APBA Winter Nationals Procedurally Wrong

[ryan_4z]

I don't think we need to do anything. The commission should have voted on it yes, but is it really a big enough problem that we should start from scratch, absolutely not. This is going to be one hell of a race. I am stoked about traveling west of the Mississippi for the first time. The most important thing is that we all have a good time, with good competition.

[stu_racing]

i see a simple solution to everyone's problems, excpet maybe giving the scorers a little more work. if apba's members have a problem with this then have the apba member scored according to how the go over the finish line in respect to other apba members. if a aof or cbf or whatever member crosses the finish line ahead of an apba member then they score their respective points under their own organization.
example. (boat number are made up)
1st. 1Z
2nd. 1M
3rd. AOF member
4th. cbf member
5th. 1CE
so 1Z would get 1st place points, 1M would get 2nd place points, and 1CE would get 3rd place points in apba. all at the same time aof scores their boat under 3rd place points and cbf scores their member's points as 4th place.
if its a supposed to be a 12 boat final and there are only 8 apba members in it then take the how the 8 apba member finish from 1st to 8th and then take then next 4 fastest boat from qualifiers and award them 9th to 12th
i know i missed whitney point nationals last year because i was a cbf member. and many other racers from canada missed whitney point this year and last year because cbf members are not allowed to run in divisionals and nationals.
this promotes outboard racing as a united front but also keeps other happy witht heir respective organizations. it also gets the best of the best racing against each other at more races and will hopefully help boat counts
just an idea so don't stone me for it

[AOFoffice]

Been thinking about an answer...

I have made two trips to Alexandria since the APBA national meeting working on setting up this race and finding sponsors. (999) miles from Iowa to Alex-one way). I do have some possible sponsors lined up. If they should come through, how about this:
An AOF racer petitions AOF to use some of that sponsorship money to purchase an APBA membeship?
(When I asked for the money, I did not specifiy what it was to go for except for the race. Wouldn't this be a good use of any sponsorship money that I might acquire?)
I would have to get this approved by the AOF Racing Commission and also have the sponsorship money in hand. Maybe NBRA could do the same. That way anyone who is racing would be a full member and there would be no problems.
Just an idea.
Connie

[Matt Dagostino]

Go Fits!!.....

I semi jokingly in a previous post suggested that the sponsoring club of the Winter Nationals look to accept AAA Cards in lieu of APBA Memberships since a waiver was being given to rival APBA Clubs/Organizations Cards..............Maybe AARP or Gold VISA could be thrown in. Young Hearn's intentions are excellent and maybe this 'Olive Branch" will indeed pave the way to picking up a few new crossovers from AOF/NBRA, but I find it insulting that these participants are not tendering some $$$ to join APBA at least on a weekend membership basis..........especially at a Championship Event being put on in their backyard!

Connie mentions APBA is 'political racing'. APBA is a organization made up of rules and 'structure' which has made it the premier powerboat racing organization in the world. To stray from this 'structure' is to invite dissention and member dissatisfaction. It seems that a 'reasonable' solution is to have a discounted weekend membership fee to 'technically' have these non-members become 'legal paticapants' and move on with it!!

Heck, APBA looks to collect late fees from it's own if they don't renew in a timely manner and make you get a full membership if you only wish to compete at the National Championships (talk about no love)..............so let's attempt to do something here that's somewhat 'reasonable' in regards to outside participants. Maybe somewhere between zero and what a weekend membership costs would be fair...........

As Connie points out many of the AOF/NBRA folks are card carring APBA Members also, so this shouldn't be a big issue for the remaining few.............Let's just remember 'fair is fair'.

My personal feeling is that major Stock Outboard events such as the Nationals and Divisionals should be at sites (if possible) that are where the greatest number of Stock Outboard drivers reside. With escalating travel costs we need to be even more sensitive to this. How many APBA Stock Outboarders live near Pineville, LA versus say Ocoee, FL ??? While I agree with Mr Hearn's attempt here to use a major event to 'try' to promote awareness of APBA and grab a few members, future site awarding should be carefully scrutinized to be more travel friendly to the 'majority' of us who are 'full' APBA Members.

Hope the event is well attended and provides the end result being sought.

Good Luck
J Dad.............

[Steve Johnson]

I would'nt feel so all alone.......

Offer full tilt Apba Memberships for those that don't have'm. present Your NBRA AOF CBF card for a discount. Use the promotoinal fund to pick up the slack. Its a win win NEW members. Show them ApBA is a Good Deal . our local races might improve. You might even make some new freinds.
You really think ED made a political move without researching it? Even the things he does I don't agree with are within the letter of the law. it's his JOB to nit pick. ED, defend your self so we can get on with it.
Steve

[ryan_4z]

Offering discounted memberships to members of other clubs is possibly the best idea yet. This would increase APBA membership, everyone would get the full benefits of being a full APBA member, and it may encourage these new members to participate in more APBA races. This could be the way to best capitalize on this merging of the clubs.

For anyone who hates the "politics" and "bickering" that goes on here remember this: In just a matter of a couple of hours, many heads have put in their opinions and come close to resolving some of these issues, as well as keeping a majority of our members informed of what is going on. Politics are what get things done. And this is a shining example of the good that can come from it.

[Xracer]

All of you are missing the point!!!

[QUOTE] <snip> However, at the 2005 APBA Annual Meeting, I went before the APBA Board of Directors to obtain a waiver of this rule for this race only. It was approved by them.

_________________
14-H

What other rules, racing or non-racing, does the APBA Board of Directors have authority to waive if another Commission Chair presents a compelling enough argument.

In no way am I suggesting that the intent of the request, in this particular case, was not in the overall best interests of the outboard racing membership. It's just that rules are rules. Or are they?

[csh12M]

Discounted memebership

I think Steve's idea of dicounted membership is a very good one. This way the new member gets all the benifits offered by APBA, including Propeller magazine. If you had 60 cross over guys join and we gave them $100.00 discount Stock Outboard or Mod. would be looking at a $6,000.00 bill. We agreed to spend nearly that much to produce a professional promotional video/cd to boat racing. This would be a nice next step at a reasonable cost. If 25% of those guys would join APBA for the next several years our money would be recouped, not a bad invesment plan of our promotional funds.

Ryan I appologize for the tone of my last post. I just feel that people are not looking at the "big" picture, however I did not mean to come off quite as strong as I did. I completely agree that we should work out all the issues prior to the race to insure a well executed premier event for all the sanctioning bodies.

CSH12M

[Tim Weber]

GET OVER IT!

We had an AOF/APBA race at Jesup this September. The duel member deal worked out just fine. We used APBA rules and class structure for and it was scored as any other race. The only exception was that if you were not an AOF member you didn't receive AOF points or AOF awards. Same true if you were not an APBA member.

I could give a rats rear about the membership for the weekend. We have got to GET OVER the politics and just race. There are not enough of us left to waste time bickering about stuff like this.

Tim

[Xracer]

GET OVER IT!

I could give a rats rear about the membership for the weekend. We have got to GET OVER the politics and just race. There are not enough of us left to waste time bickering about stuff like this.

Tim

Tim, It's not about weekend memberships! APBA is now and has been for many years a political organization. You can't just "get over the politics". My understanding of what fitsracing is addressing is the precedent setting aspect of the APBA Board chosing to "waive" the rules. this discussion is anything but simple bickering about organizational auspices. It's about precedent, process and procedure. then again, maybe the APBA BOD does have the authority to change rules whenever they want. I really don't know. I'm just asking the question.

[csh2z]

We should be ashamed!

Look how low we have sunk. Ryan is the voice of reason. Lighten up we'll solve these issues and make this thing work. It will benefit all of us. John Runne 2-Z

[mike ross]

Look on the bright side John. The voice of reason dosn't cost you anything and no equipment to fix after all is said and done. This is a simple process. Find out how many non apba members we are talking about. Let each of the 2 organizations aof and nbra figure if they could help from the money in there bank accounts. Its not that exspensive to be an APBA memeber. I will spend what 2 memberships cost just to fly in and go to this race. I spent what was equal to 1 memebership to get my rig to Ocoee last year. Our racing is so cheap!!!!!!! If you need to join APBA get out and work a couple extra hours so you can come play with the big boys. If you saved 2 dollars a day from today to the day of the race you have enough to join and go race. John could donate all the beer cans Ryan drinks from now to then and he could donate a membership in Ryans name. This bickering over less than 200 bucs is crazy. Mike

[Xracer]

Ashamed of what?

What is going on here is healthy, positive, open dialogue among a large membership constituency. As Martha would say "that's a good thing".

John, your reference to Ryan as the voice of reason depends on whether it's his voice in post #21 or #16. He's on target in 21 and slightly off the bulls-eye in 16.

[14-H]

Ed defends himself

If you APBA guys are so concerned that a bunch of crackers are going to take away your precious points, then you should take the advice of team 53-M and get off the computer and down to the water to test before the weather turns foul. Show up to this race and let's see how fast you really are!

I'm going for my Region 7 stock of cheese to go with the whine of this thread.

BTW: Delores is from the south, so I don't want to hear any gripes about the cracker comment.

[14-H]

Who approved?

APBA Winternationals procedurally wrong

I actually wanted to call it the World Championships but Connie pointed out to me that this would violate AOF rules.