Ed Hearn Listen Up!

[Kristi Ellison]

NO guns for my veteran husband who is due back from his second tour to the war........especially when he finds out I ordered myself a new 125H for Christmas and I am moving one of the kids up to 125H which of course means another boat or modifications and possibly another 125 engine......we can stick to paintball, should not hurt with kevlar on!!!

Kristi

[kws]

you have a point about the kevlar Kristi ! the next time my freinds ask me to go paintballing i might even take them up on it again WITH MY KEVLAR ON!
last time they said they all had guns i could use but some how when we went everyone forgot ther extra's except the one old 6 shot pump and that against 50 round mags with simi-auto guns with good barrels . i felt like i took a knife to a gun fight

[PopPop]

Bill,
I agree 100% the local clubs are important and I do not think APBA can promote the local clubs. Unlike NASCAR, APBA has too many catagories and too much diversity to promote effectively any one group and unfortunately we ( the outboards) get lost. Kristi

A lot of people cite NASCAR as the standard. Remember, NASCAR is a Monopolized dictatorship (The France family), with a profit motive. As much as I believe in democracy, as far as goverments go, it doesn't work in business. Without a professional promoter APBA, and particularly stock outboard racing, will always be a camel which is a horse designed by a committee. A committee that can't agree if it should have one hump or two, so they made both.

Just my two cents.

[RLR]

Listen up Ed

Speaking of guns,
I dreamt my wife had burst out crying at a friends house. Her friend said why are you crying? She said, Ray died last night. Her friend was in absolute shock and said did he have any last words. My wife looked up and said, "yes he did." What were they? Put the gun down MaryAnn put the gun down, please.

[14-H]

A lot of people cite NASCAR as the standard. *** Without a professional promoter APBA, and particularly stock outboard racing, ***Just my two cents.

Don't forget the difference between the entry fee at an APBA event and at a NASCAR event. I spend more to WATCH one NASCAR race than I spend to race my B Runabout ten times. You get what you pay for. Ed.

[PopPop]

Don't forget the difference between the entry fee at an APBA event and at a NASCAR event. I spend more to WATCH one NASCAR race than I spend to race my B Runabout ten times. You get what you pay for. Ed.

Ed, You select my words to suit your view. My focus was on the idea of a single source of direction, as you find in a business. I feel like a republican discussing this with a democrat and I just know that ain't the case here. The world just turned upside down ??? Your turn.

[sponsonhead]

*** I feel like a republican discussing this with a democrat and I just know that ain't the case here. ****.

[BUTTHEAD FILTER ON]

Huh huh......uh huh huh.......

He called Ed a "Democrat".

Huh huh......uh huh huh.......

[BUTTHEAD FILTER /OFF]

R-19

[DougMc]

Called 'em a Democrat. Those be fight'in words.

[PopPop]

Called 'em a Democrat. Those be fight'in words.

I didnt mean to inject politics.
I just mean that, as long as we keep APBA SO operationally democratic, we will continue to try to appease everyone and evey class. For years now, the most common complaint has been around having too many classes and what have we gotten? More classes, longer days and more heats with fewer boats. I have brought many friends to the races and repeatedly they say that it is a long boring day. We compete with GoKarts, PWCs, etc. for new participants.

[RLR]

Listen up Ed

I could not agree with you more POP POP. The days of having an all day race with 3 boat fields and having the same 3 boat fields able to race 3 or 4 races in a day by changing the plates, the heights, or for whatever reason are not only time killers, but killing the interest of the fan.

When we have to compete for the "paying" fan, and believe me they are paying us with their time, they do not have any interest in watching a parade of three or 4 boats. Especially if the course is much longer than 3/4 of a mile it is painful to watch and really painful to my nimrod mind trying to announce it.

Why don't the midwest club Presidents come together and try one big race together in 2007. I read with interest the comments of the driver who goes to a number of races within a short driving distance. That's the goal.
If we are able to grow local support from this type of events then the local clubs can put on the local "big" race.

I plead with the Presidents of the local midwest clubs to talk to one another and find a mutual acceptable date and place and give something that works for USTS and could possibly work for the local clubs.

My idea of being creative, is to forget where and from whom I stole the idea within five minutes.

Ray

[kws]

SO WHATS YOUR PLAN POPPOP?
with all due respect . what do you feel is the best way to address this issue?

[HRTV]

Have you guys notice that this thread is starting to loose its steam, I hate to be the gloom and doom guy but eventually this thread will die off and nothing will ever come from it. Don’t get too worked up over this, those who want to race will find a way and those you don’t will drop out it’s not the end of world.

I started this thread so maybe its time to end it ?

[csh2z]

There is a lot of great ideas here, but it is up to the guy in the mirror to make anything happen. There are many successful races all over the country to use as a model of things to try. Each one of us is responsible for the success or failure of our own races. Stop blaming the SORC for things that are your responsibility. The clubs and its members have full control to run any race as they see fit within the rules. John Runne 2-Z

[greybeard]

Classes

3 boat parades are boring but even with fuller fields it won't help a spectator make sense of what is going on. With J, AX and A running some variation of the OMC/Merc and C, 20 and 25ss with variations of the Yamoto how do spectators know what they are watching? Try to tell 12 20SSHs from 12 CSHs or an JSR from an ASR. SO has 2 motor types represent 75% of the classes. No wonder it looks like you are seeing the same boats time after time. If every entry was a different boat/driver to the spectator it would still look the same...

[race4kaos]

Rlr...

I'm not sure I know you. I tend to think you might not be familiar with Michigan Hydroplane races... which I would consider Midwestern.

We run 3 races with an average 140 entries a day for our SO & J program and run full fields in nearly every class on a 3/4 mile course. Our level our competition is among the highest in the country. So I wonder what Midwest races you are refering to?

I HATE 4 boat parades. But BSR fit in this category only 3-4 years ago and now it is one of the best shows we have.

I have only been to a couple USTS races at Constantine in my life. I didn't notice much difference from our races there. There was a long delay between heats as they didn't have 40 heats to run a day like we do.

I also don't know Kristi. She sounds like a very motivated hard worker. We haven't had someone work as hard to find new metropolitan sites that can offer big $ sponsors, TV, and get spectators. Honestly, we don't have enough people interested in that to do the work. Is that really what all the racers (not just Hydroracer blabbers) want?!? It would take a lot of change. People that want that tend to go ChampBoat racing or what not.

What it sounds like you want is what we already offer. I would love for all clubs to be as lucky as we are. The only races bigger than our 3 for SO are the Nationals.

I will be passing along the torch as MHRA Commodore in 3 days [1 hour and 29 minutes], but I would encourage a Midwestern series - especially if it involved Constantine, Grass Lake and a sponsor - or another big Dayton. We do fine financially, but others clubs do not. Next year would be a good trial year as both nationals are out West (and ripe for the picking).

Yours truly,
KLadd-