BenPerfected

Mike,
You nailed it! I support a meeting.
Sprague

Ron P

Ok, I'll sit back and listen. Obviously this is no joke and Tony knows what he's getting into.

Where would you want to add race sites?

p4-33

Ron P, Mark,

I can't speak for what GLSCS is doing, as I haven't seen their 2005 schedule yet.

Here are existing Great Lakes sites:
Metro Beach on Lake St. Clair has hosted yearly races until last year.
Grand Haven, Mich draws the one of best fan bases in the region.
Cleveland, Fairport, Geneva, Mentor have all hosted recent races on Lake Erie.
St Clair River hosts their annual Classic event.
Port Huron is set for the next few years
Milwaukee has recently combined racing with their annual air show.
Don't know much about Buffalo
Cincinnati is tight, but the fans love to watch boats running thru the bridges.
Chattanooga? Should be an interesting new race site.

There are many other sites that need to be pursued.

These sites have the potential to host an entire Central Division series. They all also have the ability to dish up challenging offshore racing conditions.

For teams that have a "divisional budget", a Central Division series gives them the opportunity to race for a points title, gain local sponsorship without having to land National brands, and still be part of the bigger picture with a shot at National and World titles. We were close to this a couple of years back, and it slipped away.

To make it attractive to producers, you need some reason for National teams to want to attend. Local producers and sponsors want to see Baccardi and Spiderman come to play (these are names pulled from thin air, don't read anything into it. Point being they both carry National recognition with the brands they promote). Somehow, this incentive has to tie into the Parent Bodies, with points at stake.

Just .$02,
Brian

Rooboinker

I'm with Gordo!

Captnmike

Ron,

I haven't talked to Tony yet, but my thought is we are racers not promoters.

There are enough race sites running in the Midwest today to have a championship.

If we can get enough racers together to offer the promoters a quality race at a reasonable cost, I think some of the sites that have stopped having races will bring them back.

These thoughts are purely of the undersigned

Mike Sadlon

Ted G

iTrader: (1)

Mike has a point. We had races here on the Chesapeake for 10 years or so. Then things got a little crazy and we stopped. OPA came on pretty strong 2 years ago and I got with them about trying it down here. 2 years later Cambridge is very happy, we have a great relationship, and the OPA has a great race site-it can be done.

Ron P

Mike, if the race promoters could guarentee a certain number of boats at the event, then getting sponsors would be much easier. Look what happened in Milwaukee last year. Only a handfull of boats showed up. Bet those sponsors won't pony up again.

BajaIceBreaker

I got the 2005 GLSCS race schedule today from the GLOPRA guys at the Cleveland Boat Show. Here it is...

June 10-12 Cape Code, MA
July 8-10 Mentor, OH
July 29-31 St. Clair, MI
August 10-12 Point Pleasant, NJ
September 2-4 Louisville, KY
September 23-25 Cambridge, MD
October 7-9 Camden, NJ (Championship)

BajaIceBreaker

I know it may be a dumb question, but why do they call themselves the GREAT LAKES silver cup series? There's only 1 race in one of the Great Lakes

p4-33

ScarabS:

This might explain things a bit:

OPA Race: June 10-12 Cape Code, MA
GLSCS: July 8-10 Mentor, OH
OSS Race: July 29-31 St. Clair, MI
OPA Race: August 10-12 Point Pleasant, NJ
OSS Race: September 2-4 Louisville, KY
OPA Race: September 23-25 Cambridge, MD
OPA Race: October 7-9 Camden, NJ (Championship)

So yes, the one race that GLSCS is putting on is a Great Lakes race.

Cheers,
Brian