Lone Star Outboard—Newsletter 1.1

[Haüenstein]

The Lone Star Outboard Racing Association is pleased to share the first issue of its quarterly newsletter, "Race Texas." As we bring kneeldown boat racing back to Texas, we're excited to work with all organizations and interested parties; we've already received notable support from the Oklahoma Boat Racing Association, its members, and others.

In the Winter 2010 issue of the LSORA newsletter you'll find:

* A Letter from the President (of LSORA)
* LSORA Membership Application Form
* Plus Exciting (!!) Information about Advertising!

Also, stay tuned for a big announcement concerning our first event, coming soon.

Thank you,
Mike(y) H.

[B Walker]

What a crew!

Miller, Crews, Daspit, Burke, and Hauenstein.

Lots of talent in that lineup.

Good luck to you all.

Brad Walker

[Dave M]

Contact

Get hold of Dave Tuttle. He is the owner of Herbets SEH in NBRA. He lives in TX. He might be able to help you guys out. At least tell him to join up. I imagine you could draw a few across the border from Oaklahoma, etc. Key is to have races close enough to the border to make it easy to travel.

I think you guys are doing great. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help out. I have many memories racing in TX as a youngster. I have been to Marine Creek Lake for an AOF Nat's many moons ago. Many moons ago.

You guys have a lot of potential there, lots of people, lots of places to race if you can get the manpower to secure the sites.

Think about diversification for now and get numbers to a race. Then once your membership grows, you can begin picking what organization to race with and what classes. There are some old kneelers in your area reach out to them. Maybe they will bring some equipment they have laying around and race a weekend !

[mdaspit]

Thanks for the good words guys.

[Mrs blueskyracer]

Congrats guys, great newsletter and good luck with the project, I am sure all your dreams will be realized

[SeanT4]

Great

The whole reason for me being a Texan was for all the racers/races to many to name. My first race was Beaumont, Texas. Now my closest race Depue... 17 hours. Great to hear more races though not for me.

[Jack Stotts]

I would like to clarify or at least comment on the statement of my disagreement with a Game Warden at the Bryan, TX race site. First, the park official was not a female but a young male lake patrol officer who thought we should suspend racing while he issued a boating ticket to a person who had departed the pit area on a jet ski without wearing a life jacket. After some 30 minutes, I expressed the opinion that we should be allowed to resume racing. Later we were advised by the Bryan parks folks that we would not be allowed to race there for some time because of that encounter and the fact that that evening we had had a "loosely organized" fish fry in the park pavilion. I don't know what the problem there was but we have not been back to this great race site. I'm glad to see that they will have us back. I guess enough time has passed that we can start anew. Jack

[raceright]

Texas Great Place would love to race there Hey Sean maybe a site for a future USTS race ????

[mdaspit]

I would like to clarify or at least comment on the statement of my disagreement with a Game Warden at the Bryan, TX race site. First, the park official was not a female but a young male lake patrol officer who thought we should suspend racing

Ooops, Sorry Jack.

The urban ledgend, goes a little differently... Something about a beautiful blond Texas Game Warden who had her heart broken by some suave, charming, smooth talking son of a gun from Austin...

I just assumed that was you...

[Jack Stotts]

Dream on Mark. Don't I wish. Jack

[mdaspit]

Texas Great Place would love to race there Hey Sean maybe a site for a future USTS race ????

I'll tell you what... You guys have a USTS rodeo here and you can count on our help to put it on...

[YankeeRacing]

Mark, I can help you out on that one...
My brother owns the World's Toughest Rodeo. Puts rodeos on that are basically show rodeos to big venures, like Madison Square Garden, a command performance for the President each year, the Astrodome, etc. I will get him to name the Houston rodeo the USTS (after all, I am his big sister), and then we can call it even and you can do a USTS race along with a Lone Star Race. Or, how about free tickets to the next Worlds Toughest Rodeo for all LSORA boat racers in Texas? He also puts on Pro Bull riding shows/rodeos. We'll enter a few of the posters on Hydroracer. Some know a lot about bull.
As you can see, there are others of us who spend some time with the four legged animals when not racing.
Connie Payn
Pro-Payn Racing, USTS

[mdaspit]

Mark, Or, about free tickets to the next Worlds Toughest Rodeo for all LSORA boat racers in Texas?
Connie Payn
Pro-Payn Racing, USTS

Well Connie as they say down here, "That dog'll hunt!"

Seriously, I imagine one of the draw backs to having a USTS race, is having manpower close to the venue, to get some of the work done before race day, and if it will help convince y'all to hold a USTS race down here, we can put some boots on the ground to help you get it done.


Race Texas...Let 'er buck boys.

[Ron Hill]

Interesting Reading....

Where does APBA's "EXPENSES" compare to AOF and NBRA?

I really stopped racing kneeldowners in 1978, (Raced MOD VP until 1985) our club SCOA had put on the 1977 Stock Nationals. Our club had $10,000 in the checking account and two $10,000 "T" Bills. I was region Chairman of Region 12. Bill Boyes Sr, Molly Ballou and I put on the APBA National Meeting in Las Vegas. Region 12 made more than $15,000 on this meeting.


Times were different...YES but one thing SCOA did in those days was ALLOW OPEN BOOKS. At our club meetings we'd say, "We feel we'll have 60 X 2 entries a day (120 entries) and a race will cost $2,600. Ok, we need $25 entry fee per boat. When everyone knows the real expenses, it is easier to pay your fair share...

I just returned from the Miami Boat Show, where I had the pleasure of talking with Mikey Haueentein TWICE during the show. Keep in mind these figures: The cost to park a car at Miami was $25 and you had to walk four blocks. Admission was $30 PER PERSON ON OPENING DAY, $16 after that. Everything costs more now days!

In Region 12 right now, we pay about $100 per class entry fee, per day. We have some good races, but things cost money.

I feel, Boat Racing IS OUR SPORT, until we have a sponsoring company like Mercury Marine at one time did, drivers must pay their own way.

Our club used to make money selling T-Shirts, having club parties with steak dinners, whiskey raffles, selling donated oil, parts and all...

A strong club can make things happen. It sounds like you are on the right track.

I never really realized has strong the Lone Star Outboard Racing Association was until I attended a reunion in Baytown about four years ago....

ADD: One thing that helped our club was "B" LOCAL, stock Model 80 Yamatoes......everyone laughed at our class, started in '76, by the '77 Nationals we had 26 "B" Locals run the Nationals. "B" Local became Novice then OSY-400. A Nor-Cal 400 class might bring you new people, all clubs need new people.


Guest Editorial: ‘****ed if we do, ****ed if we don’t’
As we work toward producing some racing here in Texas, we are finding that securing some good race sites is the least of our problems. Well, maybe problem is not the right word to use; maybe I should say obstacle, hurdle, challenge. You get the idea.
Every venue we look into, we are meeting some good people who are very excited about having us race there. Lake Somerville, 356 Marina in Trinity, Lake Bryan, all places kneel down boats have raced in the past. Great news is, they would like to have us back, even at Lake Bryan, after that ―situation‖ between Jack Stotts and the female Game Warden.
There is a lot of work to do in going through the permitting process, but, it seems like that‘s just a matter of getting the correct forms filled out in the correct way, and step-by-step we‘re getting there.
The bigger issue facing us is… after we get the permits, how do we make these races break even? I think we may have something like a buck fifty in the club‘s new bank account.
The cost for insurance for an NBRA race after
they give us their rebate (providing we have no claims) is about $715.00. Add to that the cost of an ambulance, EMT, Porta-Cans (if we need them) and all the other little things, and we end up looking at well over $1500.00 to put on a race, and that‘s with a lot of free help from volunteers to make turn buoys, provide pick-up boats, generators, etc.
So, at $35.00 a class, that takes about 43 class entries over 2 days to zero out that expense.
The folks at Oklahoma Boat Racing Association tell me they had 20 drivers at last year‘s Stillwater NBRA race, with about half of that running at least two classes, and that was a great turnout. If you were at Stillwater, you know that it was a great race at a great site, and with great sponsors. Did I mention great sponsors? So, can we get enough drivers to come to Texas to break even with NBRA without having sponsors?
On the other hand, with AOF, the insurance is much cheaper, so the overall expense can be reduced by at least $500.00. That is equivalent to about 14 entry fees, could make it much easier to break even, but (and this is a big but)
last year at the Pineville AOF race, only a handful of drivers showed up. Can we get enough drivers to come to Texas to break even with AOF?
So, here is the dilemma. If we go with NBRA we will probably get more drivers, but it will cost more to put on a race. If we go with AOF it will cost less to put on a race, but will we get the drivers?
Hmmm… ****ed if we do, ****ed if we don‘t.
Driver response to a date in September, after the NBRA Stillwater race, has been really good, and we‘ve received a lot of support and good will from our brothers in Oklahoma. The folks in Louisiana are also anxious to race in Texas again, so it will all come together. And with everyone‘s help, we‘re gonna race, and we‘re gonna do it ―Texas Style.‖
We just need to be sure we can, at the very least, break even.
Mark Daspit is a LSORA member from Brenham. If you have any comments, suggestions, extra money or complaints, drop an e-mail to LSORA president Dennis Crews at dcrace29@yahoo.com.

[Art K]

Entry Fees

The Outboard Drivers Association runs with NBRA at our local races we charge $25.00 $20.00 $15.00, At the Nats this year we will charge $25.00 per class. At every race we pay tow money and Prize money. And the ODA makes money every year. Dues for NBRA membership $80.00. At our last meeting the ODA voted not charge APBA members for a ODA membership if you race at the Nats. Their is a NBRA rule that says you must also be a member of a NBRA affiliated club. Thats a savings of $35.00. Hows that for hospitality.
Art K