APBA Driving School in Dayton, Ohio, May 30-31

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Before you can find or implement a solution, you have to figure out what the problem is. Many folks much smarter and motivated than this boat racing group have tried and not had much success. All you have to do is look at NASCAR and the effort and money they have put into their program, and it does not seem to have born much fruit. Why has that not worked??

It seems to me that there is at least one form of motor sport very well represented by African-American and Hispanic parts of the population, and that is Drag Racing. What are they doing that boat racing and other types of motor sports is not? Also Motocross and F-1 Auto racing are two more that have people of color running up front and winning championships, although the participation falls off drastically except at the top. It may be too simple a solution or answer to the problem, but since auto and bike racing is represented, did the racing interest in these type motorsports come from owning a street car and bike first and then a natural progression to racing?
If that is the case it is not hard to figure out why minority participation in the sport is almost nil. Eileen and I have been going to the lakes in the Midwest for the last 15 years and minority ownership of those type boats is something we NEVER see, except for the occasional fisherman. That is not true at the late winter Boat Show in St. Louis, but as far as seeing the participation on the water in the boating season, it is not there.

Is it too simple to expect before you want to race something, you need to have some exposure to driving it in a more casual setting?

And lastly (and no criticism intended Dan) but if a minority owned website about and for boat racers can't generate some interest in that population segment, what is the chance it will happen on its own?

Great post Bill thanks for sharing, every point you made is true.