The Silly Season

[ryan_4z]

BSR already has the perfect format for this. The motors that are out there could easily be factory inspected and sealed.

[csh-2z]

Put a new Runnecraft under your Christmas tree this year! Order by Cyber Monday!

[Big Don]

Great idea

[Big Don]

Don't we all think part of our growth problem is lack of equipment?

How are you ever going to attract anyone when you say, well, you have to call this guy in England and when he has engines and they are not all spoken for, you'll get one. Or call this guy in Michigan, but I know he does not have any right now. Or call this guy over on the east coast and he'll put you on the list...

Until we have engines available, that you can buy right now, we are going to struggle to grow, or attract many. This goes for boats also. We do not make it easy to get equipment.

I'm as impatient as they come, I know I sure would not wait, I'd go find something else.

[dholt]

Make a sealed runabout class with the 20 Sidewinder. Best ride you could ever ask for.
Helps get more SW out there...creating bigger used market down the road thus reducing cost of engines to rest of racing population.

[ryanbrew57s]

Just looked up the weights for the yamato engine in 25SSR with a 1/2 restrictor it is 405lbs and with a 9/16 restrictor it is 430lbs my bet is that is what they were talking about

[ryanbrew57s]

There have been efforts to start a sealed runabout class, the idea was to set it up as similar as the hydro class to make it simplified for new racers that might race both classes and switch their motor over. the result was a very slow, bad and bumpy ride from what I was told. and I also have heard the comment of "why make a bad ride worse?"

[ryanbrew57s]

Don, maybe they are running a yamato? I know the weight is higher for that engine than the merc, weight in 25SSR with a merc is 395. Have no clue what it is for the yamato motor off the top of my head so maybe that's what they're talking about?

[Big Don]

Correct me if I'm wrong, or got bad information, but in talking to some 25R drivers the reasons they race 25R are, they are not big enough to run CSR, they don't have the money for a Sidewinder and when it was just hotrods in BSR they were none to be found so they went to 25.

[Tim Weber]

I've brought up why we don't have 300ssr to a few commission members and it didn't get much traction. The response was we don't need another class.
True, we don't need another until we get rid of a couple.

Has anyone tried a runabout set up in 300ss configuration? If it works in hydro why not a runabout?

As far as John's comment about getting sawed off, pay back is hell! and... I have returned the favor. You want to get me mad, drive me dirty. You want my admiration race me hard. I hate to say it but some guys just don't get it until they get the same. And when you do get yours, don't come crying.

Tim

[jsilvestri]

Lots of great discussions going on right now. I'm a 30+ year veteran racer. My oldest son will be racing JR this summer and I can tell you if it wasn't for his enthusiasm to want to race boats we'd be racing dirt bikes, bicycles or something else. Right now, my father is putting together a J motor from 3 fishing motors and it blows me away the number of mods and tricks there are to get one to run right. Not to mention the number of guys who say "well, I do this to my motors, even though its not legal so the motor will last longer and still run well" or "you have to have a 16cc block or else you'll never win a nationals" Yet, no one I've talked to knows how to get a hold of a 16cc block or if they are even available through APBA/Mercury. Someone knows but no one is sharing.

I firmly believe in order to get new people involved and to want to stick around for a while there has to be current, available, affordable, reliable equipment. That is why every Yamato class is successful!

Yes, the class structure is screwed up and so is the "show". Why do we not have lemans starts? At least at races that have the beach area that supports that type of racing or certain classes when it makes sense, ie "The Dash for Cash". I've raced this way a few times for special events at club races and its a blast!!! Everyone is lining the bank to watch the race because it more exciting. We are way to worried about losing current racers who are unwilling to change. If you look closely, the average span of a good racer is about 10 years. Those of us involved after that are an anomaly. We should spend less time on worrying about keeping racers and we should be focusing on getting new racers to replace us as we fade off into the sunset to do other things. You must have current, available, affordable, reliable equipment in order to attract new racers and keep racers for any length of time. For example, I can drive 20 minutes from my house, buy a new dirt bike for my son, with my credit card, and go racing within an hour of my house to 4 tracks. Driver schools and other efforts to get people in boats and racing works and works well but for how long without the equipment?

Someone, Stock Commissioners, Stock VP, APBA President, has to start making tough decisions! I'd much rather trim the schedule back and race my CSH 3 times a day with 4-5 lap heats and pay much more in entry fee than what we are paying now. I know we can do this in our club but I just don't see that happening. As much as most do not like to take orders from big brother, everyone is waiting on big brother to make the tough decisions so we don't have to, which is combine or eliminate classes. Or, I'll take it a step further and say that Stock and Mod need to be combined! I believe it was Dana Holt and Dean Sutherland several years ago had a couple of proposals on this. Makes sense to me. NBRA is able to do it quite well.

Finally, I'd love to see the younger generation; Ryan Runne, Dylan Runne, Johnny W, etc... implement some new ideas and run with it. I'll help if I can.

[Ram4x4]

I can tell you why Sidewinders and Tohatsu D's aren't flying off the shelf...price. Why spend $5000 or $7000 for an engine when for half that you can get an entire rig and race in a couple classes with it.

20 and C maintain because they're the biggest bang for the buck. They're big enough for most adults, and with one hull and one engine, they can run multiple classes. With a restrictor they can run 20, without they can run CSH and 500. When it's all said and done on Sunday, they have one boat and one engine to pack up.

300 is doing well because for the price of a sealed Yamato ($3000ish) you have yet another class to run...with the same boat. Of all the 300 drivers, how many are new and how many are veterans that jumped on the "yet another class I can run" band wagon? I think the rules for 300 also provide some interest from veterans.

I know we try to steer new drivers to 300, but nothing stops them from buying and running any class they want. I believe one or two of this year's new drivers jumped right into 500. I know I went straight to CSH and run my boat in 500 because I can.

It seems the C classes are the sweet spot for entry into the club from a price and versatility perspective.

Why has B declined? Maybe the difference going from A to C isn't a big enough performance jump for someone to want step slowly? Maybe most of the new drivers coming in over the last few years are too big to race B boats competitively? I dunno.

[GrandpaRacer]

The question keeps coming up as to why people leave the sport. We should discuss this and try to agree before we implement solutions. There are a lot of obvious issues like cost, time available, 3 boat heats, having kids, but I don't think these are the big reasons. What do people tell you when they leave? One is getting tired of chasing the same 2-3 people in the back of the pack and never getting a chance to get on the podium. I think this is the reason the 300ss class is doing so well. Some of us really like to blue print our engines, and make trick boat mods and spend hours on props and test a lot, but we are the minority. However, I think there is a bigger problem. What really gets a racer pissed off? We have all seen it, the helmet throwing and cursing after a heat? Is this why they get mad and quit? I think the most irritating thing in our sport is making a good start, being in the mix, racing side by side, having a great race and then getting sawed off. Getting sawed off by the same guy that does it all the time! Eventually the words come out "That's it! I'm outa here!". Am I right or wrong?
John Adams

[GrandpaRacer]

Turning this into a spectator sport has been talked about since the 70s when I started racing and it isn't happening. Likely never will unless we add betting like they do in Japan. Actually it could really hurt us if we drew a big crowd. Think of the problems we would have with crowd control, parking, police protection, traffic control, porta potties, and the associated irritation a big crowd would have on Lake Shore neighbors at most of our race sites.

[ryanbrew57s]

I appreciate the input guys, but I am not interested in the B class, I am too big of a guy to get into the class. Would I drive one? Of course I would! As it is I'm already honestly too big for 25 and should be racing C but I won't throw away all of my time money and effort in 25. Eventually I will race CSR as well when I can afford it.