Name the New Club

[AOFoffice]

YOU ARE INVITED:

New Club Organizing in Washington State Area, West
Jan 21 (Sunday) at 1:00 pm in YELM, WA
At Moose Lodge on right next to the High School on Highway 510

Call Russ Bircher for more information at
360-458-1833 or 360-953-6440

Be thinking of a catchy, meaningful name for our new club.
Anyone is welcome to give us suggestions for the name of our new club! Post them here--be creative.
AOF President Rod Black will also be in attendance to answer your questions and for support. We will have sandwiches and pop.
See you there !!
Russ Bircher
Executive Director

[Russ Birch 45R]

Thanks to all that have called to say that they will be there.I hope to see a lot more ,it looks like we are going to have a good turn out .
Aof
Executive Director
Russ Bircher 45-R/151-R

[Russ Birch 45R]

More Direction

There are more Direction on the AOF web page (www.aofboatracing.com) check it out .
Russ Bircher

[YankeeRacing]

Darn it Russ. You have been making me think of a name.
How about this:
you have the Sea Hawks (which just happened to get beaten by the BEARS! go Bears)
and you have the Huskies.
You could combine the theory of the two names and have:

Water Dog Boat Racing Club.

(Maybe I should think harder, or give up).
Connie

[Geezeracer]

Pardon me Russ, but I must be missing the point of this. We already have two APBA clubs and a pretty good wildcat club on the west side, and a couple non-APBA clubs with counter-philosophies on the east side...Why would we need another option? Is SOA or CORA crapping in some racers mess-kit? Is there some great unfulfilled need to address? If so, any such problem needs to be presented and worked out rather than thinning the matrix.

When I was a kid racing inboards the category was locally united in a single and solid organization until its effectiveness was reduced by such splits. First the flatbottom guys thought they needed a separate empire, then when it was decided that meetings were too far away for Tacoma players, they split off. I never understood back then how splitting into factions helped boat racing, and considering how very much weaker the political power and voice of boat racers has become since the '50s, it makes no sense at all today. We are ALL stronger as a unit than we are as scattered entities.

John

[propnuts]

Afbrc

How bout AFBRC, simple and to the point (you figure it out).

[Russ Birch 45R]

Pardon me Russ, but I must be missing the point of this. We already have two APBA clubs and a pretty good wildcat club on the west side, and a couple non-APBA clubs with counter-philosophies on the east side...Why would we need another option? Is SOA or CORA crapping in some racers mess-kit? Is there some great unfulfilled need to address? If so, any such problem needs to be presented and worked out rather than thinning the matrix.

When I was a kid racing inboards the category was locally united in a single and solid organization until its effectiveness was reduced by such splits. First the flatbottom guys thought they needed a separate empire, then when it was decided that meetings were too far away for Tacoma players, they split off. I never understood back then how splitting into factions helped boat racing, and considering how very much weaker the political power and voice of boat racers has become since the '50s, it makes no sense at all today. We are ALL stronger as a unit than we are as scattered entities.

John

Well John and Tony , for your imformation we as AOF have 65 members on this side of the mountains, that takes in Oregon and Washington. This is affordable boat racing.
As for you Tony your son Mike is a member of AOFand I did not think he had a problem with AOF.
Thank you for your input.
AOF Executive Director
Russ Bircher

[mercguy]

uh Connie..........

Darn it Russ. You have been making me think of a name.
How about this:
you have the Sea Hawks (which just happened to get beaten by the BEARS! go Bears)
and you have the Huskies.
You could combine the theory of the two names and have:

Water Dog Boat Racing Club.

(Maybe I should think harder, or give up).
Connie

ya.....think harder....LOL

PS: could be West Side Roostertails, but there is already a "wildcat" club called Whidbey Island Roostertails, which by the way, is some fun and layed back racing.

[Tony Staron]

AFBRC
Amazingly Friendly Boat Racing Club?
As the competition vp of AOF I can explain about a new club.
It seems that you are being way too negative about what can be a good thing for boat racing.
You have some races out there that are loosers, right? They are probably gonna be dumped by SOA, right? If not, they continue to loose and that takes money out of your treasury that the winner races contribute too, right?
Then instead of dumping them, or continually loosing on them, why not run them AOF and everyone is a winner.
You just about can't loose money with an AOF race due to the fact that the insurance is based on the 1971 non profit rate of the year of incorporation of AOF. Take advantage of this plus for the sake of boat racing.
And as Russ indicated, you have a LOT of AOF members in the area. If you aren't, and don't care to be, then stay home. If you want another race, new friends and an alternative, then go.
It looks like we spend more time trying to kill our sport than embracing it.
Or just call the new club:
crap
Cheaper Racing Alternative of the Pacific.
As Martha says, it is really a good thing.
Toe Knee

[JBM]

What are the actual costs to race with AOF? APBA? There is already a low cost alternative, Whidbey Island Roostertails.

[Geezeracer]

Quoting Russ:
".....for your imformation we as AOF have 65 members on this side of the mountains, that takes in Oregon and Washington. This is affordable boat racing."


And?...What you seem to be saying here is that you're the modern equivalent of the flatbottom guys and nicking a slice of the pie is OK if it makes you feel good.

Russ, it's a good bet that those 65 are APBA as well, and have all the "affordable boat racing" opportunities they want with Whidbey's schedule. Again, what problem needs to be addressed that you think is solved by this proposal? Boat racing isn't anything like the force it was when I started racing and what we need now is unity, not dilution of what we have into a collection of piddling fiefdoms.

John

[Tony Staron]

JBM,

Yes, there is Whidby. Many are also AOF members too. Some like belonging to a national organization and obtaining national points going against racers from all of the country who are also AOF members.
It costs $75 for racing member or 3 payments of $25. That cost is not all that much different.
The big difference comes in staging a race. You can call Russ for this information. We aren't fighting with anyone. We are a compliment to APBA, not a competition.
Try putting on a race at a new site or a looser site once and then comparing costs.
Also, I might add, that there are many racers out there who just plain prefer AOF due to the the fact that many of the changes Ed is referring to in some of the posts have been very successfully run for years already in AOF.
This is not a bad thing, this new club. It is just a new club and new opportunities to race your boats.
As I said, if you don't like it stay home. If you want more fun, come and enjoy.
Toe KNee

[Geezeracer]

Quoting Tony Staron:
"You have some races out there that are loosers, right? They are probably gonna be dumped by SOA, right? If not, they continue to loose and that takes money out of your treasury that the winner races contribute too, right?"

Tony, our only such race is east of the mountains. It's a long trip for most, and at a time of year when most racers are still shaking off winter. The reason we've kept it is that it gets folks jump-started to ensure needed entries for following races. Do we lose a little money?...Probably, but the benefits of getting racers out for that first race pay off in numbers for the rest, and the club isn't hemorrhaging funds on it because the board and treasurer thoughtfully manage and reasonably contain costs.

You're right about people trying to kill the sport though...If players keep on nibbling for bits of turf instead of working together the bottom's gonna fall right out. And please try to see this as a view rather than an attack, but if hacking up the racing pie is such a good deal, how do you explain how Florida, where I had some great times in the past, and which was once something of a racing heaven, has become such a desert? Do you think turf-wars played a role?

John

[Tony Staron]

John, Thank you for the explanation of the racers. I am not out there so don't know. All I know is that there are some very adamant AOF members who want a club. Good grief, we are not going to tell them no. If it is right it will work. If not, it won't.
As I said, we are not in competition. This new CRAP club should be a positive and more races and places to race.
Florida is not a desert. More races and more clubs is not a negative in my opinion. Lets just go race. In my book the more the merrier. In Lake Placid we don't have a big turnout, but we have fun. It is the only way we can keep any type of testing and racing on our lake. If we don't continue doing it AOF we will lose the site for good.
We can't afford to do it APBA, so continue to do it AOF and have some loyal friends who like to come out if for nothing else but to test in a low stress site. We can garner up enough money to pay for the insurance that is mandatory for the county site and grove owner and we are all happy.
The more clubs, the more races. What is wrong with that?
Toe Knee

[Geezeracer]

Quoting Tony Staron:
"We aren't fighting with anyone. We are a compliment to APBA, not a competition."

Jeeeeze Tony!...That sounds just about like Tony George's IRL rationale when he used Indy as a lever to turn open wheel racing into a toilet. Sorry, but it's hard to see this move as complimentary when at the root it can't really be anything but a wedge, and doesn't add to or offer balance.

John