Trent,
Sorry that you have to go, I havent taken any cheap shots, but because you dont like the truth dont be mad at me. I will agree all organizations have issues. the problem is the sugarcoating that you want to apply to your organization, and by facing the truth it can only help you.

[QUOTE] After several e-mails and PM's from other racers [QUOTE]
I too have recieved some e-mails and PM's, and have recieved some phone calls and they didnt say nice things about you either!
[QUOTE]
You never being a racer, would never get a full understanding of that. [QUOTE]

Sorry to dis-appoint you there, but I have run a few and there was more than one other boat in the class!

So again Trent to much sugar isnt good! Be safe.

Sorry to disappoint you, you arent going to be my hero!
Mine are to the Men and Women of the Armed Forces,
which I Proudly served with for 22 Years Protecting Freedom Of this great Country!

Pete has raced a bat boat on more than one occasion. He has worked on more than one race team and has been around the block a time or two. Everyone here has an agenda, most of us want it all to end up in the same place, that being OFFSHORE RACING being more mainstream. A lot of people seem to put there own spin on things and read too much into stuff. I was at the race with my girlfriend watching some of my friends racing there boats. I watched the race with Pete too. Trent we were standing about 5 steps from you the whole time I guess I should have said hello but you looked busy with you headset on with whom ever you were talking to. It was said we all race where we feel we get the most out of it , I have raced everywhere in the past 14 years and I know choose to support the OSS in anyway I can. I really don't know what else to say other than some people are looking way too far into things. For hells sake Pete filled his dually with fuel and drove about 6 hours round trip just to put up some pics for the world to see and you guys bash him. His photos were some of the first ones posted and the quickest publicity the race got. I know Pete has to go overseas soon for work so he is trying to get his fix of racing while he still can. Some people would whine if he posted pics with no captions but most people like the descriptions. *****ing about him saying adding insult to injury ......get a clue thats what ANYONE would say about what happened to Lucas..... Sometimes we all get the mob mentality, but all Pete did was post some pics and captions of the race. I was there on the beach with him the whole time my thoughts on ALL his captions are dead on from what we saw as it happened. I will say that after seeing the Freeze Frame DVD of the race it did shed more light on some situations but for the most part what he said was spot on from what you could see from the beach. It's always the same group of people the post one way or the other on here some of us really need to get more of a life unfortunately for me I am still waiting on my new boat. But for the rest of you lets all try to be more productive.......I challenge one of you to pay your own way to Biloxi , bring you cameras , take pictures and the time to post them and caption them ANYWAY you want and I promise you Pete won't attack you and you opinions.......

:argue:

steve, I personally am very tired of your negativism. i have reviewed MANY of your postings and a very high majority of them are so negative and one sided that it is getting sickening. Once in awhile you do produce what I consider a valid posting with points that are worthy of comment. I have read, and re-read Pete's initial post with the pics and personally I do not deem it counter-productive. "Insult to injury" is a common phrase used in the english language and what should he have said...come on......to further worsen their day?, to makematters worse? Maybe no caption would have been better, but alot of us that could not attend wondered what happen to this great team. He did not attack them, he pointed out that they ran aground. MAn, you would not hear NASCAR drivers whine about a reporter using phrases or commentary unless they were slanderous. I never see you cross over to see races at OSS events because you are too bitter against them. IRL and CART are making up slowly, maybe it will or wont happen here, but you need to lighten up and enjoy racing and life.

I will probaly get ripped for my comment, but here goes. Banter like this is just bad. Bad for the sport, bad for friendships and bad for competition. I think we all race for the love of it, the fun and the competition. Additionally, from those that I know and the majority of the posts on OSO, pretty much everyone agrees that the more boats the better the racing. Furthermore, I find it hard to believe that any organization is filled with a bunch of jack azzes. So if we are all interested in racing and agree that it doesn't matter if you are OSS, SBI, OPA, POPRA or whatever, why not pick a place in the middle of the east coast, say Virginia or NC, and have a race open to everyone. Make a no excuse race, no fees, no equipment fees I don't even care if it is no purse. Lets just have the biggest race ever and everyone shows. Well?

You guys are all freakin unbelievable!!! I honestly thought this was gonna be a thread for race pics. Silly me. So then when your called on the carpet you start sayin "well he started it?"

GROW UP!!! I am so sick of everyone preachin "for the good of the sport" then making posts like the ones on this thread .....

Nobody was ever taught if you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all? Shame on you guys ..... :mad:

She's our Team's Director of Media Relations........

Wow
 

:( A lot of people who have been in this game for a long time are very bitter. I hope I can keep my mouth shut and just race so it won't happen to me.:(

:D :drink: :D

I have to laugh... :evilb:

Because I think when it was announced that they were going to race out in the middle of no where, that was the 1 word I heard a lot of people use.

"They are going to put a race on in Las Vegas...."

I know my reply was, "Why ???" Then I realized, BECAUSE THEY CAN ! :drink: :D

OSS Las Vegas was a very cool trip not the biggest turnout but a good race with a lot of west coast fans in attendance on land and the water. AND THEY PULLED IT OFF thanks to the work of many people that believed it could be done.

Ryan,
I agree. I give them a lot of credit for being able to pull it off with such logistical road blocks.
I think they saw a challenge in producing that event and they grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
And I am sure the Hooters Casino just loved it !

It was probably something that was never done before, and they were the 1st that I know of...

Hats off to them ! :drink:

WE MADE THE TRIP FROM INDIANA, J.D. BYRIDER MADE THE TRIP FROM THE EAST COAST.
AND THE TV BROADCAST TO THE CASINOS AND ON THE WEB, WHICH WE SHOWED IN OUR BARS IN INDIANA VIA THE INTERNET, WAS GREAT. MY CUSTOMERS WHO HERE OUR CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACING, FINALLY GOT TO SEE IT LIVE. THE DESTIN RACE WAS ON LOCAL TV THERE TOO. SOMETHING NEW. IF WE GET MORE VENUES TO DO THE EXACT SAME THING, WE WILL MOVE FORWARD IN TV COVERAGE.

THANKS AGAIN JOHN HAGGIN :drink:

Count me in! And yes I am stalking you. lol. RG3 you are very sexy when your mad! grrrrrrr!:D Seriously though I don't think anyone who races is a jackazz, insane maybe. Problem I see is if someone disagree's it's WAR! we need some diplomacy, a little give and take, have a few centrally located (like Dean said) races where we all can compete without bleeding the racers., and we should have some big events.
Ultimately (I'm in trouble for saying this) for the good of the sport.:p

Thanks Louie :p Seriously, everyones "preachin" for the good of the sport but they are starting to remind me of televangelists ... saying one thing, then doin another.

I'm sure I wasnt the only person .. fan ... that came on this thread thinking they would get a good dose of offshore racing ... is this thread really what offshore racing is? a bunch of bitter guys who cant get along? I know offshore is more than that but what about the next guy who doesnt? are threads like these really how you guys want to be known?

Steve ... cheerleaders are not bad things ... I read somewhere that some think fans dont know the difference between the sanctioning bodies .... if thats true then my cheerleadering for OPA or Petes cheerleading for OSS also helps SBI ... its all offshore racing to the casual fan :bunny:

What !!!
 

Hey rigger are you callin me insane!!!:rolleyes:

John if your reading all this silly banter don't get discouraged. Contraversial talk is better then no talk. There is a lot of passion flyin around here and with out it we would have nothin

Bingo.......

Passion for what we all love is one thing that there is definetley no shortage of. If we could get everyone on the same page of promotion and production it would go along way.......

I try to do what I can...... Offshore Promotions Link ;)








.

Exactly. :cool:

John is a smart man. By being around all the sanctioning bodies, he is seeing what works and what doesnt, who works and who doesnt, who really has the best for offshore at heart and who has their own agendas ..... He knows that positive thinking people get things done. Gonna be an interesting year ..... :cool:

Agreed .... but can we also try to leave out the personal attacks? We know who likes who and who doesnt like who ... theres really no point in name callin ....

Maybe we can all try asking ourselves.... before we hit the submit button ...... is this post gonna help offshore or just make me feel good :D

Come on spring ....... :cool:

Shame,shame,shame on some of these threads I have just read.I thought the theme for this year and always is "UNITED WE RACE" Couldn't be stated better. I don't care if there's 1 boat in a class or 10, just as long as I look around and see smiles on the faces of the fans watching this race. Isn't that what counts? Do they really know from classes? Does it make it any less dangerous or less exspensive if nobody is running against you in your class? So lets stop all this silly and rediculous talk and get on with the real issue. United we race. together we will conquer. silly talk destroyes.

Pete....please look at what you post.....

I'm not going to comment on the bickering.....but to try to tell a race team they should move to P-Class becasue know one else is in the class is just stupid....

IF A RACE TEAM CHOOSES TO BUILD A BOAT AND RACE IN A CERTAIN CLASS WE ALL SHOULD BE HAPPY FOR THEM FOR CONTRUBUTING TO THE SPORT WEATHER THERE IS 1 BOAT OR 20 BOATS...

FUNNY PETE...I DID NOT SEE YOU BUSTING AMF IN THE TURBINE CLASS WHEN THEY RACED BY THEM SELVES...SO WHAT SCOTT B. SHOULD BE CRETISIZED BECASUE THERE WERE THE ONLY BOAT IN THERE CLASS....NO...HATS OFF TO JOHN H AND COMPANY FOR DOING ALL THEY DO AND TO ANY TEAM THAT IS OUT THERE RACING.

I CAN SAY FOR BOTH JOHN H. AND STEVE M. WHEN I NEDED ANYTHING, BOTH OF THERE TEAMS HELPED ME EVERYTIME AND BOTH RAN UNOPPOSED LAST YEAR..

WE ALL KNOW WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON HERE FOR A WHILE...ITS NO SECRET...

.....STEVE AND GARY HAVE BEEN RACING IN THAT CLASS AND THAT BOAT FOR A LONG TIME.....IF YOU DON'T THINK THEY ARE COMPEDITIVE IN THERE CLASS....GET SOME OF YOU SVL BUDDIES TO COME OVER TO SBI/APBA AND RACE THEM....IF YOU DO THINK THEY ARE VERY GOOD COMPEDITERS....THEN LET THEM RACE....

ITS THE FUNNYEST THING SEEING PEOPLE TRY TO CRITIZISE A TEAM FOR RACING IN A CLASS WITH ONLY ONE BOAT....COULD IT BE THAT TEAMS KNOW THEY CAN'T BET THEM...IT MAKES YOU THINK....

WE ARE ALL STARTING TO SEE WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING HEAR...EVERYONE THOUGHT 4 YEARS AGO BY NOW ONE OF THE ORGANIZATIONS WOULD HAVE FOLDED....

BOTTOM LINE....
THIS YEAR WILL BE BETTER THEN LAST YEAR FOR OFFSHORE RACING...

WHY....

1. OPA WILL BE EVEN BIGGER THEN LAST YEAR....
2. A NEW F1-CLASS WILL BE COMING ABOARD TO OPA AND AND WILL HAVE THE BIGGEST PRISE PURSE IT EVER HAS HAD AND THEY WILL MEET WITH SBI/APBA IN KEY WEST FOR THE WORLDS...
3. THERE IS A NEW SUPER CAT CLASS THAT WILL BE RACING ALL ORGANIZATION WITH SOME GREAT RACERS AND GREAT TEAMS THAT WILL PUT ON A SHOW NO MATTER WHERE THEY RACE...
4. IT WAS THE 1ST YEAR A RACE WAS HELD IN FEB. TIED INTO THE SUPERBOWL...
5. THERE ARE MORE RACES BEING HELD AROUND THE COUNTRY SO TEAMS THAT DON'T HAVE A BIG BUDDGET CAN MAKE SOME RACES..
6. YOU WILL SEE MORE RACE TEAMS RACING IN MORE THEN ONE ORGANIZATION THEN IN A LONG TIME...
7. WITH NO FINNAL DECITIONS MADE YET....I THINK YOU WILL SEE THAT KEY WEST WILL HAVE A BIGGER TURN OUT THEN LAST YEAR....JUST A HUNCH....

WE ALL CAN SAY THIS YEAR WILL BE BIGGER IN OFFSHORE THEN LAST YEAR AND THAT WILL HELP ALL OF US....

Im not going to comment on any bickering either.

I am going to say Gino, If you expect anyone to take you seriously, you might want to brush up on your writing skills.
All caps may be taken as if you are shouting. Are you shouting? Additionally, The Spell check function is in the upper right hand corner. You might want to use that.

And.... I really hope you are right with your final sentence.

[QUOTE=Racegirl ...... is this post gonna help offshore or just make me feel good :D

To Steve OSO.......
Let's put this comment on a mousepad and send one to OSO members..................:D

:drink: :drink: :drink:

Bruce....you know as well as I do what I write has nothing to do with the spelling ...it says exactly what it needs to say...we all know were the problem lies in Offshore and all this BS...

We all know that all the trash that's being put out here about 1 boat in a Class comes from the OSS camp....

Bottom line is....Frank has made a commetment to the F-1 Class to keep it going while others in that class destroyed it and move up....He did what everyone wanted and he is sticking to his commetment....and now with Brian H. trying to add to the F1 Class it has a chance of getting back to were it used to be....
and the same gose for Steve M and Gary D.....Steve has done more positive things and has helped Offshore then more then any of the cheerleaders and trouble makers in this sport combined.....
So to take shots at these guys for putting up there money and commetment for this sport, its sad to see a bunch of idiots take shots at guys who are doing a lot of good for the sport....

What your seeing is the big plan that everyone thought was going to happen 4 years ago is not going like they thought today...so its time to trash and put blame on the guys that are doing everything they can to keep the sport going....

So weather there is only 1 boat in the OSS turbine class or 1 boat in F1 or SVL in SBI/APBA....hats off to all of them for trying to make things happend.....

Becasue when you look at all of these guys with 1 or 2 boats in there class....they are guys that are commetted to this sport and they are doing a hell of a lot more then most in this sport.......

Thats what my post was about....and yes I put it in CAP'S because I was shouting how some people are just posting things for there agenda....

and like I said in my post I can only talk about OPA and SBI/APBA becasue thats were I'm racing...and from what I heard from both Organizations....this year will be better then last year.....

and from what I'm reading....OSS will be bigger and better this year....

Now you don't have to agree with I just said....but thats how I see it.....

And as far as Key West gose....it is already going to be bigger then last year and you know that by now....its just a matter of if the other 40 boats decide to join in.....

I guess I will voice my opinion on this being as others are willing to do so....
This isn't to take any creditability from anyone that has put their time and efforts in to help the sport.



When I raced APBA in another Division, they had a mandatory 5 boat minimum for all National and World Championship Races. If a class could not maintain that minimum, the class was illiminated at the end of the season.

With today's circumstances, I wouldn't want to see it to that extreme.

What I would like to see is all organizations make it mandatory for a 3 boat minimum in order to be awarded a National or World Championship Title.

I would like to see a 3 boat minimum for a payout of a purse or reduce the payout if only 1 boat runs to a 3rd place purse to that boat and share the balance to the other classes.
If you can't meet the 3 boat minimum, reduce the payout accordingly. Perhaps this will help with the competition staying in contact between races encouraging them to make the next race.

In the past, I have seen individuals run in a class unopposed and not even make all the laps, then collects the full purse for 1st place.

I have seen a World Championship title awarded to a team that never completed 1 lap and also ran unopposed. (That should never happen again.)

I have seen a field of 4 of the fastest most expensive boats all make the start at a race and later found out they had no purse at all. (Perhaps it was an Invitation Class and not part of the normal line up?)

That's over and done with, what has happened has happened for whatever the reasons... Now let us (AMF) ALL MOVE FORWARD !!!

I do feel it is important to have competition.
Afterall, that is what racing is supposed to be all about whether some fans understand it or not.

I applaude the efforts of those that show up for each race.
You just can't expect the fans to be overly excited if they know there is no competition.

I don't have all the answers, but hopefully the organizations will take another look at the boat minimum, and make winning a title against competition to really mean something again...

Safe racing to all this 2007 season...

Sharkey....it looks like you will see what some of things you say will happen...

Right now and since SBI/APBA came together you only get paid for the amount of boats that enter...so if there is only one boat you get 5th or 3rd place prize money...pending on what class you run...

and from what I understand and hear OSS will be doing the same this year...the more boats in a class the hight prize purse...

as far as a National or World Championship...
its not the race teams fault if no one else enter to race a certain class....
A Class is set base on specs for a boat to meet with thats put out in the begining of the year if the boat shows all year or makes the number of racers to quailfy for a National or World Championship the team should not be penilized becasue no other compitition wishes to race that Class....
They are crown National and or World Champions base on they have met the specs and the terms to qualifie....
Getting rid of a class like F1 or SVL which are classes in the past that have had great boat turn outs would not be good...
It seems to cycle some class's have a low boat count for a year or so and then they seem to pick back up....

We seen this with OSS...when they started it was set that only 4 classes would be available...but in 4 years it has moved to 7 or 8 classes...this was done to raise the boat count...

So its seems the Organizations are trying to work with the teams to have a class for certain types of boats...

Yes it would be great to have a small number of classes with 10 to 15 boats....we all want that...but as we have seen its not working and the Organizations have to make more classes...

I personally think that OPA has got it the closest to having this right now with only 6 classes....
It has the smallest number of classes with the same boat count as the other Organizations.....

Build boats to fit the Rules, Not Rules to fit the Boats.

I have to disagree with you on the Championship Titles.

Win against 2 other boats or at the very least one other boat.

Buying a World Championship or National Championship by running unopposed is meaningless and should not be allowed.

It tarnishes the sport... :(

Sharkey...I agree with you 100% build boats to fit the class...
I don't know why OSS did not stay with the 4 boat class..

Also I thought that ABPA and SBI always had the P-1 TO P-5 and then the SV Xtereme SC extreme SV, SVL SC, SCL and F1 and F2....

I guess we will just have to do with what we have....

Tim,

I agree with Gino on this one(not neccesarily disagreeing w/ you on all of your points). Speaking as 1 of the 2 current F1 teams and I think I can say this for both F1 and SVL, we are here, and we welcome all racers that fit in our class. All teams have the choice to race were it better suits there team and interests, but as far as taking away titles and so forth, I disagree. We get penalized enough by the total payout for first place being $400 right now and we make that sacrifice, but then again if 3 more showed up first would get $2800. Its not a matter of buying a championship, its a matter of dedication, love, and passion(as Ryan said)

Trent

Sorry fellas,

I dont see how any of you can feel comfortable about accepting a national or world title, or even Hall of Champions, when you raced against no one all season.

Its a load of crap is what it is. How can you even think you are having fun if your not deck to deck with other boats. Might as well be Poker Running. Come to think of it, that might be more fun.

My point is that there really should be, at least 3 boats in any class, to have a class. I always thought the rule said 5 boats. But what do I know? Why would you guys even spend the time or money running by yourself, when you could easily just drop to a P class and have some real competition and maybe even some fun. Im not bashing here, I just disagree with some of you. Thats allowed on this thread isnt it?

Anyway, I spoke my piece.....continue

Steve,
Some day, I hope to get a shot at you. SVL is still a strong class. And I hope it continues to grow, on both sides of the fence. F-1 showed some promise 2 years ago. I'll assume we all know what happened with that.

I personally dont see F-1 making a come back quickly because it seems everyone is cautious about steppin up and making the investment. I hope Brian H. succeeds.

St. Cloud is a great event. I had a blast there in 2004.

Bruce,

All of the inductees into the hall of champions had competition in every race last year and not one of them did a clean sweep in wins. Let me clarify what qualifies you(just in case you arent aware, if you do then I apologize) but only 3 teams can get the honor: the boat in the Super Series that has the most points in a cat ie SC, SCU, SCL, SS. the boat in the Super Series that has the most points in a Vee ie SV, SVL, SVU, F1. And the final is the boat with the most points in the Sportsman Series(P class)ie P1-5.

Even the national champs didnt win every race that they attended. So it sounds to me like they had competition of some shape or form.

Not to sound cliche, but like in the "Field of Dreams" I quote,"If you build it, they will come" With the exception of Turbine, we have had the same amount of classes for at least 5-6 years now, in fact have eliminated 2(A and F2) maybe others, but I am not certain.

You bring up some points and we respect your opinions and would also welcome you to post(in our sandbox) your positive and productive suggestions in ways that we can improve our sport. I personally know that you have some great ideas that would benefit us all.

Trent

Not being rude or anything of the sort, but for those of us in the cheap seats, what happened with F1? 2 years ago we ran with 496's which from personal experience; great pleasure motor, but a horrendous race motor. So the class(Culbertson, Kildahl, Devlin, and Sarro) then voted in the 500's again since there are so many (approx 25) boats sitting around with that set-up.

I also wish the best of success for Brian and the ORL and cant wait for the oportunity to run against them in Key West.

I didn't say take away anyone's titles.

I said make it worth earning and have some meaning behind it.

If a race or two you run by yourself, why should you get the advantage of 1st place purse and 1st place points when all you have to do is idle across a start line?

At the Championship races a minimum of 1 other boat should be there to win it. I prefer at least a 3 boat minimum.

I am suggesting this from here on out, not what has happened in the past.

If someone runs by themselves the majority of the season and collects 1st place points, how would one ever catch up in points if he or she misses a race or 2... ?

If a Championship Title is not won over competition, than it should not be given out period.