Mon, Apr. 26, 2004

Ross Reily, Sun Herald

BILOXI


One powerful rebuttal


There was a lot of speculation as to why the Smokin' the Sound power boat races here this past weekend would fail.

Well, the cynics can rest their Doubting Thomas attitudes this morning, because you will be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't believe the first power boat races in South Mississippi since 1998 aren't a success.

Most of the concerns had to do with the race course.

"The channel is too shallow to race those big power boats."

That one was mine when I first found out about the races early this year.

I was wrong.

While some drivers did say they would have liked a deeper course, when the races were over, those same drivers admitted it wasn't that bad.

One of the other complaints before the races was that the space between the shore and Deer island wasn't near enough.

"The boats are going to get out of control and flip onto shore or into fans watching the races."

Wrong again.

The channel proved to be a great venue for the races.

The currents at the end of the island made the course a challenge, but there was never any chance fans were going to be injured.

There was the tragic story of Randy Linebach, the 49-year-old Michigan owner and driver who was killed during a practice run Friday morning.

But when the investigation is complete later this week, I don't think you will find that any blame on the course, the depth of the Mississippi Sound or any other conjured problems the cynics suspected beforehand.

"This weekend has been an unqualified success in terms of turnout and enthusiasm, from the sponsors to the boat owners and spectators," said Gene Oswalt, a member of the team that brought Smokin' the Sound to South Mississippi. "What we have to do now is find out a way for the event to sustain itself."

Two months ago, organizers said they needed around 35,000 fans for the event to be a financial success. Then, going into this weekend, that figure was reduced to 15,000.

No one is saying exactly how many people attended the event, but it is likely to be right at the 15,000 mark or less.

But Oswalt and others believe this year's success will help put the word out to how exciting this event can be, which will help the numbers next year.

"The reality of it is, considering what happened the other day, you could not have asked for any more excitement than what we had," Oswalt said. "They (racers) understand the business they're in. They also respect that the show must go on. But for all of us, this has been a labor of love.

"Yes, we have to back up and figure out what we can do better, and make it financially prudent. But we will figure that out in the days to come. Today, we are happy with the success we have had."


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Ross Reily can be reached at 896-2352 or [email protected]

Way to go OSS and everyone involved in making the 2004 inaugural race for this New Series a success. Take a Bow Ladies and Gents involved.

And if I might add:

To hear the race "LIVE" over the internet was just awesome. Play by play it was great. It was great for those of us who could not make the race.

Thanks for a successful event OSS!

Thanks for putting on a great race OSS.

Josh- H2O Performance

Josh,

Will you be adding more photos to the website from the race yesterday?

DPT

Thank You Tom Abrams and Friends for such a Successful Vision ...... So sorry for our loss of Randy........... Best of Luck to all the OSS racers and Fans........ See you guys soon up here in Mich. ............. GOD BLESS THE SPORT AND THE HEROES............................................ ..............

I think you way miscalculated the 15,000 spectators. We were towed in along the sea wall for 3 miles and there wasnt an empty spot. We felt like we won the race. There were tons of people in parking tower hotels,bars,rest and private boats. As we passed they were clapping,waving and screaming as we were being towed. In 70 plus races we have raced in we have NEVER seen a fan base this excited to see us race.
To put it into better prospective the people there were there ONLY beacause of the racing and nothing else! Compare that to some of the big fan numbers we have seen at race site that are on a beach and then find out they were shocked to know there was a boat race when they got there. This was HUGE.
Mad Dog

I agreee with Randy, I beleive it was a huge success and thought that for the first race, it went off without any problems that I could see. I can vouch for MD being towed in a "Parade Fashion". Dave Warden

I agree 100%. Thisi was my first race and I am pleased to say it won't be the last. I was very impressed with what I saw and I look forward to going again next year.

Typhoon - I was one of the thousands cheering you guys on as you were being pulled in. We were atop the Isle where Talkoffshore.com was broadcasting and they made it known to show you guys some support. Heck we even had your spotter up there standing in front of us while you guys were racing, crew chief too. It was cool though....we were right in the middle of all the action.

Mad Dog and Hollywood ready to sign autographs.