An Open Letter to APBA Offshore Racers, Fans, Families and Sponsors
09-20-2003 | 05:01 PM
#1
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An Open Letter to APBA Offshore Racers, Fans, Families and Sponsors
This past week was a true exercise in extremes. We fought so hard to secure Key West because our fans and racers wanted it badly so it was truly disappointing to have to forego a race there this year, particularly at such a late date.
On the other hand, we have secured a tremendous venue in Orange Beach, Alabama. The event will draw far more people and will receive far more mainstream media coverage because of its proximity to major population centers and the support from state and local officials. This means more fans for the future. Also, GMC has a top dealer group in the area that will help promote the event and further raise the profile of the sport, thus further solidifying the support of the most prolific sponsor in the history of the sport.
We did not leave Key West over simply the $75,000 sanction fee that the promoter refused to pay at the 11th hour. The hard costs for the event exceed $200,000 including city services, land rental, fencing, helicopters, etc. Regardless of whether there was a written agreement in place or not was not the issue either. We could not secure adequate guarantees that those bills would be paid. In the past we have picked up those kinds of bills when promoters have refused to pay. Indeed, we have done that more times in the past 5 years than you can possibly imagine.
Unfortunately, we were not in a position to pay them if that became necessary in Key West. The City could not pick up those costs and neither could the county. The lodging industry had apparently already committed monies to the promoter so they were not an option either. Key West, furthermore, does not have enough major businesses to support the balance of these expenses through local sponsorships and even if it did there was not enough time to secure commitments without risking that we could not move the event to another location in the event those efforts failed.
Moreover, we could not guarantee that the racers and our sponsors would not be required to pay surcharges to the promoter once they appeared at the event. Indeed, based on his past actions and conversations we had with the promoter this was certainly a very serious possibility and one we could not accept.
Nevertheless, we did all we could to work through these issues and had every intention on doing what we had to do to get through this year without taking such drastic action when, without warning, the promoter suddenly decided to stage his own event, independent of APBA Offshore. Again, we were privately handling this matter when he released his "invitation". We also learned from officials in Key West that he had been lobbying for changes to his TDC agreements to delete any and all requirements that he secure an APBA Offshore sanction as a prerequisite for receiving TDC funding. So it seemed pretty clear to us that he believed APBA Offshore was not a necessary element to a successful event.
Many of you will recall that this was precisely the same rationale used by promoters in Fort Myers and Sarasota years ago, causing a similar split.
Everyone must realize that none of us can afford to allow any promoter to believe that the APBA Offshore sanction and seal of approval are worthless. If we do then we will be forever doomed to remain a club sport with virtually no ability to secure bigger sponsors and sanction fees and thus ultimately more money for you.
Despite the terrible inconveniences this move has caused, we believe even more strongly today that what we did was in your best interest in light of the most recent revelations from Key West officials. Specifically, we have learned from both the city of Key West and the US Navy that the Navy property has not been secured for the event. Indeed, it appears as though the only way to do so now would be for some third party to pay the government contractor a huge sum of money to suspend its operations during the event. According to what we know, the promoter has made no such arrangements, thus putting the event in serious jeopardy.
The promoter had assured us that no such issues existed. Should we have done more to verify the veracity of his claims? Easy to second guess at this point but certainly we felt we could trust the information we were getting from our promoter who also was an LLC member. At the end of the day though, the buck stops with us and so this situation is absolutely our responsibility. Again, we apologize and all of the LLC members are working harder than ever to make the best out of a difficult and extremely aggravating situation.
We are a small business doing the best we can to operate using traditional sound business principles. We have a number of successful business people in our ownership group and each one of them will tell you, however, just how difficult it is to apply these principles in such an historically and consistently volatile environment. There is a good reason why previous attempts at making this sport what it deserves to be have failed.
OPT had millions of dollars in money and star power but yet it was "gone in 60seconds." Gene Whipp did much to turn the sport around. He was a visionary; a great leader and a man who put his money where his mouth was to make things happen for all of us. But even he suffered innumerable setbacks in the face of great adversity ultimately leading him to walk away after only two years at the helm.
When the LLC assumed control of the sport in 2000 we knew we had a tough fight in front of us. There were many who truly did not want to see the sport grow and prosper because it threatened their stranglehold on it. Others we knew would fight us because they simply opposed the changes we advocated and feared how history might treat them if we succeeded where they had failed for so many years.
That has been patently evident this year with the all out attempts by certain people to steal the business we have created over the past four years. Well, these battles cost us dearly both financially and in lost opportunities. Nevertheless, we fought hard and showed no weakness because we believe in this sport. We love this sport and we are committed to seeing this journey through.
No group of people have ever worked as hard or spent as much money exclusively to build the sport as the founding LLC members have done the past four years.
Despite it all we have produced great television; paid every dime of purse we committed to and staged a full schedule every year even if it has changed radically in mid-season on too many occasions for all of our tastes. And the events have improved in every way despite these obstacles.
But most importantly, we have built, with your help and commitment, a viable motorsports entertainment property. In other words, the basic product - APBA Offshore Racing - is exceptional. And we all did this together, on the fly, in less than 3 years. We fought the good fight and won. With this move to Orange Beach, the settlement of the lawsuits, and the support of GM and GMC, we believe we are about to emerge from the tunnel into the bright light of the future.
We recognize, however, particularly in the wake of the Key West situation, that as a sanctioning body we can no longer get by doing it all ourselves. The sanctioning body must be free to focus on working to improve the racing product - rules, hardware deals, inspections, lower the cost of racing, keep the playing field even, sponsorships, television, prize money, contingency money, high points money, licensing, merchandising, and branding, etc.
So here is what we must do now: We must capitalize on the racing product we have built. The first step in doing that is to construct a stable schedule that racers, fans, and sponsors can rely on 100% from the day it is published. These events must be professionally produced and managed by people who are exclusively dedicated to that objective. The relationship and communication between these people and the sanctioning body must be cooperative and there must be a mutual commitment to making this sport the best. We can do it. We now know what works. Get the fans close to the sponsors, the racers, and the racing. We have identified 21 venues throughout North America that fit our Stadium Style Racing model and now we must focus our efforts on securing them and making them work. We are working on an exciting comprehensive plan to do just that.
In the next 90 days we will be talking to you more about that plan and how it will positively impact all of you. But no matter how good that plan is, we will never get anywhere without a full-blown commitment from all of you. Please try to understand and appreciate where we are in terms of the history of our sport and the obstacles we have overcome to get here.
Yes, there always will be a time and place to voice your frustrations and concerns but everyone who believes they are part of the APBA Offshore family should always think first before they speak or act – Is what I am about to say or do going to be productive for what we are all trying to achieve?
We must all come together if we are going to break out of the “club mentality” which has existed for the past 50 years. Unification and a commitment to the task will lead to the result we all want. I am more confident of that than ever. We believe in you. None of us is in this for the short-term profit. We are in it because we all share the same vision that ours is the greatest sport on the planet.
So now you must decide whether you can get past this latest tough setback and move forward. We know what we are going to do and we damn sure know that we want all of you with us. Let’s get back to work.
APBA Offshore
On the other hand, we have secured a tremendous venue in Orange Beach, Alabama. The event will draw far more people and will receive far more mainstream media coverage because of its proximity to major population centers and the support from state and local officials. This means more fans for the future. Also, GMC has a top dealer group in the area that will help promote the event and further raise the profile of the sport, thus further solidifying the support of the most prolific sponsor in the history of the sport.
We did not leave Key West over simply the $75,000 sanction fee that the promoter refused to pay at the 11th hour. The hard costs for the event exceed $200,000 including city services, land rental, fencing, helicopters, etc. Regardless of whether there was a written agreement in place or not was not the issue either. We could not secure adequate guarantees that those bills would be paid. In the past we have picked up those kinds of bills when promoters have refused to pay. Indeed, we have done that more times in the past 5 years than you can possibly imagine.
Unfortunately, we were not in a position to pay them if that became necessary in Key West. The City could not pick up those costs and neither could the county. The lodging industry had apparently already committed monies to the promoter so they were not an option either. Key West, furthermore, does not have enough major businesses to support the balance of these expenses through local sponsorships and even if it did there was not enough time to secure commitments without risking that we could not move the event to another location in the event those efforts failed.
Moreover, we could not guarantee that the racers and our sponsors would not be required to pay surcharges to the promoter once they appeared at the event. Indeed, based on his past actions and conversations we had with the promoter this was certainly a very serious possibility and one we could not accept.
Nevertheless, we did all we could to work through these issues and had every intention on doing what we had to do to get through this year without taking such drastic action when, without warning, the promoter suddenly decided to stage his own event, independent of APBA Offshore. Again, we were privately handling this matter when he released his "invitation". We also learned from officials in Key West that he had been lobbying for changes to his TDC agreements to delete any and all requirements that he secure an APBA Offshore sanction as a prerequisite for receiving TDC funding. So it seemed pretty clear to us that he believed APBA Offshore was not a necessary element to a successful event.
Many of you will recall that this was precisely the same rationale used by promoters in Fort Myers and Sarasota years ago, causing a similar split.
Everyone must realize that none of us can afford to allow any promoter to believe that the APBA Offshore sanction and seal of approval are worthless. If we do then we will be forever doomed to remain a club sport with virtually no ability to secure bigger sponsors and sanction fees and thus ultimately more money for you.
Despite the terrible inconveniences this move has caused, we believe even more strongly today that what we did was in your best interest in light of the most recent revelations from Key West officials. Specifically, we have learned from both the city of Key West and the US Navy that the Navy property has not been secured for the event. Indeed, it appears as though the only way to do so now would be for some third party to pay the government contractor a huge sum of money to suspend its operations during the event. According to what we know, the promoter has made no such arrangements, thus putting the event in serious jeopardy.
The promoter had assured us that no such issues existed. Should we have done more to verify the veracity of his claims? Easy to second guess at this point but certainly we felt we could trust the information we were getting from our promoter who also was an LLC member. At the end of the day though, the buck stops with us and so this situation is absolutely our responsibility. Again, we apologize and all of the LLC members are working harder than ever to make the best out of a difficult and extremely aggravating situation.
We are a small business doing the best we can to operate using traditional sound business principles. We have a number of successful business people in our ownership group and each one of them will tell you, however, just how difficult it is to apply these principles in such an historically and consistently volatile environment. There is a good reason why previous attempts at making this sport what it deserves to be have failed.
OPT had millions of dollars in money and star power but yet it was "gone in 60seconds." Gene Whipp did much to turn the sport around. He was a visionary; a great leader and a man who put his money where his mouth was to make things happen for all of us. But even he suffered innumerable setbacks in the face of great adversity ultimately leading him to walk away after only two years at the helm.
When the LLC assumed control of the sport in 2000 we knew we had a tough fight in front of us. There were many who truly did not want to see the sport grow and prosper because it threatened their stranglehold on it. Others we knew would fight us because they simply opposed the changes we advocated and feared how history might treat them if we succeeded where they had failed for so many years.
That has been patently evident this year with the all out attempts by certain people to steal the business we have created over the past four years. Well, these battles cost us dearly both financially and in lost opportunities. Nevertheless, we fought hard and showed no weakness because we believe in this sport. We love this sport and we are committed to seeing this journey through.
No group of people have ever worked as hard or spent as much money exclusively to build the sport as the founding LLC members have done the past four years.
Despite it all we have produced great television; paid every dime of purse we committed to and staged a full schedule every year even if it has changed radically in mid-season on too many occasions for all of our tastes. And the events have improved in every way despite these obstacles.
But most importantly, we have built, with your help and commitment, a viable motorsports entertainment property. In other words, the basic product - APBA Offshore Racing - is exceptional. And we all did this together, on the fly, in less than 3 years. We fought the good fight and won. With this move to Orange Beach, the settlement of the lawsuits, and the support of GM and GMC, we believe we are about to emerge from the tunnel into the bright light of the future.
We recognize, however, particularly in the wake of the Key West situation, that as a sanctioning body we can no longer get by doing it all ourselves. The sanctioning body must be free to focus on working to improve the racing product - rules, hardware deals, inspections, lower the cost of racing, keep the playing field even, sponsorships, television, prize money, contingency money, high points money, licensing, merchandising, and branding, etc.
So here is what we must do now: We must capitalize on the racing product we have built. The first step in doing that is to construct a stable schedule that racers, fans, and sponsors can rely on 100% from the day it is published. These events must be professionally produced and managed by people who are exclusively dedicated to that objective. The relationship and communication between these people and the sanctioning body must be cooperative and there must be a mutual commitment to making this sport the best. We can do it. We now know what works. Get the fans close to the sponsors, the racers, and the racing. We have identified 21 venues throughout North America that fit our Stadium Style Racing model and now we must focus our efforts on securing them and making them work. We are working on an exciting comprehensive plan to do just that.
In the next 90 days we will be talking to you more about that plan and how it will positively impact all of you. But no matter how good that plan is, we will never get anywhere without a full-blown commitment from all of you. Please try to understand and appreciate where we are in terms of the history of our sport and the obstacles we have overcome to get here.
Yes, there always will be a time and place to voice your frustrations and concerns but everyone who believes they are part of the APBA Offshore family should always think first before they speak or act – Is what I am about to say or do going to be productive for what we are all trying to achieve?
We must all come together if we are going to break out of the “club mentality” which has existed for the past 50 years. Unification and a commitment to the task will lead to the result we all want. I am more confident of that than ever. We believe in you. None of us is in this for the short-term profit. We are in it because we all share the same vision that ours is the greatest sport on the planet.
So now you must decide whether you can get past this latest tough setback and move forward. We know what we are going to do and we damn sure know that we want all of you with us. Let’s get back to work.
APBA Offshore
09-20-2003 | 08:05 PM
#3
Charter Member #94
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,694
Likes: 5
From: Sunrise Beach MO
Re: An Open Letter to APBA Offshore Racers, Fans, Families and Sponsors
"At the end of the day though, the buck stops with us and so this situation is absolutely our responsibility. Again, we apologize and all of the LLC members are working harder than ever to make the best out of a difficult and extremely aggravating situation. "
So, are you saying that Lee Mills is a hero for phucking us racers time and again?
Have fun in Key West...
__________________
Abby-someone
Abby-someone
09-20-2003 | 08:59 PM
#4
Registered
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,289
Likes: 0
From: CRANBURY,NJ
its too late when 1000's of people will lose money no matter what apba does, its a shame that you can't get a schedule and stick with it,like nascar. not to make this a sbi apba thing,they had the same schedule for three years. like someone said good race sites + the racers= successful offshore racing. What we all want!!!!
I was jus saying history keeps repeating itself????????
no i'm not saying lee mills is a hero,he's a ******* to think he can pull any race boats. what does he think the racers will compete for? it's about beating the guy you raced all year. no i'm not going to key west, poker run, sarasota oct 10. if i got room come for a ride,augie drove my boat ask him what he thinks.
I was jus saying history keeps repeating itself????????
no i'm not saying lee mills is a hero,he's a ******* to think he can pull any race boats. what does he think the racers will compete for? it's about beating the guy you raced all year. no i'm not going to key west, poker run, sarasota oct 10. if i got room come for a ride,augie drove my boat ask him what he thinks.
09-20-2003 | 09:09 PM
#5
Registered
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 5,140
Likes: 236
From: Edison NJ USA
Mike you almost brought a tear to my eye,can I have an AMEN. I like what your about Mike what can I do to help? I have been venting for the last 4 days but lets get back to business.Great men overcome obstacles and take advantage of what others say is imposable.
Big HP and big balls
MD
Big HP and big balls
MD
09-21-2003 | 07:23 AM
#7
Platinum Member
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 596
Likes: 0
From: Fort Myers, Florida
Way yo go Mr.A,lay it on the line so we know whats going on.Randy, glad to hear you got it back together too.Mr.A there are a lote of peaple working on getting you back here,it may take a little time but it will happen. Mel Team Vixen
09-21-2003 | 08:03 AM
#8
Charter Member
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,206
Likes: 1
From: Beachwood N.J.
Originally posted by outer42
nice letter,but it always the other guys fault never you mike a. thats what 5 or 6 sites gone???????? I"ll stick to poker running.
nice letter,but it always the other guys fault never you mike a. thats what 5 or 6 sites gone???????? I"ll stick to poker running.
WOW , My hat off to you Scott
MIke Merola
__________________
2014 OPA-APBA National Champion Class 7 .Hauling Trash 725.
2014 OPA-APBA National Champion Class 7 .Hauling Trash 725.
09-21-2003 | 09:33 AM
#9
Registered
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,289
Likes: 0
From: CRANBURY,NJ
mike a i did race one year with sbi,i would love to come back, with a level playing field and a schedule that stays the same as when the season begins.
as for you only lost two sites, what about Texas,Bahama's, Cincinnati. it jus seems history repeats itself.
if your schedule stays the same next year,you'll sea me in suoerv or suoer cat. there alot of racers out there,jus to fed up to put up with b.s. we all do that during the week to make the money to come out and race and spend it.
The main thing is the fans plan vacations around races,it not fair to them,let alone the racers. you say you 're gonna help with plane flights and such,but you can't nip the bud on everyone that was going to k.w. it may have been lees fault and he's a ass,he got carbonel now he got you.
you jus can't replace k.w with the water and history!!
good luck in bama Scott Applegate jus truckin
as for you only lost two sites, what about Texas,Bahama's, Cincinnati. it jus seems history repeats itself.
if your schedule stays the same next year,you'll sea me in suoerv or suoer cat. there alot of racers out there,jus to fed up to put up with b.s. we all do that during the week to make the money to come out and race and spend it.
The main thing is the fans plan vacations around races,it not fair to them,let alone the racers. you say you 're gonna help with plane flights and such,but you can't nip the bud on everyone that was going to k.w. it may have been lees fault and he's a ass,he got carbonel now he got you.
you jus can't replace k.w with the water and history!!
good luck in bama Scott Applegate jus truckin
Last edited by outer42; 09-21-2003 at 09:36 AM.
09-21-2003 | 11:57 AM
#10
Registered
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 2,907
Likes: 0
From: Quogue, NY
Re: An Open Letter to APBA Offshore Racers, Fans, Families and Sponsors
Originally posted by APBA Offshore
... as a sanctioning body we can no longer get by doing it all ourselves. The sanctioning body must be free to focus on working to improve the racing product ...
The first step in doing that is to construct a stable schedule that racers, fans, and sponsors can rely on 100% from the day it is published. These events must be professionally produced and managed by people who are exclusively dedicated to that objective..... We are working on an exciting comprehensive plan to do just that. ...
In the next 90 days we will be talking to you more about that plan and how it will positively impact all of you.
... as a sanctioning body we can no longer get by doing it all ourselves. The sanctioning body must be free to focus on working to improve the racing product ...
The first step in doing that is to construct a stable schedule that racers, fans, and sponsors can rely on 100% from the day it is published. These events must be professionally produced and managed by people who are exclusively dedicated to that objective..... We are working on an exciting comprehensive plan to do just that. ...
In the next 90 days we will be talking to you more about that plan and how it will positively impact all of you.
The next 90 have started, please tell us more.
Most of all, please tell us more about the Offshore Racing League. Racers have been invited to become members of APBA & ORL. They want to know of what they are becoming a member of.
Come to think of it, send me an application. When I became an APBA member, I didn't know that there are two APBAs. I don't want to perpetuate that mistake.
