boatme

Great stuff a little boring intro with Don Johnson touring in helecopter but once the racing starts this is a GREAT video

http://vimeo.com/21938283

mikebrls

cool

AB From Windsor

1990 OPT from Miami Beach. I remember watching the OPT Tour on TV with all the Movie Stars back then and tried to watch every race that was on and we even got it on TV in Ontario, Canada. Looking back at that video brought back some old memories from my child hood/adult hood, LOL. It was great to see Al Copeland Sr. telling us how he started out with nothing and worked hard and became a Millionaire. It reminded me of the song from Jay and the Americans "Only in America". It was also something to see all the toys that he had back then and the run down on the cost of racing, out drives $15,000.00 each, props $3,000.00 etc. Well the cost have sure risen from then to now. It's hard to beleive how young Al Copeland looked back then and that he is no longer with us but his memory will live on forever. There are a few Offshore Powerboat Racers that stick out in my mind with their wealth and what they spend or spent on Offshore Powerboat Racing, Al Copeland Sr., John Haggin Tom Abrams and a few more. It was said that All Copeland's parties were something else and by the toys he had, I could just imagine. I also found something very interesting about that video. We have heard this many times from some that there is nothing like Offshore Racing on the Ocean and Lake Racing or River Racing is like being on a pond. I agree that there was nothing like ocean racing but if you were a spectator it sucked unless you saw it on TV. Bob Beattie said that "Just a few years ago (1990), it was like a millionaire's Club, the guys would go out in the ocean and race by themselves and nobody would know it except themselves, now everybody know it". Back then it was well known that it was not a spectator sport in the ocean and they needed to race closer to the shore so spectators could see them and that is what we have now. The only thing is we need TV coverage again on a channel that everyone can watch across North America and we do have some millionaires racing but there is nothing like the glory days of the Movies Stars, 22 Helicopters flying around and great TV coverage. Maybe one day we will get some Movie Stars, some colorful millionaires like Al Copeland and then maybe we won't. I beleive we have some great Offshore Powerboat Racing going on now and that the spectators can see the races up close. If we could get TV coverage across North America, ABC, NBC, Speed Channel or TSN and some Movie Stars and a few more Millionaires, where would the sport go?

Gladhe8er

Wish I had a half hour to waste right now. Looks good.

bobonthis

Its sad to see the decline of this sport today. Its kind of like boxing now and poker runs have become mma.

314joey

iTrader: (1)

Great nostalgia, Miami was definitely the place to be back then.

Mikeyo

Thanks for posting. It was these broadcast that got me interested in offshores.

HabanaJoe

Good race, they featured our 46 allot, didn't see me and the 38 though?

fobes

Fantastic video, thanks for posting.
I had a chance to climb all over the Team USA boat in Dania Beach about 10 years ago- huge.
Matt

Perfect Storm

Awesome post! I remember calling all my boating friends to watch these races whenever there was one on TV! Thank God that guys like Don Johnson and Chuck Norris were brave enough to get into these boats to bring the publicity to the sport so the races could be televised! I know that after my first time seeing an offshore race on TV I was hooked!