Re: Racers Wake Up
 

yes but first we need somthing to promote.like i said 30 boats at a race every other weekend is not going to do it.lets start small and work on getting the racers together first then we can talk about marketing ,tv,sponsors and so forth.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

smyth,you gotta have bigger goals,you get the shows,and the competitors will follow,wwf didn't get big or nascar until they got the airtime,everybody *****ed and complained about mike a,he got the airtime,it seemed as he needed a seperate marketing department,I just don't think he had the time in a day he needed to run his own life,and be in charge of all the races,venues and racers and do the marketing,and chase for payments on contracts for us.

and remember,we have what,97 active teams registered for next year,maybe different organizations,but 97 teams,and we all have the same goals,winning and being famous,TV productions will do that,down home TV.Everything else you do,say or read about is what you do to get there!

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Offshore racing will never be like Nascar for one huge difference...... People who watch and are fans of nascar "dream" about what it would be like to scream around a race track at 200mph like Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr, Stewart......everyone has a car and at one point has wondered what it would be like to "open it up" but are unable to like their racer car idols on TV. This need for speed is an unobtainable goal for most..... so it makes Nascar more desirable.
On the other hand.....lets be serious..... on any given sunday, at any given Poker Run the equipment that "everyday guys" have could be better than professsional race teams. Just open any poker run magazine and check out the hardware..... it puts most of the race teams equiptment to shame. There is no wondering or daydreaming what it would be like to go as fast as the race boats because most of them have boats capable of going faster. Take it for what it is worth.....I will now retreat into my cubby hole.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

SBI has TV so why are we tring to re invent the wheel, plus some of the greatest race sites. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Frank
"Koolhand"

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Q-ball,people love the need for speed because thats what the marketing sells them,and then they give them a face,or a family to see and support.

,frank,who's reinventing the wheel,don't you need a new boat,wouldn't it be nice if you could write a check from your sponsors instead of paying for it personally or aquiring a loan to get it?well,wouldn't it?

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Al...good point . its a beautiful thing, spending someone elses money.


QBall...

yes, the Poker Run guys have some impressive equipment. But how many of those guys A: have the balls to run them for a hour staight in big water and B: want to bust up their equipment every two weeks? I guarantee that more than half of the big $$ Poker run boats out there wouldnt finish a race in moderate seas. Their not setup for that. They are show boats that run fast in spurts at a time.

You know the old saying, It's not how fast you can run, but how long you can run fast.

Most race boats may not look pretty under the hood, but they will stay together. And most race teams dont want to spend tens of thousands of dollars on fancy paint jobs, knowing that they may be rubbing decks with another boat. Vinyl is much more cost effective and easy to replace.

Bottom line...its all about the money. No matter how you look at it.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

It's all about the Benjamin's

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Frank, Reinventing the wheel by bringing back Factory 1 with a whole new set of specs. Completely different from APBA's. As long as you have your specs and APBA has theirs, the teams will never be able to come together. You cant simply remove an extension box. SBI may have TV and they may have great sites. But where are the boats?

Until we have 70 or 80 boats at a site on a regular basis, we will not be able to present anything to our sponsors. Im sorry but 20-25 boats at a race is not very impressive at all. If we present a race like KW to our sponsors on a biweekly schedule, we may have a fighting chance of getting some sponsorship $$.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

ok shane b i'll rephrase that .before phillip morris took the sport over. it was at a lower level than offshore. your missing the point.you seem to want to leave things thee way they are and think it's all going to be ok.i've been a fan for about 20 years and a racer about 10.it's been the same for all this time.with every other sport making money i think it's time for a change.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Bruce,
Its all about choice,and we all have to make them. We as racers can't control what SBI,APBA,or OSS decides to do,it would be great if APBA mirrored SBI F1/F2 rules but not much we can do about it. It gives teams options of where they want to race and what works best for their teams,Location ,Money,and TV coverage. Bruce just like you did last year you decided to race some OPA races and run with no TV coverage and no prize money... But that was your choice and what worked for your team at the time.There is no right or wrong, good or bad its what works for you and at the level you wanted to race.All the group's are looking at the rules and I'm sure some changes will be made when the 2005 rule books comes out,and the closer the better I agree.It was APBA decision to cancel A class,and Super Cat, and I'm sure they had their reasons,and other changes will be made to try and better the sport.Have faith brother you will see some changes.... :D :D

Frank
"Koolhand"

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Frank,

We run OPA first and most obvious, because its close to home, and there was prize money. Unfortunately, some of the big money venues didnt come through this year.

We cant drive down to Florida every other week . We would if we could. But why blow off a race in NJ to race in Fla? Doesnt make sense and will not until there is a way to subsidize our expenses.

My question is why wouldnt you keep the specs for F-1 the same as APBA and just change the engine package? This way many existing F-1 boats would come back. They would have no problem unloading their 500efis or 525s and dropping in 496s.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

The goal of F1/ F2 is to make an affordable price boat and to hit a goal speed at that price...

Frank
"Koolhand"

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

[QUOTE]They have an impressive schedule as they did last year, but only 2 came thru, oops excuse me 4 because Great Lakes bailed their asses out.

Trent,
It is very obvious you are all about SBI or APBA which will always be around!!!
Well you maybe right in that aspect, And I am not going to get into the demographs
of either one of those santioning bodies, Why? Because I am not against them, but like you I am voicing MY opinion, as stated ealier all have thier issues! But from a fan aspect i would certainly perfer 10 supercats starting more than one! As a racer, competition is why you compete, as a crew chief/or crewmember you want competion to hone your skills and knowledge. If you want to be at the top you have compete, racing by yourself isnt competeing.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Man, I wouldn't knock the Poker Run People. They have a GREAT thing going there and they all support us! Plus, ya gotta have some pair of ball$ to lay out that kind of money. They are all CLASS as far as I'm concerned. And with some Very Beautiful Women.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Augie,

No one is knockin the poker run guys. Just stating a fact. You dont need to have balls to lay out that kind of cash. You just need the cash . plain and simple.

Lets not change the subject

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Bruce,
I agree with what you said,and why you raced OPA that is my exact point...it was because you had a choice.Every team has to make them and make choices for what works bests for them,would of sucked if you didnt have a choice and there was a race and it was to far or a bad weekend for you.The more races on schedules the more choices we have....

Frank
"koolhand"

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Frank your right, but that doesn't help in the grand sceme of things

"THE BIG SHOW"

is what attracts spectators and sponsors.

If there was only one association running a race every two weeks, all over the east coast with 80 - 100 dedicated race teams i would go wherever it was. No complaints. But, they need to offer more. ie better purse, tv exposure, ect ect. discounts for hotel and restaurants

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

SS class exists ONLY in SBI. Doesn't do any good to go to an APBA race and run a p-class. Experience and wheel-time sure, but expenses are not worth it.


I'd like to go to races on a few schedules, but it doesn't make $$ sense. Only 2 races outside of FLA. in SBI doesn't help me with National sponsors. How can it help anyone?

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Thing don't always seem as they appear :cool:

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Bruce, I agree with you totally,the more race teams together,the better the event and the more money to be raised for purses,who wants to beat up there equipment and win 750.00 which does not even cover there weekend expenses let alone the cost and maintenance of the boat and truck,we all need to be on the same page or we all need to piss our money away on something else.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

I'll take less races and more boats

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

The two main sanctioning bodies are APBA and SBI, why can't GLSCS, OPA, and OSS run under 1 of these 2 bodies? Total of 6-8 races under each of the main bodies either APBA or SBI.
APBA or SBI chooses 3 of their best race sites and GLSCS, OPA, OSS, pick 2-3 of their best race sites and add it to the body they race under.
APBA and SBI meet in key west with their branch off groups and race for the World Championship.
Team Registration and membership should go to either the APBA or SBI so that we do not have to pay into 2,3 or 4 different organization's.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

You guys keep forgetting to factor out common sense in any of the equations.
It doesn't exist. Its' like the powers that be say to themselves "hey, thats a great ideas, makes a lotta sense" make sure we don't do that"
Just like the P class rule changes that created such controversy at the Worlds.
Common sense would tell any reasonable person that was a ridiculous thing to do so late in the game. So of course, they do it.
Common Sense says have the same rules in all sanctioning bodies, "let's not"
Racing is like one big puppet show and the puppeteer is f**kin with us

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

Difference in rules forces loyalty to wherever your legal.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

I think Ron can answer this question. I think the opa considered teaming with apba or sbi for insurance reasons. They [opa] must have been able to buy their own ins. cheaper. Remember when a sanctioning body sanctions a race they collect a fee. At the club level the racers do not need to pay more money to run.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

True. OPA had been the NE division of SBI but it was far less expensive to get insurance on our own and not pay a sanction fee.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

This is correct for the GLSCS. We took the money that was collected that normally went to APBA and gave it back to the racers in the form of Hi-POint for 2004 we paid out $20,000.

Andy Bloom

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

A High Points fund of $20,000.... thats pretty impressive.Nice job GLSCS.

Re: Racers Wake Up
 

I figured I would stir up the hornets nest with the NASCAR comments, but understand what I am saying. I am not saying blueprint Offshore Racing from NASCAR. I am saying, figure out what works from a general motorsports entertainment standpoint, and then apply that to Offshore Racing. I mean, am I that far off base? Why would we not look at this? They are the undisputed king of motorsports, to not look at and analyze what works for them would be completely foolish, in any industry, not just racing. They obviuosly have it figured out. When NASCAR really hit critical mass was when they realized they were not really in the racing business, but more so in the entertainment business. Once they figured out how to utilize this, growth increased, dramatically at that. I remember talking to Augie about this stuff back in the spring, we both agreed there was so much room for improvement on a Nationl Level, even though the Jersey Boys already had some of this implemented.

One main rule to motorsports marketing is --what does our package offer the sponsor OFF the track?--. Racers cannot garauntee any on track success. It's impossible, so what you need to do is create and propose a package that offers alot of exposure, in different forms, away from the race course. Why do you think a i.e Petty Enterprises who has not one a race in seemingly decades can still sign primary spnsors for thier Cup prgrams at $12-15 mil a year? Easy...they have the "Off Track" marketing packages to make the whole deal work and make it worthwhile for the guy cutting the checks. The only reason these big Fortune 500 companies are going racing is becuase they are making money. So when you have dozens and dozens of companies spending over $1 mil per year in stock car racing, and we cant get even 1 company to put up that $, then we have only ourselves to blaim, plain and simple.

So, yes..."TV time", or what they refer to as "In Focus Time", is very important, but needs to be looked at as icing on the cake, or a bonus. Off track is teh key to the packages.

Sorry about the long post again...and Augie, I tried to track you down in Key West to say hello, sorry I missed you :)