I'd like to get some insight from all regions...

[Fear the Duck]

I occasionally suffer from wild thoughts about the "ideal" purpose-built APBA/NBRA racing facility. Unfortunately, my ideas are all my own at this point, and a single person's fantasy can hardly become reality without regard to the ideas of others, especially when the topic is a massively public facility. Were something along those lines to be built in the future, it would require consideration of many different ideas and integration of many different favorable features in order to be a successful establishment. That being said, I'm curious to know anybody else's thoughts and opinions on the idea. What sort of features would it incorporate? Where would be the most ideal place to build it? How could it serve to grow and promote our sport?

[Instructor]

I have always thought a man made lake just for racing would be great. It could be built sort of like a NASCAR track with a centre island and a bridge to shore where you mount the time clock, cameras etc. It would be a pretty large undertaking costing lots of $ but you could find some help I think if you used the same track for racing snowmobiles in the winter. This would give you about 10 months/year of racing, 5 each for boats and skidoos with a 1 month gap on each end of the season waiting for the ice to come in and then leave.

Such a place would do well if there was enough property to house a camp ground, motel, restaraunt/bar plus some sort of garage to fix and sell motors and perhaps storage space that could be rented too.

I would think someplace in the mid North of the U.S. would be good as you need both summer and winter seasons. Such a place would be the perfect setting for televised races on weekends and practice time during the week would attract lots of new racers to both sports. It would be the perfect setting for the National Championships too.

Yea, your not alone thinking about this one

[HRTV]

Wrong time in history plus its already been done. Wheatland, MO Lucas Lake run by Lucas Oil. F1PROP and NBRA have already had there annual events at the lake for 2013.

Wheatland has everything on your list plus a dirt track for day and night racing.


<iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Pftp1_Jaiy8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://lucasoilspeedway.com/news/201...kix-1057-pres/

http://www.lucasoil.com/articles1-44...casOilSpeedway

[David Weaver]

Dayton

I thought that the Dayton Hydroglobe was built for water sports of all sorts. It likely served more mundane purposes as well.

[HRTV]

I thought that the Dayton Hydroglobe was built for water sports of all sorts. It likely served more mundane purposes as well.

That's right Dave I forgot all about the Dayton Hydrobowl

[Dave M]

Hmmm

Stay tuned for the next 5 years or so. Might get interesting. Your ideas have been around for the last 25 years or so. Better late than never I guess.

[Fear the Duck]

I like the way you think, Instructor. Classy. And Dan, thanks for the links and vids of Lucas Lake. It's a great looking facility, lots of great features. I bet it costs a pretty penny to hold an event there, though. Watching that video, I couldn't help but think: Maybe we could do better.
It could start out small, and grow. I envision a privately-owned lake, with ample parking and a sizeable area for camping. Prices for camping are reasonable, fishing and watersports attract more people, and a few good APBA/NBRA events show enough profit to upgrade. After a while, there's hookups for RVs and some nice restrooms/showers to replace the port-a-johns, and some bigger and better bleachers.
A few seasons later, the gravel parking lot is paved and construction begins on the grandstands. Before too long, little lodges offer an alternative to camping, and make the lake more enjoyable for fishermen during the colder months. The concessions stand gives way to a full food court, and little kiosks and booths dot the perimeter, making a weekend at the races more attractive to more businesses.
More businesses benefit from the publicity, and more and more sponsorships allow the facility to continue to grow. Maybe it's just my naiivete speaking, but I'm all but convinced that this is a very real possibility. The benefits to powerboat racing would be tremendous. With such an establishment realized, others could begin to repeat the process in other locations, ensuring that everyone in the nation could have the opportunity to enjoy our sport to the fullest.
I have every reason to believe that powerboat racing has the potential to be on par with other motorsports like Motocross and NASCAR in terms of popularity and profitability, and maybe, just maybe, a project like this would be the vessel that brought us there.
Dave, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be staying tuned.
Now that my little rant is done, are there any other ideas floating around out there?

[modracer7b]

I used to dream of a manmade boat racing only facility back in the 60's, made like the stock car tracks back then.

Bill Rosado

[Dave M]

It's There

I like the way you think, Instructor. Classy. And Dan, thanks for the links and vids of Lucas Lake. It's a great looking facility, lots of great features. I bet it costs a pretty penny to hold an event there, though. Watching that video, I couldn't help but think: Maybe we could do better.
It could start out small, and grow. I envision a privately-owned lake, with ample parking and a sizeable area for camping. Prices for camping are reasonable, fishing and watersports attract more people, and a few good APBA/NBRA events show enough profit to upgrade. After a while, there's hookups for RVs and some nice restrooms/showers to replace the port-a-johns, and some bigger and better bleachers.
A few seasons later, the gravel parking lot is paved and construction begins on the grandstands. Before too long, little lodges offer an alternative to camping, and make the lake more enjoyable for fishermen during the colder months. The concessions stand gives way to a full food court, and little kiosks and booths dot the perimeter, making a weekend at the races more attractive to more businesses.
More businesses benefit from the publicity, and more and more sponsorships allow the facility to continue to grow. Maybe it's just my naiivete speaking, but I'm all but convinced that this is a very real possibility. The benefits to powerboat racing would be tremendous. With such an establishment realized, others could begin to repeat the process in other locations, ensuring that everyone in the nation could have the opportunity to enjoy our sport to the fullest.
I have every reason to believe that powerboat racing has the potential to be on par with other motorsports like Motocross and NASCAR in terms of popularity and profitability, and maybe, just maybe, a project like this would be the vessel that brought us there.
Dave, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be staying tuned.
Now that my little rant is done, are there any other ideas floating around out there?

FeartheDuck,

Lucas already hosts kneel down hydros. They already have the food courts, they already have the campgrounds on sight, they have a HUGE fan base in the area that likes racing, no matter dirt or water. They make some good cash off us at the event. Believe it or not, the fan base there pays decent to get in to watch us race boats. Is the course ideal ? YES, in my opinion it is. A lot will disagree, but those can go run their 3 mile courses. I like racing. It is very spectator friendly when we are tight group racing hard. Oh, and Mr. Lucas does not want the ummm, less mundane activites to take place on the lake from my understanding. We saw minnows in there and I think he grumbled some absurb words... hehehehe. Lucas is right in the middle of the country, well as close as we can get and have a facility that caters to boat racing. There are a lot of local sponsors, and some major corporate sponsors. In fact, we have even gained a racer or two to participate that raced in other racing that occurs there.
For entertainment, they sure don't mind you having beer in the park, so no worries from the local police if you are sitting at your trailer after the races enjoying a few cold ones. And if you want to go to hotel and clean up and them hit the races you can. They have an amazing dirt track.

Yes, we have it going on. We heard everyone over the years, some of us agree with you. And now you know part of the story. Want to know more, attend a boat race there. You won't regret it.

[Fear the Duck]

Thank you, Dave.
Perhaps I came across as downplaying Lucas Lake. Not my intention, by any means. From what I've seen and read, Lucas has a great thing going, a great facility, and has done and is doing some great things for powerboat racing. The point I meant to emphasize is, we can expand on that, we can have more of that. We can start multiple projects in other locations, allowing for the introduction of new ideas, new methods, new features. Starting small, direct competition is avoided, and with local and regional support, improvements and expansion are paced proportionally with the growth of popularity. The end result is a healthy and diverse system, operating in a similar manner to motorsports' many speedways. Different courses, different challenges, different attractions. Hats off to Lucas for a job well done, but I think more people can follow suit. "Mundane" events like fishing and watersports would make excellent media for not only growth, but continued profitability in the off season.

[jp183w]

Firebird lake outside of Phoenix was also a purpose built lake. Perfect for drag boats. I know they have tried several other forms of boat racing at the site including unlimiteds.
They do have a center island but this makes starting very difficult. You always need to mill on the back stretch and make is very rough. If the center island was not there the lake would be perfect.

[HRTV]

Not in our lifetime, sorry to be negative but the cost of such and endeavor would be astronomical not even taking into consideration the cost of running such a facility. The cost of running such a facility would far outweigh any revenue you might be able to generate. In my humble opinion the sport is doing just fine in some of the locations where it has flourished for years like Depue, Lock Haven and many other races that have become a part of the culture and society of many small towns all across the USA and Canada.

Before anyone lashes out at me for being negative think back to to thousands of post written here at HRNET stating we are fine just like we are.

Grass Roots racing should stay Grass Roots racing. Its all about family fun and supporting one another. The reunion of old friends and family that shows up in small towns like Depue is what its all about. Trying to take it to the next level will only incur more cost and unneeded frustration.

Everyone should use the USTS / NBRA as a prime example. They don't worry about web site hits, Twitter Followers, Facebook Likes or running costly electronic software and message boards yet they have found a formula that works. No large facility or big front office to drag them down. They simply set up camp for a few days at select small towns across the country and have a ball.


http://hydroracerlive.kinja.com/mari...need-753839374

Enjoy!

[B1PRORACER]

If you are collecting ideas, check out the stadiums in Japan. They have several across Japan. That is the whole purpose around the Yamato engines.. they aren't made for us, we just buy their old equipment! At one time in the 30's or 40's, a race track in Massachusetts pumped water into the track and they raced outboard hydroplanes there. I have seen photos of them racing....

[stevegray]

Stadium Racing

If we don't run on natural lakes/courses why bother? You want to run in a swimming pool with everything regulated, where is the fun?

[B1PRORACER]

It doesn't sound like you have been racing very long. There are different size race courses and a 1 2/3 miles race course is the largest and not used very often anymore. Any body of water any bigger that you need is unnecessary. If you had your own pond, you would have control over the water surface. No pleasure boat waves of natural waves from strong winds that grow to unracable heights. In addition, there would be no rocks or stumps to run over...and no wood coming down the river from a pre-race heavy rain. The race course can be permanent and of one of the record allowable sizes. The facilities for racers and spectators would be improved. Money could be made from spectators. Money to maintain the facility, for advertizing, prizes/ tow money. Remember is it almost impossible to charge people to see a race from public land.