Stock Outboard Questionaire

[G Stillwill]

Kyle I was reffering to the 80 and 102 the 302 can still be bought complete

[jpro60]

In the last year a lot of posts were made that said to pay for insurance and sanctions and ambulance the mod guys were necessary to pay for these enlarged costs..Now you want to add a ton of Classic classes.. With the current format a lot of mod classes could not run due to time running out and now adding more classes will help this how?

I think you and others are missing one of (to me) the key parts of this idea. That is the part where it says it should be up to the local club to decide what is right for them to put on the sanction.

For example, at a race that is traditionally poorly attended you put all stock, mod, pro, j and stock classic, and see who decides to come play.

At a more popular race with time constraints the burden falls on the conducting club, race director, and class representatives to decide what to put on the schedule. You tell me that half a dozen D mods will show up, then we put them on the schedule for sure.

I think there is actually a way that this whole idea could work out better in terms of race day length, water time, etc. If done properly. For example, if you restructure stock, and get rid of a yamato 20ss/25ss class and shuffle those to classic. Then at smaller races you put classic on the sanction and get more of "the yamato show" BUT if that's where entries come from, it makes sense to do it right? At a bigger race, promise a good group of mods then I probably wouldn't even put stock classic on the sanction, and now 4 heats a day of Yamato racing are gone.

[Jack Stotts]

If you move some classes to classic and at some races you don't then schedule them, you then lose participation in the classes that you do run because many folks that run multiple classes simply won't show up. It seems that each year we change the class structure and watch participation go downhill. Why do we keep doing this? Sorry! I guess I just don't have the big picture. Jack

[Mike45]

[QUOTE=ram95;213547]

, so why not pay the money and place our (Dana's) Stock Outboard Promo on Channels like ESPN, FOX Sports and many others? feedback with stride.(quote)


Mike, this past summer there has been a ton of outboard racing on You Tube and it hasn't cost us hardly a dime. When we do it good enough, the sports networks will come and talk to us. We won't need to go to them begging.
(my thoughts) Alex

I agree with the comment about You Tube but you must do a lot of surfing to find a good video or one that lasts longer than 60sec and someone may or may not see this, but I dont see how it would be "begging" It si called "Advertising" and it sure seems to work for a lot of major outfits, companies and sports to gain the eye of the public and spark an interest in our sport rather than setting in front of this "crazy screen" wondering how long before we fade away.

Just sayin'
Mike

[Mike45]

This is not going to help get new racers. A better economy and having the ability to spend cash on racing will help more then changing everything.

Ca we get a big "A-MEN

[pearson95m]

Can the commission put together a survey for our current body type (in particular weight and age) demographics?

Can we research the average weight for people in the U.S. and if possible, people that are involved is similar type activities (racing)?

I think the primary focus in a class structure/restructure should be targeting the correct demographics and then structuring our classes to target those demographics. The goal being to give everyone a class to race. The second goal would be to make the transition between those classes as seamless and economic as possible.

I feel as though we need to set up a well thought out class structure based on real data that accommodates our targeted demographic population. Once we have our ideal class structure in place, then we find way to place our current classes into this structure; also look for new solutions (motor manufactures) that will populate those classes.

Below is a snapshot of my thoughts sketched out. Keep in mind that I’ve made assumptions on the demographics. This data would need to be researched. Also the class structure is based on our current layout and this to would need some attention.

I am volunteering to help with this research if this something we want to pursue.

Josh Pearson

PS. I am not for or against restructure, however if this is the rout we are heading, then I believe we should stand back and evaluate the best way of accomplishing it. This is only one suggestion...

[NUT2F]

As a S.O. racer who has 4 yamato 102's, 2 Yamato 80's, 2 OMC's and enough parts to build many more, your plan would eliminate us from racing APBA. Region 5 has had 1 S.O. race in each of the last 2 years, so why would anyone(in Reg. 5) who runs these (extinct) motors spend almost $5000.00 on a SW to race once per year? I think fixing our problem starts with adding racers not killing motors. We need our old racers with equipment racing and new racers also. Take a page out of the U.S.T.S. model, series racing with sponsors. Do it geographiclly, i.e. Southeast, Northeast, Central South and North, Southwest and Northwest. Local clubs and Adjacent regions work together to race 4,5,6.... series races with joint and local sponsors, pay tow money and overall high point prizes to attract old and new racers.
I'm not against new motors, but in this economy if we don't find a way to make a racing weekend less expensive and more enjoyable the rest of your regions are going to end up like Region 5 (dead)!!!!!!
Peanut

[Charlie Pater]

Sometimes I wonder where the leadership is. Just suggesting elimination of the 102 in "C" hydro makes me think about running NBRA. The parity is perfect in "C" with the 102s and the 302s. Come on guys, lets get some better ideas like concentrating on marketing Stock Outboard rather than eliminating current competitors.

Think about things like the old Merc Challenge series. Use some of SO's promotional funds to have a series that pays real prizes and I bet racers will come. Thoughts along those lines, I believe, will be more productive than eliminating motors that offer parity.

Charlie

[Racerkyle20]

Sometimes I wonder where the leadership is. Just suggesting elimination of the 102 in "C" hydro makes me think about running NBRA. The parity is perfect in "C" with the 102s and the 302s. Come on guys, lets get some better ideas like concentrating on marketing Stock Outboard rather than eliminating current competitors.

Think about things like the old Merc Challenge series. Use some of SO's promotional funds to have a series that pays real prizes and I bet racers will come. Thoughts along those lines, I believe, will be more productive than eliminating motors that offer parity.

Charlie

Your leadership is trying to save stock outboard.

Nothing is being eliminated. Please re-read the proposal. Those motors are being moved to a classic division with a high points and everything.

Most SO racers do not know this fact outside of region 10, because we watched it happen. But did you know the biggest growing class in APBA last year was the inboard classic class? In region 10 they even supported their own race on Lake Chelan.

Stock Classic would also bring out the ol' boys club that want a place to race their Marc30's or whatever. Techincally this idea brings in the use of MORE outboard motors. This is thinking outside the box. We need to stop preserving motors that are obsolete and promote motors you can buy brand new, but also have a place where those old motors can race.

If you want to race CSH in this format (the biggest class in APBA) then you need a 302 ($2500 bucks). Sell your 102 to a newbie who wants to race a class with not a lot of compitition to start (region 10 has a local novice class with 17 racers last season) and you have half the money for that 302.

The status quo is going to kill us. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Why would we keep the same model that's been seeing a decline of members consistantly for over a decade. BTW it is just a propsal and can be changed to something different...

[Big Don]

Just to point out, not all these proposals come for a SORC member. If you are a member of Stock and you send a proposal in, it will get put on our list to discuss.

[Big Don]

For the record, I like the proposal Dean sent out 2 years ago. Time to dust his presentation off and look at it again.

[csh2z]

Based on conversations I've had with many commissioners in the past week or so, the proposal that began this thread will be rejected. Most of the discussion within the commission leads me to believe that, no currently raced motor will be eliminated. Please don't panic, we are well aware of the fragility of our sport.

[blueskyracer]

I think right now a tread lightly plan is necessary with the economy and price of fuel..You cant afford to lose any more members with a bad plan..I dont know what the answer is but if old motors start getting beat by the newer stuff than folks that want to be more towards the front will spend the money to get there.. Just dont force something down their throat especially a motor that is still having issues.

[Islandmon]

Based on conversations I've had with many commissioners in the past week or so, the proposal that began this thread will be rejected. Most of the discussion within the commission leads me to believe that, no currently raced motor will be eliminated. Please don't panic, we are well aware of the fragility of our sport.

The panic button is disconnected and I'll sleep better tonight, thanks John.

Night Night,

Sam

[Affholter66]

Would someone from SORC please explain to me HOW restructing classes will DO ANYTHING to "Save our sport"...just a question that has never been answered..I already know all the yada yada's about decreasing numbers etc..So we restructure classes because?????