"IMO Geico is not completely holding the sport together"... who is?

again geico is writing checks to keep it going as of now! i can tell you our entry fees are not enough to pay for it!

i was interviewed by VS this past weekend and had cameras in our pits...as cool as we may think this sport is they were paid to be there! and who do you think wrote the check.

ps...i made money running poker runs. i made money racing F2. i know others that have done the same. it can be done. but to pull it off the amount of sacrifice is astronomical.

Don Aronow was real Offshore Powerboat Racing. So was Ben Kramer and team Apache. (And I'm not going to get into that whole Aronow/Kramer thing. All the players are in their permanent positions.) Today it is smaller water and higher speeds. Some of the best cat designs have tremendous quality throughout. But, truth be told, with the high speeds in rough water even the best cat powerboats make poor airplanes.

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ps...i made money running poker runs. i made money racing F2. i know others that have done the same. it can be done. but to pull it off the amount of sacrifice is astronomical.[/QUOTE]

It can be done...again. And the time is right too, and not in spite of the bad economy, but because of it.

Turbines are boring to watch compared to piston powered boats. Impressive speeds and reliability from the turbines but its about the noise that brings the fans to the shoreline. Compare the sounds of blown injected alcohol grand prix hydros to the unlimited hydros. You can feel the power and speed from the piston boats. People use to come running when the unlimiteds fired up not anymore.

Let's face it. Boats like Geico and JBS are definitely cool. I think my problem is that I never looked at this from a fans perspective, but rather an "offshore" racers perspective. I know that we did not race to impress the fans. We raced to win. There always seemed to be huge crowds. Much larger than at the current races. I guess if fans want a demonstration instead of an offshore race, then that is what the market demands. So be it.

I'll add one more thing since I guess I started going down this path.

Can anyone really answer what fans what, I see what JBS wrote but do they want that? I think the boats are less important than the whole show itself. The show is in the pits, involvement with the town etc, etc is what makes the race successful and makes come out. I can tell you as a youth race day in Pt Pleasant was nothing, it was going to see the baots before the race, walking in the pits, see the engines etc. - Kings Grant Inn!

I think people like the piston boats, I think liked the 4 engine monsters more then they can relate to a "jet engine".

I really doubt that the speed of Geico or JBS going by the crowd is more exciting than 5 class 1 Lambo or big block powered boats going by. I don't think from shore you can tell the speed difference all that much but if you have 5 or 10 large boats it would be exciting!

Case in point, in the Apache section there is a thread about "how many Apache's are in NJ" - read that thread! This is why people lined the beaches and still raise their head from the sand and look out to the sea today.

By the way - can we hear why the turbines blew up yet or is it still under wraps?

JBS did not have Turbine Marine Supervision when the damage was done. So much for sunglasses, custom race jumpsuits, and a 15' picture of his head pasted on the truck. KaBoom!

Look, don't throw stones at JBS, they did what did and they have to pay the price. I think they suffered enough all that money, hype, boats, trucks and then to be broken like they are, they feel bad enough - at least they are out there still, that's more than I can say so my hats off to them no matter what.

My only beef is I think the sport is no longer "offshore" and is headed the wrong direction. I don't think the visions that some of these people have today are any different than 20 years ago when similar visions for Offshore Racing started the fall of the sport in my eyes and it has yet to return and probably never will.

Is that a bad thing - only time will tell!

I see it differently. JBS is the one throwing the stones at Turbine Marine. Turbine Marine was not allowed to inspect the "damage" afterwards. Then all the anti TM rants. Probably end up in court.