just to see boats go roundy round
When you watch racing of any type it is about the EVENT! It is about the characters , the location, the boats, the weather, the water ,ect... and oh by the way there was a race
Look at the Kentucky Derby, it is a 3 minute race, but it is a weeklong event. Look at the Tour De France, people come out in droves to watch the bikes go by ONE TIME but it is all about the TV coverage and the party atmosphere. The Iditarod dogs run in nasty conditions and again watched by millions on TV and hundreds of thousands that go out to watch them blow buy ONCE
Our poker run had thousands come out to watch the boats and they only came and went twice into the channel but there was plenty of hype, no TV but it had the ever present EVENT atmosphere and thousands came out to an event, that for the most part, was focused on the participants and the Make A Wish kids still people put it on their calendar just to come see the boats and the people and the EVENT not the actual running since we ran 140 mile course
my opinion for success is this
1) A true OFFSHORE RACE - none of this roundy round crap
2) Good TV Coverage with good knowledgeable commentators and coverage of characters, events and locations
3) Just a few classes -To many classes just confuse the fans
4) Make it a 4 or 5 day event with music, car shows, poker run, boat shows ect....
5) Stop thinking it is about the race. It IS About The EVENT
6) Unity in race organizations
7) Great location that can handle many components of an EVENT
I have been involved in putting on races and poker runs in the past, and I have discussed putting on another race here (a true OFFSHORE RACE) Until we realize the racing itself is just a small component of the entire event we will not get where we need to go. Contrary to what is popular, I do not believe you need a spectator friendly course to have success. You need to have an event that makes people just want to be around the atmosphere in general. And Oh Yea there is a boat race
a little Video of Grand Haven Races in the late 80's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3xr-3gVEEw
Picture of spectator boats
Nice shoot of Craig Berry . Little less Gray then cpl weekends ago on GLOC.
07-28-2010 | 10:21 PM
#149
Driver-441
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 12,011
Likes: 1,511
From: Lake George
