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Safety Check Lists:
All classes will have safety check lists and sign offs. Our T Check List will require a minor change
in Helmets because of a change. No big deal.

Race day Schedule
The race day schedule is going to change. We need to be more organized and have an accurate
boat count for each class prior to race day.

Race Sanction
There will be additional names for Drag added to the race sanction.

Boat Show
We will not be at the Boat Show. Only two people signed up to help.

TORC Position
The TORC executive does a good job and it is still a few people doing all the work.
They made it clear that TORC is a Stock Outboard Club first and foremost. When it
becomes impossible to fit every class into the race day. Classes will be dropped from the schedule.
There are other race sites looking for events. TORC does not have the man/woman power to
host any more.

Suggestion
I have made this suggestion for the last 2 years.
Make the Classes T and Drag 100 % responsible for their portion of the event.
They are responsible for everything for their time slot on the program.
Safety boats announcer[s] etc.
This will improve racer and fan satisfaction. Get away from the SAME-SAME aspect of our events.
Get more people involved plus the experience will give T and Drag members confidence
to look at additional races and be part of the TORC executive.

WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GROW!! LET’S MADE IT HAPPEN.

I think the drag group does for the most part have their own crew of items ...
The drag course is set by drag racers with their own markers
The start boat is provided by a drag racer
The start boat is run by drag racers
The finish line is run by drag racers
Scoring is done by drag racers
Tech is done by drag racers
....
As for the TORC executive committee .... I was originally nominated as Drag Rep. and the first race following that nomination someone else was named the race representative for the drag class. Not sure what else a person can do when that happens.

Not being confrontational here what so ever , just stating what I have been a part of whether it is a simple misunderstanding or otherwise

Assistance is always an issue in all forms of racing but I know for certain that without the help of the racers themselves and or husbands/wives of racers then we'd have nearly no one. It is hard to drum up volunteers for sure. Let's hope we can make this a positive move for the future of outboard racing for everyone to continue to enjoy and draw newcomers as well

Cheers

TORC may think "they" (which is actually we) are a stock outboard club first...but I think the truth is that without ALL (SO, T, drag) of us racing the club would be setback to where it was 5 years ago...on the decline and out of money. The big issue is getting all of us who are new to get off our asses and be part of the club. Helping with setup and tear down of the race site, turn boat duty and attending the odd meeting so we all have a voice.

Don, I'm not sure that making T or Drag responsible for their own racing sends the right message. I know this is a way to get our own group motivated to pitch in....but it doesn't really solve the root of the issue...which is most of the club sitting around waiting to race while the same 10 people make the race weekend happen. We all need help every class race...makes the day go quicker and gets everyone on the water.

Not sure it can be said any better .... /\

A key reason for having T and Drag responsible for their part of the program is THE SHOW. For fan interest and to grow the sport we need to continue to add something different so people come back year after year. SO can do their part of the show. T and Drag can be totally different. Example say at Gravenhurst Drag adds inboard ski boat drags as a special event one year. T has a NASCAR style race with 15 boats lined up in pairs fastest boats at the back 20 laps. We need to put on a show with new ideas.

I think you guys have some conflicting goals. I am not sure the SO folks are that concerned with putting on a show. This is pure club style racing. Racing for the joy of racing and it takes all day, that's the way it is. Not sure there is much concern if there are any spectators or not to many. Problem is there will never be much if any sponsor involvement without spectators. The number of boats and classes does not lead itself in its current form to a "show style" race. Only the hardcore fan will spend the entire day watching and understanding the differences between classes. (many of these fans would love to race themselves). I don't think you can continue to add more the SO program, it seems difficult to complete a raceday as is.

This is true...It's hard to break out of the club style racing without some SERIOUS influx of racers. If you take any of our group and try and run on your own you don't have enough racing to fill the day and even then the lack of variety would bore the average spectator. It seems the days of boat racing on our scale being a big spectator draw is over...I could be wrong...but I just really want to race and continue to have a spot to race. I'm personally not concerned with spectator draw...to the end that it's not my primary focus. If that means I have to spend $100 or $200 to join TORC to run in 4 races that's cool with me. I'm in it for the fun of racing and the social aspect and I want to see it continue.

All good points and true. However,TORC history will repeat itself if we do not look to the future. The history of TORC is they had no races for several years [10?], got a few races with the help of bath fitters funding, T came along and got the club a positive bank account. Drag added to their balance sheet. The Club is in good $ shape now. DOC you would be one of the few willing to pay that amount of money to TORC, most SO would quit. Without the support from the towns to help pay costs, we cannot put on the race. We lost $1000.00 at Waterford with no support. We have two options in my view. We can get better and build on what we have. We are in a good place. More racers will show at good events. Larger towns will want to have us. We need to keep the events special so we have replacement sites to go to when we loose one [Dunnville]. The second option of doing nothing will play out this way. The 10 people at TORC that do the work will have had enough [2 to 3 years]. They are racers that run both in Canada and the states. They don't need TORC to be happy. As they get older the TORC work load is not worth the gain and TORC history will repeat or TORC disappears completely. The ONLY WHAT TO RACE PEOPLE will say WHAT HAPPENED! Then they will realize they have raceboats and no races in the area. It is far easier to build now rather than wait.
The Dog is going back to Sleep.

If other sites are interested in having us race, I think it would make sense to do all we can do get the manpower and have 1 more race site. Easy for me to say from behind the computer screen but if all possible, I think it would be good for us. Drags would love another site and a little more time on the water by the sounds of it, the odd demo like the watercross or just something different would be nice to do once and a while, and not having to worry about getting everyone to run in such a short time would be nice. This doesn't mean that everyone has 5 races, but the classes would be staggered through the 5 events so everyone has 4 races at a site that best suits their class. If there was extra time in the day, racers could pay for testing time or pay to run extra heats like we did a couple years ago at Erinsville.

Example:

Waterford- All SO classes, no drag, no T
Gravenhurst- Most SO classes, Drags, T's
New race site (hopefully something that can have lots of spectators like Ghurst or Haliburton) that doesn't mind noise - Drags, T's BCH, D mod, C mod
Erinsville- SO (except D mod, C mod, BCH) T's, no drags
Haliburton- Drags, T, Most SO classes

Again, above is just an example, not necessarily how they would be split up but just to show that everyone gets scheduled for 4 of 5 events. (except 3 for drags)

Obviously it would take more of us to step up with certain responsibilities but any money that isn't there from less races I think would be made up paying for test time, extra day of racing, etc..

Let me explain a little more about the race day schedule and how my suggestion changes it.

Current State
Far too many delays with nothing happening.
We have a race schedule but no set times shown on the schedule for each class.

Future State
The day schedule is broken down into 3 separate groups. SO, T and Drag,
Each group has a start time and end time.
Each group is responsible for filling their COMPLETE time spot.
They must have something going on all the time, even if there is a turn boat change.
Our posters have the time schedule on them.
Example: Racing Starts at 9:30
DRAG runs 9:30 to 11:00
OS runs 11:00 to 2:30
T runs 2:30 to 4:00

WHY DRAG First?
They do not need to be at the drivers meeting.
They make noise to attract people to the races.
Less traffic in the pits.

All class members within their class will need to plan how to fill their time slot
to their best advantage. They will need to know their boat count well before the
event. They will need to be organized!
They do not need to worry about the other part of the program and wondering
when they are up. If your short of boats then design your program to
do different things. You have to fill your time spot with no down time.

Even with 125 boats like we had last year, remove the downtime and there is
lots of time to run a GOOD program.