ASH champion?

[MGallagher]

Now that we've gotten all this out of the way, should I bring up the chop call.....eeeek. As an observer and a attendee of Grass Lake, that is one of the best race sites and race committees we have in this organization. The ASH race among others was pure entertainment, but the inspection area afterwards was where the real race began, especially after the Matt was "DQ'd" TWICE!!!

Go 9ers!!! Maybe next year Feild Gulls....

[propnuts]

Weighing in

We are all still waiting for the official word to come down from Mr. Brewster, but this has nothing to do with whatever info he has. I think it's fair to say that everyone involved or observing believes that this was a giant clusterf#$k. It appears as though many now want to rewrite our rule book based on this cluster. IMO this whole situation could have been settled at many points along the process:

1) Matt could have taken his DQ like a ...competitor. Most of us have experienced DQs before, even at Nationals, and the usual reaction is to mutter an obsenity under your breath (maybe that's just me) and walk away.
2) The race committee could have backed up the inspector. That is the way I would expect it to work in 99% of the these situations, but for some reason at Nationals race committees don't have the inspectors back. I have no idea why anyone would want that inspectors job.
3) The SORC could have backed up the race committee.
4) Charlie could have backed up the SORC, but decided that they were wrong.
5) The membership could have backed up Charlie, the guy that is meant to be the guy you go to for a 'final' appeal. For some reason a majority of the people that voted, I am going to assume without all of the knowledge of the situation and experience and wisdom that Charlie has, decided not to back HIM up, deciding that they know better.

Seems like everyone thinks the guy before them was wrong.

[14J]

The boat had a bona-fide 2012 safety inspection sticker in it which means it passed the safety inspection by an official inspector of the APBA. People make mistakes. The new safety inspection checklist will hopefully prevent this from happening in the future.

So I can get my 2013 sticker at Millville in April, sharpen my tips and let the general safety of my rig go to hell and I should have no problem at Whitney Point? What's the point of our safety rules given the current system?

Forget the mistakes how about a better plan of enforcement.

This is not directed at George as he is not at fault. My take away is that we created a saftey rule (right or wrong) and let a boat deamed unsafe by our own rules run around for a full season.

Am I the only one that sees this as an issue?

[propfxrO84]

Sooooo, how do I get started in racing stock outboard?

[propnuts]

This news sucks hard

Bill (Boyes),
The Stock rule was different to accomodate smaller boats & to make all boats comply rather than exempting 90% of the boats due to the "grandfather " clause.
All is moot now, the SORC adopted the Mod/Pro rule, effective some time after the Winter Nationals. For those that may not know, the minimum radius went from 1/2" to 1" and the thickness from 1/2" to 3/4". I took the grinder to my brand spankin' new boat yesterday and begin filling in the thickness today (It was a painful emotional experience).

I tried get the SORC to adopt the PRO/Mod rule in the first place and was told the stock was special and it would really mess up a J boat to have to adopt these rules. And to think this we could have saved everyone all this trouble if Matt would have showed up at the race with legal pickleforks.

[14J]

Sooooo, how do I get started in racing stock outboard?

Call me. I'll sell you a trailer load of equipment and an agenda. You'll fit right in.

[propnuts]

Are you serious?

John, while I have been appreciative and amused by your efforts to put some kind of positive spin on this, this is kind of overboard. EVERYONE, but especially the SORC, should be totally embarrassed that J drivers, unlimited drivers, scorers or anyone else is determining a National Championship in Stock Outboard. Shame on you all.

Thank you for looking that up. The means by which this came up.
Part of the procedure to close out old business is a vote by the membership to ratify the Actions of Officers, Board, Council, Category Chairs and Race Commissions for the prior season. After the Motion and the second, a discussion is allowed to take place. It was asked by a member of the audience to "divide the question", isolating this topic. The remainder of the actions were then voted on and ratified.
The next step was a resolution endorsed by the SORC (not unanimously but by majority) asking for the decision of the National Commissioner to be overturned. The basis for this request was that The SORC followed all rules, regulations and by-laws of the association and was fully within its rights to render the decision it made. There was no reason therefore to review the decision in spite of the appeal.
The bottom line is, without the right to ratify the decisions of the officers of the organization, we would essentially have a dictatorship. To my knowledge, this sort of action has only taken place in only two other instances since the mid fifties. Whether you agree with the results or not, we the lowly membership showed the BOD who is really in charge.
You should have seen the faces on the few "J" drivers that were there when they found out that they're vote, they're voice, was as loud and important as ANYBODY and EVERYBODY in that room.

[14J]

I tried get the SORC to adopt the PRO/Mod rule in the first place and was told the stock was special and it would really mess up a J boat to have to adopt these rules. And to think this we could have saved everyone all this trouble if Matt would have showed up at the race with legal pickleforks.

Thank you. I sat on that commission. We had to come up with our own darn rule, now I have a boat that is 12 months old that I need to drive 5 hours to have it changed.

Pile up the expenses. My hobby gets more attractive every day.

Stillwell you're closer and know all about pickles, can I bring the boat to your place?

[csh2z]

Troy,
There was no indication the boat was altered in some way after the sticker was in place. I understand your absolute disdain and disgust for Matt (not that that has anything to do with your comment. LOL). A mistake was made, it happens, but I have got to believe that this will NEVER, EVER come up again. I'd say awareness of this issue will prevent that from happening.
Tony,
I think you're right, it's Matt's fault. In all seriousness, I think when people start to "fix" they're sponsons you're going to hear a lot of grumbling.

[14J]

Troy,
There was no indication the boat was altered in some way after the sticker was in place. I understand your absolute disdain and disgust for Matt (not that that has anything to do with your comment. LOL). A mistake was made, it happens, but I have got to believe that this will NEVER, EVER come up again. I'd say awareness of this issue will prevent that from happening.
Tony,
I think you're right, it's Matt's fault. In all seriousness, I think when people start to "fix" they're sponsons you're going to hear a lot of grumbling.

Just to be clear I wasn't suggesting that the boat was altered, although Matt is as dirty as they come.

[csh2z]

John, while I have been appreciative and amused by your efforts to put some kind of positive spin on this, this is kind of overboard. EVERYONE, but especially the SORC, should be totally embarrassed that J drivers, unlimited drivers, scorers or anyone else is determining a National Championship in Stock Outboard. Shame on you all.

Tony,
First of all, I'm just a messenger here. Secondly, The SORC (which I was not on for the last two years) followed the rules and acted within their authority to make a decision based on the rules that specifically says that a disqualification is not imperative.
Personally, I probably would have voted to uphold the decision of the Inspector and Race Committee ( to reiterate,the Race Committee DID support the disqualification by the inspector) at the time.

[daveracerdsh]

dq s

Remember....there were 2 dq s in inspection regarding D stock hydro....Gweedo for an illegal gear foot and myself for not having cowling plugs. Aside from a little grumbling, neither one of us protested or threw a hissy fit. And trust me, when we were loading stuff up to go home that same day..I wanted to! Lol...I even asked TJ if when the cowling plug rule was removed if we could make it retroactive...we all had a pretty good laugh over that. I think we need to move on with this issue myself. Dave

[14J]

I think we need to move on with this issue myself. Dave

Agreed. I'd like to hear about the Stock Outboard marketing, promotional, and member growth plans for 2013. There was much chatter headed into these meetings. What happened to this debate? Classes, program duration, etc. I would imagine something came out of Texas beyond pickle tips and Captain America.

[daveracerdsh]

Stock promotion

There was not nearly as much discussion on promotions as I would have hoped..Jeff Brewster had such a large agenda of stuff he had to get thru the majority of it was pushed into saturday....and by that time most of us were pretty burned out I think. We did have a spirited discussion on promoting the 302SSH class....there will be a significant amount of money available, and after the committee meets I will post what is going to happen with that. I did discover that we are sort of on our own promotion wise...or did I get that part wrong.

[pav225]

Scott

.

Stillwell you're closer and know all about pickles, can I bring the boat to your place?

Troy,
I thought Reed did all your pickle work...

Mike