Our actual problem..

[Apachemax]

This BSR fin topic has really made me think lately, and here is what i perceive to be our actual problem.

Lack of Exposure.

Simply put, no internal changes will get a NEW guy into a boat. None. That is the goal here, not drivers adding, or moving up into a class. We need new people, and that should be the only thing we discuss.

Perhaps none of you are aware that local (asphalt) circle track racing is also a dying sport, and the culprit for this is the lack of a cheap Rear-drive vehicles to convert into stock cars( this is what made the GM G-Body a classic) If youd like to race at your local track, chances are, youll need to get a tube framed late-model and those arent exactly budget friendly. There is a way to attract the type of person who wants to race, but cant afford the cost of a Late model. Those are the type of people who would be the MOST LIKELY to come race with us. You can find these people roaming local swap meets, so, if you find yourself bored, think about towing some outboard racing equipment over to a local swap meet to convey what they could be doing to scratch their racing itch. This is only one of many possible ways to spark someones interest in our sport.

The way that will not yield a single NEW person, is changing internal rules. You will not see any legitimate growth from the following

• Playing with weights
• Playing with heights
• Removing old (and budget friendly) engines from our rule book
• Creating new classes
• Adding a Side fin to a B Stock Runabout

So, when the common question is asked "How can we make [Insert any class here] grow?" the simple answer is Exposure.
These smaller classes would probably have a better chance of growing if we didnt push people into Yamato classes. Im well aware of the bang for your buck and reliability you get with the Yamato, but that is NOT the only option a new guy has and we shouldnt act like it.

Before we change more rules and possibly (probably) piss off the people we already have, we need to Figure out a way to promote the sport effectively, and this can be done!
To reiterate.. This is the only issue we should discuss. No NEW people are going to flock to this sport because of a rule change.

We dont need to change anything to promote the sport, all we need is the right audience and the right Exposure.
ad·ver·tise
ˈadvərˌtīz/
verb
[COLOR=#878787 !important]

• describe or draw attention to (a product, service, or event) in a public medium in order to promote sales or attendance.

[/COLOR]

[modsquad]

We have to take the BORING delays out of the picture for one thing! Example...put yourself as a spectator and you know nothing about whats going on at the race site, then we send out the first heat of the day and it happens to be "J" boats, half of them are not going to plan out because the parents have the motors jacked to the heavens so we have to stop the race and start over! Make it like "TEE BALL" everybody gets a hit, change the rule to limit motor height so everybody gets on plane.
Send out a couple of fast noise makers before the racing begins so spectators know what coming and have something to look forward to.
This is not the whole answer to saving our rapidly dying sport, but it sure can make a day of racing more enjoyable and less boring.

[modsquad]

Good point PITTMAN RACING, lets get rid of the DRAW FOR A PROP and go back to using your own J props, just thing of the frustration you would of saved your son using a prop that you tested with.

[PittmanRacing]

You are missing the point modsquad. First, it's time to stop bashing the kids and the future of our sport. Second, even with the largest classes at Constantine on both weekends, there were no more delays in the J classes (15 + boats in each with eliminations) than many other classes. The wrecks and engine failures in the mod and pro classes that resulted in delays dragging boats and drivers in were just as long (longer in my opinion) than any delay caused by restarting a J heat. That is not a complaint I am making about mod or pro, just racing. The rule is at every race, there is one chance for everyone to get on-plane. If they all get on plane they race, if not, you get one more try and if you don't get on plane the second time tough. AND for the second weekend we all raced, which was the NAC's for J/AX, no one could swap props to get on plane as per APBA rules.

[modsquad]

Paul, I am not BASHING the kids, I am BASHING the pit crews...Now think about this, you pick a prop out of a bag, not sure what it is going to do, instead of lowering the motor a bit to better your chances of getting on plane and not having the driver have his or her body 3/4's out of the cockpit trying to plane off. Seems like this logic makes for more of an enjoyable racing experience for our up and coming racers.
No hard feeling Paul, just trying to make racing GREAT AGAIN!

[ZUL8TR]

All good points. Spectators who do not know much about the sport would know by looking around that it is a boat race and probably expect fast and definitely a different sounding engine then their lake boat. When those fast race rigs start up they hear something happening, sounds interesting and have to look and maybe get the bug to come back and could become racer.

[PittmanRacing]

As racers in stock and mod, its time to accept our sport isn't a spectator sport. The value we bring to a community is our $ in the rooms we rent, meals we buy, gas we buy, etc. Think in terms of the economic impact our sport brings to a community, not how many spectators show up. We have the Street Rod Nationals here in Louisville every year. Literally thousands come to participate and watch. They never refer to how many spectators go as the events value, it is always discussed in terms of the economic impact to the city/region.

[raceright]

Were do you get the most exposure. The local outboard shop..Run what they have on nearby lakes and watch stock outboard grow.

[CSR4C]

How can you get exposure when almost everyone is towing "White Boxes" to races. Not just boat races, but almost all types of races. Sometimes it may say Jones Racing on it, but you have no idea what Mr. Jones is racing! Not growing up in a racing family, my dad loved fishing. I was exposed to outboard racing by seeing race boats on open trailers, & I was hooked! It has gotten so bad the 99.9% of people have no idea what a hydroplane is. About 10 years ago I was pulling in to a fast food place with my C Runabout on top of my pick up & I could hear someone in a car that was leaving say "What the F*** is that". I know the reason for enclosed trailers, more secure, when you get home from a race at midnight you don't have any thing to put away. How can that be changed ?????

[Ericwienczak]

Nailed it modsquad, there is no good place for a go pro on a boat. When testing outside of an apba sanction I always have the GoPro on. Nothing beats the view from the helmet

[Ram4x4]

I'm with Modsquad on that too. Neck snapping from a helmet mounted cam? Seriously? The mount would snap off before it did any damage to your neck, or the camera would fold back at the very least.

[ram95]

Go to your graphics shop and spend some money on vinyl and make your trailer colorful. I did and it cost me about $1200. Look around. There are some pretty wild race trailers... and there are some pretty dull enclosed race trailers. I also carry a boat on a rack on my truck..., most of the time. Look for Mad Russian Racing's red 16' enclosed trailer. It's the only one out there with a Victoria Secret decal on it which says: push up or hush up.

[PRO-MOTIONRACING]

I was once in a major league sports stadium, for a professional championship series motorsports event, in an industry only VIP suite, talking with the ownership of the Contour brand helmet camera company. I asked them if they had any safety data and mentioned the APBA policy on helmet cameras. They laughed out loud.

[DiGia54D]

That 1 x 1/2 sticky pad that holds it on is Brutal when it hits water...lol

[ricochet112]

A 3 minute video, so wacky, it goes viral may be the only way to get millennials (and the rest of a smart phone addicted society) to see what boat racing has to offer.

Not only is participation down in ALL forms of Motorsports, as well as all ball sports, but TV and live viewing is also down.

It cracks me up that Gopro's on helmets were outlawed in R10, with no data and only opinions.

[dil/viller]

Ditto on the Gopro thing [ if the issue is possible neck injury [ no safety issue deemed necessary for this ], how bout if you wear some type of neck movement restraint a Go pro can be used ] and how is a helmet good one year but not the next?

[PittmanRacing]

Just a guess, but it is likely a rule to avoid the potential legal liabilities for APBA if an injury does occur and could be blamed on the organization for allowing go-pro's on helmets.

[Apachemax]

Paul is right, our sport is not a spectator sport.
Our problem is lack of exposure and the solution is promotion, it is that simple.. Yes, the lack of Go Pros hindering proper video of our races. But that isnt a detrimental factor in promotion. To get participants, we (as individuals) will have to put in the time, effort, money to promote the sport, Driving down the road with an open trailer is NOT promotion! Perhaps instead of showing possible participants a helmet cam video, give them an opportunity to experience it for themselfs (Hint: Risk your sh**)

Constant unnecessary change is whats killing this sport, not lack of spectators, not motor availability/ reliability. It is this constant need to change that is just sickening.


Its odd that such a small group of people who enjoy the same thing are so quick to divide, take a minute and reflect on past changes and please find me a change that actually yielded higher participation, because it is to my understanding that every time we make a big change, people quit.

[GrandpaRacer]

I bet the change to cooling for 300ss Yamato’s will increase participation in 20ss and CSH. It should also help retain CSH and 20ss racers. Will be fun to watch.
JOHN Adams

[Apachemax]

It wont gain participation. Like you said, John, it will retain racers.
No new guy cares that we can now drill a hole to get an engine to cool, rather theyd be confused as to why you would need to modify an engine to cool.

I am not opposed to this, Im happy they have found a conclusion to the cooling issue, but it wont cause a surge in participation.

[GrandpaRacer]

You are probably right about drawing in new guys. It will help registrations in more classes.

[Dr. Thunder]

The bottom line is this ... any current boat racer has a place to race ... and very few of them care that there are no spectators to watch them. If they did they would care more about how the product they put on the water looks ...

[Apachemax]

Although humorous, youre response is wrong.

If some select proposals pass, it could beach A Sidewinder 20ssh driver on the west coast with no place to race.
Also, although not outlawing roll ups. Some select proposals are taking away Roll up BSR drivers place to race.

My motorcycle friend once told me you should fear the guy who pulls up with ratty gear and a beat up bike. None of this is about looks you know.

[Dr. Thunder]

This thread started with the premise that what was wrong was exposure! Or, lack thereof. Current APBA proposals do little if anything' to address exposure of the sport to the public.

[runabout333]

There has to some good exposure somewhere,, otherwise,, just my opinion, the clubs that host the driver's schools would not be filling up.
That has to be an asset. It appears that the 300SSH class is expanding. Are most of these drivers new guys or retired CSH drivers that are racing again?
I would hope that the new drivers in said class would be learning from the old guys and them telling their buddies that they have found a new cheap thrill sport that is an absolute blast, cause the old guys will help . The sealed motor speaks for itself.

[Ram4x4]

300 is high in participation partly from new drivers that go through driver school, but mostly from veteran racers that see it as another class to run in.

[Dr. Thunder]

I've watched countless GoPro videos of boat racing on YouTube and very few really give you the overall perspective of the racing. Fixed camera on helmet shows jerky images as driver turns head ... fixed mounted on boat shows little of other boat action. Wouldn't drone camera coverage be a much more comprehensive way to tell the boat racing story?

[pav225]

It probably doesn't help that much of the content, on one of our main racing websites, is people arguing with each other.

[Flatiron]

I have just completed my Rookie year and I would like to speak on the 300 class. I chanced into the drivers school a couple of years ago at a boat show in Cranberry PA I signed up for the drivers school and was given a hand out for the 300SSH class. It took a half a lap at the school to get me hooked on these boats.
But upon researching the novice 300 class I found it to be very misleading. Just looking at the High points and the drivers with years of experience and multiple titles that run in this class it's anything but a novice class. There needs to be strict guide lines on who is eligible to race in this class. It should be set aside for true novices and seniors. Also I can have a complete built race ready 321 for less than a sealed motor. I have done the research on that extensively. The problem is getting one because they are all set aside and saved for the 300 drivers....Their are other classes that use that engine it sure would be nice if they where equally available.

[GrandpaRacer]

The 300ss class was established with the best intentions and it’s success is to be congratulated. However, while initially intended to be a novice class no provision was made to protect this intent. I think now a couple simple things could be done to return to the original goal. One would be to change the name to Novice 300, self respecting pros may back out. Another could be to require all to wear Novice strips on their helmets for the same reason.

[Apachemax]

I agree about the 300 class. Yes people run the class, but i have not seen a NEW guy start in this class. Not bashing the class, but to me it just looks like another Yamato class not the future of our sport.
This also begs the question, why do we push people toward the Yamatos? Yes, Bulletproof, reliable etc. But it truly isnt the only option for a new guy..

[GrandpaRacer]

In region 10 SOA’s driving school brings in new racers every year, the other sources of new members is friends of racers, and our J boat build program. The Pro Division helps support Driver Schools financially, it would be good if the Stock and Mod divisions also did something to encourage Driver Schools or other ideas focused on new recruits.

[Ram4x4]

That's great the PRO div is helping. One thing that bothers me about our sport in general is when a school grad wants in and then you have to start explaining about waiting for or looking for a used rig, or who to get a hold of to have one built, then the issues with getting an engine and so on.

Driver schools need to round up a source for new boats and be ready and willing to sell the rig at the driver school of one of the students wants it. If it sells, the club has an entire year to get a replacement, hence having a builder ready and willing to build "school boats."