APBA Board of Directors - Dan Kanfoush

[dankanfoush]

August 28, 2008

Dear APBA members,

By now you should have received your ballot for the APBA Board of Directors Election. I am running for a position on the Board this year because I feel that it is important to bring some younger people onto the board who are currently still active in racing. This is certainly not a knock against the people who are currently serving but rather a thought that the board should continue to bring in new people with fresh enthusiasm. I feel a mixture of youthful exuberance and seasoned experience is the best combination.

It has been suggested by some that you only vote for people within your catagory. The APBA Board is a group who looks out for the interests of ALL of APBA, it is not catagory specific. If you feel someone is qualified and will work hard for you then you should vote for them.

As many of you may know I have been involved with the Inboard Racing Commission (Region 2) over the past 5 years and have been an active owner/driver and now driver since 1991. I have been an active commissioner who is not afraid to speak my mind. I realize that not everything I have worked on or supported has been popular but if you are going to put yourself into the crossfire you should expect that at times you will have disagreements, even with your best friends. I feel that I am respected by my fellow commissioners, even those who my thoughts and ideas don’t always align with. I encourage you to ask your regions inboard commissioner what they think about my service in the past.

As a member of the Inboard Racing Commission I have worked on the Rules Committee, the Inboard Technical Committee, the Inboard Technology committee, and as a class representative for the 2.5 stock class just to list a few things.

This is a critical time for APBA. The rising costs and unsettled economy has cut into the discretionary spending for many of us. Our boat counts are down overall across the country. I feel we need to start looking at this to see what APBA can do to help the average racer do what they want to do, race their boats. We need to start really looking at our budget to see if we can cut out expenses. We need to look at ways to better promote our racing. We need to see if there a way to bring in much needed sponsorship and revenue to our racers. We need to bring new people into our sport.

I look forward to the challenge to serve you all as a director on the APBA board and hope that you will consider voting for me.

Sincerely,

Dan Kanfoush
ABPA #2604
dankanfoush@yahoo.com

[Kev43V]

Well you mention many things that need to be addressed, While I agree with you on that. In what ways do you intend to address said issues?

[dankanfoush]

Thank you for the reply.

At the national level we need to continue to look at the national budget to be sure we are as lean as possible. Are all the expenses at head quarters as low as they can be while still allowing the office to function? We need to continually review the expense side of things to keep them inline with our current revenue and member count.

From the promotional side I like the idea of a putting together a series that crosses category lines. Why couldn’t we put together a series based on some of the strongest classes from several categories? I am talking about classes with strong boat count, good equipment, and close racing. A strong “APBA Super Series” would help every category and APBA boat racing in general. I am NOT suggesting that these classes would no longer race in their respective categories, only that they would also race in the Super series if they wanted. I don’t know at this point how feasible this idea is but it is an idea I would like to propose.

For new racers I am excited about the prospect of a driver’s school and would support this. This is not my idea; I believe it has been proposed by Mark Weber (APBA President). I think providing a means for interested people to safely get into a boat and try out our sport is the way to go. As racers we know the thrill of speed on the water and I expect that if we can give prospective members a taste of this we will pick up a lot of new people.

While these types of ideas may or may not work I am not afraid to try new things. We cannot sit still as the economy changes around us. If we do nothing we all know that nothing will change.

Dan Kanfoush

[Kev43V]

[QUOTE=dankanfoush;113153]Thank you for the reply.
From the promotional side I like the idea of a putting together a series that crosses category lines. Why couldn’t we put together a series based on some of the strongest classes from several categories? I am talking about classes with strong boat count, good equipment, and close racing. A strong “APBA Super Series”
sounds all peachy. yet how can this be done without pulling racers from these strong classes and local events? there are scheduling headaches as it is between regions trying to get those same boats and drivers. do you pull them with money? extra points?. I am afraid that this will only result in 2 title series venues traveling all over the nation for x number races (not a bad thing taken by it self). Yet in the bigger picture you have probably trashed the viability of the local races you are trying to build. few people are able or willing to race every weekend. And if they have to chose between local races or more points or what ever incentive you are using? what happens then?

[dankanfoush]

All very valid questions.

It is simply an idea that is a little outside the box. It may very well not be viable, or.....maybe it is. Unless we take a look at other ideas we cannot expect anything to change.

I feel we shouldn't discount any ideas until we take a look at the possible effects, both positive and negative. If we decide that the idea has to many risks and issues than we certainly should scrap it. If we decide that the potential for a positive effect is there and the risks are minimal than maybe we should try it.

Of course that there is no guarentee for success with any idea.

Dan