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First, thank you all who have the confidence to step forward and indicate your intentions to buy Sidewinder products. I think we should amend Tony’s post with a third important question: “How many racing members after 50 years of development, are satisfied with the reliability of the rotary version Hot Rod and would purchase another Hot Rod at today’s prices, or any price for that matter? Please be honest and post your name.” (Speak up, I have new Hot Rods ready for purchase, but they cost more to make than the Sidewinder). Point here is that I am not spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to support a handful of diehard Hot Rod racers; I’m into this to provide new, high quality, reliable racing products that are easy to maintain to help grow a wonderful, family-oriented sport. Let’s see among those who delight in taking snipes and stirring controversy because the motors aren’t ready yet, which among them is first in line to buy a new motor; or is their only purpose just to have something to whine about? Here’s just one point – the existing pattern for casting the Hot Rod block was never picked up from the foundry when it went out of business. If I had set out to simply continue producing that engine, the price tag for a new progressive mold was $250,000 (again, just to support half a dozen racers?).
Is the motor development taking longer than desired? No denying that. Have Ed and I been dragging our feet and taking longer than necessary? Well, let’s see – Ed drives 3 hours per day to get to the shop because he is devoting full time to this project instead of fixing up the building on his own home property and moving the shop into that. You who know Ed well know what a chance he’s taking doing that everyday, but that’s how dedicated he is. For me, I do have another business to run and for the last year and a half or so the sales team has had me hopping all over the continent signing up new business (I had been in San Diego the whole time this thread was rolling out and couldn’t access it). That’s a distraction, but its good since the other business is what’s funding this project. Those that know me well know I go 110 miles per hour all the time and am usually doing 5 or 6 things at the same time. I push myself so hard that this spring I herniated 3 disks in my neck and I wasn’t even in an accident. Lost the use of my left arm and hand for the rest of the spring and the summer as a result. Not looking for sympathy here, just trying to illustrate that Ed and I are giving it our all. And it’s not just a “two man operation” – we have plenty of vendors involved and have even had metallurgists involved, and let’s not forget Hank Runne coming out of retirement to help. It takes a given amount of time and much of it is sequential – you can’t move on to another issue until you have the design set for the first issue, so adding more people to the mix just means those people would sit around anyway. For those who build a motor from motorcycle or other manufacturer’s parts, what happens when your manufacturer changes models and no longer produces the parts you used in your motor? Racing Outboards owns all its own designs, parts and tooling and therefore will not be victim to the whims of other manufacturers as time goes by, assuring the longevity of a Sidewinder owner’s investment.
Now, communications issues – perhaps I’ve erred on this one. There is a happy balance between frequently communicating small steps forward versus occasionally reporting real milestone achievements. Being a man focused on action and not words (excuses), I felt the former would actually create more doubt of eventual success than the latter strategy. I could spend 2 hours a week writing an update each week, or I could spend that 2 hours working on the website or something else that needed to be done – I chose the latter. I apologize if the communications have given rise to doubt and impatience; I figure having motors for sale in another couple of months will do more to set that emotion aside than writing more often.
We are doing our best to provide what this sport needs. The diehards can take shots all they want and make up cute little sayings, but I have an objective and I always achieve the objective. As has been pointed out in other post threads, be careful the impression you make on people; the resistance to new motors and the sniping and whining that goes on here just makes people shake their heads and get interested in some other sport. In conclusion, I have attached a letter I received a couple of years ago and did nothing with from Dave Little, the former owner of Hot Rod. Click Here to read the letter (posted with Dave’s permission), confirming that Racing Outboards LLC was on the right track with its direction.
Again, thank you all who have come forward, and thank you – the silent majority – who have personally confided in Ed and I your support for our direction.
Race safe,
Ron Selewach
Racing Outboards LLC
Is the motor development taking longer than desired? No denying that. Have Ed and I been dragging our feet and taking longer than necessary? Well, let’s see – Ed drives 3 hours per day to get to the shop because he is devoting full time to this project instead of fixing up the building on his own home property and moving the shop into that. You who know Ed well know what a chance he’s taking doing that everyday, but that’s how dedicated he is. For me, I do have another business to run and for the last year and a half or so the sales team has had me hopping all over the continent signing up new business (I had been in San Diego the whole time this thread was rolling out and couldn’t access it). That’s a distraction, but its good since the other business is what’s funding this project. Those that know me well know I go 110 miles per hour all the time and am usually doing 5 or 6 things at the same time. I push myself so hard that this spring I herniated 3 disks in my neck and I wasn’t even in an accident. Lost the use of my left arm and hand for the rest of the spring and the summer as a result. Not looking for sympathy here, just trying to illustrate that Ed and I are giving it our all. And it’s not just a “two man operation” – we have plenty of vendors involved and have even had metallurgists involved, and let’s not forget Hank Runne coming out of retirement to help. It takes a given amount of time and much of it is sequential – you can’t move on to another issue until you have the design set for the first issue, so adding more people to the mix just means those people would sit around anyway. For those who build a motor from motorcycle or other manufacturer’s parts, what happens when your manufacturer changes models and no longer produces the parts you used in your motor? Racing Outboards owns all its own designs, parts and tooling and therefore will not be victim to the whims of other manufacturers as time goes by, assuring the longevity of a Sidewinder owner’s investment.
Now, communications issues – perhaps I’ve erred on this one. There is a happy balance between frequently communicating small steps forward versus occasionally reporting real milestone achievements. Being a man focused on action and not words (excuses), I felt the former would actually create more doubt of eventual success than the latter strategy. I could spend 2 hours a week writing an update each week, or I could spend that 2 hours working on the website or something else that needed to be done – I chose the latter. I apologize if the communications have given rise to doubt and impatience; I figure having motors for sale in another couple of months will do more to set that emotion aside than writing more often.
We are doing our best to provide what this sport needs. The diehards can take shots all they want and make up cute little sayings, but I have an objective and I always achieve the objective. As has been pointed out in other post threads, be careful the impression you make on people; the resistance to new motors and the sniping and whining that goes on here just makes people shake their heads and get interested in some other sport. In conclusion, I have attached a letter I received a couple of years ago and did nothing with from Dave Little, the former owner of Hot Rod. Click Here to read the letter (posted with Dave’s permission), confirming that Racing Outboards LLC was on the right track with its direction.
Again, thank you all who have come forward, and thank you – the silent majority – who have personally confided in Ed and I your support for our direction.
Race safe,
Ron Selewach
Racing Outboards LLC
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