Why the Sutherland Plan Won't Work

[Dave M]

Perfect Answer

A few things I know for certain...

1) Change is never easy.
2) The result will never be known if the action is never taken.
3) When all is said and done; not everyone will be happy.
4) If we keep looking in the rear view mirror we will never get focused on where we are headed.

While this is surely a controversial topic, we must all agree that status-quo is not getting-r-done for us. There must be some middle ground that those on both ends of this can meet at.

If there ever was a more perfect status of the stock outboard currently I have not seen it. Well played.

[smallfish]

I can not congratulate you for not exercising their right to vote on this issue and then be the first to criticize the result. Looks like another political manuver, solution.Seems no one likes the judiciary over the legislature. Maybe I should have been a judge.

[ram95]

Don't mess with the 55H

. As far as the Mark 55H, now that we have new motors for the class, maybe it should be eliminated like the other old Mercs were.

All these motors constitute an entry and a boat-on-the-water. Even more importantly, it's probably a true enthusiast driving it. Consolidating classes by blending motors that dig a deep hole in the water with motors that don't, or motors that don't accel as well, or decel well (big flywheel) will cause some dues paying members to just go away. And, they won't be around to run marathons either.

Each club can take the existing rules and write the sanction to suite what they want to see run. It's called freedom of choice. And the rules allow it. Sutherland deserves A LOT of credit for putting pencil to paper. So do Tom Nuccio and Howie Nichols, who also wrote their ideas down. Proposal 6 crashed, but at the least it provides a point of reference to work from.

Let's not be eliminating any engines. We may find we are eliminating the "engines aka members" who are helping keep our sport running.

Alex

[B Walker]

Voting is over, the membership has spoken

Please express yourself to your Region Representative

The silly season is done....lets go racing!

BW

[ram95]

Got water?

Voting is over, the membership has spoken

Please express yourself to your Region Representative

The silly season is done....lets go racing!

BW

I am the region representative. We were headed to Jesup but yer outta water.

Alex
SO Commissioner, Region One

[HydroKyle93R]

I like how this is still going nowhere...publicly, at least.

[Al Peffley]

Revision of Class Structures in SORC

Since I raced C-stock and OSY for over a decade, I will add my comments to this thread. I think Sutherland has it right -- something needs to be done to streamline the APBA model race venue and modify the number of national racing classes in order to draw new members and bring back racing with real trophies and local media coverage (and maybe even draw some sanction sponsors from local businesses near the race site.)

Most local business sponsors will not support the "hobby shop racing" approach we currently have in operation in many regions (at least for some sanctions in my region.) Clubs need to be more pro-active to obtain sanction sponsors and they will need to increase some race fees (quit wining about a $15-20 class fee increase when you now spend at least twice the money for tow gas as you spent five years ago.)

Changes also may mean fewer races in a region, but hopefully the strong sanctions will result in three heats a day to run for each class. USTS has success in splitting up the classes between the two days of racing on a weekend to insure more heats per class are accomplished (this format would also leave more time for people to volunteer for kicker boat & corner judging positions, and eliminate the excuse some drivers have who race multiple classes that do not ever volunteer for those race support positions.)

Since existing outboard motor manufacturers won't significantly support local outboard racing sanctions nationally (I am not talking about the US sales reps here, but the motor company's headquarters), then regional clubs need to find more local business sponsors for the majority of our races. We might even consider charging a small spectator attendance fee to watch some of our larger races (like some of the inboard clubs in my region; excess money collected usually goes to a local non-profit community services organization.)

That said, class "body count" does not cut it for rationalizing the retention of stock outboard classes. Dean is right -- the real statistics that are important are how many races the class members actually compete in, not how many people register for the class each year.

I have always believed that the real decision for APBA to keep supporting a dwindling class is also about the availability and reliability of outboard motor equipment for any stock class (or for that matter, any outboard racing class). If engine equipment can't be easily obtained by racers who don't have a personal parts "stash" to draw from, then the class is an oligopoly (or some might say it's even a monopoly run by a group of incumbent members in any non-profit organization.)

Boat builders also must have a minimum number of annual buyers to keep building hulls. Classes that drop below 8 entries at the national championship level should be considered for restructuring or elimination in my view (I know that would not be popular, but it makes sense to me.)

I'll get off my now. It has been really fun racing with the C-stock community in the past. Thank God Yamato has continued to supply true racing motors to us.

Cheers,
Al

[42M]

That 12M guy is right about the SST45 class. It cheaper to get a full 45 rig together ($4k-$6k) these days than it is to get any competitive stock rig ($6k-$9k) J classes included. I've pit crewed for enough 45 drivers over the last 8 years to know that with the small teams the local sponsorships do make a big difference.

[reed28n]

Sutherland Plan

Dean had an idea that was thinking in the right direction, but I believe that it was perceived to be too far reaching. Much like the 2008-2009 steering committee plan. APBA talks about lowering barriers of entry. I see our current class structure and the need to run multiple categories as a major barrier. Someone new to the sport has no idea what to get with 3 and 4 motor options, people running stock motors in mod classes as field fillers. Not to mention the challenge for our inspection volunteers of multiple motors with differetn heights and weights and restrictor combinations.

The national platform should be simplified and let local club run add on classes if they want. Different regions have different classes, Region 1 has 25XSH, Region 6 has DSR ...... Region 2 this weekend we had Classic B's

Good fields in 20SSH, CSH and DSH motors are still available and you have a race almost every weekend.

[ram95]

The "Hobby Shop"

With due respect to all the folks who were populating the the outboard racing scene while I went off to war for 22 plus years.... it's important to keep in mind that inside someones little garage, living room, shed, or "hobby shop" is where outboard motor racing sprouted. And, that is exactly where it sprouts from today.

Little 'jakey' rigs towed by an aging SUV stuffed with a couple kids and camping gear.... and NOT so much from all the glorified sources cited (USTS, PRO, etc) is where the future lies for races "every weekend".... "near you".

We just returned from Crystal Lake NY where there was an incredible display of 20H's on hydros and utilities, 55H's on hydros, which I might add all got off the beach AND FINISHED!!!. Meanwhile families and kids were playing happily in the sand on the beach. Yeah..!! and I'm not sure if all the kids toes were covered ....errr ahhh perhaps they were (ohh yeah!!).

Crystal Lake.. the Canadien-American playground hosted by FLRC is where there is HOPE for a level of Stock & Mod outboard racing. The folks with these altruistic ideas for remolding things better not gloss over the facts.

Another thing the re-molders need to reminded of is: DON'T TELL ME HOW TO SPEND MY MONEY... AND DON'T TRY TO SPEND IT FOR ME. Or yer bucket's gonna have a hole in it.

Hope to see everyone at Kingston NH on the 24 & 25 Sep, where there's going to be another "family racing affair" on Greenwood Pond.

Alex
8A & 12A

[ryan_4z]

What if we are underestimating our potential new racers and overestimating the appeal of our product? What if this is it? What then?

[raceright]

what if we are underestimating our potential new racers and overestimating the appeal of our product? What if this is it? What then?

bingo

[Big Don]

Ryan, for my simple mind...you might have you lost me, not sure yet...



Who is our potential racer?

What is our product?



Only then might i be able to answer this and then.

[csh12M]

MHRA is growing

MHRA is growing we added two new racer families this year and already have two more targeting equipment for next year. Grass Lake had 117 short course entries on Sat. and 110 Sunday. Plus another 18 per day in the Marathon. Big Rapids had 109 entries with the Marathon. This is with 3and2 racing in JH/JR/ASH/ASR/20SSH/CSH/CSR. These are the growth classes. It is only one year, but we all can see the impact and feel that we are starting to turn the corner.

[Al Peffley]

Clarification of the term "Hobby Shop" in my prior comments

My hobby shop comment was not meant to take a poke at individual racers and boat owners with a limited budget who are looking for a new family-oriented water sport for recreation and competitive fun. The hobby shop approach I am referring to is the confusing daily race format and resulting schedule that evolves each day of racing from trying to juggle the multitude of different racing classes at local race events. Most races in my region do not have a firm race schedule published before the driver's meeting each day. Each race day, schedules are constantly adjusted during the drivers' meeting for all of the hybrid class equipment change-outs (and sometimes just to accommodate a few drivers competing in multiple classes that mess up the timing for the rest of a race day.) The result is usually a long, boring and confusing day for non-racing spectators and family members of racers.

There is no schedule format or class order of running consistency for anyone who wants to only watch a particular class or racer run. I am not inventing this [hobby shop] race scheduling scenario, my non-racing family and friends who want to watch me race have been frustrated with confusing race schedules and swap-out delays for almost ten years now.

If you don't like PRO and Mod classes to participate in the same races you do, but want their money, then accept the fact that you will eventually discourage them from racing with you. If some APBA local clubs continue to avoid making fair and predictable race schedules for local events you will lose participants. There is no motivation for me (or others who have raced for years in APBA) to spend $10,000 on a PRO or Mod powerboat racing setup and only get maybe one heat a day of racing in, especially when too many stock classes are scheduled to race on the same day. I don't know of any other APBA category of racing (Unlimited, Limiteds, Personal Watercraft, Off-shore, etc.) that has this race event scheduling shuffle problem, do you?

Most race sponsors and public spectators expect a standardized schedule of some type for a significant motorsports event. They might also want to promote or participate in other community activities that may be going on the same weekend as the boat race. Races that are held primarily for a few local membership racers or families that benefit the most from the schedule of the race will not draw new or existing PRO/Mod class racers in the long run. Who wants to drive hundreds of miles one way to a race sanction, pay their entry fees, and not run at least two heats per day at a race event?

If you think beginner stock racing equipment is easy to come by and will run reliably for a new racer in this economy, then your "hobby shop" was better supplied than mine when I started racing CSH in 1993. JSH/R, ASH/R, CSH/R are well established and good used equipment is fairly easy to obtain. The rest of the stock classes seem to be struggling NATIONWIDE due to equipment purchasing and motor knowledge availability issues (very little printed literature is available on motor assembly parts & race setups - in my stock class racing experience, Yamato has been the exception.)

If BSR or any other stock classes are popular in one region, there is no reason that regional clubs should not run them if they choose to do so. The question is how do we make APBA outboard class racing more appealing to race event sponsors, potential new racers, and non-racing spectators on a national scale and also expect a good racer turnout in each APBA-organized class for that race. If you want a national event for special classes unique to a regional area, make it a regional powerboat racing "Circuit" and hold a regional trophy event for those classes. As a side note, I enjoyed watching the Midwest and East Coast guys and gals in the BSR class run in the APBA Stock Nationals at Moses Lake about four years ago; it was unique because that class does not normally run in my region, at least since 1993 when I was a new racer.

BTW - I did not appreciate the negative comments about USTS and PRO classes. Many PRO drivers race in the same APBA sanctions with stock class racers (some PRO class racers do not have the opportunity to live a reasonable distance from most of the current USTS race sites.) PRO and Mod APBA/local club membership and race fee money helps enable racers to run every year in stock classes (some also with only around three boats participating in a typical local race heat.) Thank you for serving your country, Alex.

Al