2018 IMPBA FE Nationals - Michigan Cup

[T.S.Davis]

Wow!! An IMPBA National event for your club. How sad.

Some things stick with me. Sorry folks.

The implication here is (I think) that we're catering only to our club. I used to race with a guy named Paul Pachmeyer. Some know him. Paul raced FE and gas. Raced all over. He was a harsh dude. Paul once told me that I couldn't possibly know what was going on in racing unless I got out of my own damned back yard. Think he was yelling that at the time. He probably followed it with "yer an idiot Terry" True or not (the being an idiot part) I listened and so I did. Many times. Raced all over the country. East coast. West coast. Down south. Parts of Canada. 4 of us logged approximately 5000 miles traveling to races in 2017 alone. Racing only electric boats. Racing, meeting new people, seeing old friends, learning what interests them, seeing how they do what they do. Always looking at what they do to get people off the grass and on the stand. What I'm saying is.............we know some racers. We also have a pretty good idea which are willing to pack up their gear to get here. We know what they'll bring too. It's not a wild guess what will show up. It's not just what will make our club guys happy either.

The class list was submitted to the BOD. The BOD which includes the National Electric Director approved the list. They even had us change the format of one of our classes to be more rule compliant. That got heated actually. So they didn't just rubber stamp it.

FE has wayyyyy too many classes to offer them all and let the chips lie. The many many class options can keep a local FE population scattered just enough to ensure that actual heats are less likely. I take some heat for even uttering such blasphemy by the way. haha

Last thing......there hasn't been an IMPBA electric nationals in well over a decade. We were asked to do it. It wasn't just a bonus for our club. It wasn't a "Hey, lets see if we can get a nats!" kind of thing. Heck, I had to sell our guys the idea. It went more like......"A 4th nats?!?! Have you lost your mind Terry?"

[jaike5]

Jaike5. Even with 10th scale turning left, we still get a consistent amount of entries per club race. Of the 6 club races we had last season our club has had a solid 8 to 10 entries per race. This class will have some fun heats to watch.

TyDavis, I'm sure your club has mastered the left hand turn over the season. I race what's offered, T-Cat/Mono are my personal favorites is all. You should be on full focus of your school work not next years boat race, or I'm sure there will be no racing for you. Stay focused on school and we'll see you next year.
Cheers, Jay. race on.

[ray schrauwen]

Hope to see you there, Ray.

Likewise.

P Hydro is full P rigger. In case you were confused

I better get building that

[Doby]

Nice to see that you made the assumption that I don't know what I'm talking about. Let see, 19 years of nitro and gas racing, been to the IMPBA Nitro Internats 7 times of which my club hosted 5 of these and I am a US1 "E" Tunnel winner. Have done it all at those races from Entries/score keeping: pit boss, turn judge, retrieve boat and been the CD. What I am trying to get at is if it is not offered then the class will never grow. FE is just starting to pick up around here and all of it is P spec tunnel hulls. Having a minimum number for each class and a cut off date 3 weeks before the race gets rid of the 2,3 or 4 boat classes.

Well then you should know better than to bitch about an organisation that spends a large amount of time organizing these races.
And the ample list of p spec classes being offered would appease 99% of any new guys.

The Michigan club knows what classes will get the people on the water.

Oh..by the way, OPC is one of my favorite classes to run.

How can someone be a "retrieve boat"?

[T.S.Davis]

I can appreciate that too Buddy. I think Doby's point was that MMEU knows a thing or two about hosting an electric race and what might get guys to show up.

I've been contest director for 3 FE nationals. This will be the 4th. One of those races went 522 entries. We offered tunnel at all of them. So a whole nation of boats and racers from coast to coast and they could barely muster enough boats to make. Tunnel classes have had over a decade to grow. They haven't. We're not going to offer classes that haven't shown themselves to posses the numbers. We didn't offer any 2s classes either. Because we know what guys are racing. We're involved. We're paying attention.

We know who is likely to show up. It ain't tunnel guys. It's the same guys that are willing to travel. Same guys we see at every travel race we go to. Plus or minus a handful. What would you have us do? Offer classes that we know (not guessing) won't make and cross out fingers that they'll show? Spec tunnel, P tunnel, Q tunnel. Not sure I've ever seen a Q tunnel at a race......ever. Throw in some N stock mono maybe?

[Ty Davis]

Same as for the T class, break downs, no shows, maybe 10th scale wiil be dropped too as turning left can cut the field down to 3 boats! waa hoo! Just have to run the classes offered race on.
Cheers, Jay.

Jaike5. Even with 10th scale turning left, we still get a consistent amount of entries per club race. Of the 6 club races we had last season our club has had a solid 8 to 10 entries per race. This class will have some fun heats to watch.

[tjcast]

Approximately how many minutes does it take to do 8 offshore laps with a spec mono?

about 3 1/4 min. When we ran 4 min heats 1st place was doing 10 to 11 laps, so 8 laps would bring the time down to the 3 1/4 min or so.

Would be good to see you and Wendy

[Ty Davis]

Is the P Hydro full P rigger or P limited rigger that is usually run at MMEU events?

P Hydro is full P rigger. In case you were confused.

We have run those classes at the Michigan Cup and at any National event that offers those classes

[tjcast]

Is the P Hydro full P rigger or P limited rigger that is usually run at MMEU events?

The flier lists both P Hydro AND Spec Hydro (which would be our equivalent to P-limited), so we are offering 3 different Hydro (rigger) classes, Spec, P and Q.

[Shooter]

Hope to see you there, Ray.

[ray schrauwen]

Approximately how many minutes does it take to do 8 offshore laps with a spec mono?

Might make it with a Very limited contingent. Wendy is hurting unit, I'm getting better a little at a time.

[Buddy Benedict]

It leaves lots of room for new guys getting into electrics. Instead of posting a negative comment on something you apparently don't know much about, ask a question about a particular class you may be interested in. These guys are probably THE most accommodating group you will find.

Nice to see that you made the assumption that I don't know what I'm talking about. Let see, 19 years of nitro and gas racing, been to the IMPBA Nitro Internats 7 times of which my club hosted 5 of these and I am a US1 "E" Tunnel winner. Have done it all at those races from Entries/score keeping: pit boss, turn judge, retrieve boat and been the CD. What I am trying to get at is if it is not offered then the class will never grow. FE is just starting to pick up around here and all of it is P spec tunnel hulls. Having a minimum number for each class and a cut off date 3 weeks before the race gets rid of the 2,3 or 4 boat classes.

[Doby]

Wow!! An IMPBA National event for your club. How sad. Your quote: "We have pretty good feel for our expected racers and what they own believe it or not" doesn't leave any room for a new guy just getting into electrics does it. Being a National event, it should offer every class listed in the rule book and have a class minimum and an entry cut off date. The classes that didn't make the minimum are cut at that time then you don't have a any heats with mixed boats in them.

Thanks for the explanation.

It leaves lots of room for new guys getting into electrics. Instead of posting a negative comment on something you apparently don't know much about, ask a question about a particular class you may be interested in. These guys are probably THE most accommodating group you will find.

[mojoracer]

Is the P Hydro full P rigger or P limited rigger that is usually run at MMEU events?

[photohoward1]

I'm pretty sure the Michigan guys know what they are doing. There is a reason they are the largest FE club in the nation.

Wow!! An IMPBA National event for your club. How sad. Your quote: "We have pretty good feel for our expected racers and what they own believe it or not" doesn't leave any room for a new guy just getting into electrics does it. Being a National event, it should offer every class listed in the rule book and have a class minimum and an entry cut off date. The classes that didn't make the minimum are cut at that time then you don't have a any heats with mixed boats in them.

Thanks for the explanation.