speicher lane

In the words of Billy Mauf, "This sport takes millionaires and makes them thousand-aires..."

They race toons.. just wondering when the over/under 42' CC classes are fielded...Offshore's heyday was when everyone wanted a 100+mph cat or big cig/apache to separate the men from the boys (**Absolutely No disrespect to the ladies that participated in any way).

Attrition is taking a firm grip on this cadre....

TeamSaris

It certainly isnt from lack of interest from the racers either. Jupiter was a one of the nicest race sites any of us had been to. We'd all love to go back. That was on TV as well. I think we had over 50 boats there. Class 6 through turbine. Class 5 had something like 15 boats. It was epic!

TYPHOON

There have been a lot of successful business people go threw this sport. So for someone to say the racers are not smart enough to figure the problems out is just laughable. If they are smart enough to have this expendable income to piss away racing then they are not your average small business owners IMO.

Matt Trulio

I agree with you and all points. The number of successful business people, from Bob Bull to Billy Mauff, who have been involved with offshore racing and shaped the sport is impressive. I know a lot of them. Well.

jusabum

So, in YOUR mind, you somehow reworded my posts in your head and interpreted me as referring to the racers as dumb, or NOT SMART? What an idiot, SERIOUSLY?!
I NEVER indicated that in the slightest, and I have much respect for all racers. I have a problem with the events, NOT the racers. Again, Idiot.
Ya know what...I'm not going to sit here and defend myself against dumb-azz remarks, I was simply participating in a subject that I am very interested in...getting the racers racing, Offshore, is what I would like to see. YOU are an example of why I'm not interested taking the time to write and post it.

jusabum

Matt, there's many successful business people racing offshore, but do you "honestly" think Billy Mauff is "the guy" to design and develop lamination schedules at Skater? I'm NOT trying to be a smart-azz, I'm trying to make a point. He may be familiar with the build process, and he may understand how his boat is built, but his success in business and the race course does NOT qualify him to design and manage Skater's Lamination and build process. What I'm getting at, is that being a successful business owner and a hard-charging racer doesn't mean that person is "the guy" to organize, and structure the events. Does that make sense?

Kinda the same with Jimmie Johnson in NASCAR... he may understand the sport, win a lot of races, and take home the big jackpots, but that doesn't necessarily make him the best person to structure a winning event - Jus Sayin'

And that's how I am looking at this, just because I'm not racing a turbine powered mystic, doesn't mean I many not have a good formula for success.

h2oboater

Just don't break down in Bimini waters if you have a warrant for your arrest by the government there. Chances are you wont be lucky enuff to have a helicopter pulling you back into international waters like our friend did in the Fort Apache race back in the day.

Matt Trulio

Jusabum,

Success in one profession does not guarantee success in another. That's a fair point.

However, you picked an interesting example with Skater, and one that illustrates the point was I trying (perhaps poorly) to make. You're right, Peter Hledin doesn't ask Billy Mauff about curing times, scoring plywood or how to get paint to adhere to epoxy. But for years, Mr. Hledin has told me how much he's learned about boat building and design through racer feedback. So despite their entirely different professions and skill sets. there is value in their advice in certain areas. The same would go for anyone organizing an offshore race. You'd have to be stupid and/or arrogant not to at least listen to your constituency. No one ever corners the market on good ideas.

While I think comparisons between NASCAR and offshore racing are silly on many levels (audience connection to the product on the racecourse, closed-gate venues, etc.) and I've seen such references several in this thread, the one takeaway you can apply to offshore racing is the need for a dictator with deep pockets at the helm of any would-be motorsports organization. You need someone who can say, "My way or the highway" and have the bank to back it up. To some extent (not sure about the bank) Ed "Smitty" Smith of the Offshore Powerboat Association has been successful using this approach. Michael Allweiss, who saw 100-plus-boat fleets in Key West in the early 2000s under his APBA Offshore reign, used a similar approach. But you still have to still listen to your racers. This is especially true in offshore racing where they have always—and I don't care what decade you're talking about—pay the freight.

My opinion? If you think no one cares about offshore racing now, watch what happens when you move it to where no one can see it. But again, that's an opinion, albeit one formed though a lot of observation during the years.

But back o the point. Clearly, Resorts World Bimini didn't "lose money" on the event—that's not how marketing budgets work. Just as clearly, they didn't get the return on investment, and I don't know what metrics they used to measure, for the $400,000 they reportedly spent on the race. For the Genting Group parent company, $400,000 is chump change. For Resorts World Bimini, that sum likely is more significant. (To be fair, I don't know how their marketing budgets are allocated.)

Last, calling people "idiots" and using uppercase, the online equivalent of shouting, does nothing to help you make your point.

klaatutooyou

The sport could use another allweis/miklos type heiarchy again..

Whoever comes out on top I sure hope they put QUALIFIED people in the key positions.

and rules are rules no matter who you are.

speicher lane

With the reference to NASCAR template, Lowe's is leaving NASCAR as Jimmy Johnson's Primary sponsor (since 2001) and CMS Track sponsor. (if no one heard - lol)

According to articles composed on this news, the reason cited was basically ROI -markets are changing and even NASCAR;s ratings are plummeting from their prime just a number years back.... For anyone to say there is an easy answer to attract sponsors and money - that is a huge claim to make. Lowe's had the golden boy as their driver in front of an audience of millions every week in person, boob tube and collectables which put "LOWE'S" name and marketing $$$ everywhere... and as a corporation they could justify their decision to depart.

Resorts World would have gone through the same business evaluation - hell, every team on paved track or on the water goes through this process justifying the expenditure of Racing vs. what they are personally getting out of the venture.

Hagin/ Scotty/Mark have been well served by Geico and Geico has been well served by their efforts on the water and doing the show circuits for corporate publicity... J.R. brought Stihl to offshore, Stihl brought NBC - we know how that has evolved.