Ladies and Gentlemen of APBA Offshore:

Today we are announcing that due to circumstances beyond our control this year's APBA/UIM Offshore World Championships will be held in Orange Beach, Alabama the week of November 10-16. We are thrilled to be associated with Gary Nichols and the Gulf Coast Powerboat Association. As many of you know they staged an outstanding event this past August and promise to produce the best World Championships in the history of our sport. The entire community is enthusiastic and excited at the opportunity to host us, you, your families and our sponsors and we are all confident that you will enjoy the experience.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and trouble this move may cause. If we could have made it work we would have done everything humanly within our power to do so. We made this decision after tremendous, painstaking discussions and analyses of our options and the repercussions of staying in Key West this year versus making a move in a different direction. At the end of the day we unanimously concluded that racing in Key West simply was not a viable option. Let us explain why:

We notified the Key West promoter, Lee Mills, several weeks ago that he needed to sign a sanction agreement and pay the requisite sanction fee if he wanted an APBA sanction. In the end, Mr. Mills chose to stage his own independent event. Many of you received his invitation and noticed that there was no mention of the APBA. You noticed the same thing about his website. We noticed too.

In short, we could not guarantee our racers, sponsors and fans, that the Key West event would be run using APBA Offshore technical and competition rules, and thus qualify as a legitimate UIM recognized official World Championships. Further since we could not guarantee what the costs and conditions of participation would be for you we felt we had no other choice but to make this move.

Since 1999 we have made tremendous strides against sometimes incredible odds and some pretty stiff opposition to move this sport ahead. The racing is much improved. Our rules and enforcement procedures are vastly superior.

The quality of our television product is significantly enriched and the amount of actual programming we produce now is exponentially greater than ever before. We are producing better and more professional events as evidenced by Milwaukee and we have a firm template for the future as further evidenced by our recent move to St. Petersburg. In addition, we also have fulfilled all of our commitments to you, including financing several races over the past several years to ensure you always had a full schedule, and paying every dime of prize money we ever committed to pay. We also have brought more contingency sponsor money to the sport than ever before.

This year, moreover, we secured the most significant non-marine related sponsor in the history of the sport which has raised the profile of offshore racing higher than its previous 100 year history. GMC has given us tremendous credibility and exposure and this relationship will continue to grow and prosper in 2004!!!

In addition, while we have been engaged in an unpleasant situation with certain members of APBA Detroit for the past 10 months, it is now over. We are finalizing the formal settlement as we speak and the bottom line is that our group will remain APBA and UIM affiliated for many years to come!

Further, while we have some related issues with one of our best and longest running sponsors, Mercury Racing, we continue a positive dialogue and remain hopeful that we will soon be able to announce a resolution which benefits all of us.

We also will be announcing a 2004 schedule that will be exciting and most importantly, solid as a rock. We know you have heard that before but we have taken certain steps to minimize the instability of our venues and dates. We also are working on an exciting new business venture which will further ensure future schedule stability. Indeed, that is our number one priority next season. We are as tired of the changes as you are and fully recognize and appreciate the importance of a solid stable schedule to all of our success.

For the sport to grow, we need business partners who want all of us to succeed. We need to be competing in bigger markets that are easy to get to and where sponsors can get great exposure. Orange Beach is close to several large population centers such as Birmingham and Mobile. Alabama is a huge sports state and we all know about their enthusiasm for motorsports with the famous Talladega Speedway and two Winston Cup events each year.

Significantly, GMC also has a fabulous dealer group in the area which makes the venue change a positive one for GMC, our sponsorship, and for your investment in us.

In short, we will make this move a positive one for you, your sponsors, families and fans. We firmly believe that we have successfully navigated through the toughest part of the long journey we embarked on in 1999. Your loyalty, faith, and commitment will be rewarded. Thank you for all of your support and understanding.

Now, let’s go racing!!!

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call us.

Sincerely,


Michael D. Allweiss
Gordon Kraft
Nigel Hook
Mark Nemschoff
Allen Allweiss
Steve Miklos
Ted Zoli

Nice Job

Best of Luck Mike!Orange Beack is a GREAT site. Augie

A good statement. Racers will be most happy to hear that the infighting is behind us, and that a lot of working together is before us. Racers are quite literally killing themselves for that sport. Let's never forget that.

Is it really "due to circumstances beyond our control "

Sounds like we have had alot of these circumstances this year ?!!!

Frustrating !!!

It's sad that things have come to this. Many teams and fans will now be changing from Key West to Orange Beach Alabama. I can't imagine how hard this will be for the business owners of Key West. I'm sure it is as much of a loss to them as it is to us, and all because of one mans greed.
Oh well, Alabama here we come!
I hope you're ready for this...

Why should 100 teams and there crew,fans and sponsors all have to move due to 1 man? Cant we work around him? The town of KW must have some say! Are they willing to give it all up for this 1 man? Is his contract that strong that KW is willing to lose it all? We must be missing some facts here. Geno has offered to pay the sanctioning fees so now what could possibly be the problem?
MD

Great plan and post from APBA on what must be a very difficult situtation. I am sure not every one understands the problems with power boat race promoters, but they are all affected by their actions. I am sure APBA will react in a positive manner to make sure this will not happen again ever. GO ORANGE BEACH, AL AND APBA 2004!!!!!!!!

I have to agree with MD. It don't sound kosher. Key West has been the Worlds location for years. The citys tourism is not run by one man. I know the deal is signed for 2003,but it is early enough to try to get back to Key West for 2004. I'm with you MD on this one.

I agree with Typhoon,
If we are supposed to grow in this sport, We should not be changing venues at last minute. I have landed lot of local Key West establishments to sponsor my boat. Key West has been the home of the Worlds and the best boats for years. It is old tradition. Challenging waters, great for spectators, and it is a fun, warm place to go that attracts big crowds.
Moving our Worlds to Alabama, is like moving the Kentucky Darby to Arkansas.
I am sure Orange Bch is a great site, but it does not have the old tradition of Key West. Late Nov, is probably quite chilly up there as well. Not to mention, during race week, there is 2 major Poker Runs that come for race week. Face it, People come to Key West for the weather, fun, and one hell of a power boat week. It will be very hard to top that elsewhere.
If my sponsors are up for it, I will go. I am going to have to change in the bikini's for the big heavy sweats.
BG XO