THEJOKER

Great history there Rich - but why would John leave you out of the History of Offshore Power Boat Racing? I'm not questioning your offshore experience - I was simply wanting to know records - wins - etc. I'm just a newbie at the sport - BH

T2x

I have always felt that John was primarily Don Aronow and Sam Griffith's P.R. guy.... and treated many other people as "accessories" to their stories. This is not to say that these two men were'nt enormous personalities and worthy of respect...just that the story actually included a LOT more people at a much more even contribution level. In addition his "glory days" were slightly before we burst onto the offshore scene and he was not as interested in the "cat era" of the 80's-90's as the previous "Big Seas-Raw Boned Men" era of the 60's and 70's. Also, we always deferred to our owners/drivers/throttlemen ( and we had great ones.... The Lavins, Willie Diaz, Pete Aitken, Davey Gilmour, Nicky Cutro, Joe Detore, Kurt Berger, Bobby Latham, Joey Imprescia, Stu Hayim, Don Pruett.....etc, etc.) as most good builders do... as I said I was getting plenty of publicity on the TV side...... had good friends among the racers, riggers, manufacturers.... and didn't push the issue. Besides, I have always felt that George Linder and I are family, and we always shared the satisfaction achieved from our various "projects". In the past 10 years, no one has put more effort into the sport of Offshore racing than George...and the treatment he has received in the past three years (dramatic denials to the contrary) is simply inexcuseable........ and that is my particular "ax to grind".

The guys who, in retrospect, should have gotten a lot more praise than me included Ken Adams, who is an absolute genius with wood and construction....and design details for that matter....and John McCall..... who created the Apache/Maelstrom hulls for Mike Peters.

Finally, Mercury Marine was very good to us...all I ever did was aim there stuff around various race courses (with a brief detour to Evinrude....one year) test (and destroy...we jokingly called it "the Rich factor") a lot of valuable hardware....and enjoy the wonderful results that their engines, drives, props, and facilities allowed us to achieve.

T2x.....who can still break anything made by man

shifter

Rich, I think you barely made my requirements as an offshore expert.

It looks like I have finally found a test pilot for our new toys. We used to call it "Polli proof"now we may have a to have a new saying for the states.

pat W

Lou502

listening to you guys is a riot !!! especially since i know a lot of some of the names mentioned . especially some maybe from n j or n y or maybe from miami or ft lauderdale from the 60 s on thrrough . you guys are funnier than A bunch of monkeys ! by the way are those monkeys still hanging out on beach in ft laud ??? i m going down soon and want to see those monkeys !!!

T2x

I thought it was turtles....... Brownie! Wasn't it turtles in the 60's?

T2x

bajabob38

"The Legend " Staring T2x

fountain1fan

t2x thank you for the history lesson i now know whoyou are . and for one have a verrry large respect for you to bad some of the dumb buts cant get there head out of a$%^^ s to see the real story of racing and the history of off shore im'm not but 35 yo but ive had a boat all my life at about 7 or 8 i met reggie fountain be for he race on the merc team a nother frend was racing k boats he used to give me all theold powerboat mags he had. he raced with bob nordskog the storys he told were unreal i shore miss listen to him you might know him he was fred i sutton from kinston nc to bad some people doint care to listen to a history leesson on boat racing a whole lot of us do thanks robbie rogers

shifter

What about 2 races in one weekend. Cut the race distance in half and race once on Saturday and once on Sunday. The races are over very quickly one boat dominates and everyone hopes he or she will break. This way everyone will have a closer race on Sunday. The smart teams are doing this to get their prop selection right for Sunday.
pat W

C_Spray

iTrader: (2)

But that's all that a lot of this is. You can never go back to "the way things were". Things changed for a reason, and even if you re-establish all the old rules/classes/courses, it would not be the same. The times have changed, the technology has changed, and people's (fans and racers) outlooks have changed. Admire the "old days" for what they were, respect them, but let them rest in peace with dignity. If you disagree, start your own sanctioning body and see if anybody shows up.

In the meantime, we have what we have - 2 options. SBI with small ("select"?) fields that include a few awesome rigs, and APBA Offshore with larger, more closely matched fields (and a few awesome rigs). Which is better? Depends on your tastes. Some people prefer to watch two Top Fuel cars go head-to-head for 4 1/2 seconds and post amazing speeds. Others prefer to see 42 closely-matched NASCAR cars run for three hours in a battle of wits and strategy.

Both are right - and so are the people who watch Vintage car racing events. The difference is that the people who watch Vintage racing understand it for the demonstration that it really is and don't pretend that it's making a comeback.

T2x

Truth be known...you try to learn from the mistakes of the past and not repeat them...... avoid "re-inventing the wheel" at all costs....... and blend this into an appropriate racing vehicle.

There is a pendulum effect in most things...... The Bahamas 500 offshore debacle was too much to one side of the pendulum.... Factory marketing "impression based" racing on ccourses that are so tight that boats over 30 feet are put in over compromised handling situations MAY( and I emphasize MAY) be too far to the other extreme..... This is part of evolution.

It is certainly foolish to live in the past........ and equally foolish to ignore it.

T2x