Pete B

I think most that have written on this thread would do all possible to make the sport grow and be mainstream, it takes one thing to get you there $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and lots of it.
So with that said, i think the air is quickly vacating the balloon.

T2x

Pete:

Methinks "Air" and "Balloon" are VERY good analogies.

T2x

Smittymarine

Gentlemen, I am jumping in here a little late. What does every fan of every sport have in common? A favorite. The Jersey Boyz are on to something. Even in New Orleans, we had the locals cheering for us. T2X I could not agree with you more. The enthusiasim I see in some of our guys should spill over to some of the nat. teams. The pits are open to the public. What good is that if you are sitting in you hotel room reading the Walls street Journal? After the F1 race Glen from Typhoon pulls into the wet pit area sitting on the deck of his boat wearing a lifeline jacket and a mad Max mask. The fans went crazy. Maybe a little extreme but you get my point. Bring life to the sport and the sport will live. As far as sponsors....Maybe only a dream. Nascar started as a bunch of bootleggers that could not race on sat. unless someone bought them a set of tires. Thus the sport grew on the basis of sponsors. Offshore started as a bunch of guys with too much money, and spent the excess building exotic rockets, Sponsors? whats that. P class racing, is growing, hopefully the powers to be can see past their National teams to realize that. As a fan of the sport I must say my favorits were always the BIG CATS. But give the little guys some credit. Then again what the hell do I know.

Ruben Bermudez

HERE's a good idea.

If your objective is to be on the boob tube,
go into show bidness.

If you wanna help BOATRACING,
build or buy a raceboat,
or take up a collection
and buy your favorite racer
some fuel at the next race.

FRANKLY, the best thing the sanctioning bodies could do
would be to SEND THE TALKING HEADS HOME
and put the money they used to spend on them
IN WITH THE PRIZE MONEY WHERE IT BELONGS.

Gee...I bet some of you thought the teevee people
showed up for free, or paid to be there...

Pete B

Ruben,
I dont think it is show biz most racers are after, the guys from NJ
just have a deep passion for the sport, as do I and i would say 99.9 percent of the people that read OSO, and attend races, poker runs, and boat shows. They are all awesome in thier own way, everytime i drive up or down I-95 and see a HP boat it excites me to know i have passion for the same thing as the owner of that boat. But Passion and desire only goes so far,
at each race each team pays a fee, anywhere from $200 to $1300, depending on the class you run. Each Team must buy X amount of Gas from the Truck provided by the sactioning body, 114 octane just a mere $5.00 a gallon, (should we test or not)
, Now the team needs to have roof over our heads for a few days, $5 Ben franklins for that, and some food, ok Mcdonalds
$50, and the fuel required to transport from where ever in america $300, ( that of course is providing i dont have a support truck as well, well i hope you get the point it isnt cheap, hell i didnt throw in a boat costing anywhere from a cool Million to 50 g's for a good p-class boat. Some folks want to compare NASCAR to boat racing, two different animals, does offshore have the potential, i dont think so, but that is comparing apples and oranges. Can the sport grow, without a doubt, it cant afford to get much smaller than the past year according to the gurus who have been around the sport for a long time, but like all you have to learn to crawl before you can walk and since the privatization it is expierencing growing pains and finding out what works and what does not. in closing i plan to retire from 22 yrs in the U.S Navy, and hope i can find my way into a decent position being around HP Boats something i have a passion for, and that includes offshore racing.
ALSO Ruben i want to start my own business next year will you pay my insurance and operating expenses so i can make money???

Ruben Bermudez

Exactly.

Point being, racers RACE.

The cost vs prize money ratio is a BAD JOKE
in boatracing.

How to improve it?

DUMP that useless TV coverage,
and put the money back into the hands
of the people who MAKE the sport.
THE RACERS.

...and give the Jerzy Boyz a couplea extra bucks
for havin' STYLE, and big bats.

(I'm still waiting for somebody to show me where TeeVee
got them a sponsor)

Ron P

Ruben, your hitting the nail with the wrong hammer.

More money needs to go back to the racers. I AGREE. Or less money needs to be picked from their pockets.

Racers are viewed as customers by the santioning bodies because they provide the main source of revenue. I personally don't like that APBA gets a cut of every engine that gets rebuilt (so I've heard) or engine head that gets bought. I understand that Mercury paid some sponsorship money. Did that trickle down to the racers in any way? In the form of reduced entry fees? How much is kicked back from each gallon of gas sold?

I have no problem with people making a living so please don't get me wrong. What I have a problem with is this: Racers are like the actors in a play. They are the entertainment. The sanctioning bodies provide the stage for the performance. Were else can you find actors that pay out of thier own pocket to perform? Some perform on the streets for free and others get paid a great deal. But none pay to perform while others take the profits from ticket sales.

The sanctioning bodies should view the racers as partners rather than customers. If a series sponsorship is landed, then 25% should stay with the sanctioning body and 75% should go back to the racers in the form of reduced entry fees or tow money or larger prize purse.

I highly doubt we will ever see the day when a boat sponsor will pay $1,000,000 a year (that's one tenth of what a Nascar sponsorship costs) to have thier name on the side of a race boat, so what we need to form is a win/win environment. Not win/loose.

Pete B

what about Budwieser, MISS Bud, and Barcadi, how much do you think they put out forthat???

Hauling Trash

Remember The Jersey Boyz are just having FUN....

Remember The word FUN if your not have FUN then get out.

We know your not in it for the BIG BUCKS.

Ron P

Too Old, direct hit.

Mike, your right, it always has been about fun...for the racers. Now we have other people making a profit off of your fun. Wouldn't you like it if it cost less to have fun?

Pete, you bring up a good question. How much does Bernie Little (one of the largerst Bud distributor in the south) pay or have Budwieser pay? Lots and lots of money. Again, this is a single class of boat racing. No smaller boats make the big show.

I don't have a clue about Biccardi. Does Dave Scott have a relationship with them? Is it a true arms length sponsorship? If so, for how much? Same thing with Drambuie.

All I'm saying is this. How much should it cost you to have fun when you buy the ride and all you want is a place to run it?

I've heard the APBA vision that this will be the next great motorsport. What I haven't heard is the plan to take it there.