Originally Posted by
oldalkydriver
Hi Ron, I know that we were raised around different types of boat racing. I'm not too good at expressing my feelings, but I'm going to try here. I attended a few stock races in my day. Never drove a stock class, however I did pit for a few. And when the races were in San Diego, I did work for the club. As for me, I liked the 'alky's'. Not only the noise, but the smell of the burnt fuel. Ultimately what drug me to the races were my father, and the diffent families. Yup! My look forward day was heading to the races to see my friends and their families. I couldn't afford much while a teenager because of money. After my Army days, I had enough money to buy my own outfit. I purchased an 'A' Konieg from a guy in Georgia. Around the Atlanta area. I also meant Ralph Donald from Merrietta at the time. He happen to live on a road that I wholesaled a grocery store, Atlanta Dairies Ice Cream.
I soon realized that not only didn't I make enough money to support my habit, being raised around alkies, I had no idea of how to fix this engine. In late '68, I had an offer to work in a casino at Lake Tahoe, so sold everything and headed West. I get back to familiar stomping grounds and start attending the races. After all, my dream was to race 'C' Hydro and Runabout. Problem was, I only weight 160 lbs. I had to add dead weight to either class. I was also too light for Torprahanian's 'F', which was my extreme dream.
Getting back to my main topic: you do remember the puddle and the TV show? You also remember how many spectators they drew? The thing was a spectator could fall in LOVE with racing and buy a competitive outfit for less then $500. I know, I know, gas was also under a quarter. Racing is a team effort. It takes everyone to promote a race.
A fan or spectator looks for several things: affordability, can he/she do it?, safety, mentors to help, excitement, being able to involve friends. I know once I married and had a kid, the automatic fear factor set in. It was no longer just me. It was my family. Truth be know, I was comfortable with speeds in the 60's mph range. Okay with the low 70's. But when they got higher, common sence for me set in. I have to work the rest of my life to support my family. Divorce fixed part of the problem, but I could not over come the thought that boats were now going faster then what I was comfortible with.
I went to Alexandria, LA. in '76 with Toprahanian. We were there on a Thursday so we could test and set up. So John drove, and I rode. We took an unexpected bath. John hurt his right hand. We changed motors, and I drove, he rode. Another bath! We couldn't understand it. It was the same setup George May always drove for Lake Ming. Friday, John tried out 4 or 5 drivers. All ended up in the drink except Ralp Donald and I believe it was the Kirts brothers. However, he did not want the deck rider to cross in front of him, so they sat abreast. Not Good!
At the hotel that night John decided to go with his 'second' fastest setup and Ralph Donald. Good races, but I witness lots of 'upside downers' and people getting hurt. That convienced me that racing had become too fast for me as well as expensive.
My thoughts for a solution? Slow the classes down for most, find inexpensive motors and boats, and go back to basics. Promote, promote, promote. These days with 80 plus cable channels running 24/7 it could be too difficult to spark interest for a channel and spectators.
For me, I miss the sound of PR's, smell of burnt fuels and the comfortable speeds. Just my view.
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