Dale Powell Sr. and Bob Montoya-Early Price Craft

[arcticracer]

Nothing wrong with a thread "morphing" a little seacow. It is an interesting read. I grew up around racing, from birth. Stock racing was a bigtime sport in the Northwest, and elsewhere, just look at the photos of races from days gone by and the large number of racers, families, and spectators.

Today, there are many other activities competing for peoples attention. There are other sports where you can buy racing machines from a dealer, ready to go. Boat racing is different, you have to procure, build, fabricate, you get the idea. Add to that the ever changing rules for engines (out of necessity), and it has been tough to keep the sport going.

The racers and stewards of the sport deserve a lot of credit though, as they will never give up. You are always looking for ways to keep things going, and will succeed.

PS: I will have to disagree about Hydro's not being boats.... Different animals, but still boats haha.

[smittythewelder]

I'm afraid that you would like something, a wide popularity for (what we are currently calling) Stock Outboard racing, that can never happen again. Consider the decline in the once-huge audience for daily newspapers, or even television, now so fragmented that readership and audience numbers which twenty years ago would have been scorned by media execs are now raved about. The same thing has happened to the audience for boat racing; there are just too many other distractions now. The kid in the Fifties (at least in Seattle) who obssessed with his neighborhood chums over the color and sound and sight of Unlimited hydroplanes might enlist his dad's help in building a Chris Craft kit runabout, or work from one of Hal Kelly's plans to get himself into races he has watched LOCALLY, at Green Lake and Lake Sammamish. He didn't want a fishing engine with a speed prop on an ordinary multi-use runabout, either (though his dad might have settled for that); he wanted a real racing machine!!

Today the kids seem to be obsessed with listening to awful music on great sound systems, and doing their "racing," and other simulations of real action, on video screens. The Unlimiteds, BTW, gave away their most attractive and fan-inspiring asset, the earthshaking V-12 piston engines, long ago (the smartest thing USAC/Indy 500 ever did was to ban those d@mned turbines immediately after the first one!!), which means very few kids ever have boat-racing brought to their attention at all. With the fragmentation of the market for sports (college and pro football, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, golf, etc., in both men's and women's leagues, sports reporters have no time at all for amateur motor racing. Anyway, maybe dads don't have time to build boats anymore, and anyway why put out the effort when you can go to a local dealer and buy a turn-key PWC for water-borne thrills?

Sea Cow, the world has changed on us (not for the better, in my bald-headed opinion), and such audience as there is for any particular form of amateur motor racing will probably become even more fragmented than it is now. Stock (or whatever you want to call it; a name change will have no effect on this) Outboard and PRO racing will never be anything but little in-crowd activities like birling or bocce ball. So the racers might as well run what pleases THEM, and not try vainly to attract screaming throngs. There certainly are things that could be done to improve the spectator experience, but I doubt that trading in racing engines for fishing engines (or ski-boat engines, or whatever) is necessary or desirable.

[Mad Cat]

I agree, there are so many more things to see and do ! We are into the days of instant gratifacation, I want it now !

My son has found Cross-Country, and that sure beats the heck out of him sitting at a computer (Or X-box) and playing video games. I have taken him to a couple of races here in Region 10, he likes it , But ! I am hoping to get him in a boat for a ride if nothing else and see if the " bug" hits ! After being away for 23 some years, it only takes on sniff of "Alky" to get my blood going !

BTW, I am a 3rd. gen. racer !

[seacow]

Sea Cow, the world has changed on us (not for the better, in my bald-headed opinion), and such audience as there is for any particular form of amateur motor racing will probably become even more fragmented than it is now. Stock (or whatever you want to call it; a name change will have no effect on this) Outboard and PRO racing will never be anything but little in-crowd activities like birling or bocce ball. So the racers might as well run what pleases THEM, and not try vainly to attract screaming throngs. There certainly are things that could be done to improve the spectator experience, but I doubt that trading in racing engines for fishing engines (or ski-boat engines, or whatever) is necessary or desirable.

I agree with your entire post and thought the same even before you posted it.
Although I am an avid spectator and a sometimes racer these days, many stock heats and some stock races are even boring to me. Also true with the other categories ( largely because the fields of boats are so small or non-existent) So, how can I expect or promote that younger generations will find them exciting?

When technology of outboards and motor sizes was in its adolescence, it was understandable that for speed, one needed no recoil or electric starter to have higher rpm from a smaller flywheel and a torpedo lower unit with specialized gearing to also boost speed with boats that would sink if your body was too far toward the transom. Even so, in those days one could purchase this equipment at local dealers. I happily embraced the speed, thrill and low tech aspects of the sport in those days. I no longer do, perhaps because of age, but probably more because I see the newer equipment that is safer more comfortable to drive and faster in its stock form. Even at races, I found the new Reg 12 classic runabout heats thrilling (a misnomer because they have gear shift, electric start and sea-worthy hulls.) These more closely fit the true definition of stock and they have to have rules to keep speed under 90 mph!

I am all for keeping the classes we know as stock but hope the name changes. I agree that people should race whatever they want. I also think that there must be room for racing truly stock equipment that runs at the same or higher speeds in comfort and relative safety with the equipment that is recognizable to the almost non-existent numbers of spectators. Existing drivers are not likely to convert but perhaps these stock classes could attract new drivers (young and old) or bring more former drivers out of retirement. It couldn't hurt to 'test the waters" (pun intended)

In your thinking you did leave room for some improvement of our public profile and attendance by measures that we all might take. Some of my thinking might address that part of it or maybe not.

Please do not misinterpret my positions. I love racing as it is. I just feel that there might also be room for new technology along with the time-tested equipment. And let's have better names to describe what we drive.

[Mad Cat]

Sea Cow;

You are right, we had those classes back in the 60's-80's. Remember SD, SE, SJ , EP , Family Ski and I think it was Ski Jet. Those classes had Showroom stock engines (The jet class was pretty restricted to carbs and exhaust), I know in Region 11 (I raced there in the 70's and 80's), there could be 8 or more SE'S in a race and it was good racing ! John Q. Public would see those and could relate to them, also the Family Ski class was a big class, just a good old ski boat with 2 people in them. What happened to those classes? Family Ski Morphed into MOD VP, SE into SST 60, SD into 45SS, 45 SST etc.

Today we have classes that look stock (ASH,ASR, DSH , DSR and Sport C ) and they have large turnouts at most races that I have seen up here (Except SportC).

You want to attract a crowd, Get 12 1100CC R's on a little course like Sparks, Lodi Lake and watch the people ! The noise of the Merc 6's, Quincy Loopers, 460 Yamapumpers, 850 Mercs and Konigs was what got their attention.

Maybe we need to develop some classes that go back to SE, or the like, and/or develop some Classic classes like the "old" FRR with open Megaphones ! Good grief, just thinking of a 6 Looper makes me shiver !

We have things in place to get newbies boat rides (Region 11 has its Norcal 400, Region 10 has the ride program at Tacoma) and those have been big hits ! Shoot, give them a ride in a Cracker Box (West coast) or Jersey Speed Skiff (East Coast). If that doesn't get them, Drag Bob Waite out of retirement and let him give a ride in an 1100 CCR !

Ooops, making a book here, sorry !

[seacow]

Right on, Mad Cat!
I agree with all you said about the earlier OPCs.
I double agree about Lodi and Sparks and FRR and Crackers. For me, the only thrill in the world better than watching a race of a robust field of alky 75H's & Koenigs or 460s or Crackers at a course like Lodi is to drive one or a good romp in the hay. I feel sad for any enthusiast that never saw those classes and those courses.

[J-Dub]

FRR's!!!!!!!!! There are a couple of us, my Dad included are attempting to give CPR to FRR right now. We fielded 3 out of our camp alone at Lawrence Lake. We also had Dwight and Mike Kelly driving Erik Korpe's 850 for five entries.
Now in the event Mike Jones would run his (Six merc), Jason Diamond seemed interested too... Add some FER's with riders, like Shaw and Brial Lachapell... That would be a show! Then we try to get NEW interest in the class.
But in the mean time, anyone ever try to field 3 FRR's at once???

J-Dub

[carl lewis]

FRR's!!!!!!!!!
But in the mean time, anyone ever try to field 3 FRR's at once???

J-Dub

does behind my bike when I was 12 count????????

carl

[Mad Cat]

Gee, lets see, 2 in each boat, and at least 3 more to hold it up and rope ! That would be 9 minimum if you started 1 at a time ! YIKES !

If we could drag a couple from down south up it would be like "old" times, a whole herd of them !

Hope to have my act together for next year, at least will be able to "Grunt" and maybe even be a rider ! Rode for Jim Schoenfeldt (Side by side) in the late 70's ! Haven't gotten any smarter in my old age !