Stock Outboard boat race making waves

[mdaspit]

Well MD spit..I would have to say I do not much care for the little dig you gave me....I am neither liberal or conservative, Dave

Dave-
Try to wrap your head around this.
It is all connected, it is all the same. There is no difference between regulating boat racing or regulating anything else.
Coca-Cola, seat belts, cigarettes, etc. etc.
What makes it different is what side of an issue you are on.

You see? Let's say I am a "Tree Hugger" as you say... and I believe that Nature is life, and that is the most precious thing on earth, and I devote my energy to helping to protect it from people who don't seem to care about it as much as I do.

I feel "righteous" about that, because really, why should our governing body allow your silly little boat racing thing to trump something as important as Nature? Don't say that you don't make a negative impact on it... you do.
You duck killer you.

Now don't get me wrong Dave, I'm not saying we should ban ALL boat racing, I'm just in favor of sensible, responsible, regulation of boat racing.

Ethical consistency Dave, the most difficult thing to try to live by.

(By the way, I didn't say anything about liberal or conservative in my previous post)

[raceright]

Of course politics play a role in race sites...both getting them and losing them. But for people to paint a broad brush and say that "liberals" have caused all of the problems makes my blood boil. I know of some very conservative politicaly racers that will not lift a finger here in region 10 when issues come up...they are to afraid to make wave etc. So be it. From what i remember shadow cliffs was lost because of noise issues? Am I correct there? such a neat place to race.....

Sorry to make your blood boil again I guess I will do that from time to time--if we ever speak in person who knows how that will go. But (there is always a but) I refuse to sit by and let our leaders get a free pass any more. I have some direct knowledge as to politics destroying race sites but will not name names or locations as some on this site have but in person I will fill anyone in who wants to know why I feel the way I do about the left side.

Pat Wright

If you want politics left out all the time then ya should close all social sites and not use the excuse that one site or the other is only about what ever --politics is the engine that drives everything in the USA today. But I refuse to have it be one sided.

[Dave M]

Awesome Idea

It is not to late to go back and tell people...hey....here is what as a group we can bring money wise to the local economy. And, I know for a fact the region 11 people left Shadow Cliffs in better shape then the found it...just like we do in SOA. If noise was the excuse, tell them no open pipes. Period. If just boggles my mind that racers insist on running open megaphones at races when we KNOW it upsets the locals. Hey....if I had a home on a local lake where races were taking place and D mod hydro with open pipes was running it would upset me also. Would racers rather leave equipment in the garage with no place to race or run d mod hydro with quiet exhaust? I understand that there are some people that like the sound of the open exhaust...I get that.....but at what cost? I am not trying to stir up the hornets nest here, but if I was the head of the mod commission I would say..ok...this is the last year for open megaphones. Next year everybody runs quiet exhaust. Down pipes etc. Just like in Formula E. Just my 2 cents worth from a race director. Dave

Go ahead, do it. That would be awesome.

[mdaspit]

I think Pat is right. (no pun intended) Politics does effect everything.
When I say politics I don't necessarily mean Republic or Democrat, left or right. Although I believe it does correlate.

And "Branding" is the tool to fix it... branding affects our lives today even more than politics, especially as boat racers.

Until boat racing understands that Branding is essential for more than just acquiring new members or more spectators, and that it doesn't just mean designing a fancy new logo, If there is any chance that boat racing can overcome its deficit, it will be in Building a Brand.

There is a saying "The solution is in the problem". In effect what I take that to mean... if you don't thoroughly understand the problems you face, (and I mean seriously peel the onion) you will never find a deep solution.

Here is an example of what I mean, and RacerDave this is in your own backyard.

The Weyerhaeuser Corporation many years ago when the environmentalists first started exercising their muscle was getting blasted by the public for clear cutting. The truth was that it was their own land they were cutting, but... the environmentalists made the case that while it may be Weyerhaeuser's own trees, the wildlife that habitate in their woods belonged to "everybody".
They made their case that weyerhaeuser had no right to destroy the habitats of wildlife that didn't belong to them. They found their support with a public who thought that the Company was irresponsible. It didn't help that when folks saw the ugly scene of a clear cut, it drove home the point.

What people did not understand was that for every tree that they cut, the company planted more.

By understanding the problem, the Weyerhaeuser Corp. set about
"Re-Branding" themselves. Not only did the Company show understanding of the problem, (after all, it had a consumer products brand to protect, as well as tons of shareholders who were concerned about a solution), so, they repositioned the Weyerhaeuser brand by adopting a corporate values campaign claiming to be the "Tree Growing Company" They then supported that position with communications that echoed the new branding line, and ad campaigns and commercials that showed hard working loggers out in the woods...but now, they weren't cutting down and killing trees, and destroying habitat instead, they were planting them... by the millions. They integrated this campaign all the way down to the community level where tens of thousands of seedlings from Weyerhaeuser's own company operated nurserys, were given away for community events.

Brilliant.

Ducks Unlimited has done something very similar. They have branded themselves as the "Duck Habitat People" instead of a crazy group of "Duck Killers". Self serving? Maybe, but effective.

Branding is everything.

[propnuts]

Good post, well thought out

Kinda what I was saying, instead of being the guys that take away park time from everyone else, we need to be the guys that provide free entertainment AND help the local economy.

I think Pat is right. (no pun intended) Politics does effect everything.
When I say politics I don't necessarily mean Republic or Democrat, left or right. Although I believe it does correlate.

And "Branding" is the tool to fix it... branding affects our lives today even more than politics, especially as boat racers.

Until boat racing understands that Branding is essential for more than just acquiring new members or more spectators, and that it doesn't just mean designing a fancy new logo, If there is any chance that boat racing can overcome its deficit, it will be in Building a Brand.

There is a saying "The solution is in the problem". In effect what I take that to mean... if you don't thoroughly understand the problems you face, (and I mean seriously peel the onion) you will never find a deep solution.

Here is an example of what I mean, and RacerDave this is in your own backyard.

The Weyerhaeuser Corporation many years ago when the environmentalists first started exercising their muscle was getting blasted by the public for clear cutting. The truth was that it was their own land they were cutting, but... the environmentalists made the case that while it may be Weyerhaeuser's own trees, the wildlife that habitate in their woods belonged to "everybody".
They made their case that weyerhaeuser had no right to destroy the habitats of wildlife that didn't belong to them. They found their support with a public who thought that the Company was irresponsible. It didn't help that when folks saw the ugly scene of a clear cut, it drove home the point.

What people did not understand was that for every tree that they cut, the company planted more.

By understanding the problem, the Weyerhaeuser Corp. set about
"Re-Branding" themselves. Not only did the Company show understanding of the problem, (after all, it had a consumer products brand to protect, as well as tons of shareholders who were concerned about a solution), so, they repositioned the Weyerhaeuser brand by adopting a corporate values campaign claiming to be the "Tree Growing Company" They then supported that position with communications that echoed the new branding line, and ad campaigns and commercials that showed hard working loggers out in the woods...but now, they weren't cutting down and killing trees, and destroying habitat instead, they were planting them... by the millions. They integrated this campaign all the way down to the community level where tens of thousands of seedlings from Weyerhaeuser's own company operated nurserys, were given away for community events.

Brilliant.

Ducks Unlimited has done something very similar. They have branded themselves as the "Duck Habitat People" instead of a crazy group of "Duck Killers". Self serving? Maybe, but effective.

Branding is everything.

[26V]

Rochelle is on!

I would like to say Thanks to the Flag park district board members for allowing us to run at Lake Sule again this year. See you all there.

[RLR]

Perfect

I would like to say Thanks to the Flag park district board members for allowing us to run at Lake Sule again this year. See you all there.

a perfect end to the stupidity of the war of words.

[pav225]

Great Job!!

I would like to say Thanks to the Flag park district board members for allowing us to run at Lake Sule again this year. See you all there.

Awesome News Gene!!!

Thanks to you and Mackey for all your hard work and persistence!

Mike

[joejohn44]

Good grief...

No, I don't think you do understand RacerDave...
First, who do you think needs to be on the same team? You and the woman you refer to as a "dumb *****"? You think she wants to be on the same team with someone who refers to her as a "dumb *****"?

You just help to prove her point, that boat racers are crude,arrogant, inarticulate, greasy, smelly, Neanderthals, who come to her neighborhood a couple times a year, make a bunch of noise, kill the ducks, pollute, and pee in her lake.

Get smart Dave, until you understand her,and somehow get her to understand that boat racers are fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, grand kids, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, neighbors and good people, you will never get it... and you will continue to lose.

You see Dave, its easy for her to hate a faceless, loud, band of weirdos... Not so easy for her to hate good human beings who may be just like the other people she knows.

THAT would be a good example of "Re-branding" yourself.

Wow...very insightful and another reason you are one of my favorite people in boat racing, Mark.

[propnuts]

Congrats Mike and Gene, one for the good guys

You might still want to consider the slips of paper with the money to try to "grease the wheels" for next year.

I would like to say Thanks to the Flag park district board members for allowing us to run at Lake Sule again this year. See you all there.

[mdaspit]

Wow...very insightful and another reason you are one of my favorite people in boat racing, Mark.

Thanks for the compliment joejohn.


Here's where that came from. I had a branding project for an international paper making company, with paper mills on rivers in several States around the country. Paper mills use a lot of water, and in the old days they were HUGE polluters, white foam, stinky brown water spewed out and into the rivers. Of course since then, they have cleaned up their mess being regulated and monitored by the EPA as well as several other Fed. Departments.

But, accidents can happen, even with redundant safeguards in place, so the job was, to build Good Karma in a Karma Bank in the community... for the company... in case something ever went wrong.

First thing, we got some polling data/research to benchmark the attitudes of the community toward the company. Once we had that, I noticed that all the responses seemed to describe the company as this faceless, ugly, machine, that didn't care about people and would belch and fart its bile in their hometown, and all the money was going back east to make some fat guys in suits rich.

So, we started making commercials featuring various people who worked in the plant, and simply, honestly showed them as the real people they were. What they did on weekends, who their families were, around the supper table, with kids trying to reach for more, and Mom correcting "bad manners" ... We showed where they lived, how they lived, all of it... what their dreams and aspirations were... you know, just real people.

These spots were almost documentary in nature, no make-up, no wardrobe, no script, we just showed up at the house and started filming the dog barking at us, "Luther" yelling at the dog to go lay down, all the real stuff that you would encounter if you went to visit a neighbor. Real people shown in a real way. These were just plain, good, southern, blue collar families just trying to make a good life.

We started running these spots so that they would appear regionally on certain cable networks, and monitored the results on a weekly basis thru a 3rd party polling data company and by conducting one-on-one focus group interview sessions at the local Mall and grocery store.

The results were remarkable and immediate, the attitudes and opinions of the company jumped by big numbers...

Because, people started to associate the company not as faceless anymore, but as normal, real people, just like themselves.

("Corporations are people"... sound familiar?)

It's easy to hate a big ugly, noisy, smelly, faceless, polluter... Not so easy, when you break it down to individuals with names, and faces, and kids, with huge smiles on their faces...

But you knew that didn't you... You guys have built a great brand with the people of Jacksboro...

[PROPDOC]

Mark,
Thanks... That was our goal from the start. We wanted to be "partners" with the city and the chamber of commerce. I believe that by being partners we can all achieve what we want. For us, a great place to race and have fun, for the city, to be able to bring in an increase to their tax base, and for the chamber, money being spent at their members establishments. So far this approach has worked for us and is still a work in progress. We had a successful first race and the response from the city was great and they are looking forward to this year.

By the way the slip of paper idea is a great one!

[propnuts]

Last bit about the slips of paper

Tell everyone when they give them out to tell the server/attendant/whoever is taking the money to give it to the owner or boss, the guy that can actually help us out. While it would be nice if we all had wonderful loving relationships with our race sites, the fact is that we pi$$ off a certain segment of the population, the trick is to not let their voices be the only ones the people that can decide our fate hear.

[daveracerdsh]

I agree

I do agree that we need to forge bonds with the local community and local businesses....If enough people are on our side the local polititians may take a different view on things. Dave

[mdaspit]

the trick is to not let their voices be the only ones the people that can decide our fate hear.

Exactly...

The slip of paper idea is the best idea I've ever heard on this site.
So simple... Smart.