Kankakee OPC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS Never again!!!!!

[mercguy]

My point exactly!!!!
Look around in other successful forms of racing, and try to figure out where lays the problem, what are you doing wrong, how they get their support, and who is running their shows. Most important of all is to try to see how they are thinking regarding the future of their sport like business with pleasure (doing what you love to do and getting paid) or like Hobby just in free time.
Hobby = SELF DESTRUCION

also, how do you think Eric Simon (a previous sponsor of yours) got interested in boat racing? From me and the stock hydros...........don't believe me, ask him and see what he used to have hangin in his old shop out here in Alpine, Ca.........yes, we are friends....

[Miss BK]

It is the thrill and challenge to beat others on the race course and the feeling you get, when you are a National Champion!

Yes, that is true. And that's why my son loves Pinewood Derby too. He is very competitive and seems to always make the top 4 that go to District.

Plus - the competition is even more intense --- he races against 62 other kids and never has to leave town!

There are DOZENS of "competitions" out there, where you can race against others just for the pure enjoyment. These also let you feel that same sense of competition, without ever expecting any monetary reward, and without having to invest $5,000-$50,000.

As it is now, our sport expects everyone to continually pump money in and be satisfied with the pure competition and friendships they make. Some of my long time friends will continue to race til they die, as their parents did, whether there are any prizes or not. But a VERY LARGE number of them have already quit because they aren't seeing much of a return for the investments they are making. And our sport is only going to get more and more expensive over the next few years.

We must first acknowledge these problems, and then work to fix them to reverse the trend of declining numbers. One way to promote growth is to promise racers a real reward for winning.

[Ron Hill]

Well, look at the pictures from Bakersfield...http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=1592
from what I heard Kankakee only had 14 Champboats.... Bakersfield had almost that many Cracker Boxes.....The average Cracker Box is like a CLASSIC CAR....most sport $35,000 motors....There ain't a Cracker Box owner that races for prize money.....They are PROUD OWNERS OF CRACKER BOXES...

There were close to 30 Vee Drive Boats at Bakersfield...All could be considered "CLASSIC" boats.....average price of those 30 boats were around $40,000.... Our local race had more expensive equipment than the OPC Nationals, yet you feel you needed prize money...

Val, Family and Frineds were EVERYWHERE at Bakersfield...In fact, I had way too many friends give me drinks...Saturday night...Especailly Ted Kolby's lady friend....I'm "Ducking" her at Parker...

We're running two boats at Parker, if we get our $300 entry fee (per boat) back, we'll be as happy as pigs in S^&T!!!

I gave out $100 worth of BRF T-Shirts...I think Bakersfiled was a HUGE success, without spectators...(There were many more than 50...but not 50, 000)...

I disagree with you...we have a whole generation of boat racers that think the sport is supposed to work for them...

When is the last time you set up the course? Worked as a turn judge? Wrote a press release to you local paper??? Drove the patrol boat? Donated time to APBA??? Or AOF???

BK thinks of herself as an outsider at the races now????........but, I'll bet if she was in the pits at Bakerfield last weekend....all she'd have to do was look at the mountains...she'd have seen Ted May, her brother, my dad....the whole family was there!!!! Better than the OLD DAYS!!!! There were friends, everywhere!!!!!

[spn#43]

"Hobby = SELF DESTRUCION"

what is the largest class in outboard racing today? It is not because of the ability to win money! Boat racing, as Ron has stated, is a "family sport". Most race for "the fun of it" and the prestige of earning a National Championship title, not to earn a pay check. Yes, I imagine a payout is AWESOME and welcomed, but not why racers race. It is the thrill and challenge to beat others on the race course and the feeling you get, when you are a National Champion! Another reason boat racing has suffered is due to lots of race courses being lost, either due to "tree huggers", environmetal concerns, or RICH home owners that now have homes built near our race courses (which the race course existed LONG before the homes were ever thought of being built. Those are the California issues and will continue to migrate towards the east coast. If you are only racing for the money, then I GUARANTEE you will NEVER will a National Championship.

First read my posts completely before you make a statement, at no point I ever said that I race because of money.
Second; Will I ever get national or any other title or not, only time will tell, but I can tell you one thing, with thinking like that you will never move forward in your racing carrier because you are happy where you are and that’s where you will stay.
If that’s working for you, fine, more power to you, but please……..…have fun at your hobby.

[B VALACHOVIC]

This Parker race is the start of something good. Everyone should go that can. I will myself bring a boat next season and be a competitor in this event. I see everyone working on the thing relentlesly. Usually when that much effort is placed in something it works.
This site works also. It is more of a racing site and will eventually get things accomplished for the racing aspect also. Bob

[spn#43]

also, how do you think Eric Simon (a previous sponsor of yours) got interested in boat racing? From me and the stock hydros...........don't believe me, ask him and see what he used to have hangin in his old shop out here in Alpine, Ca.........yes, we are friends....

Was it a little strange to you that Simon was my sponsor and we live 3,000 miles apart, and not yours next door neighbor?
Was it because he knew that you are happy where you at, and racing was just a hobby to you? Or was it because last year at San Diego race we had little conversation in the pits and he asked me about my views on racing. Or maybe combination of both.

[Ron Hill]

I drove a 17 Foot Glasstron and two Evinrude Fishing motors to a Havasu Classic win when Havasu was promoting Land Sales, not boat races....


Champboat racing has made ONE change since IOGP DAYS...2.5 liter from 2 liter...and that was Garbrecht's idea to save money and that failed...

On, after PROP TOUR went away, so did ESPN 2.....Same bat as I drove in 1978...just have capsules... Classic Cars are 25 years old!!1 Tunnel boats have a billboard on the side, but if they don't race...no on know who they are IE: NO CHAMPBOATS AT SAN DIEGO...

But the 400,000 fans didn't seem to notice...

[TABARARACING]

Hello everyone, Before we even consider talking about the Nationals for this season, why don't we look at the situation the Kankakee Regatta was in months prior. The race lost its biggest sponsors before the event.
I turned on the Kiss FM in Kankakee while passing through and I heard about how much trouble they were in for funding. Going into the event, I recieved an email from Mike W and from others telling us just how bad things were financially for the Kankakee Race. They lost Englewood Electric and the Chip Company from what I was told.
In the email from Mike W, he asked that people come to participate in the National Championships and for the competition. Thats why my team went. I was fortunate enough to win a National Championship while down in there in the Formula 150 class. My prize money was around 400.00.
A few years back in the Sport C class, I took home a check for over 1,500.00. I certainly don't race for the money. Everyone on this board knows, we will not make money, or break even the way things currently are.
Unfortantly, events have phases, and Kankakee was going through one. ChampBoat stepped up big time and helped out this event with big boat counts. It's safe to say that funding will be back to Kankakee if boat counts remain high.
If I could only hit one race a year, it would be Kankakee, with or without prizes. The Nationals should be a place where all the series and local racers go and race. Yes this makes for LONG days of racing and work for the officials and volunteers, but it's what we all should work towards winning all season long.
Congratulations to the other National Champions this season, and I just want to say I had a really good time in SST 120 and Formula 150.

Brian Tabara

[Miss BK]

Right on Val!!!!!
We need people like you to run the show!
Why don’t you get involved more? Please for boat racing sake!
If I ever decide to put on the Race you’ll be first on my list to coordinate everything.

Hi Page,

About 5 years ago I was "Promotions Director" of an SST-120 series, but unfortunately I really didn't have the skills or experience to know just how to "promote" boat racing at that time. I had been out of the loop for a decade and was just starting to get reaquainted when the series was absorbed into ChampBoat, and my position went away.

Since that time I've met a number of people involved in sports promotions and marketing, and have learned quit a bit about what works and what doesn't. (P.S. A successful person knows that failure is just another way to learn).

Just in the past few years this area has become extremely competitive, but mostly with other racing sports. Boat racing in general resists using these tools to achieve full potential. That's because most of the people involved are volunteers who have a background in racing for the fun of it, not in promoting growth.

But there are exceptions....


Here's one:

I had the fortune of meeting a lady who had the "gift" of marketing and promoting boat racing (and it really does take someone with a gift to do it right). Her name is Michelle May-Schmidt. She was always working on new ideas for Offshore, and she looked closely at what the participants valued; recognition, status and pride - and fun.

She also saw that they enjoyed the after race functions nearly as much as the racing. But how do you work in all those things AND bring in sponsorships?

She began working with local high-class restaurants --- each night of the race weekend, she contracted with a local restaurant to host a "DRIVER PARTY". The race club would allow the restaraunt to first host a "MEET THE DRIVER" event, in exchange for some sort of return (anything from feeding the teams to cash sponsorships).

After the "MEET THE DRIVER" event, where everyone learns all about the boats/teams/drivers and gets a souvenir poster etc, then the race teams & sponsors would go off to attend the private "Driver" party in their honor -- where they would be treated like stars and rub elbows with the "rich" people.

People LOVE to hang out with royalty (wealthy folk). More about how this is being used by Champboat in a minute...

At just about every Offshore event you could find a race party on Wednesday night....Thursday night....Friday night.....Saturday night......and these places would be PACKED with fans and teams.

Best of all - it was self-supporting. The racing club would not have to pay a dime for any of it. It was a genius idea!

Because a few boats would be staged in the restaurant parking lot during the event, locals would want to stop and check them out. (More $$$ for the business).

Eventually, more and more restuarants wanted to host a party.

Another thing she did was have "MEDIA" events. About a month before the race, she would send out an invitation to all the media outlets: TV, Newspaper, local magazines, guides etc. She would offer the first 15 responders a chance to climb around inside the cockpit of a race boat and maybe even go for a ride on the day before the race. She gave them a deadline: RESPOND WITHIN 10 DAYS.

Now, I have no way of knowing how many reporters responded to her invitation. But one thing she didn't do: She didn't beg for media attention or act like boat racing was just a hobby....She had the attitude that boat racing was TOO POPULAR, and that TOO MANY reporters were going to respond to her request and made them aware that they better e-mail TODAY or "THEY" would lose out on something really good!

That's the difference between those who make it work and those who say it can't work. You've gotta have spunk and determination and convince people that your sport is AWESOME. Take risks and NEVER be afraid of failure.

But when Offshore changed hands, the old way of thinking came back. They decided that they didn't need a paid marketing person and they let Michelle go.

This isn't the first time that boat racers have done away with paid, professional marketers. We've existed with volunteers for so long that we now resent having professionals come into our program. We want everyone to sell cheap simply because we all charge nothing. But without a paid strategist who works full time on promoting what we love most, our sport will only continue to fade.

As much as I wish we could continue to enjoy this as something we do just for the love of the sport, we do need to face the facts: There just aren't that many people who do things for free these days. That's because there are too many other opportunites, that produce the same good cheer, where your effort WILL get you a reward and don't have to invest nearly as much money.

People who REALLY love this sport will be brainstorming and coming up with ways to attract fresh, new people.....promising some sort of benefit that no other sport can offer them. The people who are best at this are professional marketers, but they don't work for free. We need to get over that stigma and start being proactive. All the other sectors are getting on board - we can't afford to miss the boat.

[Miss BK]

About 3 years ago, I watched a TV program about a guy known as "The Dream Weaver". What he does - for a price - is provide dreams for rich people. Whatever their desire - he gets it for them. But it's not cheap.

I was thinking "HEY! How can we mix BOAT RACING with this company??!"

Years went by and I didn't think anything more until I saw a logo on the UIM F1 website..... And clicked on the Blue Fish. Sure enough---- it was the same guy. SOMEONE had the same thinking I did, and now boat racing could be included in some rich guys "dream".

Let's say a man owns one of the most expensive watch companies in the world -- but he has always wanted to go for a ride in an F1 tunnel boat.
Trade a watch for a boat ride!

What if Sherwin-Williams wants to contract with a big client from China who loves watersports? Bring him to a race where he is treated like royalty, and smother him in luxury inside the air conditioned Blue Fish truck.

(NASCAR teams let sponsors bring clients to their trackside viewing rooms all the time)

I'm not sure how many people here know about Carlos Kuri's family (Former Champboat driver). His uncle is Carlos Slim, the richest man in Latin America. Carlos Kuri came to Formula One when it was still owned by Garbrecht and was being shown on ESPN2.

When Carlos came to the races, he brought his own ESPN camera crew,so they could film in Spanish. When he returned to Mexico after a race, he would have Press Conferences set up with national TV to go over his race exploits. That's how IMPORTANT this was to Mexico! Carlos was ROYALTY.

There are other "Royal" families in Champboat racing too -- The Seebolds, The Bowdens, the Lambs, the Wendt brothers, et al. These people bring fun where ever they go, and are seen as boat racing's own celebrities. Everyone loves rubbing elbows with them, being at parties with them, and they have all the COOLEST stuff. That same royalty follows him to all the events. I'm sure being admired by so many is one PERK that keeps them coming back.

But some of our "royals" ARE leaving. Why?? Is the magic wearing off??? Once we lose that "Royalty" from our sport, we will be losing too much. We need to ADD MORE Royalty to our sport, keeping our standards HIGH, and we do that by offering something they can't get anywhere else. Respect, admiration, prestige, sponsor opportunities, publicity, REAL PRIZES, great memories!!!!!

Blue Fish is a VERY good start!