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This is an open letter to all Mod commissioners and mod members. First, thank you for the opportunity to speak at the recent Detroit meeting regarding the Tohatsu D issue. Whether you know it or not, your time was appreciated. Here is what I have to say: At last year's Seattle annual meeting, Mark Weber, APBA president, and Mark Wheeler, vice president, spoke to all of us about the need to look at the overall picture in regards to the health of APBA....which I feel as a commission you did not do in regards to the Tohatsu D motor. On a side note, I was sorry to hear that some people have used this issue to make personel attacks....while we all feed each other a lot of grief in a friendly way, I consider all of the people that I know on the commission good friends....and that will not change. As both Mark's said...the health right now of ABPA is not good...and we all need to look at the big picture when making decisions regarding rule changes etc. D mod used to be one of Seattle Outboard's biggest classes...now it does not even exist...this is partly due to the
Mod commission. We run somewhere around 16 racing days a year....with the majority of those races having D mod on the sanction. At some races, we had 8 d mods...you do the math. Some racers, myself included, purchased the Tohatsu to run 2 classes....D stock and D mod...and now I can only run one class. I do understand that I can step up and run Formula E, but I feel having an 80 mph D stock running with a 90 mph formula e is a hazard. J Dub did a good job of presenting his case for including the motor in the class.....I had the fastest time at Oroville, which even then was a second slower then Dan Hauenstein, who runs a 44XS. The fastest D mod time, by Brian Palmquist, was over 10 seconds faster then my heat times......that is a whole lot folks. Here is a situation where racers WANT to race with you...join your catagory, pay entry fee money, and so on down the line, and you have decided that we are not needed or wanted. Folks....the last time a d mod block was produced was 1993......that is 18 years ago.....it is a fact of life that at some point in time, the class will start to decline....and, to make matters worse, the Bass brothers, partly due to your decision, may throw in the towel on producing the Tohatsu D. I do understand that promises were made to the commission regarding obtaining a block to test, and I am sorry that did not happen....I knew nothing about those promises....remember, we are all volunteers, and there are certainly other things in life that are more important then boat racing. What would be wrong with including the Tohatsu D motor in D mod, if it was mandated to run under the stock rules? All it is going to do is increase mod membership, and help clubs income wise. I am simply lost as to why this would not work. Remember, you guys turned away a group of racers that want to support you...keep that in mind. Racerdave,
Mod commission. We run somewhere around 16 racing days a year....with the majority of those races having D mod on the sanction. At some races, we had 8 d mods...you do the math. Some racers, myself included, purchased the Tohatsu to run 2 classes....D stock and D mod...and now I can only run one class. I do understand that I can step up and run Formula E, but I feel having an 80 mph D stock running with a 90 mph formula e is a hazard. J Dub did a good job of presenting his case for including the motor in the class.....I had the fastest time at Oroville, which even then was a second slower then Dan Hauenstein, who runs a 44XS. The fastest D mod time, by Brian Palmquist, was over 10 seconds faster then my heat times......that is a whole lot folks. Here is a situation where racers WANT to race with you...join your catagory, pay entry fee money, and so on down the line, and you have decided that we are not needed or wanted. Folks....the last time a d mod block was produced was 1993......that is 18 years ago.....it is a fact of life that at some point in time, the class will start to decline....and, to make matters worse, the Bass brothers, partly due to your decision, may throw in the towel on producing the Tohatsu D. I do understand that promises were made to the commission regarding obtaining a block to test, and I am sorry that did not happen....I knew nothing about those promises....remember, we are all volunteers, and there are certainly other things in life that are more important then boat racing. What would be wrong with including the Tohatsu D motor in D mod, if it was mandated to run under the stock rules? All it is going to do is increase mod membership, and help clubs income wise. I am simply lost as to why this would not work. Remember, you guys turned away a group of racers that want to support you...keep that in mind. Racerdave,
are just flat ass wrong. As an SOA race director I will have to do without the extra 4-5 entries that Tohatsu D Mods would generate, and that part sucks too. Thanks a lot guys.
Can your Tohatsu handle that much run time without a rebuild!! 
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