Opc Point Change Suggestion

[Ron Hill]

I've decided we need to change the OPC Points to:

1. SHORT TRACK: Series points would be counted here and any beach start race that ran at least 10 laps. Also known as Short Track, with beach starts. (Short Track is how I explain to my friends how we got two seconds and first with the same boat....I say on the Short Track we got...and on the Long Course we did...)...

Give TEN Extra Points for ten lap heats (Two heats max). Final heat would get an extra point per lap, up to 50 points.

2. LONG COURSE: Clock starts on a long course, two five lap heats.

This way, a club could run two Sport C, two 45 races, per day and the drivers would get points in each level...and th club could collect extra entry fees...

ADD: Also, is Sport C the only OPC Class that has APBA Marathons?? Or is it the only class that has run for APBA Marathon points???

Question: Is it a rule that capsule and non capsule OPC boats can't run together???

[Ron Hill]

I posted this on www.hydroracer.net (http://www.hydroracer.net) Seems to me, all Clubs would benefit from racing the same boats twice..Plus drivers would get double time on the water...


Seems The "THREAD" His Been "High-Jacked"...

Actually, Region 12's kneeldown club put on two races a year...

SCSC, puts on 6 or seven races. This year, SCSC is actually putting on the Winter Nationals... When I say, "PUT ON" it means they come up with the "BREAD" (Money) to put the race on.

Kneeldowners, in Region 12, have:

Angie Rae,
Roger Hewson
Gary Lewis
Tammy Dawe
Jeff Connant
as regular racers...

Tito Smith and Tito Smith, Jr. have equipment, but have not been to a race since April.

Broc Hill raced A HYdro at Parker but can't be considered a kneeldown racer, as he only own a 302 Yamato, and I'm selling that...

Ross of SCSC has a Series for SST 45. The series is called Western Formula Liights Series. He has a bout six races and averages about 12 boats per race, two ten lap heats SAturday and a 25 lap final on Sunday.

My son, Chad races this series, and enjoys it. He doesn't have to drive farther than Parker, 5 hours to race. Except for Long Beach and San Diego, Ross also race 45 SS. 45 SS is always run with CLOCK STARTS and on a long course. 45 SS give Series drivers a chance to test, a chance to race their boats more, get National points AND give the club some NEEDED INCOME.

Our inclosed trailer pulled with an F-350 diesel, burns a tank of diesel to the river...We pay $200 entry fee. Long Beach is a BIG RACE, 20 minutes from home. To drive our equipment three thousand miles, take a week off work, before Long Beach is too much for Chad.

Chad is a 29 year old, third generation boat racer, that runs a seasonal busness. Spending a ton of money to go to a Nationals and maybe miss Long Beach SPRINT NATIONALS that will be on TV........Anyone getting my snowdrift here???


Let's see:

1 Go to Washington, spend $2,000, miss a week of Summer School pay, drive for two days to get there, race one day, drive ome for two days. Miss work at the Prop Shop for a week. No friends from home will be there...Wife can't take time off...

OR

2. Work M-TH (No school Friday in Summer). Get organized for Long Beach. Drive to Long Beach Friday morning. Get the trailer set up. The awing set up..Help your brother with his 45. Set up the Bar-B-Que for two days of BRATS on the BAR BEE....See about a thousand of your friends. Have family with you for three days...."kicking it". Watch some Cracker Box Racing..watching some K Boats Racing, watch the GN's Racing, watch Pro Comps racing, watch Super Stocks Racing...Help your Crew Chief race his Nostalgia Outboard...Talk with 40-50 of your propeller customers...Sleep in your own bed at night... Have your wife there....And LATER, see YOUR RACE on THE WATER CHANNEL...


Should I set up a pole here...??? Go to The Stock Nationals or go to The Long Beach Sprint Nationals???


I know that HIGH POINTS DRIVE THE SPORT....So, I won't go into OSY-400...K-PRO or whatever as, right now, I' off those CONCEPTS...

Seems, CLUB could be helped if OPC ESTABLISHED a SHORT COURSE and LONG COURSE HIGH POINTS...

[sst45jefff]

Ron what do we do under this point structure you are proposing with the clock starts on a 3/4 mile course versus 1 1/4 or are all clock starts courses lumped togethe and all beach starts lumped together ?

[Ron Hill]

Basically Clock starts3-5 laps (Called LONG COURSE)

Beach starts: 10-25 laps (Called Series)

Delivery date of new boat?? Or do you have a date??

[Grin&Barrett]

Top 10 races + your finish at Nationals. You must compete in OPC nationals to be considered for National High Points.

Matt Barrett

[Ron Hill]

I like the concept of Racing The Nationals, except that means everyone that race OPC must got to Kankakee every year.... I would support this is there would be two Nationals for the two Divisions of points that I have a suggested. Series Nationals and Long Course, which would require Kankakee to either be the Series Nationals OR GO BACK TO CLOCK STARTS. If Kankakee became The Series Nationals (For ALL SERIES)then CLUBS could bid for Long Course Nationals...

Series could or could not count the Nationals as part of their points.

[Grin&Barrett]

I like the concept of Racing The Nationals, except that means everyone that race OPC must got to Kankakee every year.... I would support this is there would be two Nationals for the two Divisions of points that I have a suggested. Series Nationals and Long Course, which would require Kankakee to either be the Series Nationals OR GO BACK TO CLOCK STARTS. If Kankakee became The Series Nationals (For ALL SERIES)then CLUBS could bid for Long Course Nationals...

Series could or could not count the Nationals as part of their points.


Ron,

Any OPC APBA club can petition for Nationals, GLBC
has been the only club to petition for a while that I know of.
If a club is interested find out what it takes to host the OPC Nationals,
then petition OPC commission at the national meeting per APBA rules.
You'll have to find out how many years Kankakee is contracted for,
I believe they just put in a new multi year petition at 2006 annual meeting.
You could also suggest a rotating site schedule by Region or Division.
The problem with that though is making sure each Region or Division would want to host such a race.

With your points suggestion your talking about different classes, that is why Sport C Marathon gets High points as it is a new class as of 2006. The class was run at Nationals for the first time this year but didn't meet the criteria to give National bonus points so it was run as a regular points race.

Matt Barrett

[Ron Hill]

Cool...I didn't realize that the marathon is Sport C was also a Nationals. Can this Nationals be bid for a different location or does it have to be included at the Closed Course Nationals?

Personally, I think Kankakee is a great location for the nationals and would not want to change it...I would like to see "MARATHON" of "SERIES" Nationals scheduled other places..and included for points and titles.

[sst45jefff]

Top 10 races + your finish at Nationals. You must compete in OPC nationals to be considered for National High Points.

Matt Barrett

If you required nationals to be considered for the high points you would kill all incentive for local drivers to compete for high points.
You guys keep forgetting that not everybody has unlimited resources or time so that they can drive 2500 miles to compete at the nationals just to be considered for high points.
High points is a good incentive to get the racers out to the local races which is what the whole APBA orginazation grows from.
With out the incentive for the local racers you will kill racing and there will be nobody to move up and compete at the nationals and sereis racing levels.

Not a good idea in my opinion.

[Grin&Barrett]

If you required nationals to be considered for the high points you would kill all incentive for local drivers to compete for high points.
You guys keep forgetting that not everybody has unlimited resources or time so that they can drive 2500 miles to compete at the nationals just to be considered for high points.
High points is a good incentive to get the racers out to the local races which is what the whole APBA orginazation grows from.
With out the incentive for the local racers you will kill racing and there will be nobody to move up and compete at the nationals and sereis racing levels.

Not a good idea in my opinion.


Well then take out the requirement to compete at Nationals but make it "Top 10 + Nationals finish" It would give incentive to come to Nationals but wouldn't require it. How about that?

Matt

[Miss BK]

Back when I was running Mod-C, all the high points chasers went to the Nationals --- at that time, there were two Nationals to attend; Sprint (Kankakee) and Marathon (either FL or WV).

The serious high point chasers ALL went to BOTH nationals. They HAD to. The main contenders: Rick Hoffman (CA), Jimmy Johnson (CA), Mike Godfrey (FL), Craig Schaid (CA), Blake Esauk (NV). It was the same thing in Sport C --- you would never make high points without at least competing in one National event. The competition was stiff.

So maybe requiring a Nationals for high points wouldn't "ruin" anything at all - and maybe it would actually get people to start going to Nationals again?

I think it's incredible that the high points leaders can skip a Nationals and still hold high points. Why are things so different today than they were in the 1980's?

PS - I never had any shot at getting high points -- but that was certianly NOT a deterrant for me to compete in my local club races. I raced to have fun and get as close to the front as possible; not just to tack on points to my membership! :D

BK~

[sst45jefff]

OPC is already top ten and you get extra poins for the nationals, regionals and divisionals. So ther is incentive if you are trying for high points.
A guy with ten local races will not get as many points as a guy that has a nationals, divisionls or regionals points.

[Ron Hill]

incentive...

The truth is, as a school teacher in California, I never raced the Nationals at Kankakee, Illinois because our schools starts the day after Labor Day and getting, even to the airport in Chicago, and flying home, for WORK, just never seemed to fit into my budget...and driving home and starting school the second week never seemed like a good idea...

I've argued for years that HIGH POINTS should be the MOST POINTS and THE NATIONAL CHAMPION should be the guy who wins the Nationals...but no one agrees with me!

[sst45jefff]

They have always held the nationals on labor day weekend probably because of the long weekend and it is close to the end of the season. I supose the conducting orginazation could hold it any weekend they want or is it stipulated some where when it will be.
I agree it is a hard weekend with school starting to get home for the start of school and it should be a family affair.

[Ron Hill]

In 1967, I was at the OPC Natinals in Canton, Ohio...Home, now of the Football Hall of Fame...But in 1967, the OPC Nationals were big in Canton.

I raced the Stock Nationals (ESSEX, MD), The ALKY Nationals (PRO)-(DePUE) and OPC Nationals (CANTON) in 1967. I was LUCKY, I had help from Harry Bartolomei for my PRO STUFF, I had HELP FROM OMC for my OPC stuff and my dad paid for my Stock stuff..

AS we were driving home from Essex, Maryland....I thought about my argument with Jerry Waldman at DePue.....Jerry felt that whoever won the Natoinals should get enough points to be High Point, also. It was Jerry who got BONUS POINTS started for the Nationals. I argued that I didn't think I could ever beat Waldman in A Hydro, at DePue, but that I COULD RACE ENOUGH AROUND THE COUNTRY TO SCORE MORE POINTS. My point then and now is that winning the Nationals is different from winning High Points.

And to me, the 2006 season, in WFLS, the winner of that series isn't mentioned in National Points. The winner of this series beat more boats than any 45 driver in OPC, I feel, and isn't considered Natonal High Point CHAMPION. The driver that beats the most boats, and races the most should be NATOINAL HIGH POINT...Screw this AVERAGE that I came up with in 1960....

[sst45jefff]

Ron - you are correct in saying that the NAtional Champion is and should be a diffrent accomplishment than the high points for various reasons.

As far as the WFLS series races I beleive that the WFLS directors are working on changing how the series points are submited to APBA, so as to get the drivers all the point they have earned for High Points.
In the begining the series directors didnt feel that APBA points were that important to the drivers. So they never worried about how the points were reported to APBA and the drivers have been getting shorted on points.

I think that you will see that when the points for the WFLS series drivers gets reported so as to give the drivers all the points that they have earned for the weekend, you will see a diffrent outcome in the APBA High Point standings for 2007 season.
The High point system does work very well if the points get reported for the series correctly.

The National Champion gets recognized as the National Champion, The High Points Champion gets recognized as the APBA High Points Champion and the Sereis Champions get recognized as there sereis Champions. I dont think there is a good way to combine all of these things into one, so as to have one Champion for the class.

I beleive that the Hall of Champions is the Place for these guys to be recognized. Like they have been doing.

The points procedure and qualifications for Hall of Champions is what needs to be fixed.
There are several people over the years that have acceled in every aspect of the racing season except the Nationals and they aren't even Qualified to be nominated for HAll of Champions because they did not win the Nationals.

There is to much weight being put on winning the Nationals in the Hall of Champions points system.

[rossdbos]

Jeff:
You are pretty much correct. When the PTT was in existence the Mid-West 45 driver's on that tour had more races than the WFLS also, they had the World's, Nationals, North American Championships count towards their series and the APBA National High Points. After adding up the best case scenarios it became clear our guy's (WFLS) were at an unfair disadvantage without traveling all over the U.S. so like a lot of things that are skewed towards the Mid-West I felt that racing for their series points and championship would be more important than a National High Points that almost never could be attainable without significant expense in travel and time off. The Series membership was aware of this from the beginning and agreed that the APBA High Point system at that time because of the PTT made it near impossible for a WFLS racer to achieve the National High Points. Also, given the fact that the APBA OPC Nationals never moves there is no chance of getting the Double points unless that racer travels again to the Mid-West. As we have seen the battles for the Series Championship is what drives this series. Winning the WFLS for our Series Members is more prestigous then trying for a National High Points that could almost never be achieved. Now with the demise of the PTT (as far as a SST-45 is concerned) the tables have turned and we will start again putting both days of points in for the overall high points championship to try to get our driver(s) into the Hall of Champions.
This will be another benefit (realistic one) for the series membership.
Hope to see you in Bakersfield in March.
BTW, I have your trophy and Prize money ready to send to you as you missed a great Awards banquet.
Take care and give my best to Courtney and the kids!
Ross Wallach, RPM RACING ENT.

[Miss BK]

When I went to the Nationals in '88, I was a bank teller - a hard place to get time off. So I know how tough it was. But I saved my vacation time for Labor Day Weekend. (Meant I had to work the day after Christmas, but oh well...)

Blake Esauk, who owned a marine shop in Vegas, had a 4 boat trailer - would hold two on top and two on the bottom. He offered to put my boat up on top and he would drive it to Kankakee and back for only $250. Sweet!

I flew to Chicago on a Thursday and my boat was waiting for me when I got there. I returned on Monday with a 2nd place trophy. When you want it, you CAN do it. Getting to the Nationals is a task - but it's not impossible.

Back then, Esauk would offer the same for anyone wanting to race in West Virginia too!

It was a great idea. If I had the time and was still racing & lived out west, I'd see how many drivers would be in need of boat transportation - then I'd build one of those same 4 boat trailers and then charge $500 per boat to haul the load out to Kankakee and back. An extra $1,500 would sure help with my trip expenses!

Blake was really cool to do that for us. :)

Nobody does multiple-boat hauling (small OPC boats) anymore, such as the double stacking trailers....how come?

[sst45jefff]

Ross,
I wish I could have been at the banquet. I would love to just hang and have fun with everybody but the family thing takes precedence and it was Thanksgiving weekend which is impossible to fly on to begin with.