I was reading this article today in the St Pete Times, and it kind of underscored the same idea I had about offshore racing.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/05/23/Co...ing_equa.shtml

I think that the article defines the PR problem better than any that I have ever read. We need to grow and publicize a couple of heroes and a villain or two of our own.

Thanks Cuda,
That article is brilliant in more ways than one.

You have to love this tagline:
Cheering for your favorite is, after all, half the fun.

But jeering the sport's bully?

That should be the other half.

Heroes (represented by Michelle May-Schmidt):

Mike Carter (aka Fever Mike) What a comeback story!
John Tomlinson (natch)
Tres Martin
Brian/Wilma Ross
Charlie Haimes (he just LOOKS the part...)
Scott Porter
Chris Reindl

Villains (represented by Mohammed Al-Saheef - you remember him!):

T2x (He always wears black, you know...)
Any member of any sanctioning body.
Billy Mauff (he just LOOKS the part...)
Fred Hauenstein
Audacity (At least for this week)
Reggie Fountain

TBD:

Randy Scism
Michael Peters
Pat Patel

Hey Shifter. What do you mean Polli Proof?

Did I ever break any of your stuff?

Ron Polli

Fountain1Fan:

Surely you can type better than that! You need to get w/ Reggie and ask him if he'll donate some of his money to the NC school system - haha - BH

Ron....He's taking about Eduardo Polli.......... on the UIM circuit.

T2x

Ron,
Eduardo Polli proof. By the looks of your vee in your avitar you don't fall far from the tree.

I went to Marathon to meet with some friends. I watched all of the racing and happy hour. One of the problems I saw was #39 did not make the start in SCL. That is a long way to go and a lot of expense not to start.

With two races happening in one weekend you could get the bugs out and have a really competative race on the Sunday.

pat W

Brownie:

There's also an indefinable "star" quality or charisma that's needed...... the best example being John Force. He doesn't really say anything meaningful, nor very controversial....but HOW he says it speaks volumes..... There's a lot to be said for individuality and personality, and I think the author was pointing to that as well.

One ofthe things that is happening today is that most of the Nascar/IRL drivers etc go to the same media course.... i.e.

"The Pennzoil, Kohls, Champion Spark Plug Chevrolet ran real good today (change hat), I'd like to thank my maker (relate to bible belt viewers) for letting me drive so good, and I just got lucky (show humility it makes the female viewers relate better) passing the number 91 car (never mention other driver or his sponsor) on the last lap. I'd like to thank the Pennzoil, Kohls, Champion crew( another plug) for making every pit stop in record time (even my ne'er do well brother-in-law who showed up drunk), my car owner
(the grinning yahoo over my left shoulder) for his faith in me, and my wife ( working with a fitness expert and sporting a $5000. makeover), who supports me no matter what ( in various houses in North Carolina, St Croix, and Beverly Hills)".

While I'm not suggesting a return to torn jeans and tee shirts, the homogenized image thing is getting a bit tedious. John Force...to me...does it right.

T2x

Hi Shifter:

Will we see you at the fest?...and would you like some time on the program to demonstrate/discuss any new technologies?

T2x