Reply With QuoteSounds like the boats of the future are in the boats of the past. The guys from Washington State lead the way again!! Hope you find more information out and post it for rest of the world to see ;and appreciate.
I am pleased to announce that the FIRST Nostalgia flat bottom circle race was held somewhere in GEORGIA! The American Outboard Federation was the sanctioning club for an old local club that was rejuvenated with the return of hydros and the introduction of v-drive flats on their small oval course. This came from our club officers and I cant verify this with a phone call to the East Coast. Does anyone out there know more about this somewhere near Jessup or Gessie Georgia? This means we as a new class of slower old boats may just have a permanent home and be able to set National records once more with our lovable classic rides!!! Wow!!!I'll try to find out more for you'all! Yup....the.................Jerkster
Sounds like the boats of the future are in the boats of the past. The guys from Washington State lead the way again!! Hope you find more information out and post it for rest of the world to see ;and appreciate.
Yippee! Outlaw Flatbottom Racing Lives!
And Georgia, although still a haul, is a lot closer to where I live than Washington state.
Please send me your rules package ASAP. If you don't still have my address, please E-mail me.
Eric
Sorry guys, in my enthusiasm I jumped the gun. I just talked to the AOF president and he confirmed there was a race in Jessup, Georgia but it was drag racing!! The inboards were invited but were a no show! However, MACON GEORGIA will be the site for a possible flat-bottom circle race August 23-4. This is the first invitation for all you southern v-drives to unite and race like we have here by the President himself. Eric, do you think you can start something? The rules down there I'm told will follow the current drag-race rule book until you racers put together a mutually accepted program. Eric, I'll send you ours if you still plan on making the "Pilgramage" to Washington. In conclusion, nothing is FLAT impossible!!!sometimes it just takes a little longer...{like 18 feet}Jerkster
It'd be tough for me to start something in Georgia, being that I live in New Yawk (Damn Yankee, ya know), but I'd be only too glad to help if anything should begin to happen around here.
I used to be the Vice President of Circle Racing for the New Jersey Flat Bottom Racing Association. We used to put on both circle races and drags as well as combined events. Unfortunately, the N.J.F.B.R.A. is now defunct. I do however have my titles and good memories, not to mention some good freindships that will last forever.
I've raced with APBA mostly in the Pro Stock class but I've done a couple of Super Stock races and found that to be more to my liking.
I preferred racing with the Canadian Boating Federation in the Can Am class. Partially because they always had a good boat turnout, never less than 10 Flats, but mostly because thay actually paid the racers enough prize and tow money to make it to the next race. Wow, what a concept! Unfortunately those days apparently are also gone forever.
So, as we pick up the pieces of the shatterred remains of our sport, it only seems natural that we return to some sort of inexpensive grass roots style of events.
This time let's not listen to the voices that say "if we only dressed prettier or put on a better coreographed show, we might attract sponsors who could help us propel the sport onto TV and the rest would flow from that. Oh, and by the way, we just raised your membership fees to cover some promotional fund. Oh, and by the way, the entry fee has been raised becaused the conducting club is near bancruptcy but we should all pitch in to help save it. Oh, and by the way, there'll be no prize money or tow money this weekend. Oh, and by the way, if you don't have X piece of equipment or Y sticker on your hull, or if your numbers aren't the right height, you can't run this weekend." Sound familiar?
A return to "Outlaw Racing" sounds good to me. Just let me know how I can help.
Eric "Pro-Choice" Tolnes
P.S. Sorry about all the venom. Sometimes I get started and it just keeps coming. Ya know?
Eric: Thanks for the input and I loved all that snake talk! You are the kind of folks, yankee or not, that I have been targeting. We desperately need experienced racers who know where they have been and know even better where they would like to go. The growth here in the Northwest has been overwhelming to me and the club and many mistakes have been made and will continue I'm sure. But, one thing remains, our desire to enjoy the boats we love and find a place in this mixed up world where we are wanted without hassel! The report for those VIPs who saw us race convinced me I was on the right track: "Racing fun like the old days" said George Nordling [former five time APBA champion in SS,SK,Kboat and world champ! One last question: When is the Pilgrim crossing the Mississippi???????? with boat in tow of course. Come as you are and expect some Royal [English] treatment.......... Great info by the way! Jerkster [local yokal]
Thanks CJ!
Unfortunately, I don't have as much experience, especially behind the wheel, as I may sound like I do. Got plenty of experience maxing out my credit cards to make races, blowing up motors, getting hosed down and run into, etc.
I only won some local outlaw races. Best I ever did in the big leagues was 2 heat wins and a 3rd in Valleyfield in CanAm with a SS boat. Seemed like every time I started gathering momentum something, or someone, would sink my ship. But hey, that's racing.
I saw some of my friends/competitors go into DEEP bancruptcy to fuel their racing fire but I wasn't about to go down that road.
Ultimately, the more I learned about the game, the less appealing it was to me. I started to look for (fiscally) safer places to sink my mad money. And that's what's so sad, because deep down I LOVE racing my boat (in circles, tried drags....yawn....), but the high cost and constant setbacks simply wore me down. I'm finding it hard to muster enough enthusiasm to assemble my motor, even though I have all the pieces!
On a lighter note, you might enjoy my website at www.geocities.com/kool_toyz (http://www.geocities.com/kool_toyz)
Ciao for now,
Eric
Eric,
nice web page, and nice boats, I am part of the west coast Nostalgia group, of at least I raced the first race this year, and I will be attending the race next week.
I am wondering what happened to the Cam-Am group? it seemed like they had good boats and good turnouts so whats happened?
Thanks,
Marc
Flatracer, Perhaps there should be some thought of getting back to real racing. If there is enough interest among you guys to get a group together to run a few hotlaps in a casual atmosphere where there is no BS such as you cited above [who looks the best in their uniforms and who has the right stickers on the boat] but just some good old fashon competition with a few rules just to keep things fair and interesting you just might be able to start another series that would capture the interest of the paying spectators, It may mean you race for no money or prizes but then again not many people make any money at boat racing anyway.
Thanks Marc. Glad you liked it.
Back in the late 80s, early-mid 90s, the CanAm class was the place to be. We had a fixed minimum price of $15,000 Cdn. 60% went to prize money. 40% got divided among the entrants for tow money, so with a 10 boat field, even if you ran shitty all weekend, you went home with $600 in your pocket. That doesn't sound like much, but once you've blown your paycheck, maxed out your credit cards, begged, borrowed, and stole to get your boat ready for the first race of the season, that $600 was the difference between making the next race or staying home!
In return for our minimum price, we guaranteed a 10 boat field. And we always delivered. Valleyfield saw 17 CanAm/Pro Stocks at times, and additional sponsors like Coca Cola would step in with additional prize money.
Oh, yeah, we also got great TV coverage on Canadian cable (CSN, I think).
That was then. Then something happenned, I don't know what, that brought about a changing of the guard in CBF. I can't name names or discuss the particulars, because I simply don't know how or why it happenned, but I do know the sponsorship spigot got shut off. CanAm stuck to its minimum price and ended up on fewer and fewer programs. Grand Prix, same thing.
This year, the entire CBF Inboard schedule (aside from joint CBF/APBA races) consists of TWO races! This sport is imploding under the weight of its own bureacracy.
I have to say though, in all fairness to the good people who volunteer their time and money to help run the sport for us, that it's not entirely their fault, but they should at least recognize that if they're not paying the band, they can't call the tune.
Eric Tolnes
CanAm 86 "Already Gone"
[ July 26, 2002, 07:53 AM: Message edited by: FlatRacer ]
Posting Permissions