Key west worlds this year
 

That is the question of the year, no one knows yet, what we do know is that the poker run is still on so get your liver ready and make your plans

Speaking with the PBC/JJ boys earlier this year they said they will be there.

Most of the teams I have spoken with have said they will compete in Key West, which will be produced by Race World Offshore during the first full week of November. The exceptions to this I'm aware of at this moment are Miss GEICO and Victory.

Unfortunately two of the biggest teams / crowd pleasers.

Geico and/or Steve Curtis not racing in KW seems....odd to say and hear???

Well.... RWO and OPA were going to do it together, which would have been huge... but I think somebody somewhere pizzed in somebodies cheerios....

/but as of right now most seem to be dedicated to opa/p1/apba, which relegates RWO's key west nothing more than a very expensive meaningless party at this point.

But there is a lot of time between now and then so anything is possible

I like to party! :drink::drink::ernaehrung004:

what’s Geico’s issue with key west now?

Went many many times great but like all great things I think it's over? Sad when you lose a big player like Geico they see little advantage in it and race else where people follow that! But who knows I'd do a Poker run but to race & trailer no! Also a huge 35mph task getting there on land!

I haven't been on this site (or online) for a long time, so please forgive me if my question is old news. Who comprises RWO and what happened to John Carbonell?

steve Curtis has his panties a wad .he didn't get his way .so the teams he influences follow along like little puppys .
No?
Then explain why you wont do key west

The past several years its been due to JC .
Hes gone
you represent a company . a major company .Not Godall I mean the coerporation.
do they agree with youre decision ?

Key West will still be a huge week for boaters. I have watched less and less of the races the last few years but found out I can still have a great time.

It took 9 years to get a slip at the Galleon Marina and 6 years to get a room there. I'm going no matter what.

Plus, we throw one killer party on Thursday night that is a highlight of the week if you like that sort of thing. LOL

I've said in other threads, the races have unfortunately (or not however you look at it) become a side show to the whole weekend. The races used to be the whole reason that week happened. After Stu started bringing poker runs down it has slowly grown into a completely different animal. The poker run carries that weekend. Not that I'd want it to happen because the more cool boating stuff the better but the races could go away all together and it would still be one of the largest performance boating events in the world. If the races ultimately end down there - which lets be honest, as long as there's offshore racing (in 400 different organizations :picard1: ) there will be SOMEONE down there racing - but if they did go away it would just open the door for Stu or someone else to expand the poker run experience - Organized day runs, raft ups, maybe a shootout, poker run street party on Friday night (like havasu), OSO / SOTW party Thursday, etc etc. the possibilities are A) untapped and B) endless.

Things change and evolve. This is part of it. Everyone settle down, it'll be fine. See you in KW! :drink:

I really don't care if Geico shows up.... I don't go to see the guy with the most money win..... actually might be better if they don't go.....gives other teams a better chance?

KW is an experience....but face it, if there was 3 days of racing elsewhere for the "Worlds" + located where everything isn't a major expense nor year long process to get dockage and accommodation - The race event would still draw enough to be a major considered a success.

That said KW is KW... or is it Duval St.is Duval St.?

Don't forget to make your flight reservations for Memphis so you can tow the Tiger down this year...........See you in KW :drink:

If you're Tank it's Duval ST

lol, whatever you need buddy! ;)

like tank said there is a side to all this that hasn't been thought about or egos are to strong to mess with.


gave my to cents on things and was told to wait and see with a smile.

House reserved, flights bought. Leaving the cold for KW in Nov can't be all that bad........good racing or not.

You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. However, it doesn't not square with the facts as presented to me through Miss GEICO team partners Scott Colton, Gary Stray and Marc Granet, Gary Goodell and Scott Begovich.

As you'd expect, GEICO's in-house marketing team tracks the referral business derived from all of its marketing efforts, including those from each venue/event in which the Miss GEICO offshore racing team competes. Races, air shows, boat shows—you name the event and GEICO's marketing people know exactly how much business was written out of it. Those numbers coming out of Key West, for whatever reason (endless distractions of Key West, etc.) have never produced an adequate return on the considerable investment required to have a team there for a week. (For the record, every racer I've ever asked about Key West cites it as the most expensive venue in the sport.)

Long before Steve Curtis began throttling for the team two years ago I heard this from the partners in the ownership group. While GEICO's revenue might be endless, its sponsorship support for the offshore racing team it backs is not. According to those partners, GEICO writes far more insurance out of far less expensive venues such as Englewood Beach than it does in Key West. So while there well may be hard feelings and resentments and biases and all the rest, it's a business decision—at least according to those people actually involved in making it. And it's something I've been hearing from them for years.

Of course there could be other factors within the decision. Like any team, Miss GEICO wants to be where it feels appreciated and valued and my understanding is that wasn't how they felt the last time they competed in Key West. But at the end of the day, it's a business decision.

You don't think skipping Key West serves GEICO—the company—as a sponsor. The team feels differently.

For the record, I love Key West as an offshore racing venue and speedonthewater.com has every intention of covering Race World Offshore's event there this year.

There are not enough teams in the entire country to have different sanctioning bodies and its been that way for years,we have seen in the past when they race together it is a lot better for everyone involved but EGOS have always been a factor in when and where they race its a shame and once again they cant set there differences aside and figure it out and work together for the betterment of the sport as well as sponsors I for one hope that somehow and someway during the year RWO AND OPA and P1 can find a way to come together for the 1st time in a long time when Mike Allweis did it and that is when the racing was at its best.

I'm not sure about last line? Lawyer who sued another racer how was that the best? Unite race leave the ego home! You are correct about ego and back stabbing killed Key West!:faint2:

thank you for the clarification.
It needed to come from someone with credibility

I can see why Steve has a Bitter taste in his mouth for Key West, Even though Carbonell isnt in charge now, He had F'd Steve on a couple different occasions !!!!

If OPA /P1/ ABPA had won the contract for Key West it would be interesting to see if Geico would have shown up.....using this logic they would still have been a no show

when allweis and miklos were rebuilding offshore it was an awesome time.
we all loved it .
the end started with a simple keywest boycott.
and here we are 15 years later still in a steady decline.

Thanx Mike ,thanx Steve for some pretty awesome years of offshore racing .

Key West worlds now is just a party destination.

The city , the Navy , the locals ,are over it.

and the boycotters OSS they did this a long tim e ago .

Important paragraph in my response:

"Of course there could be other factors within the decision. Like any team, Miss GEICO wants to be where it feels appreciated and valued and my understanding is that wasn't how they felt the last time they competed in Key West. But at the end of the day, it's a business decision."

All still valid. Had OPA/P1 won the five-year contract, the Miss GEICO team likely would have made a different decision. Clearly, they're are on the record supporting the APBA series being produced by those two organizations. But none of that changes that Key West does not, in the eyes of the team and is sponsor, provide the direct or indirect marketing ROI they are looking for. So if you know that going, what is going to the "X factor," if you will, that changes your mind?

I think the answer to your question, Mark, is answered in the paragraph quoted above. (Sorry I called you Dan earlier. :))

The N.B.R.G. supports united racing.

I can't see any community exec. with any business sence that would prefer not to have the opportunity for loads of "Tourists" arrive like clockwork with their $$$...hell there is a reason why rates are what they are for the worlds - money is coming in to town.

There are certainly factions within the Key West community that would just as soon see the powerboat races disappear. But the business community embraces them. The Monroe County Tourism Development Council has identified that week as the busiest week of the year, even surpassing Fantasy Fest, for local businesses. Key West survives on tourism, as we all know. If the community dropped the races it would a a serious self-inflicted economic wound.