2010 Stock Class/Engine Structure

[csh2z]

If the SORC were serious about helping Ric sell motors, they would phase out the 102's in three years.

[Howie Nichols]

If the SORC were serious about helping Ric sell motors, they would phase out the 102's in three years.

So John since you were on the SORC for the past several years is this what you proposed? If so why did the rest of the SORC decide against it?

If I follow your posts correctly then if you had been re-elected to the SORC this year you would have recommended to approve the Sidewinder in all 3 classes, and delete the 102 from C with a 3 year phase out of the motor?

Is this a correct assumption?

[mercguy]

Yamatos..............

just curious as to why the 102 is being eliminated from certain classes and the 80 is remaining, especially since the 80 is the older motor? You wanna "push" Sidewinder" motors and help Ric sell 302's............eliminate the 80 is 3yrs, along with the 102 completely...........while you are eliminating motors...........eliminate the 44XS too!!

don't see why motors are being eliminated...............attrition will sell new motors and parts.........IF people have MONEY to spend on equipment.........

[csh2z]

Howie,

I didn't say I would propose to eliminate the 102 from "C". YET!. And yes, I would vote to approve the "A" & "B" Sidewinder as soon as possible, Why wait for the National Meeting? People in Reg. 12 will be racing soon. Those that want to by motors may be holding back until the approval. Racing Outboards needs to sell motors to exist. The SORC made a comittment and should honor it . The "A" in particular has performed exceptionally well all year in most active regions. There is no downside to approving the "A" now. The future of Stock Outboard is banking on the success of this venture. Let's do everything we can to help our motor manufacturers help us.

Daren, The Yamato 80 is 95% of the class. The class therefore wouldn't survive a move like that. The 102 is an obselete motor that represents a very small %age of the class.

The sooner we make some of these changes, the fewer people they will negatively effect. The longer we wait, the more people there will be that will make a bad investment by buying obselete equipment. When that happens, many times people feel like they've been screwed, and we lose, not only them but whoever they may have brought into the sport. The main focus of the SORC should be 1) Create a marketable, professional looking family hobbie of the highest caliber. 2) Retain newer members. Our wants and needs should be secondary to those of the new racers.

[Kev43V]

The main focus of the SORC should be 1) Create a marketable, professional looking family hobbie of the highest caliber. 2) Retain newer members. Our wants and needs should be secondary to those of the new racers.

I tip my hat to you for this segment of your comment John

BTW i agree on the sindewinder too

Did you get used to the new diet yet?

[Big Don]

Question we need to be asking in my opinion…

Why is it that this sport is not that attractive to the new racer?

Even if you go back to the 70’s when we had what 1000 stock members is that really that good when you look at the population of the US? I agree its worse than that now but is it really that surprising when you look at what all is out there these days for families to do. The average family has less disposable income than ever. And if they do, they spend that income on pleasure boats, personal watercrafts, 4 wheelers, snowmobiles…Why not boat racing?

So what’s going to take us to that next level? Having new equipment is only one issue but it’s not going to be the savior to our sport. Will we get new racers? Sure we will. Will we have current racers buy new engines? Sure we will. But they will also buy used equipment.

So how do we grow the sport and increase significant participation?

How many new racers did we get with the current OMC engine in the first 5 years? And the only reason I ask is I have no clue. I know there were bunches sold but I don’t know if that was to new racers or existing racers.

If I were looking from the outside in I don’t know if I would be attracted to this hobby/sport. The reason I don’t know is because it’s hard to pull yourself from what we know and love. Sure it looks like fun to most that see it. But would I drop $10000.00 for one class? Don’t know. Would I drop 5000.00 for used equipment? Don’t know. We can all guess but it’s just that, a guess.

[14J]

Question we need to be asking in my opinion…

Why is it that this sport is not that attractive to the new racer?

Even if you go back to the 70’s when we had what 1000 stock members is that really that good when you look at the population of the US? I agree its worse than that now but is it really that surprising when you look at what all is out there these days for families to do. The average family has less disposable income than ever. And if they do, they spend that income on pleasure boats, personal watercrafts, 4 wheelers, snowmobiles…Why not boat racing?

So what’s going to take us to that next level? Having new equipment is only one issue but it’s not going to be the savior to our sport. Will we get new racers? Sure we will. Will we have current racers buy new engines? Sure we will. But they will also buy used equipment.

So how do we grow the sport and increase significant participation?

How many new racers did we get with the current OMC engine in the first 5 years? And the only reason I ask is I have no clue. I know there were bunches sold but I don’t know if that was to new racers or existing racers.

If I were looking from the outside in I don’t know if I would be attracted to this hobby/sport. The reason I don’t know is because it’s hard to pull yourself from what we know and love. Sure it looks like fun to most that see it. But would I drop $10000.00 for one class? Don’t know. Would I drop 5000.00 for used equipment? Don’t know. We can all guess but it’s just that, a guess.

Good topic

Based on my circle, friends, colleagues, associates, etc. here's what I usually get. Keep in mind that some have no interest in motorsports but there are some that do.

1. Travel, people think it's insane that I travel more than an hour or two to race. In my area the Go-Cart and Moto world offers the convenience of local racing every weekend.

2. Water time in proportion to cost. 5k to 10k looks very expensive when you take into account our structure and the 6-10 minutes of water time you get on a Saturday.

3. Length of program. Relates to #2. Assuming you race 1 class an 8 hour day is pretty darn long for 2-heats.

4. 3- boat heats, thats racing?? Boring!

[csh2z]

Don,
I think the biggest issue to our growth is not disposable income but disposable time. How many of us have put the time necessary to bring someone into the sport and help make them somewhat successful and self sufficient. And each area of the country has different problems to deal with. In my Region there are not enough races within a reasonable driving distance (2hr.) to make it appealing. Upuntil just recently my nearest race was 6 hrs. away. I'm sure I could get people to get involved but when I mention the long drive, they think I'm nuts! That's why I say local boat races are the most important thing to work on. Unfortunately costs are so high, we either put on 42 classes or go in the hole. Then our loooong day of 3 boat races bores the crap out of everybody.
Bottom line is making the investment more valuable by having more opportunities to race.
If we ran a stock only program in region 4 we'd have about 8 classes that we could run either three heats per class or three days of racing over two days, and still be done at a reasonable hr. More bang for the buck!

[Kev43V]

Question we need to be asking in my opinion…

Why is it that this sport is not that attractive to the new racer?

Even if you go back to the 70’s when we had what 1000 stock members is that really that good when you look at the population of the US? I agree its worse than that now but is it really that surprising when you look at what all is out there these days for families to do. The average family has less disposable income than ever. And if they do, they spend that income on pleasure boats, personal watercrafts, 4 wheelers, snowmobiles…Why not boat racing?

So what’s going to take us to that next level? Having new equipment is only one issue but it’s not going to be the savior to our sport. Will we get new racers? Sure we will. Will we have current racers buy new engines? Sure we will. But they will also buy used equipment.

So how do we grow the sport and increase significant participation?

How many new racers did we get with the current OMC engine in the first 5 years? And the only reason I ask is I have no clue. I know there were bunches sold but I don’t know if that was to new racers or existing racers.

If I were looking from the outside in I don’t know if I would be attracted to this hobby/sport. The reason I don’t know is because it’s hard to pull yourself from what we know and love. Sure it looks like fun to most that see it. But would I drop $10000.00 for one class? Don’t know. Would I drop 5000.00 for used equipment? Don’t know. We can all guess but it’s just that, a guess.

Very good questions Don
Based on this years response from people to the Promotions booth. I feel we can bring MANY new racers in to the sport. If we take the time to reach out to them.

[blueskyracer]

When we race we have less than 10 different classes all year so we have three heats of competition for each class with a 30 to 40 minute lunch break and still get done by 4 in the afternoon. Our race site range 2.5 hours to 6 hours of travel time from Montana. Also at three of our 6 races we have a day of testing so we get lots of water time and tons of socializing.

We went to a APBA race this year and after driving for 9 hours I was on the water for three heats. I must say that I personally thought there were two many of the small people classes. First you have the J's, ax,axs axxx and what ever else and then they take the motor off and do it all over on the runabouts. They start at 10 or 11 and may get done by 6 and that is running only two heats per class. If eliminations are required and you dont make the cut you get to run once.

This is just what I have noticed in our two years. Not much bang for the all might buck. This may upset some but this is what we have noticed. Only true die hards like us will stick with it. I think that is why a lot of folks come on for a couple years and then move on.

[mercguy]

When we race we have less than 10 different classes all year so we have three heats of competition for each class with a 30 to 40 minute lunch break and still get done by 4 in the afternoon. Our race site range 2.5 hours to 6 hours of travel time from Montana. Also at three of our 6 races we have a day of testing so we get lots of water time and tons of socializing.

We went to a APBA race this year and after driving for 9 hours I was on the water for three heats. I must say that I personally thought there were two many of the small people classes. First you have the J's, ax,axs axxx and what ever else and then they take the motor off and do it all over on the runabouts. They start at 10 or 11 and may get done by 6 and that is running only two heats per class. If eliminations are required and you dont make the cut you get to run once.

This is just what I have noticed in our two years. Not much bang for the all might buck. This may upset some but this is what we have noticed. Only true die hards like us will stick with it. I think that is why a lot of folks come on for a couple years and then move on.

I LOVED the 30-40 minute lunch break at the AOF Nats!!!!!!!!

as to your APBA experience with us............remember we had 120+ entrys and about 16 CSH's (thus requiring elims, which is common in Reg10) and were racing in one of the biggest regions in APBA.....

until you race a runabout.............don't knock it!!!

we gotta get you into a C runabout! Ah hell, I will sell you mine.........

[42M]

What is the weight difference between a Sidewinder 20/B and a Yamato?

[pav225]

BSH Boats

Has there been any discussion about developing a "standard" boat for the Sidewinder in BSH (15 ci)??

I know OPC is working to develop a boat/motor package that will allow people to buy a "standard racing" package and go racing. Would this work in Stock? Could this help grow the BSH class?

- Mike

[Steve Warnock]

Standard BSH Boat

Hey Pav,

How about one for Rachel!!!!

Hint Hint

We could run it at Ocoee!

Need plenty of spots for lead!

Warbs

[BP125V]

on-line?

sorry Steve but Pavlick Race Boats is not yet ready to accept on-line orders. If you want a boat you will have to call Mike.

Bill