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Just a thought on tow money.

The APBA Valleyfield Canada race based their tow money on miles towed. If this helps at all... ?

sbracing

You could offer appearance money to each team that shows
up. Extend prize payout to 10th place. Have payout at end of year for finishing position in class. You would have to reduce
the current prize payout amount, but it would spread the wealth among everyone. I don't like the idea of tow money based on distance. Say you pick 250 miles as your distance.
What if team has 245 mile trip? where do you draw the line?
This way, everyone benefits some, whether the place well
or not.

Rich

skaterdave

mike, hopefully merola will be able to put something together for the skiffs and garveys to show up and do a few races with the opa this coming year. talked with smitty breifly and he is all for it. but we also don't what to add any headaches to the opa. and i think/hope/know merola the prez of ECBRC is working on us to show up at the same 4 races as last year. as for purse verus tow money. must of us felt that the tow money was the way to go to make the field bigger.

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I believe they paid $$$ per mile traveled. I am not sure if there was a minimum or not. No minimum means everyone gets a little bit of tow money.....

scottc

That would be my thought, a pay per mile traveled. As stated, the Garvey's and Skiffs do that and those guys will sleep in tents to be able to run there ride. Those are the real die hards of the sport and am proud to see them show at our events. The crowds seem to love them also. Smitty, please work a deal for them to show at our events, that would make even a better show for the crowds and sponsors.

GoFastSonic

Scottc And Florda Dave Lol

I agree that it would be great to have the Garvy guys at the races again. They put on a great show and add lots of excitement to the event. Especially the big ugly one in the All Fired Up tub

whiplash22

Having raced all the races with OPA this year and having a great time doing it, I have a few thoughts. It is great that the organization allows input from all the racers and fans alike. I would not want the responsibility of running an org like this and Smitty does a great job. When I raced my local dirt tracks, they had the same problem, how to keep the cars coming to the races and reward them for their loyality. For them it was a points fund at the end of the year and awarded at the banquet, no show no money, it went to the next years fund. The triple crown is a great idea and good money (we won class 2), but maybe the money should go to a points fund and name it after the sponsor, Geico or whomever steps up. Keep the triple crown for bragging rights and pay the purses as a normal race. It may make more teams run the whole season. Plus it would give the sponsors more exposure. Tow money would be great, but where does the money come from. Next year will be a challenge to bring more money into the sport, the economy will be tight. I think the rule combination for the classes is good and fair for all, don't change for changes sake, figure a way to get more boats to all the races and maybe we will draw a few more sponsors to the table. Just my thoughts.
Charlie Groff, Team TKO

Towsontown Auto

Mark, I respect your input and knowledge on this topic. A v-lite class would be the ticket and if there was a real class and tech for one in OPA we would have one tomorrow!!! Unfortunately unless you can travel all over with OSS it would leave you nowhere to race. I love spec class but with F-1 gone that leaves too many great under 30ft singles ridding around at 75mph !!! Don't you think 5 more mph would make the teams play into the race more and less imput on the acceleration to the first turn

TYPHOON

I dont like paying teams per mile. Every team is equal. Also it would be a nightmare for a promoter to attempt to come up with a budget.
I have no problem racing for a trophy and splitting the purse equally between the teams that made the event.
When you bring in money as the purse thats when the teams get more pissed about losing and question the GPS. If more teams looked at it as a great time and got paid to show maybe the tension would go down for teams that didnt win. The GPS is not perfect but at this point it is the best solution for our style of racing.
The bigger question would be who wants more boats in there class with less chance of winning purse money.
Lets say nothing changes and there is no tow money and purse money is payed the same. I dont like that either! I believe OSS has that one figured out . Each boat has a equal value divided by the purse. Classes with 15 boats in it should not have the same purse as a class with 3 boats in it. We all pay the same equipment fee's and no race fees. Why should someone's chance to win money be greater than someone else's? WE ARE ALL EQUAL!!!!
Example there is $25k in the purse and 50 teams show up to race. Each team is worth $500 no matter what class they are in. If your class has 10 boats then your class has $5000 of the purse to divide up.
This is how we do it in OSS and it works out great. In SVL we just voted in paying down top 5 teams for 09. It spreads the wealth so most teams leave with something. You are still rewarding the winning teams with a larger purse but even the middle of the pack teams get paid to be there.
Go easy on me Scott!!
MD

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Yes they brought their tents to Patchogue: