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**csh-2z** · 08-14-2016, 08:31 AM

Obviously the most compelling topic on Hydroracer! Ask no questions, just vote for John Runne.

**Big Don** · 08-15-2016, 06:28 AM

Maybe they just don't care and which is really sad. You would think the questions would be endless.

I'll fire my first question at you and any other person running for the BOD.

What do you think is the #1 issues facing us today in APBA and what would you do to address it.

**David Weaver** · 08-15-2016, 06:35 AM

John, an often heard complaint from Outboard Clubs (SO, MOD and PRO) is the high cost of insurance for a weekend of racing. There is a belief (rightly or wrongly) that these clubs subsidize the insurance coverage for the larger categories (Inboard, OPC, etc.). Any thoughts or knowledge to share on this topic? Thanks, David.

**Howie Nichols** · 08-15-2016, 07:28 AM

David,
As a current member of the BoD and the Insurance Committee as well as seeking re-election I can try and give you an answer.

I have asked the same question as you. I was told that this is not the case and in fact if we were to try and get an "Outboard" only policy the rates would actually be higher. One of the things looked at is loss run reports to calculate the rates (amongst others) While our (SO/MO/PRO) loss rates are good we still have alot of incidents that could potentially create a loss. This past Thursday (the BoD meets every month via conference call) we discussed it again. I asked if we could get the agents to create a quote for us to have a separate policy as well as look into the option of reduced liability coverage. With that numbers that were tossed around would be a $1 million or $3 million policy as well as the current $5 million we have. A lot depends on what the city and venues require us to have. Part of this is to also look into APBA taking out its own policy to cover the Association itself against loss if we were able to reduce down to $1 or $3 million. This would create a cost savings to the clubs and racers. Many other association costs are also being looked into at this time as well. Hope this helps, I do not have all the answers but am happy to share what I can.

Don,
I think retention of members is one of the bigger issues. With rising costs and further traveling many members are beginning to opt out for cheaper and closer options. My feeling is if we can work on cost of doing business we can then increase the # of venues we have, which in turn would help with retention. In other words you only have to travel 4-5 hours 6 times a year instead of 10 hours 3 times a year. Of course some areas Region 6 & 10 have a great driving school which is helping with recruitment but that doesn't fix the loss of the members we already have.

Several things are happening right now, everyone wants or demands APBA's help in raising money for races. Our new Executive Director (Patrick Mell) has several things going on right now that is working towards doing just that. Patrick's background came from promoting PWC events so he has the knowledge and is trying to get it to work for us.

Bill,
You are correct, we have only a few "workers" that don't race. If we can work on the retention part that would help. It sure would be nice to have some of the folks who no longer drive a race boat stay in the sport and assist in putting together the events and with the officiating. One thing we need to remember regardless is those who are doing this are VOLUNTEERING their time and their own $ to do so. To many times I see these guys get beat on by drivers complaining about one thing or another and those volunteers just say why do I do this? They step back and begin to show up at fewer and fewer events. As for the Website, I know its a sore subject for many, things are being investigated but as far as I know it is not top of the list. Should it be? Seems like we have lots of areas to work on.

One other note is we discussed trying to make our rules more user friendly, this is a major undertaking and work in progress so it may not be seen right away but it is a project to see if it would help and also fix our rules by reducing the clutter in the books. I still believe that rules for categories that race together should be almost identical if at all possible, it only helps the drivers and officials alike towards understanding what we need to do.

**David Weaver** · 08-15-2016, 09:51 AM

Howie, thanks for the insurance commentary!

Here is another item for discussion. It costs an additional $300 in Sanction costs for the host club of a Nationals. Does this mean that the combined nationals (SO/MOD) pay a total of $600? And most importantly, what value or service does APBA provide the host club for this $300??

Thanks!

**Matt Dagostino** · 08-15-2016, 02:07 PM

David...........APBA is a member driven organization kept alive by our membership dues along with sanction fees and National Meeting fees etc etc. They need every dime they can muster to keep the lights on and operate. They provide no extra service for the additional fees but use them to help keep our organization solvent. As the late great JFK said........ask not what APBA can do for you, but what you can do for APBA...........( well maybe he didn't quite put it that way).

**Big Don** · 08-15-2016, 02:41 PM

Here are the Bio's

Attached Files

Canidiates for APBA BOD.pdf (281.5 KB, 0 views)

**adamallen** · 08-15-2016, 04:55 PM

I'd like to preface that a good majority of the following thoughts are observations that I learned from many nights at Ann Arbor area watering holes with 12M and 25M. Two leaders of our sport that through trial and error helped to grow the sport of Powerboat Racing. Their dedication and thoughtful leadership to this sport is something we all should be envious of...

Sponsorship, websites and insurance rates are concerns that all of us need to pay attention to, true. These issues although important are NOT the prize. New members solve our short term and most if not all long term growth plans.

The most impactful activities we can participate in is membership growth. Membership growth equals more racers, more racers equals more entries, more entries equals more money for clubs to offset rising costs. It also promotes better competition, we're not all racing for fun you know!

MHRA and SOA have gamed the system for 10 plus years. Each of these clubs identified that producing quality events at great race sites does you no good if you're racing against yourself. Other clubs have caught on as well, South Shore Outboard, BSOA, TRORA, MRC and IOA to name a few.

These clubs have a business model that is proven and works to promote the sport that we are all so passionate about. In some cases it has worked better than expected, they've had to turn away students due to larger than expected turnouts. Great problem to have!

Just like anything else in life this success was not handed to them on a silver platter. Hard work that at its core requires year round follow up, planning and execution to get "Folks in boats". They've also learned to set the expectation that when you become part of our tribe, you have to do your share to make an event successful. As you can imagine this helps spread the workload so we aren't burning out our race committees.

If the BOD wanted to be progressive they would focus their efforts on finding "new name racers" Dean and Mark have been preaching and measuring their success on this three work phrase for some time now as well as changing the way we handle our annual convention.

There's no need to reinvent the wheel, we know Schools work. APBA should and can put resources in place to support the clubs by assisting in and finding new racers on the clubs behalf. If Howie Nichols wants to host a school in Jesup it should be on APBA and the Category's shoulders that the classroom is filled. Howie should only need to worry about execution of the Driving School and the weekend event. It's a numbers game, right? Wouldn't it be great if at the annual convention each category announced we had X number of students and X number converted to memberships? Let's end the time wasting that our current convention procures with discussions on items that are mostly nonsense and does nothing but promote more drain circling. A convention that is more like a trade show for products, ideas and camaraderie of our collective successes in membership growth.

Let's say we have 20 clubs putting on 3 Schools a year with 10 students at each. That's 600 potential "New name racers". I'd take 10% a year, maybe more on a good year.

This country has a population of over 300 million, surely we can find 600 a year that want to try their hand at racing boats!

To end my rant, I can only think of what 14H would say during this political season: "Let's make boat racing great again!" (maybe the Mad Russian too)

JOHN RUNNE FOR APBA BOD!

**Ram4x4** · 08-15-2016, 05:55 PM

As a first year driver here's my take on things:

If everyone agrees that "growth of the sport" equates to more drivers, then there are definite key components to that end.

1. People have to know we exist. Period. I am here because TRORA hauled their boats to a local mall for a weekend and sold me on it with videos and the driver school. I didn't find out about websites or social media sites until after, so maybe weekend shows presents one of the better opportunities?

2. Cost. People get interested in all sorts of things, but before they even think about committing to something, the first question they want answered is "what does it cost?". The reality is there is no way to give them any exact figures because things depend on so many factors, but surely some sort of list can be created detailing prices and costs. We should never be vague in this regard. We should never tell someone "around $3,000 if you buy a used boat" and then they discover there's another $1,000+ cost for safety gear, etc. They want to see the numbers up front. No one likes a used car salesman.

3. Club money. It seems this is always a sticking point. Racer School costs money, boats are needed, engines are needed and although many are so willing to donate the use of theirs to run a school, realistically it shouldn't be that way. Clubs should look for ways of bringing in money other than collecting fees at a race event. Volunteer fire departments in my area hold frequent raffles and parties/dinners and raise a good bit of cash. Why couldn't a club pool some money and raffle an engine, or a boat, or if that seems too high on the list, helmets, or kevlars...or hell, other things not even boat related so tickets would potentially sell well?

4. Retention. This one plays into the recruitment effort too. If more are leaving than coming in, it's a loss. It's also a difficult one because there are as many reasons why someone continues to race as there are people racing. Some just want to show up, sign up and race. Some want to get involved deeper, and some want to take it up a notch and become an official. How can we motivate the racers to want to step it up? I get it, racing requires work. Hauling boats off trailers, setting up engines, pop-ups, all the gear, being out in the sun all day, it's tiring, but it's a good tired. Not everyone shows up with 3+ boats and runs in every lass they can, especially new drivers. THAT is a key time to start getting them involved with the processes of running an event. Most new drivers usually have someone mentoring them for the racing aspect, but why can't an official take them under their wing when they aren't driving and get them involved in scoring, or directing, etc (and I don't mean throw them in a flag boat). Most folks I've met tend to stick with something if they feel an integral part of it all, not just one small aspect. The approach of "well, if they're interested, they'll ask or volunteer" doesn't work. Go get them. Expand the racer school to include time shadowing officials in those capacities.

**csh-2z** · 08-16-2016, 06:46 PM

I was beginning to think nobody cared! First I�d like to thank Howie for his response about the insurance question. The BOD meeting minutes are posted on the APBA site under �resources�. The most recent meeting has not yet been posted and some of the prior minutes seem to be missing.
Our biggest issue, as mentioned in earlier posts by Adam Allen, Don Allen and Ram4X4, is definitely growth and retention of membership.

As posted on the APBA Social site:
Last year I composed a letter addressed to the APBA BoD and APBA Council members about my concerns for the future of APBA and all of boat racing. The feedback I received from both groups was minimal to say the least. Those that had responded were very positive and supportive of my objective. However most just didn't bother to respond at all.
This was my letter.
I approached some of you in Detroit about my concerns for the future of APBA. As it stands right now, the future of APBA is not very promising. Participation levels are down and dwindling every year. This has been going on for about the past twenty five years, at least. There are fewer events across all categories, nationwide than at any time in our history. Any growth recently has been sporadic at best and only occurring in two or three areas of the country. The economy has not been friendly to a group that does as much traveling as we do. Local racing in many regions are few and far between.
We come together at our races, club meetings and most importantly our APBA Annual Meeting to renew our friendships, celebrate our victories, honor the best performers of the year and discuss some of the problems we are facing, year after year after year. Yet somehow, even with all of the worldly knowledge and experience we accumulatively have, we never seem to come to an agreement on a solution for our decline.
I am of the mindset that we need to have a serious debate on this topic, and only this topic, until we have that solution.

I�d like to offer a brief synopsis of some of the discussions we�ve had recently among some members of the SORC. What I�m going to present has the unanimous support of the SORC.

Of all of the issues we face, year after year, regardless of category, we share a few common threads that we have not been able to overcome. They can all be summed up with one word, growth. Introducing new people to the sport, putting new people in boats, getting interested people the information they need to get involved, and making them aware of all the things APBA, and only APBA can offer. We don�t do that.
I believe APBA would benefit greatly by updating our philosophy and adding to the purpose of our organization a greater effort of centralized promotion for all categories. If this requires changes in our by-laws or mission statement or just the focus of our attention, whatever we have to do to turn this decline around, we need to do and do it soon.
I firmly believe we need the focus of APBA to grow the sport of boat racing from the grass roots up.
Stock Outboard is the affordable entry level category. All other categories depend on Stock Outboard to cultivate boat racers for their own growth. Think about this. When thousands of people line the shores of an Unlimited race, Tunnel boat races, Inboard races or even Pro races. There will be some people that are interested in getting into the sport, but there are obstacles. Where do they start? Are they capable? Do they have the resources? Are the people that drive these boats just regular people like me? Who do I ask? Where do I begin?
Somebody has to be there to provide those answers, and more. Are they going to plop down $50,000-$100,000 for an Inboard rig? Or $40,000 for a Tunnel boat rig? Are they willing to throw $15,000 into a decent Pro outfit? NO, NO and NO. The proof is in our numbers.
There is not enough local racing to justify spending that kind of money.
Get these people to a Stock Outboard race!
Offer them a start where they can affordably try the sport out. As it is, they don't even know Stock Outboard exists. They don't know that there is an affordable category of boat racing that they can use as a stepping stone to their ultimate goal. We already know that if we can get them in a boat, they'll get hooked. We have a good product but these people don't know about all of the options available in APBA. They only know what is in front of them. And only APBA can offer what they want.
We need APBA to be present at every race in ALL categories with a booth able to professionally display our brand with information, membership applications, apparel, brochures, schedules, local contacts and more. The clubs don't have the resources. Even if they did, it would be foolish to spend those resources on multiple versions of the same thing when the parent organization could do it nationwide with three or four. And do it better!
We need a Marketing team to advertise and promote every race we put on in the country (newspaper, magazine TV, radio coverage etc.). A professional advertising/marketing group focused on growing membership, enticing sponsorship for all categories and raising public awareness of our presence. Our clubs cannot do it effectively, we are too busy putting on the events. We have neither the expertise nor manpower to do it right as well as professionally. What we're doing, is not working. Stock Outboard should have a presence at as many events in other categories as possible. Either on the water, as a demo or just an area in the pits to talk to people that may be interested. The only way we will succeed in growing our sport is working together, cooperation between categories. UNITED WE STAND.
INVEST IN STOCK OUTBOARD.
Think of all of the companies and the products that we all use in this sport. From our boat building supplies to our trailers, tools, even our tow vehicles and the gas & oil they burn. The opportunities are endless. A good sports marketing group should be able to put us on the map.� Category Sponsors� could have their decals on every boat in the category or on the trailers that we pull over hundreds of thousands of miles of highways every year all over the country.
What we�re doing, the status quo, is not working. I�ve been told that we�ve tried this before. It didn�t work! Do we just give up? Is that who we are? No, we are competitors, we don�t quit because winners don�t quit, and quitters don�t win. We try harder. We try something different. We think outside the box. We innovate. We do what it takes to win. And many of us have been doing this our whole lives and want to continue to pass it on from generation to generation.
As I said in the beginning, right now, we are losing. Will that be our legacy?

Our job (the SORC) is to improve the product. APBA's job should be selling it.
I am currently working on a power point presentation about Stock Outboard reflecting on our unique sport through our history, family atmosphere and yet intense level of competition and committment. I expect this will be a useful tool for whoever we bring in to help APBA succeed.
I look forward to your responses.
Thank you, John Runne SORC Region 4

So, that was a year ago. To my knowledge, nothing.
Since then I have contacted many motorsports marketing firms about this opportunity and I found one that was very interested. The man I spoke to promotes car & motorcycle racing in northern S.C. but grew up in Dayton Ohio in the 1970's and was very familiar with APBA and all of the categories that raced there. He always loved the boat races and would like to work with us. We have our foot in the door.
There are many issues we face in our organization and I want to help. Please post your comments and questions and I'll inform you of my positions.
Thank you, John Runne

**daveracerdsh** · 08-16-2016, 07:55 PM

Maybe, just maybe...being a member run organization is not the best way to move forward if we want to grow
APBA. I have been to around 20 meetings, both as a member of the stock commission and as an interested observer that cares deeply about boat racing. The one thing I see that is killing the sport? People have a "trailer box mentality" You can't mess with the 44XS I have been racing since 1986....how could we POSSIBLY bring in a new motor....that will make mine obsolete! Take a look at how many classes we run in outboards ....stock mod and pro combined. I can't even count that high. Are we trying to get sponsorship? What long term goals to we have? None that I can see. Instead of tackling these issues at national meetings, we spend time talking about how Dylan Runne should be thrown out in BSH at Lake Who cares...really. Maybe it's time for APBA to cut the number of outboard classes down to 10 total. And I mean ten total across the board...stock, mod, and pro. Maybe we could use a new format to attract sponsors. Maybe. Who knows. I suspect we will lurch along like we have been...people taking up time at meetings talking about items that in the long run do NOTHING to help the sport. Maybe it's time to take a hard look at things.......

**raceright** · 08-17-2016, 03:57 AM

Same old Same old. Nothing new here move along.

**HRTV** · 08-17-2016, 06:01 AM

With all due respect to everyone that has posted in this thread so far sadly this is the same thread I've seen every year at this time since I started this site back in 2002. I've been available to help since 2002, again sadly no one has ever reached out to me in nearly 15 years.

I will keep plugging away trying to promote the sport through my social media outlets that most of you are already familiar with.

Everyone have a great day!

https://www.facebook.com/hydroracertv/

http://hydroracerlive.kinja.com/

https://twitter.com/HydroRacerTV

https://www.rebelmouse.com/HydroRacerLive/

https://medium.com/hydroracer-live

**Big Don** · 08-17-2016, 07:14 AM

Pat & Dan, It is the same old thing, could not agree more. But if we continue to do the same old thing then we will get no where and be gone. If we want change and if we are truly tired of that then we need to start somewhere. Members keep electing the same people because that is the name they recognize. If you are new to running for the BOD or are not well known you need to share your ideas. At the end of the day we are all going to vote for our friends or the person we feel can make a difference.

The sad part is most don't give a $#!T and just want to go race and have no clue what goes on behind the scenes.
The stock members will vote for the Stock people, the MOD people will vote for the MOD people, the Inboard people will vote for Inboard people, etc. Then whatever group can sway a few from another category will win the vote.

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