Hosting a race

[M Miner]

What are the costs of hosting a stock and mod race? Sanction fee,ambulance,ect. Thanks

[Wakefield 2015]

There are some differences from site to site but I always start with $5k for the weekend. Ambulance is usually the biggest variable though.

[Fastjack]

I set up a race - we are able to use the local F D ambulance at a savings - a donation to the Rescue helps keep the price in line - Don't forget the porta potties , dumpster, fence- State and local permits, food vendors and all the necessary insurance certificates - If you can use the race to support a local charity it makes getting support for the event go a lot smoother when it's red tape time.

[dwhitford]

I put on at least 2 regattas on Lake Norman, 20-odd miles north of Charlotte, and the entrants paid no entry fee. Instead, we paid the racers prize money by the heat according to their order of finish. Maybe it was 3 such regattas ... don't really remember now.

My point is that this was "professional" racing, modeled after the pro-racing circuit that I ran in Quebec and northern, NY under the auspices of Hydro Club de Quebec and the Saint Lawrence Valley Boating and Racing Association (SLVRBRA) from Ogdensburg.

What y'all have now is (expensive!) hobbyist racing where you racers are paying all the freight: $30-35 entry fees, maybe $20 just to put a boat on the water to test it under controlled conditions, and travel expenses. It all adds up to make entering the "sport" non-attractive for any but the most rabid enthusiast.

At the time I was racing for pay in Canada and northern NY State, I ticked off such notables as John Schubert (NJ) and the guys on Long Island for not attending their "play-for-free" regattas in which I'd need to foot all the expense. So I made my choice for northern NY & Canada, which I still consider the correct one. And I PO'd all the Stock Outboard guys south of me for not coming down to compete "for free".

What it came down to for me was the difference between pro racing and the Stock Outboard hobbyist mentality. And when I say "pro", I differentiate the term from the current PRO Division, which evolved later.

My ultimate point is that any sort of outboard racing has a show to sell, and the focus needs to be on selling the show for profit, to take the "hobbiest" out of running our boats and putting back into a paying proposition. All this was done b4 30-40 years ago and just needs to be done again. It'll take re-focus, but perhaps not much more work than organizing a regatta in the 1st place. The St Lawrence Valley Club sold ads in a regatta program, and so did my Optimist Club in Charlotte. That's how you raise the money to run the regatta and pay the racers! -- d

[DiGia54D]

Guys he asked for a average cost to run a race, is it around 5k - 7k? I don't think he asked a hard question here

[dwhitford]

Yeah, Wayne, I got a little off track, didn't I? But what I posted has been on my mind a lot lately.

[John Schubert]

I put on at least 2 regattas on Lake Norman, 20-odd miles north of Charlotte, and the entrants paid no entry fee. Instead, we paid the racers prize money by the heat according to their order of finish. Maybe it was 3 such regattas ... don't really remember now.

My point is that this was "professional" racing, modeled after the pro-racing circuit that I ran in Quebec and northern, NY under the auspices of Hydro Club de Quebec and the Saint Lawrence Valley Boating and Racing Association (SLVRBRA) from Ogdensburg.

What y'all have now is (expensive!) hobbyist racing where you racers are paying all the freight: $30-35 entry fees, maybe $20 just to put a boat on the water to test it under controlled conditions, and travel expenses. It all adds up to make entering the "sport" non-attractive for any but the most rabid enthusiast.

At the time I was racing for pay in Canada and northern NY State, I ticked off such notables as John Schubert (NJ) and the guys on Long Island for not attending their "play-for-free" regattas in which I'd need to foot all the expense. So I made my choice for northern NY & Canada, which I still consider the correct one. And I PO'd all the Stock Outboard guys south of me for not coming down to compete "for free".

What it came down to for me was the difference between pro racing and the Stock Outboard hobbyist mentality. And when I say "pro", I differentiate the term from the current PRO Division, which evolved later.

My ultimate point is that any sort of outboard racing has a show to sell, and the focus needs to be on selling the show for profit, to take the "hobbiest" out of running our boats and putting back into a paying proposition. All this was done b4 30-40 years ago and just needs to be done again. It'll take re-focus, but perhaps not much more work than organizing a regatta in the 1st place. The St Lawrence Valley Club sold ads in a regatta program, and so did my Optimist Club in Charlotte. That's how you raise the money to run the regatta and pay the racers! -- d

Dave, you are way off course, Kind of staying up north. WE never raced for free. Entry fees were no more then for Stocks & we ALWAYS had a 1st thru 3rd payout, depending where we raced. Some notable big payouts were Pittsburgh, Divisionals in New Bern, NC & even Hartford, CT. Local races always paid also. Perhaps you just wanted to stay away from us rough & tough Region 3 Alky guys.

[Harold8]

Back in the day up here in Canada we almost always raced for something. Small amount of cash good for a tank full of gas or some kind of prize but the cost to put on a race was nothing like it is now!

[dwhitford]

Not necessarily true, John, about not wanting to race against Region 3 alky racers. I was then foolish enough to race anywhere, so long as I could dunk my boat and run it..

I preferred & fully supported the Quebec-Northern NY circuit because of the bigger payouts and wholly professional admin by referees like Pierre Beauchmin (Hydro Club de Quebec) and Ray Dashnaw & Oscar Martin of the St. Lawrence Valley Club. My influence to start racing up North was from Bob Henry, who mentored me.

I also raced at Greenwood Lake (Region 3) at least twice (ask Blll Hoctor), never in Pittsburgh (sadly), and was at New Bern for the Eastern Divisionals when you first (?) tested Christner's new bell megaphones for your B-Looper in 1969. I was also a regular at Southbury, East Hartford, and at least 1 other venue in CT, Congamond Lake near Springfield, MA. I'll admit to avoiding Long Island's saltwater . . .maybe why I still have 1-1/2 restorable A Loopers. -- :<))

I'll admit that the 1st race for my A-Looper was in Miami Marine Stadium's saltwater, 1967, I think. But Bud Wiget & Chuck Fridell had a good pretreatment for saltwater regattas: a thorough spraying down of all exposed metal parts with a precursor product (CRC) to WD40.

So I didn't race just up north. I raced everywhere within reasonable range, and we had many more regattas in ''reasonable range'' then in the 1960s & '70s than the racers do now. And my range was far flung . . . not as distant as racers need to travel now, because of so many fewer races and venues.

With so few regatta sites remaining and the distances that racers need to travel to get to them, I'm amazed that the ''sport''; has survived as well as it has. Given the paucity of sites and distances to get to them, I think that each regatta should pay the racers well, as in my initial post. (Just for example, Quebec's opening Lac Etchemin regatta in early June was 500 miles from my house in the mid-Hudson Valley! It cost a lot to get there and back, but prize money by the heat normally covered my travel expense.)

From what I read, NBRA has at least a beginning handle on this dilemma with their ''tow-money'' scheme. While it's not quite Hydro Club de Quebec's ''pay for excellence'' by-the-heat scheme it, at least rewards racers for showing up. If additional prize money could be offered for excellence, then we'd have true ''pro'' racing.