A Different Agenda

[pav225]

A good first step is trying to get the many racing organizations back together and working together.

[kampenracing]

It’s going to be pretty hard to do, I think both groups members are pretty die hard. We used to come to 1or 2 APBA races a year, the problem was that we would very rarely have an APBA racer show up at ours. If both groups could at least support each other’s races in Illinois it would be a start.

[pav225]

I agree. John Korbus and Mike Mackey went to Centralia and loved it! We keep trying, but schedules seem to overlap a bunch. Hopefully this summer we can make it happen. There are a lot of racers in/around Illinois, it would be great to support each others races.

[jeff34f]

Guys this has been going on since 1970 even when boat racing was at its highest. Why?
More to come later!!!!
34-F

[Ram4x4]

I like Ryan's idea about getting in with some of the big classes, even if it's only one or two races. What if we could get an event that had a couple SO/MO classes, some PRO, some inboard or bigger stuff all in one weekend?

That would definitely get us in front of a lot of gear heads who are pumped watching the big fast guys. They'd be more excited and enthusiastic when they find out APBA has something affordable, not just a lot of big expensive classes.

[Dr. Thunder]

Of all of the various outboard association racing organizations ... USTS, APBA, NBRA etc. what would be on the list of the best racing venues ..? The best race sites in terms of spectator attendance?

[RLR]

I have watched this thread with interest as this discussion is very similar to the one we had as USTS a few years ago. There was much back and forth for quite some time as we realized the earthquake this would set in motion. We have been congratulated and called the devil incarnate for what we did. Even with all of that, looking back we did what we should have done. We soon realized that a business decision had to be made to survive and to do what was best for us as a Pro group. That was not an easy decision until we realized that we were not getting what we needed from the organization we had been a part of for all of our existence. We tried to negotiate some areas of concern, but nothing was ever put forth to alleviate our concerns of costing for Sanctions and Insurance.

During our discussions, we looked at a number of models and the NBRA and Jeff Ruth were kind enough to help us through the transition to be able to be independent and run our own show. We give him and the NBRA our thanks for their support to take the leap. It was the right decision for us. We received immediate relief as our insurance became much cheaper, but with good coverage for sponsors, drivers, and our officers in the club. It was strictly a business decision striving to remain solvent and lead ourselves to bigger solutions to sponsorship and promotion.

We have been successful in our venture on our own, securing sponsorships, race sites, and being led by a benign dictator who not only drove and won championships, but remains as an owner of equipment and still winning championships. Todd Brinkman was exactly what the vision of our independence needed as someone who knew the sport exquisitely inside and out, and was willing to wear the mantle of the benign dictator and lead with a small board, able to make decisions quickly and move in the direction decided upon. I cannot stress the last two issues enough, vision and direction followed by a quick decision to move forward, with the agility to turn right or left to adjust to issues as they come. This is extremely important in moving forward.

Now as I said, after reading through this thread, it is interesting to me as to the lack of awareness of the strength both the Mod and Stock divisions have with in your current organization by some. That does not apply to all of the posts, however, your strength supersedes your vision of who and where you are. Think of the numbers you are within the organization you are dealing with currently. By far I would believe your two groups make up more of members than any other two groups within. That equals power, it equals ability to change how you are treated, it equals leverage. You have the ability to control your own destiny with the strength that you have by the numbers alone.

I see a number of the posts talk of combining different categories together to bring a big show to town. Your two groups above all of the categories have the ability to put on a big show by yourselves if you work together. The ability to put on racing with large fields remains a great opportunity for you. Living in the Midwest where there is a hotbed of drivers and opportunities for race sites, reminds me of my days racing Mod's with the Illinois Club we formed and aligned ourselves with IOA. Every year we would come together and look at the calendar and put together a schedule allowed for eliminations at almost every race we ran together. The East Coast and NE also have that ability with the Stocks and Michigan can put on a stock race all by themselves with decent fields.

At the very least, if the Wisconsin, Illinois, and IOA would come together and schedule together, what a strength that would bring to a sponsor. I understand the West Coast guys are doing what they have to do to accomplish their survival and are doing a great job of getting race sites and entries.

Right now I see none of that, and have called races where class after class runs 3-4 boats. Tough sell to sponsors, while other clubs are running classes combining stock, mod, and even the C-Service and Racing divisions to get enough entries to pay for a race.

Think the Labor Day run at LockHaven comes to mind, it seems as if that is the only thing on the agenda in the east and draws from Florida to main, and west into Indiana and Michigan. If you look at the USTS race sites, except for a couple in Florida at the beginning of the year, we try to stay within the Midwest with our events. Our drivers come from long distances and most will leave their trailers with folks within the Title Series with storage and fly into Chicago, pick up the rig and head to the next one, it works.

The opportunity is there for both Mod and Stock categories to cooperate with one another on race schedules to put that big race on. Stock with stock, Mod with Mod, or in some cases take the most from the two categories and put it on. There were times when the Illinois and IOA groups took 4 cylinders' one way and the two cylinders' went another way on the same weekend, but it strengthened both equations with lots of boats.

If you look at the NBRA, they are very close to the model that the USTS has, although they have a 2 or 3 clubs that make up the core of their racing, but their schedule is a combination of all clubs, thus good turnouts of drivers, exciting racing, and sponsors happy. They cooperate between clubs and have one race for NBRA on a weekend, thus allowing for drivers to not split loyalties, or sometimes trailers as sometimes different facts make choosing one over another tough.

Lo

ok around you, how many different clubs, how many different races are within a stones throw of one another and short fields at them. I believe there are ways to get big shows without having to combine and lessen your leverage. Think of your strength in numbers for who you are, think of your strength for the folks who have posted here, there are great comments and ideas. You can control how you are looked at by your organization. They are trying to satisfy how many different types of categories and are trying to be all thinks to all people. It does not and cannot work for your categories unless you assert more control over your destiny and costs.

Ray

You are stronger than you realize and you have leverage beyond what you are thinking. Imagine if you were to do what the USTS did and have control over your costs and ability to move quickly in the direction you want to move. I want to be careful here as I am not advocating a split away for you, but it obviously must be a topic for discussion if you cannot use your leverage to accomplish a set of goals agreed upon by those who can move the organizations forward.

[HRTV]

boom-mic-drop.jpg

Wow, Mic drop, Ray out! I'm speechless

[Smitty]

Hope y'all had a good Christmas!

A couple of ideas. First, regarding Ram4X4's idea that we promote the businesses that welcome us to their town and maybe sponsor trophies, and those that put sponsor money into individual's boats, how about a printed sponsor registry? Any sponsor gets his business address, products/services offered, open hours, etc., printed on an inexpensive handout where we encourage club members and their families, as well as race spectators, to patronize these pro-racing firms. This kind of thing is easier to do and to update in this computer age. If not a printed registry, then hand out the usual club flyer with the year's racing schedule and a suggestion that race fans go to the club website and check out (and download to their own print copy) the sponsor registry. "Please buy from our racing sponsors," should be emphasized.

Next, many clubs will see to it that some members display their racing rigs at their town's annual boat show. This is a very good sort of promotion (it alerted me as an outsider in 1965 that Seattle Outboard Association had meetings at a particular time/place, and that their annual Novice School was coming up). But I think there are a whole lot more opportunities than a once-a-year big winter boat show. All summer their are neighborhood car shows where people who are already gear-heads come to look at hot rods and customs and restored cars and a few trailered-in race cars. Off the top of my head I could name half-a-dozen in the Seattle/Tacoma area, and there are many more. The car show guys would be delighted to see a raceboat or two show up. Other venues might include other motorsports gatherings (dirtbike races, kart races, etc.), big swap meets, Boy Scout jamborees, air shows and fly-ins, and lots of other possibilities.

Now as to how to make it happen, rather than club officers (who already are donating time and energy) making phone calls to round up enough members and outfits, instead put it on the members to come up with the venue and show up with a boat. Require that each member, in order to remain in good standing, has to accumulate a few "volunteer-credits" each year. These could range from working a patrol boat at a race, setting up or tearing down the course, being a scorer or timer, and the other usual volunteer chores, but could also include a member, on his own initiative, trailering his outfit to the local hot rod show. He could pick up a stack of club literature, maybe a couple of big poster boards of racing photos. He would take some snapshots of his own as evidence that he had set up a display, and would get some number of "volunteer-credits" toward his yearly requirement (which maybe shouldn't apply to a novice in his first season). There would be lots of ways for a member to get his volunteer-credits, but showing off his rig in front of a local hardware store or at a high school woodshop class or at a big swap-meet would be more fun than some club chores, so maybe this is a way to get lots of public exposure.

Just ideas . . . . Personally, I haven't been around any of this in a long time and have no boat to show, but one of my new years' resolutions is to do some giving-back to the club, so maybe I could help with putting this idea into operation if people think it's any good.