Ok maybe a different way........
10-17-2007 | 07:44 PM
#51
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From: Lake Lanier - N. Georgia
Just found this too!
Local teams covet powerboat titles
Racers want to end season with victories in World Championships.
By TERRY TOMALIN, Times Outdoors Editor
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 18, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW PORT RICHEY -- Powerboat racer Steve Miklos likes to win, but not by too much.
"The whole idea is to have evenly-matched boats," said Miklos, competition director for the St. Petersburg-based American Power Boat Association Offshore. "In this sport you can have two boats run a 100-mile race and still finish within seconds of each other."
Miklos, throttleman for Team Vortec Extreme, and his teammate, driver Gary Deciucies, just returned from the Bahamas where they captured the National Championship in the APBA's new Super Vee Light class.
Miklos and Deciucies are scheduled to leave for Key West today, hoping to cap their record-breaking season with a World Championship.
"The great thing about Super Vee Light, like the Factory and Super Cat classes, is that the competition is always so close," Miklos said. "In the Bahamas, we had five boats racing, and every one of them held the lead at one point or another during the race."
Miklos and APBA chairman Michael Allweiss have spent about three years working to develop tight specifications and rules to avoid the type of one-sided competition that has plagued offshore powerboat racing.
There was a time when all it took to win an offshore powerboat race was money. The team with the deepest pockets, not the best driver or throttleman, usually won.
But that changed three years ago. The key to the APBA Offshore's new format is the Certified Racing Engine program, which ensures all boats in the Factory, Super Cat Light and Super Vee Light series are using the same equipment.
The streamlined classes, designed to create parity for competitors and to provide "deck-to-deck" racing for fans, is popular.
"Our goal was to develop a racing product that was affordable," Miklos said. "We wanted to have classes that you could get into without a whole lot of money or mechanical knowledge."
Performance powerboats, including those featured in the APBA Offshore races, make up about 4 percent of the total boat sales in the United States, roughly $435-million out of $11-billion in sales, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
A Factory 1 boat, a single-engine, vee-bottom favored by many entry-level racers, costs about $65,000. Its twin-engine counterpart, the Factory 2, costs about $125,000.
The single-engine Super Vee Light, the boat that Miklos and Deciucies raced this season for the first time, cost about $85,000. The twin-engine version is $170,000.
"The difference between the Factory boat and the Super Vee Light is the canopy," Miklos said. "With an open cockpit, the Factory boat is dual purpose. You can race it and take it out to Shell Key on the weekend. But a canopied boat, like the Super Vee, is strictly for racing."
Because they are certified and sealed at the factory, the Super Vee Light's General Motors Vortec and Mercury 525 engines are within a few horsepower of each other.
"There is less than five horsepower or 1 percent engine variance," Miklos said. "So everybody is working with the same power."
Miklos and Deciucies also were able to run the seven-race national circuit without replacing the engine.
"A few years ago, it was not uncommon for the big catamarans to go through an engine every race," Miklos said. "That made the cost of racing prohibitive for a lot of people."
The new Super Cats, theAPBA's premier class, usually get two races out of an engine. "Our long-term goal is to develop a Super Cat engine that can run three to five races," he said.
Miklos' GM Vortec also runs on 87-octane unleaded gasoline available at any service station, as opposed to the 114-octane race fuel that costs $6 a gallon.
"What we have done is given GM an opportunity to test their truck engines in the harshest environment known to man," Allweiss said of the Vortec program. "There are no more demanding conditions than in offshore powerboat racing."
Miklos and Deciucies won't be the only area powerboat racers competing at the World Championships. Clearwater's Hugh Fuller, the defending Super Cat champion who is coming off a win in the Bahamas, hopes to add another title to his racing resume.
St. Petersburg residents Todd Werner and Steve Ingle of Super Cat Light (outboard/triple) Flowmaster hope to win their second World Championship. Werner and Ingle won the world and national titles two years ago and were national champions again in 2001. But the Flowmaster crew has had a rough year after opening the season with a win in Daytona.
Steve Armstrong and Shawn Mobley, two more locals in the Super Cat Light class, won the second race of the season at Marathon in Moneyshot and hope to do well beginning Wednesday.
Local teams covet powerboat titles
Racers want to end season with victories in World Championships.
By TERRY TOMALIN, Times Outdoors Editor
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 18, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW PORT RICHEY -- Powerboat racer Steve Miklos likes to win, but not by too much.
"The whole idea is to have evenly-matched boats," said Miklos, competition director for the St. Petersburg-based American Power Boat Association Offshore. "In this sport you can have two boats run a 100-mile race and still finish within seconds of each other."
Miklos, throttleman for Team Vortec Extreme, and his teammate, driver Gary Deciucies, just returned from the Bahamas where they captured the National Championship in the APBA's new Super Vee Light class.
Miklos and Deciucies are scheduled to leave for Key West today, hoping to cap their record-breaking season with a World Championship.
"The great thing about Super Vee Light, like the Factory and Super Cat classes, is that the competition is always so close," Miklos said. "In the Bahamas, we had five boats racing, and every one of them held the lead at one point or another during the race."
Miklos and APBA chairman Michael Allweiss have spent about three years working to develop tight specifications and rules to avoid the type of one-sided competition that has plagued offshore powerboat racing.
There was a time when all it took to win an offshore powerboat race was money. The team with the deepest pockets, not the best driver or throttleman, usually won.
But that changed three years ago. The key to the APBA Offshore's new format is the Certified Racing Engine program, which ensures all boats in the Factory, Super Cat Light and Super Vee Light series are using the same equipment.
The streamlined classes, designed to create parity for competitors and to provide "deck-to-deck" racing for fans, is popular.
"Our goal was to develop a racing product that was affordable," Miklos said. "We wanted to have classes that you could get into without a whole lot of money or mechanical knowledge."
Performance powerboats, including those featured in the APBA Offshore races, make up about 4 percent of the total boat sales in the United States, roughly $435-million out of $11-billion in sales, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
A Factory 1 boat, a single-engine, vee-bottom favored by many entry-level racers, costs about $65,000. Its twin-engine counterpart, the Factory 2, costs about $125,000.
The single-engine Super Vee Light, the boat that Miklos and Deciucies raced this season for the first time, cost about $85,000. The twin-engine version is $170,000.
"The difference between the Factory boat and the Super Vee Light is the canopy," Miklos said. "With an open cockpit, the Factory boat is dual purpose. You can race it and take it out to Shell Key on the weekend. But a canopied boat, like the Super Vee, is strictly for racing."
Because they are certified and sealed at the factory, the Super Vee Light's General Motors Vortec and Mercury 525 engines are within a few horsepower of each other.
"There is less than five horsepower or 1 percent engine variance," Miklos said. "So everybody is working with the same power."
Miklos and Deciucies also were able to run the seven-race national circuit without replacing the engine.
"A few years ago, it was not uncommon for the big catamarans to go through an engine every race," Miklos said. "That made the cost of racing prohibitive for a lot of people."
The new Super Cats, theAPBA's premier class, usually get two races out of an engine. "Our long-term goal is to develop a Super Cat engine that can run three to five races," he said.
Miklos' GM Vortec also runs on 87-octane unleaded gasoline available at any service station, as opposed to the 114-octane race fuel that costs $6 a gallon.
"What we have done is given GM an opportunity to test their truck engines in the harshest environment known to man," Allweiss said of the Vortec program. "There are no more demanding conditions than in offshore powerboat racing."
Miklos and Deciucies won't be the only area powerboat racers competing at the World Championships. Clearwater's Hugh Fuller, the defending Super Cat champion who is coming off a win in the Bahamas, hopes to add another title to his racing resume.
St. Petersburg residents Todd Werner and Steve Ingle of Super Cat Light (outboard/triple) Flowmaster hope to win their second World Championship. Werner and Ingle won the world and national titles two years ago and were national champions again in 2001. But the Flowmaster crew has had a rough year after opening the season with a win in Daytona.
Steve Armstrong and Shawn Mobley, two more locals in the Super Cat Light class, won the second race of the season at Marathon in Moneyshot and hope to do well beginning Wednesday.
10-17-2007 | 07:44 PM
#52
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 3,674
Likes: 250
From: Rhode Island summer, Florida winter
[QUOTE=THEJOKER;2308262]Top Banana:
I'm not on here trying to sell boats , obviously you are. You build one of your boats and you can come race against us , how's that for a challenge?
Sorry guys I am traveling for the next 10 days so I can only get to a computer every now and then. If you see this idea as a just a way to sell more boats....take another look.
Now does this challenge consist of going out in the open ocean or up and down the beach?
The best HORBA can offer is an alternative to what already exists without trying to displace these organizations. If everyone is so pleased with the status quo, there should be no problem.
On another thread we asked about racing across the Gulfstream, Smitty and Augie and a few other guys were the first to jump on and say yes, they would go.....someone must like the idea.
I'm not on here trying to sell boats , obviously you are. You build one of your boats and you can come race against us , how's that for a challenge?
Sorry guys I am traveling for the next 10 days so I can only get to a computer every now and then. If you see this idea as a just a way to sell more boats....take another look.
Now does this challenge consist of going out in the open ocean or up and down the beach?
The best HORBA can offer is an alternative to what already exists without trying to displace these organizations. If everyone is so pleased with the status quo, there should be no problem.
On another thread we asked about racing across the Gulfstream, Smitty and Augie and a few other guys were the first to jump on and say yes, they would go.....someone must like the idea.
10-17-2007 | 07:46 PM
#53
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,306
Likes: 1
From: Lake Lanier - N. Georgia
More archives. Good reading.
Boat Racing's Weekend Warriors
The American Powerboat Association's new Factory V-Bottom Class brings offshore racing to the showroom floor.
PM Photos by Forest Johnson
Published in the January 1998 issue.
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The wind pins me to my seat, and the steering wheel vibrates with such intensity that I feel it in my shoulders. From my point of view, the lake's surface has blurred, so it seems like a sheet of crinkly blue foil.
"I'm gonna give her some speed," Steve Miklos tells me through our helmet intercom system. "She'll probably start to loosen up, so you'll have to steer her." That I have no idea what he means by "loosen up" and "steer" are only the second and third most troubling things about the situation. The big question is what he means by "give her some speed."
Miklos is working the throttle and I'm at the wheel of his 27-ft. Corsa, and we're already doing 75 mph across what once seemed like a very long lake. With the shoreline approaching quickly, Miklos drops the hammer and the 500-hp high-performance engine summons a power burst I didn't think possible.
The boat rockets forward, and our ride is no longer about water. We're wind jamming. Only the tail end of the hull and the outdrive are submerged. The rest of the boat rides on an air pocket. It feels as if a good updraft could flip us right over.
Factory racers are in it for the glory and love of the sport. As we approach 80 mph, the hull leans a little to the right, then to the left. Two blinks later, we're canting dangerously from side to side–chine walking–on the verge of losing control. Miklos lets out a loud "whoo" and backs off the throttle. The boat settles back into the water, but my heart is still racing.
I've just learned what "loosen up" means.
Although Miklos doesn't mind taking his life in his hands to tutor me in the basics of high-speed boat driving, he's here for a different reason: the creation of the American Power Boat Association's (APBA) Factory V-Bottom Series. The idea behind the series is to develop a spec class in which production boats with the same engines and drive packages battle head to head.
With such similarly matched boats, the focus has shifted to how well you drive, not how much money you can spend modifying your boat. "Now a guy can take a high-performance boat right off the showroom floor and come out and test his mettle against other racers," says Kurt Willows, a sales manager at Mercury Hi-Performance and chairman of the series' technical committee. "He may even win some prize money."
The Factory I class is open to single-engine boats 24 ft. to 30 ft. long, while Factory II features twin-engine vessels between 30 ft. and 39 ft. long. The propulsion system consists of the MerCruiser HP500 with a Bravo 1 drive. For a boat to qualify as a production model, the company must have built at least five of them in the previous year, and a number of structural items must remain intact.
Conventional V-hulls can use set-back boxes, and stepped hulls are allowed, as long as that's the way the hull was originally built. There is also a maximum outdrive height and a minimum weight requirement for all the vessels. "We're going to be working our butts off to get parity in the boats," Gene Whipp, the chairman of APBA's Offshore Racing Commission, told Powerboat magazine last year.
Pre- and post-race engine inspections ensure no unapproved modifications have been made. Miklos, who used to race in A-class, thinks the factory class hit just the right spot. "We got involved in the weekend warrior class to have some fun," he says, "because what we were spending in the other class was ridiculous." For Miklos, one of the more economic parts of the series is the HP500. Although the engine itself costs a significant $29,290, it does have moneysaving attributes.
For instance, the sturdy 502 CID block runs at a low 8.75:1 compression ratio and has a rev limiter, which means you can turn your family pleasure boat into a racer without fear of a rebuild. Plus, the engine only burns about 40 gal. per hour of regular 87-octane fuel, and it doesn't require high-performance parts. "It costs me about $50 a race for fuel and I bought the spark plugs at K-Mart," says Miklos. "It costs $100 per minute to run a B-class boat, but I can campaign this boat for the whole season for $5000 to $6000."
That's a pretty fair price, since a season usually consists of six or seven races in a regional division and a national championship, if you qualify. Although most boats in Factory I can run at speeds in the 70s, the average speed in a race is about 65 mph because offshore racing conditions are often less than ideal. Factory II averages about 70 mph. Because all the boats are capable of race-winning speed, the class focuses on driving skill. But each racer's fight to get every last mph out of his boat never stops.
Regular guys Tom Etheridge (left) and Mike Willis on the professional circuit. "We were a little heavier than most of the other boats," says Tom Etheridge, owner and driver of Stressed Out, "so we started taking some stuff off the boat." In order to save about 250 pounds, Etheridge removed the bench seats, speakers, portable toilet, railings and cushions and replaced the engine hatch on his 27-ft. Fountain. But in the spirit of the class, Etheridge says, "We only got rid of things we could take off with a screwdriver and a wrench, and we could put them back in a few hours if we wanted."
Etheridge might be the prototype of the classic Factory class racer: a local speed demon with a high-performance boat who watches the pros and says to himself, "I can do that." He runs two small businesses in the Tampa area and confesses, "I used to watch 'Miami Vice,' and I was always fascinated by the race boats. That's probably what got me into it." So after selling the first boat he ever owned, a runabout he bought in 1990, the aspiring Don Johnson picked up the 1995 Fountain with an HP500 and began "racing every boat on Tampa Bay."
In 1996 he saw some real action when he entered an amateur race. Although his family and girlfriend of 10 years were not happy, Etheridge fell in love with the sport. "This year [1997] I was planning to enter a few more amateur races and maybe get into some A-class races, but the Factory class came along and I fell right into it."
Steve Miklos staying loose on Oatey during a race off Isla Morada. After one summer on the circuit, Etheridge is amazed by how much he didn't know. "When you're out on the weekend and you race somebody, you usually run along next to them for a minute or two, and it's a matter of who gives up first," he says. "But to be offshore for an hour with the throttles down the whole way is something else altogether. I don't think the general public realizes how demanding it is mentally and physically."
Luckily for Etheridge, the race-boat circuit is not a cutthroat place. "One of the things I really like about racing is the whole atmosphere. There's a lot of camaraderie and the other racers have given me a lot of pointers." From the basics–like whether or not it's okay to run your engine at wide open the whole race–to the minutiae of getting more speed out of your boat, Etheridge has received help from all sides.
But no one can teach endurance, which has turned out to be the most important aspect of all. The average offshore course covers about 60 miles of highly unpredictable water. At age 32, Etheridge works out six days a week and finds that it still takes him several days to recover after a race. "To really compete, you have to ride on that ragged edge," he says, "but you take one hell of a pounding doing it."
Besides physical endurance, Miklos says, you need great mental stamina as well. During a race, he's so concentrated on reading the water conditions, navigating and watching out for other boats that he can't even remember what lap he's on. "Before an 8-lap race," he explains, "we'll put eight pieces of duct tape on the dash, and every time we finish a lap, we pull one piece of tape off. Otherwise, we'd never know when to stop."
He tells me this story as we sit on the lake after we "loosen up.' When he sees I'm relaxed, he explains that when the boat leans like that, you have to steer into the lean. Now I know what he means by "steer." On our next run, we stay flat and hit 81 mph. "The boat will do 84, do you want to try again?" he asks. No thanks, 81 is loose enough for me.
Boat Racing's Weekend Warriors
The American Powerboat Association's new Factory V-Bottom Class brings offshore racing to the showroom floor.
PM Photos by Forest Johnson
Published in the January 1998 issue.
Email Print
del.icio.us Reddit
Digg it
View blog authority
Section Archive
The wind pins me to my seat, and the steering wheel vibrates with such intensity that I feel it in my shoulders. From my point of view, the lake's surface has blurred, so it seems like a sheet of crinkly blue foil.
"I'm gonna give her some speed," Steve Miklos tells me through our helmet intercom system. "She'll probably start to loosen up, so you'll have to steer her." That I have no idea what he means by "loosen up" and "steer" are only the second and third most troubling things about the situation. The big question is what he means by "give her some speed."
Miklos is working the throttle and I'm at the wheel of his 27-ft. Corsa, and we're already doing 75 mph across what once seemed like a very long lake. With the shoreline approaching quickly, Miklos drops the hammer and the 500-hp high-performance engine summons a power burst I didn't think possible.
The boat rockets forward, and our ride is no longer about water. We're wind jamming. Only the tail end of the hull and the outdrive are submerged. The rest of the boat rides on an air pocket. It feels as if a good updraft could flip us right over.
Factory racers are in it for the glory and love of the sport. As we approach 80 mph, the hull leans a little to the right, then to the left. Two blinks later, we're canting dangerously from side to side–chine walking–on the verge of losing control. Miklos lets out a loud "whoo" and backs off the throttle. The boat settles back into the water, but my heart is still racing.
I've just learned what "loosen up" means.
Although Miklos doesn't mind taking his life in his hands to tutor me in the basics of high-speed boat driving, he's here for a different reason: the creation of the American Power Boat Association's (APBA) Factory V-Bottom Series. The idea behind the series is to develop a spec class in which production boats with the same engines and drive packages battle head to head.
With such similarly matched boats, the focus has shifted to how well you drive, not how much money you can spend modifying your boat. "Now a guy can take a high-performance boat right off the showroom floor and come out and test his mettle against other racers," says Kurt Willows, a sales manager at Mercury Hi-Performance and chairman of the series' technical committee. "He may even win some prize money."
The Factory I class is open to single-engine boats 24 ft. to 30 ft. long, while Factory II features twin-engine vessels between 30 ft. and 39 ft. long. The propulsion system consists of the MerCruiser HP500 with a Bravo 1 drive. For a boat to qualify as a production model, the company must have built at least five of them in the previous year, and a number of structural items must remain intact.
Conventional V-hulls can use set-back boxes, and stepped hulls are allowed, as long as that's the way the hull was originally built. There is also a maximum outdrive height and a minimum weight requirement for all the vessels. "We're going to be working our butts off to get parity in the boats," Gene Whipp, the chairman of APBA's Offshore Racing Commission, told Powerboat magazine last year.
Pre- and post-race engine inspections ensure no unapproved modifications have been made. Miklos, who used to race in A-class, thinks the factory class hit just the right spot. "We got involved in the weekend warrior class to have some fun," he says, "because what we were spending in the other class was ridiculous." For Miklos, one of the more economic parts of the series is the HP500. Although the engine itself costs a significant $29,290, it does have moneysaving attributes.
For instance, the sturdy 502 CID block runs at a low 8.75:1 compression ratio and has a rev limiter, which means you can turn your family pleasure boat into a racer without fear of a rebuild. Plus, the engine only burns about 40 gal. per hour of regular 87-octane fuel, and it doesn't require high-performance parts. "It costs me about $50 a race for fuel and I bought the spark plugs at K-Mart," says Miklos. "It costs $100 per minute to run a B-class boat, but I can campaign this boat for the whole season for $5000 to $6000."
That's a pretty fair price, since a season usually consists of six or seven races in a regional division and a national championship, if you qualify. Although most boats in Factory I can run at speeds in the 70s, the average speed in a race is about 65 mph because offshore racing conditions are often less than ideal. Factory II averages about 70 mph. Because all the boats are capable of race-winning speed, the class focuses on driving skill. But each racer's fight to get every last mph out of his boat never stops.
Regular guys Tom Etheridge (left) and Mike Willis on the professional circuit. "We were a little heavier than most of the other boats," says Tom Etheridge, owner and driver of Stressed Out, "so we started taking some stuff off the boat." In order to save about 250 pounds, Etheridge removed the bench seats, speakers, portable toilet, railings and cushions and replaced the engine hatch on his 27-ft. Fountain. But in the spirit of the class, Etheridge says, "We only got rid of things we could take off with a screwdriver and a wrench, and we could put them back in a few hours if we wanted."
Etheridge might be the prototype of the classic Factory class racer: a local speed demon with a high-performance boat who watches the pros and says to himself, "I can do that." He runs two small businesses in the Tampa area and confesses, "I used to watch 'Miami Vice,' and I was always fascinated by the race boats. That's probably what got me into it." So after selling the first boat he ever owned, a runabout he bought in 1990, the aspiring Don Johnson picked up the 1995 Fountain with an HP500 and began "racing every boat on Tampa Bay."
In 1996 he saw some real action when he entered an amateur race. Although his family and girlfriend of 10 years were not happy, Etheridge fell in love with the sport. "This year [1997] I was planning to enter a few more amateur races and maybe get into some A-class races, but the Factory class came along and I fell right into it."
Steve Miklos staying loose on Oatey during a race off Isla Morada. After one summer on the circuit, Etheridge is amazed by how much he didn't know. "When you're out on the weekend and you race somebody, you usually run along next to them for a minute or two, and it's a matter of who gives up first," he says. "But to be offshore for an hour with the throttles down the whole way is something else altogether. I don't think the general public realizes how demanding it is mentally and physically."
Luckily for Etheridge, the race-boat circuit is not a cutthroat place. "One of the things I really like about racing is the whole atmosphere. There's a lot of camaraderie and the other racers have given me a lot of pointers." From the basics–like whether or not it's okay to run your engine at wide open the whole race–to the minutiae of getting more speed out of your boat, Etheridge has received help from all sides.
But no one can teach endurance, which has turned out to be the most important aspect of all. The average offshore course covers about 60 miles of highly unpredictable water. At age 32, Etheridge works out six days a week and finds that it still takes him several days to recover after a race. "To really compete, you have to ride on that ragged edge," he says, "but you take one hell of a pounding doing it."
Besides physical endurance, Miklos says, you need great mental stamina as well. During a race, he's so concentrated on reading the water conditions, navigating and watching out for other boats that he can't even remember what lap he's on. "Before an 8-lap race," he explains, "we'll put eight pieces of duct tape on the dash, and every time we finish a lap, we pull one piece of tape off. Otherwise, we'd never know when to stop."
He tells me this story as we sit on the lake after we "loosen up.' When he sees I'm relaxed, he explains that when the boat leans like that, you have to steer into the lean. Now I know what he means by "steer." On our next run, we stay flat and hit 81 mph. "The boat will do 84, do you want to try again?" he asks. No thanks, 81 is loose enough for me.
10-17-2007 | 07:51 PM
#54
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,306
Likes: 1
From: Lake Lanier - N. Georgia
[QUOTE=Top Banana;2309201]
OK I'll take that as a gentleman agreement bon a fied challenge for 50,000 people to witness here on OSO. I have a brand new 2008 26 Joker that is built and is getting ready to get rigged. It's not for sale by the way. I don't build boats for a living , I'm in the trucking business but I love boats , racing , etc. You get your new series ready and we'll be there. If that doesn't happen you have to come and race w/ us in OPA or SBI. Deal? We'll have some fun and show you how the F1 guy's do it in the rough!
OK I'll take that as a gentleman agreement bon a fied challenge for 50,000 people to witness here on OSO. I have a brand new 2008 26 Joker that is built and is getting ready to get rigged. It's not for sale by the way. I don't build boats for a living , I'm in the trucking business but I love boats , racing , etc. You get your new series ready and we'll be there. If that doesn't happen you have to come and race w/ us in OPA or SBI. Deal? We'll have some fun and show you how the F1 guy's do it in the rough!
10-17-2007 | 07:55 PM
#55
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 3,674
Likes: 250
From: Rhode Island summer, Florida winter
[QUOTE=THEJOKER;2309208]
OK I'll take that as a gentleman agreement bon a fied challenge for 50,000 people to witness here on OSO. I have a brand new 2008 26 Joker that is built and is getting ready to get rigged. It's not for sale by the way. I don't build boats for a living , I'm in the trucking business but I love boats , racing , etc. You get your new series ready and we'll be there. If that doesn't happen you have to come and race w/ us in OPA or SBI. Deal? We'll have some fun and show you how the F1 guy's do it in the rough!
We then have the gentlemens agreement to have me build a boat and then you will take your 28 and race me in some old fashioned fling....like Miami to Nassau. Last guy in, buys drinks for the other crew.
If there is anything left of the boats we will go F1 racing too.
OK I'll take that as a gentleman agreement bon a fied challenge for 50,000 people to witness here on OSO. I have a brand new 2008 26 Joker that is built and is getting ready to get rigged. It's not for sale by the way. I don't build boats for a living , I'm in the trucking business but I love boats , racing , etc. You get your new series ready and we'll be there. If that doesn't happen you have to come and race w/ us in OPA or SBI. Deal? We'll have some fun and show you how the F1 guy's do it in the rough!
We then have the gentlemens agreement to have me build a boat and then you will take your 28 and race me in some old fashioned fling....like Miami to Nassau. Last guy in, buys drinks for the other crew.
If there is anything left of the boats we will go F1 racing too.
10-17-2007 | 08:07 PM
#56
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Registered
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,306
Likes: 1
From: Lake Lanier - N. Georgia
[QUOTE=Top Banana;2309211]
I'm going to take it easy on you and do it in a 26. You probally don't know it but I was the last modern offshore racer to race across the gulfstream in a full blown race boat from W.Palm to Grand Bahama. Just ask Steve here at OSO. He'll fill you in. All in fun sir but get your boat ready and if the long distance race doesn't pan out we have to race in OPA or SBI. I ain't playing around.
10-18-2007 | 10:22 AM
#57
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From: Lake Lanier - N. Georgia
Guys and Girls
Please remember this is not a spec class verse P class conversation, they are not mutually exclusive.
When spec class racing caught on there was only local 1 and 2 for non race boats to compete.
Mike A charged Mike Carter with developing the "Outlaw P class 1-5" and structured GPS racing was alive and well.
Spec racing, Supercat and GPS racing existed in harmony all attracting the sponsors that most related to the product.
To me this conversation is simply about re-growing the sport in the most commercially attractive way.
Steve
Please remember this is not a spec class verse P class conversation, they are not mutually exclusive.
When spec class racing caught on there was only local 1 and 2 for non race boats to compete.
Mike A charged Mike Carter with developing the "Outlaw P class 1-5" and structured GPS racing was alive and well.
Spec racing, Supercat and GPS racing existed in harmony all attracting the sponsors that most related to the product.
To me this conversation is simply about re-growing the sport in the most commercially attractive way.
Steve
10-18-2007 | 11:09 AM
#58
Registered
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,824
Likes: 0
From: Va Beach, VA
Brian,
I'm not aginst what you trying to do....I for one was with you last year....The biggest problem I seen...was racers saying I'm not going to invest into that until I see at least 5 to 7 boats racing in F1...believing in you was not the problem....getting the racers to commit is....
If this class ever comes back...I will race in it and race the Dragon in Class 2 or 3 ....
I'm all in about making the sport better....
and if making a new class brings out more racers...I'm all for it....and will do anything I can to help it....
I'm just giving my prospective on what I've seen in the last 4 years...and this year was a wake up call on what type of racing the racers are willing to invest into....
No enrty fee's
Low overhead
Prize money
TV
A set schedule
and great race sites...
and most inportant...a family atmosphere....racers getting along with each other and helping each other out....I'm sure your heard what the racers did for Team Wanted in St. Clair...I have always thought that racers were truely out to help each other....We see that in all Orgs.
I'm not aginst what you trying to do....I for one was with you last year....The biggest problem I seen...was racers saying I'm not going to invest into that until I see at least 5 to 7 boats racing in F1...believing in you was not the problem....getting the racers to commit is....
If this class ever comes back...I will race in it and race the Dragon in Class 2 or 3 ....
I'm all in about making the sport better....
and if making a new class brings out more racers...I'm all for it....and will do anything I can to help it....
I'm just giving my prospective on what I've seen in the last 4 years...and this year was a wake up call on what type of racing the racers are willing to invest into....
No enrty fee's
Low overhead
Prize money
TV
A set schedule
and great race sites...
and most inportant...a family atmosphere....racers getting along with each other and helping each other out....I'm sure your heard what the racers did for Team Wanted in St. Clair...I have always thought that racers were truely out to help each other....We see that in all Orgs.
Last edited by MANITIE; 10-18-2007 at 11:17 AM.
10-18-2007 | 11:29 AM
#59
Registered
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 420
Likes: 0
From: NV
Gino & Brian,
You should consider a grudge match at an existing race. First it will pull another couple of boats out. 2.) You can race class 5 also. 3.) you'll get an idea if there really is any interest in F1. 4.) it will get a lot of attention. 5.) it'll be lots of fun.
J
You should consider a grudge match at an existing race. First it will pull another couple of boats out. 2.) You can race class 5 also. 3.) you'll get an idea if there really is any interest in F1. 4.) it will get a lot of attention. 5.) it'll be lots of fun.
J
10-18-2007 | 01:19 PM
#60
Registered
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 19
Likes: 0
Gino & Brian,
You should consider a grudge match at an existing race. First it will pull another couple of boats out. 2.) You can race class 5 also. 3.) you'll get an idea if there really is any interest in F1. 4.) it will get a lot of attention. 5.) it'll be lots of fun.
J
You should consider a grudge match at an existing race. First it will pull another couple of boats out. 2.) You can race class 5 also. 3.) you'll get an idea if there really is any interest in F1. 4.) it will get a lot of attention. 5.) it'll be lots of fun.
J
