A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

To all Racers, Promoters, and Fans of Offshore Powerboat Racing in the USA,

I thought a thread like this needed to be constructed for all the Racers, Promoters, and Fans of Offshore Powerboat Racing here in the USA. For the past few years it very much seems that the sport that we all very much love is being more and more fragmented every year. What Positive changes could be made to better the sport of Offshore Powerboat Racing here in the USA?????

PLEASE KEEP THIS POST AS CONSTRUCTIVE AND POSITIVE AS POSSIBLE.

THANK YOU AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL,
DPT
:drink: :drink: :drink:

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

1st Suggestion.

Please try to keep the OFFSHORE in Powerboat Racing. Racing on flat lakes is not Offshore Racing by any means and it takes away from the overall draw of Fan Base that Offshore Powerboat Racing has had over the years.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Change P-class to A,B,C,D @ E class`s

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Dennis,
Great thread!
Find a way to get back to the TV show we had a few years ago. No favoritism to any one brand of boat, but lots of highlights of the side by side racing regardless of brand or who was ahead. I don't know who produced the shows before, but they did a great show of Racing!
Give us (the racers) something we can offer to the sponsors. If we can get more sponsors back into the game then the smaller guys can have a chance to compete head to head against "the machine".
Which leads me to my next suggestion, Tech Inspections. Simply put, make them thurough and equal for all.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Get the costs down and the parity up.

3 year old boats can not be allowed to be obsolete.

Mike Sadlon

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Start Handing Out Ecms Randomly At The Race Sites -- This Will Eliminate Any Question Of Creative Programming.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

One small change for SBI , require class letters on all boats so spectators know who is running against who. In key west I could not tell what boats were in what class.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Okay, here it is, my idea-it is worth exactly what it cost you. The racers need to be accountable to the organizations for extra-curricular events and there has to be some type of penalty if they do not participate. What I mean is that many guys spend many hours doing meet and greets, photo ops, sponsor schmoozing, etc. BUT, many teams do not. This puts an unnecessary burden on the teams that help out and in many cases makes it difficult for the organizations and promotors to meet their obligations.
NASCAR teams have 2 or 3 "fake" cars that travel all over the country doing just this all year long. Every race team should be given a certain number of hours each year that they must give to the organization and some type of penalty should be assesed if they don't meet those hours. Heck, even a broken boat can sit in front of a sponsor location even if it can't race ( unless it's missing large pieces of hull :eek: ). Many of those hours could be taken care of in the off-season and would help the sport tremendously. As an aside to this it would not be a bad idea to award some points just for showing up at the race site- make it worthwhile for a guy with equipment issues to at least get the boat there and then use it for appearances, photo ops, etc.

I think in part because of the fragmentation of the sport many racers feel no obligation to the organizations they race with other than to show up and have at it on the water, this leaves the racers that are part of the overall "team" holding the bag way too often. And at the same time makes it very difficult for the organizations to promote and grow the sport.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

It would be nice to see the National races on different weekends to allow more of a cross over of teams between SBI/OSS.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Put some parameters on "P" class racing. When APBA started this class it was for the "occassional" racer. Now it has become the main event in some organizations. I would like to see length and number of engines factored into this. I dont think a single engine boat should ever race a twin. This is also confusing to fans. Birds of a feather should race together.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

I dont think a single engine boat should ever race a twin.
I second that motion.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

What about a single big block against twin 260HP small blocks?

How about a single Big block against twin O/Bs?

Agreed, twin big blocks need to race against other twin big blocks.

One point, some of the best racing of the year was Typhoon's little single engine 29' Kryptonite against Augies big twin engine Scarab.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Did someone say small blocks? :D

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

For me some of the fun in P class is watching the different type boats racing each other. In Cambridge A twin weed whacker cat spanked the triple motor Apache in P2 Im am sure in the ocean the results would be different

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

I agree ,P-class is now,and has been a major contributor to racing and will continue to grow if their are stricter guidelines and regulations-length-power, V,-Cat, canopy, non-canopy, all these factors and others allow greater parity and spark further interest and help the P-class grow and continue to carry many venues. :drink:

Walt F1-1

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

I agree ,P-class is now,and has been a major contributor to racing and will continue to grow if their are stricter guidelines and regulations-length-power, V,-Cat, canopy, non-canopy, all these factors and others allow greater parity and spark further interest and help the P-class grow and continue to carry many venues. :drink:

Walt F1-1

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Hey, like 260hp, not 800hp, 10,000 rpm grenades. :D

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

I'm all new to this boat racin stuff... but a long time drag racer. Seems to me the P classes are like bracket racin. Run what ya brung, you still gotta run the number whether you have 2000hp or 500hp, 28 or 38ft right?

The less rules the better for the racer, and the less classes the better for the spectator. You can confuse people real fast, thus loosing their intrest.

My intrest in P4 came w/the fact that as long as I can run 74mph laps it really don't matter what I or you are running them in.

Keep it simple for all involved is my constructive critisim.

Happy New Year to all :drink:

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

There was a time where twin small blocks and single big blocks competed together. It was known as "A Class". Boats were similar in size and style (i.e. vee bottom) and was before the advent of "break out speeds".
Popular in the GLSC series.
The boat that comes to mind was a twin SBC Magnum called Short Circuit.
So, yes, SB and BB can (and did) compete together with parity designed into the class.
I do not discount "P Class" racing, I just like to see tighter racing as displayed in P5.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

next people wont want a cat to race with a v hull. :rolleyes: leave the P's alone it is the racing junkies(diehards) class(not ment as a knock down) which is one of the funner ones to watch for all the boats with differences duking it out on the course. The class works if stuff needs to change it should be the F classes with all the motor swaps haveto run this and that not fun doing it settle and agree and leave be, or better yet KISS. More people would get back into it except that the rules are changing when something different comes about or someone needs a new rule in place.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Up until the mid nineties there were ALOT of great boats and teams from Long Island...seems like thier is a revival going on up there for 2006.There has to be many,many boats that could be raced...do you know what other teams plan on racing in OPA this season?What about FEVER and the original INSTIGATOR?

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

get every body back under one body of racing . and get the 525 OUT of sv go back to real motors .

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Is the 26ft Corsa "Tabu" still around up there?

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

there are 10 year old boats still winning in O S S! low cost competetion,,OSS is it. sorry if you dont agree but we all need to be under lids. We want everyone around for a long time
mike

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Dennis,

Great thread....

A lot of what is being brought up are quick fix's...

SCRAPMAN...I have not heard a negatived response to your suggestion...and its an easy fix...I know SBI/APBA will be proposing the ECM's being passed out at races for 2006 at there meeting in Jan. has this been put up as a vote in OSS...if so thats a quick fix...

The P Class's changing to A,B,C,D should not be hard to do if the racers agree on it...its OPA and SBI/APBA that are running these class's, someone should bring it up to Smitty and see if the OPA racers are OK with it and do the same at the SBI meeting...

I think both the racers and the fans would like to see everyone race as one...or at least not 2 races on the same weekend...but this one may take a while.....

The good thing is the racers are having a say in a lot of the rules aspects...which is what they wanted...

Gordo....I agree, If your going to have inspections and you want to call it racing, your tech inspections need to be that..looking for cheating...its been going on in all types of racing forever...and the day the inspections are not eqaul and the inspectors start looking the other way or show favortism is when you loose the respect from the fans and the sport.

The TV was great back a few years...and the true test is...when you can produce a racing event that has excitement, the viewers will watch it and you will have sponsors follow. It may be that there is so much on the Organizations plate at one time its hard to prioritise and make everything happen and also keep everyone happy at one time

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Of things that need to change the various organazations need to have a more interactive websites, potential sponsors and many fans would like to see continueous coverage and updates. Team news, race site news should be updated weekly, this will give more insight for sponsors looking at what advantage sponsoring a offshore race team could produce, if it is weeks and sometimes months how would this favor any sponsor???

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Pete B,

Very good post as well. I think all the organizations across the board should use a site like that. When a team gets a sponsor it should be treated properly for there term of investment in the sport maybe on which ever website the organization has. Not all over the site but at least under the race team pages of a site. Plus each organization should find someone that has true marketing skills to help the sponsor get what they need though that organization. To many sponsor have been. To many sponsors have been lost or burned badly do to poor treatment either by the teams or the organizations. Key is to get the sponsor no matter how big or small and keep them around for a long duration.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Pete,

I agree. A web site with old or outdated info quickly becomes boring, and not to mention, somewhat useless.

I do like what SBI/APBA has done with their web site, however, it could be updated a little faster with other articles of race venues or teams, but I also know that could be a full time job for someone at SBI/APBA between writing articles and getting them posted to the web site. Nonetheless, SBI/APBA allows us to have a team web site listed under our team info. I expect SBI/APBA to take care of their sponsors, and likewise, I'll take care of mine. So with the new season, we'll be developing our own web site where we can post timely info on our team, the race venues and sponsor info.

Sean

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

pete, this week check out peppersracing.com for our new web site for racing and nightclubs. There is video,audio, pictures, links, and working to get talkoffshore.com to broadcast on racedays through our website with real time downloads this year during races. looks very cool
mike stancombe
peppers racing
:drink: :D

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Great input from you guys, would updating be a full time job, YES it is,
but to take this sport to the next level where ever that may be, this is what would be required, just as the organazations must ensure thier sponsors are satisfied, the organaztions must help promote the teams, They are the show! without the teams the fans will not show, and the teams obligation to to the sponsors is nil.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

this must include help from film crews, look at www.class-1.com. they have video of races next day on all web sites
mike

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

P class racing should have length,weight,twin and single engine classes as well as cat classes,no matter what the water conditions are, the boats running in each class should be competitive against one another not if it is rough you will win or if it is calm I will win,a guy with a 38ft twin in the rough has it all over a guy with a single 27 foot boat and the guy with the smaller craft has the speed when the larger boat needs a little chop to get air under the boat to get the speed.I also know that there are some boats on both ends of the spectrum that can do well against one another in these situations but they are few and hard to find,you really have to run over your head in rough water in a 27 foot boat to try and keep up with a 38 foot or a 35 footer in rough conditions and that is really not safe,I think if the classes are equal in length,weight,and number of engines you will see alot more people come out.Who wants to spend money on racing if they already know that they will be running against another boat that can beat them as long as they dont break.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Agreed, there are a large variety of boats in the P class. Or should we call it Monster Garage. True there could be a dozen classes to accommodate all the different boats. Personally I feel the large number of classes has always been the problem with Offshore. We Proved in Camden Money is a motivator. To add classes reduces the purse, Further confuses the spectators, and again adds never ending changes to an Offshore rule book. The fans are finally beginning to understand the P class numbering system. We have racers building boats for a particular class, because the rules have been the same for more than one week. Sorry guys but there has been too much spent on promoting the P class to change it now. We will have a rules meeting next month, to review last season, go over this coming season, and discuss, our schedule. To all the racers reading this, rest assured the classes will be the same, the rules will be the same, The racing will be improved, as will the payout. Consistency is what this sport needs more than anything else at this point. I am sure some of you will debate this, but sit back and look at the sport. Which class has the most growth in the past few years? Why mess with it now? The question should be, with the boat count on the rise, How do we increase the exposure of our sport. How do we make it more professional, to be able to market it on a larger scale? Smitty

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Smitty,
That was the purpose of my first post, the internet, is the quickest, cost effective way to solicit this sport! People like yourself, John Haggin are introducing the sport at a whole new level with the way you guys are promoting OPA, and working with BWORA, and putting promotion of the sport ahead of personal gain!!!!! There are many people within the confines of this small sport, that are truly generous people, and then a few that just have their own agenda! Having X number of boats per class, being able for the average fan or first time spectator to understand who is racing who, depending on the number of boats how many starts per race.
I hope 2006 is a banner year, and wish all teams a safe New Year.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Guys Please keep in mind that P class was started and still is a spot for the average guy to race the boat he now owns without the major expense of changing motor or drives to spec requirements. There are already spec classes with similar hull and identical motors, if that is what a person chooses. I am afraid that if the requirements for P class become to restrictive we will loose boats.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

mmwalters & others,

In my own opinion here after reading some of the posts that have been put on this thread it looks as if everyone likes the P- Classes(hate that name). I do believe far to many changes would be to much but a little tweaking here and there of some of the rules could make it far better then it already is. A few ideas that are very basic to me and do not take a whole lot to achieve other then implementing them are listed below. Remember I myself am keeping this as a positive info based thread to make it better for all involved.

1) Publish a rule book so that when a team makes an infraction they know it exists. Can be done with a computer at home or work. No publishing company needed.

2) Send out questioners about small changes to previous members for there input or post it here in the Milling area. That way the racers are given input whether it is used or not. OSO/Steve has given us a great place to do this and Ted will moderate it so it should not get out of hand.

3) Implement a 100% locked in rule that if a team makes an infraction(breakouts, course infractions, etc) the team is disqualified no questions asked. They did it in Performance classes a short time ago and it worked.

4) Simply take a look at the what people are saying(racers, fans, promoters and spectator) about the numbering system of the boats in each class. This meaning whether or not having P in front of every boat out there works. Maybe the thought suggest of going back to letters may work. Racing will only grow(sponsors and $$$$s) with Fan base.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

As for the lettering if the classes were explained more "promoted pushed" what class P1,P2 all ment then the public would get ahold of it, changing to an alphabetical style you would have to do the same thing educate the general public. now for the P class we should have a the letter P and number followed by what boat number it is to help desypher which boat and class is runnig. The small boats running with the larger boats make it fun for the race can be anybodys, yea the twins that run in the heavy chop can do better but look at the 24' pantera that ScottB ran in P5 lots of wins smooth and rough so it becomes the crew of the boat at hand. If the class isnt broke dont go trying to fix it. In the OPA Camden race that was the most p5 boats that I have seen in one race along with the other classes filled up pretty well even though it poured buckets of rain down upon us.

Smitty and MMwalters hit it nail on the head keep it as a run what you brung.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

P-Classes stands for Performance Class. It sounds a hole lot better.

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

To a response to the website and promoting sponsors...

It would be a lot of work for the Organization to keep updating teams info...

But if the teams would write a press release's about them for the Organizations it would be easy for them to post on SBI/APBA, OSS and OPA sites....if your going to go after sponsors you really need a website...and you will be writing press releases anyways....also lets not forget....you can have them posted on Talkoffshore.com and hear on OSO...

Re: A Positive Thread of what changes need to be made in Offshore Racing???
 

Gino,
you are correct in the above statement, and it really is very simple, so the real question is "why doesnt it happen" there seems to be many avenues to get the word out, when will teams take advantage of it??? Yes every team needs a website, as for organazations doing releases they obviously need input from the teams, but yes to make the organzation more appealing to sponsors updates need to be done regularly.