Wild

Cig 1

how may of the p class racers have major sponsors, I am not saying that the F1 or 2 have them as well, but it seems that the p-class racers would come to factory, and make those classes biger and a better oportunity for sponsors

just a thought

cigarette1

I've said this before ...

There are usually about 4-5 APBA offshore races here in SoCal, but the race with the most Offshore boats, the most sponsors, the most spectators is a race that the spectators only see the start and the finish because it is run OFFSHORE in the OCEAN.

That race is the Catalina Ski Race.

Why does that work? I don't know, but there is something in that model to look at.

G

cigarette1

Wild, I don't think F1 or F2 has anything to offer the P-class racer except headaches and more expense.

Supercat and Super-v could be the premeir classes and the rest should race in a P-class. That's pretty extreme, but that's what I'd like to see.

G

Wild

Good Point

ADVERTISING

When monster trucks come to town, that is all you hear about for weeks before, it is driven in your head so much, you go buy tickets not even thinking about it.

APBA has to advertise more that the website.

My brother in law lived in close to Daytona and he did not know about the races till i told him.

That is bad

Wild

Cig 1

I agee pclass will have bigger headackes because of the High HP engines, I am just in favor of f1 or 2 because of the engine rules.

Either way, bring them together

Pete B

Here are the results from SBI, not including the Worlds

Largest field of boats: 37 Sarasota
Largest field of Superboats: 3

Super boat unlimited had 4, not sure what class would best represent good numbers.

here are the averages over a 8 race season.

Superboat : 1.6
Superboat Vee : 3.6
Superboat Unlimited:2.2
Super vee limited: .60
Superboat limited: 2.1
Super Stock: 4.5
F-2 : 5.3
F-1 : 2.0
P-1: 0.1
P-2 : 1.1
P-3 : 1.8
P-4 : 1.8
P-5 : 2.1

Total avg 34.6

the strongest classes are F-2, and Super Stock.

Pete B

Setting up time trials on say a smaller course, where top quailifer gets lane choice, but first you have to have boats in the class to make it intresting. Making the boats and racers more accessable to the fans is key as well.

T2x

Gangway:

Your secret is safe with me.

As to the subject of this thread, I have a bit of experience and played a role in the sport's salad (mid70's-late 80's) and not so salad days (now). My thoughts.

Either..........:

1. It's a racer's sport for rich guys who want an unstructured playground...regardless of sponsorships and fans......If so than SBI has the formula....... or the LOTO shootout.

OR

2. It's a real sport that can attract a fan base..........

In that case nobody is doing it right because nothing is currently available that is appealing in terms of television...and television is the only way to attract fans...at least as far as sponsors are concerned....

Fan bases are created when a person who has no relatives nor friends in a sport, and/or no frame of reference (like owning a performance boat) sits down in front of the tube and watches a program for its intrinsic appeal. For instance, when I channel surf and land on those street luge guys...I stop right there and sit glued to the action....yet I don't use skateboards myself and hate extreme sport "personalities". The sport itself and the competition is the compelling factor. It is simple and competitive...... The skate boards are not supercharged, nor turbine powered. The speeds are not that high and the cost of entry is obviously quite low by comparison to....Oh I dunno....... the Bacardi/Callan speed record cum raceboats cum publicity stunts......which are as boring as watching grass grow when video'd alone on calm water....yeah yeah, I know there is danger involved (yawn)....but that does not translate onto a TV screen.

By the way Steve 1 is right......the street luge event only has one class....It is marvelous in its simplicity. Compare that to 19 classes (count em') and "highlights" like "Nick Carter's father used to drive that boat that Nick owns.....in some class or another and next year they're going to sponsor a team in another class altogether....." and you can readily see why Mr. Middle Class America is already switching to "The Nascar Buffet channel".
I have been harping on class limits for TV for 20 years and it only gets worse.

Finally, after you present a sport that is understandable and entertaining, you then have to develop personalities....another area that is at present badly handled and confusing. How can you have rivalries when you can't even describe the field of battle? Aside from Billy Mauff, the majority of our racers all sound the same and that ain't necessarily good. The wit and spirit of the Jersey Boyz is never presented. Rather you get sound bites edited to plug as many sponsorships as possible...and to mimic Nascar...to wit " The Delzoil-Saltchip Outer Fountarette ran great today..we had our hands full with the other boat until he broke at the start."

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!! With all that having been said, the sad truth is that the PROP Tour has a simple easily followed format with good personalities...close competition between HIGHLY TALENTED drivers on a level playing field...and still has yet to actually resinate with an audience of any size....

If the tunnel boat guys can't gain a fan base......Do we really think that a bunch of glorified Factory/Manufacturer's class runabouts will succeed?

T2x......... carving a place in boat racing infamy.

gdfatha

As most agree the sport needs more upfront advertising. But for some strange reason in this water laden state the papers wont cooperate.
I beat down the doors of the Orlando Sentinel via phone and e-mail to get them involved in the boating scene..Offshore, Unlimited Hydros, OPC and F1 to print racing news.

We, the president of Hydro-Prop and myself even offered to have their star and pardon the pun, heavy weight reporter (?) Jerry Green as a VIP guest at the shootout in Cypress Gardens as an introduction to the sport.
Those rude Bast....s never returned numerous phone calls or e-mails.
It appears the best waterworld writers/reporters are writing for the magazines. That's sad.
marc

Ron P

The only thing that I've seen in the past few years that makes sense is the use of web based radio broadcasting by APBA. Between the that and getting the results on the web site within a few hours has been a movement in the right direction.

As T2x points out, someone who understands marketing needs to run the offshore show. Once a fan base is given what they want the rest will fall into place.

So what do the fans want to see? I don't think that they would know it until they saw it front of them on a screen.

Prop boats are cool and I'll watch them but nothing is as exciting as a rough offshore race. Two boats flying side by side is what it's all about. Make that 5 boats side by side and you have something spectacular to watch. Conversely, nothing is as boring as watching offshore boats race on a lake.