Legends of Boat Racing Reunion
DePue, Illinois is pretty much MID AMERICA. Not every great boat racer ever raced at DePue, but I have decided that DePue is where we should have The Legends of Boat Racing Reunion. DePue, 2011, will be 50 years of Boat Racing at DePue.
I'm appointing John Schubert as Chairman. We need to be making plans.
Let this Reunion will be called The Legends of Boat Racing Reunion....Drivers, crews and families are welcome!
Yes books in the internet era.
I don't watch TV Ron, except Fox News. If I'm home....I read books and BRF. BRF IS THE RECORD OF BOAT RACING!
I like the idea of a program with a couple of caveats. No solicitations of sponsors of the Nationals or the local community that would normally be putting money into the nationals. We don't want in any way to take money that would go toward that event. The first reunion, our group graciously contributed $1,000.00 to the sport we all love, but we don't want to compete for the precious sponsorship dollars these days. Still...the idea is with merit. There are potential donors out there to help fund the underlying costs of putting the thing together, and a program would be an excellent way to honor them.
As far as getting people to sign up early and give a writeup...forget about that. There will be a hard core group that will....then as we get closer and the hype drives up interest we will start to get a flurry of info...then there will be a bunch at the last minute that will send in stuff. The biggest group will be those that commit only in the final weeks and the ones that just show up. There would never be time enough to put together a program even months out. Not something that we would want to honor such an event. This is the sign Steve Jones and I stared at many, many times sitting in the lobby of Grunwald Printing in Corpus Christi with our program notes and ads while waiting on John Grunwald to see us. "YOU WANT IT QUICK, FAST, AND CHEAP?....PICK TWO AND CALL US BACK!". I do think though that we could do a program. just have to put our heads together to see how to make it work.
The only silent auction I have ever seen was at DePue, but I think your idea on that is dead on.
As far as the book goes, with today's digital images, quality internet transmissions, computer enhancement with quick editing, sizing, etc., printers, ease of looking at proofs and making changes alters the equation when printing. When Tim first contacted me he wanted to start on 2011 very early. For those who are too young to know Tim Chance, he worked on several publications before he started his Hydroplane Quarterly magazine. So Tim is the go to guy. I think it was November or December 2008, long after the first reunion and WAY before anyone considered the universally accepted date of the second reunion in 2011, that Tim E mailed me and asked me to give him a call. I was very excited about his proposal and we planned for him to come to my house, or possibly meet in San Antonio. The plan was to spend some hard time laying out the foundation for the book. We discussed some absolutes that must be included, such as motor builders, boat builders and what was the bedrock of alky racing from the early sixties to in the seventies. We both had a lot of similar thoughts, but the main thing about the individual racers, classes, boats, motors, states, numbers.....the things that racers want to read about themselves and exploits was the toughest. Sometimes, the guys that won the most are the hardest to get info from. It's really hard to get any meaningful information from 95% of racers. Some don't want to take the time, but for the most part...racers just don't know how or what to compile about their racing careers. So it takes a lot of hounding, follow up, then putting it together in an order that makes people want to read it.
That's just what I have found out on my own. As far as the mechanical part...I don't know. Tim does. And that's why he contacted me so early in the game so we could at least flesh out the general direction. We would both contribute photos and copy, but I kind of figured I would play the major role in financing (get it printed) while Tim did the layout and find the best print shop. Neither one of us got into this to make money, because we know Ron and Jimbo are right. We wanted to put together a class publication that people would want to own and look at and read...and pass on to their heirs. We wanted it to be independant of the reunion's drag on expense. Time is the factor now. I figured after this fall we were behind before we started, but if Tim thinks there may still be time....I'm all for it.
Tim....I may have to make a quick 400 mile round trip tommorrow. If I can I'll give you a call.
May Need To Eat My Words...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Master Oil Racing Team
I don't watch TV Ron, except Fox News. If I'm home....I read books and BRF. BRF IS THE RECORD OF BOAT RACING!
I like the idea of a program with a couple of caveats. No solicitations of sponsors of the Nationals or the local community that would normally be putting money into the nationals. We don't want in any way to take money that would go toward that event. The first reunion, our group graciously contributed $1,000.00 to the sport we all love, but we don't want to compete for the precious sponsorship dollars these days. Still...the idea is with merit. There are potential donors out there to help fund the underlying costs of putting the thing together, and a program would be an excellent way to honor them.
As far as getting people to sign up early and give a writeup...forget about that. There will be a hard core group that will....then as we get closer and the hype drives up interest we will start to get a flurry of info...then there will be a bunch at the last minute that will send in stuff. The biggest group will be those that commit only in the final weeks and the ones that just show up. There would never be time enough to put together a program even months out. Not something that we would want to honor such an event. This is the sign Steve Jones and I stared at many, many times sitting in the lobby of Grunwald Printing in Corpus Christi with our program notes and ads while waiting on John Grunwald to see us. "YOU WANT IT QUICK, FAST, AND CHEAP?....PICK TWO AND CALL US BACK!". I do think though that we could do a program. just have to put our heads together to see how to make it work.
The only silent auction I have ever seen was at DePue, but I think your idea on that is dead on.
As far as the book goes, with today's digital images, quality internet transmissions, computer enhancement with quick editing, sizing, etc., printers, ease of looking at proofs and making changes alters the equation when printing. When Tim first contacted me he wanted to start on 2011 very early. For those who are too young to know Tim Chance, he worked on several publications before he started his Hydroplane Quarterly magazine. So Tim is the go to guy. I think it was November or December 2008, long after the first reunion and WAY before anyone considered the universally accepted date of the second reunion in 2011, that Tim E mailed me and asked me to give him a call. I was very excited about his proposal and we planned for him to come to my house, or possibly meet in San Antonio. The plan was to spend some hard time laying out the foundation for the book. We discussed some absolutes that must be included, such as motor builders, boat builders and what was the bedrock of alky racing from the early sixties to in the seventies. We both had a lot of similar thoughts, but the main thing about the individual racers, classes, boats, motors, states, numbers.....the things that racers want to read about themselves and exploits was the toughest. Sometimes, the guys that won the most are the hardest to get info from. It's really hard to get any meaningful information from 95% of racers. Some don't want to take the time, but for the most part...racers just don't know how or what to compile about their racing careers. So it takes a lot of hounding, follow up, then putting it together in an order that makes people want to read it.
That's just what I have found out on my own. As far as the mechanical part...I don't know. Tim does. And that's why he contacted me so early in the game so we could at least flesh out the general direction. We would both contribute photos and copy, but I kind of figured I would play the major role in financing (get it printed) while Tim did the layout and find the best print shop. Neither one of us got into this to make money, because we know Ron and Jimbo are right. We wanted to put together a class publication that people would want to own and look at and read...and pass on to their heirs. We wanted it to be independant of the reunion's drag on expense. Time is the factor now. I figured after this fall we were behind before we started, but if Tim thinks there may still be time....I'm all for it.
Tim....I may have to make a quick 400 mile round trip tommorrow. If I can I'll give you a call.
My daughter Photography by Jessica B
http://www.photographybyjessicab.com
made a great book about Bunker and Annette's wedding....So, maybe, 2010 methods could be used to print a great book. Anyone that knows me, knows I change my mind as often as most people change socks...
Ok, we write a BOOK!!!
Wayne, you are RIGHT about we, REUNIONIST, not taking anything from current races...in fact, I was thinking, maybe we should come up with a figure, like $500 to sponsor a class at DePue... Example, Ron Hill is sponsoring 500CC Runabout...If $500 is too high, maybe $200!!! Champion Spark Plug used to give $100 for every APBA National Champion back in the '60's...That would be $1,000 today....
I'd sponsor A Runabout, if I knew what they called it!!!
What Racers are included?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Master Oil Racing Team
I'm glad you asked about the cost Karen. I wasn't clear on that. For such small quantities it is very expensive for a book of the calibre we are talking about. We want it to look nice, and not have the pages fall out. I'm not sure of the quantity Tim his thinking right now, but several months ago he was talking a 100 or a little more. That's why we want to find out how much interest there may be. Frankly, I can't see where it could be done at $25.00, but Tim has been in the business all his life. I'm sure that he would provide such excellent camera ready layouts to cut a lot of the publishers work out, that he could negotiate it down. That price does not include any of our time. Until we get a better handle on what the demand might be, and the numbers of books we will only be able to ballpark the sales price, but we just need to cover our expenses. As Ron said, you can't get rich selling books about boat racing. I would not spend the time on it except for the fact that a lot of this history will be lost if there is not a record. All the great pictures and stories here on BRF are fantastic, and I bet a more comprehensive history does not exist anywhere else on this earth. But what if something wiped it out? I wish I could get a complete DVD of a number of separate threads here on BRF for my personal boat racing library, but I don't know if that's possible. Anyway....thanks for the heads up.
Those are some other ideas to think about too Karen, and Ray's thoughts of getting Jean involved as well as his interviewing people. There could be a lot of fans that may want to buy stuff. But, we need volunteers to do that other stuff. My hands will be full because in addition to working with Tim on the book, I plan to donate two binders with copies of all my autographed pictures for the auction. I don't like to turn photo albums sideways and up while I'm flipping through the pages so one binder is horizontal and is mostly boats under way, with some groups of people. The other is vertical with mostly head shots, but some pit shots of boats. It would probably be best to auction them separately. It's not the ink and paper it will cost that I am dreading, but the time it will take. All the pictures I had scanned for my autograph thread up until January are gone because of the computer crash, so I have to start over.:mad:
There are some good ideas, so now we need more input....and volunteers.
:DAre you guys looking for some old OPC (Outboard Pleasure Craft) racers for this reunion? The Switzer Regatta usually has a few of them show up. Last couple of years Jim Smith, Bob Switzer, Jack Lewis, Harold Simbarger & Kenny Kitson, & a few others have been there.....
My Daughter, Jessica Bodas, Photographs Weddings
http://photographybyjessicab.blogspo...1_archive.html
When Bunker and Annette got married Jessica made a book about their wedding. She may have made a beautiful book.
I will ask her what she can make a book for???
Woud you want a book made FROM the reunion?? Or before???
Switzercraft Regatta & Hot Boat Rally 2010
:D Please feel free to join us at the 8th Annual Switzercraft Regatta and Hot Boat Rally:eek:. This is an annual get together of fans and owners of the Sport and Race boats of the past. Everything from 8ft racers to 38ft off shores.
:cool:This year it will be held at THE BIG BASIN MARINA in Channahon Illinois,
boats,cars and other modes of transport will start arriving at 10am, we will have a quick river run at noon then back for lunch (bring a basket or eat at the marinas bar). Then after that some of us will be doing speed runs for the crowd, and maybe some rides. :D
Also this year THE MOTORHEADS OF ILLINOIS antique outboard club will be joining us and having a swap meet.
For pictures of our past Regattas go to www.freewebs.com/switzercraftreunionregattas/ or go to yahoo groups and look for the 2 Switzercraft sites there.
Thanks, Tom Arambasich:)
August 2011 Will Be Here Fast
We are starting to make some plans. More later but feel free to join in here!