I think the simple answer is that it costs A LOT of money to run a race team. You have to really enjoy it to make the case for spending that kind of dough. Like anything else, after a few years the novelty can start to wear off and you start asking yourself if it's still worth the money you are putting into it. I think if you look around at the guys who are out of the sport, you'll probably find they are still active, just actively doing something else.

Don't forget the years leading up to that when Gene Whipp was at the helm. We had huge fleets then, too.

True,Gene was a great guy.R,I,P

The best! He personally, single handedly saved APBA Offshore in 1997 and 1998 and is the only reason the LLC had a chance.

Whats up Mike,you keeping Miklos in order down there in Florida.

Trying!

We did it 2 1/2 years 1990-2.

Pretty simple, really.

VERY expensive.

VERY dangerous.

Simply a question of how long it takes you realize both of the above.

Once you do, it doesn't take long to get to the point where you've had your fill.

The big fleets and TV coverage were lots of fun, but eventually not enough to outweigh the expense and risk.

Gene Whipp has the absolute BEST!

Very well put. I did it from 83-87. My Dad ran into a bit of trouble with the authorities, and the money dried up.

No money = No racing.

I stuffed the skater in 86 and was truly terrified after that. I lost the desire to race for the win. Some fear is good, too much is dangerous.

I have to guess that you have never raced offshore. Have you ever had an accident in a race boat, during a race? I have and I can tell you that it takes some big old brass ones to get back in a race boat after an accident. Although I am no fan of the current style of inshore racing, I still give the racers all of the credit in the world for being out there and doing it.

So unless you have the balls to be out there, I wouldn't talk about someone else losing their balls.

Besides the never ending money pit it probably turns into for all but a few competitors, I would have to think that part of what allows someone to have a ‘big team’, like those old superboat class teams, (ie..money, and lots of it) is the same thing that eventually drives them out of the sport, in the sense that the risks are high, the chance of injury, etc is high, and insurance is probably tough to come by, and the desire to race eventually gets outweighed by the increasing potential ramifications to your ‘day job’ should something happen to you.

I thought I remember(and could be wrong) reading back in the day that Al Copeland was basically forced to retire from racing after an accident on a motorcycle, or a snowmobile or something like that. Not as a result of the accident (maybe partially) but because his insurance company, banks and Board of directors of his company basically mandated it. I don’t remember specifics, and could be remembering it wrong, but I think that is how it was.

If you think about it, it makes sense…a lot of people couldn’t afford for something to happen to Al, so his direct racing had to stop