List of people racing in the USA

[CraigP]

Absolutely right! You can't load boats and equipment on airplanes, so your driving, hotel rooms, food and the registration fees. Bring your wife or better half, and you are in maybe $1500 for a 3-4 day deal! There's also getting time off from work... Man I wish there was some folks close to me, but there's not.

[longballlumber]

Gas and nitro must have the same problem.

I wouldn't say it's the same. Most Nitro/Gas clubs don't have enough club racers to be self-sufficient like our MMEU group. Meaning; those that race IC are required to travel to "race". I have said this before; the MMEU club is VERY lucky that they have enough boats/participants to host club races once a month.

Just some quick numbers

Race in FL this weekend - 67 racers and 204 boats. This equates to 3 boats per racer on average
Race in MI 2018 IMPBA FE Nats - 23 racer and 182 boats. This equates to 8 boats per racer on average

That is a dramatic difference - FE desperately needs more racers/participants. I know that if I travel with my nitro powered boats I am going to be racing against many different racers. If I travel to a FE only race, there is a good chance I am going to racing against several of my local club guys. Or in a different vanish point I will be racing against the same non-local guys that I have been racing for the last 5-8 years. Of course I am speaking in generality's.

I am not sure that I would blame it on parents spending money that quickly. There are ALOT of parents that drop some serious $$ on their kids for sports. I am not talking about your local middle/high school activities. Many kids in all age groups are involved in "Travel" hockey, soccer, baseball, and/or softball etc... We are talking about weekend trips out of state on a regular basis.

Although I am not sure why we don't have better interest.

[T.S.Davis]

Absolutely right! You can't load boats and equipment on airplanes..

That's not as hard as it sounds. You crate up what you want to race and ship it FedEx to another FedEx center near the race site. Has to be ground for the batteries. They hold it until you get there. Fly in, grab a mini van, grab yer gear at Fedex. Works great. Depending on the race and the destination it's another 3 to 400 or so for shipping. That's if ya go crazy. The best way is to travel with someone to defer cost. Like split the cost of the van. Split the room etc. Last run to Phoenix we rented a gigantic van for 4 of us. We could have run the hotel shuttle service. If you're going somewhere alone but you know someone else that's going from elsewhere you can still plan to share a room/ride/etc. I've roomed with guys from other states. Lots of ways to control cost once you're........addicted.

My old man used to take my kid brother all over speed skating. They also carted my sister all over the country for ballet. Neither of them speed skate or dance today. The neighbors did travel hockey. I knew a family that chased travel baseball and travel soccer. None of those kids is "going pro" anytime soon. Oh but when I tell people that Tyler and I are flying to AZ to race I get "the look". Like I'm crazy. It's not so much that parents wont spend money on their kids. I can't explain it but there is some sort of acceptance if it's "sports" but a hobby where you play with toys? Yer do'n what? For me it's a no brainer. Ty loves it. I get to spend time with friends, laughing and acting a fool, but more importantly........ I get to spend time with him. We're tight even now that he's 18. How many parents can say that really?

The numbers are strange to me. I've never been able to figure that out either. I guy will travel with 3 nitro boats and be relatively pleased but FE guys............they wont even attend an event for 3 classes.

[CraigP]

Yes, a good solution Terry... I didn’t think about that

[pescador]

Absolutely right! You can't load boats and equipment on airplanes

Some of our guys are going with Al Hobbs to France for the worlds again this year, last one was in the Netherlands. They take the booms and sponsons off the nitro riggers and fit them in hard sided golf bags. But you would still have to deal with the lipo restrictions for FE I guess.
I think reaching out to the club that’s holding the race that people would be glad to help out sharing their pits with people that couldn’t bring all their gear. In Vegas there was even a guy from Japan. We convoyed RV’s from Calgary to Vegas and had an amazing time and are thinking about doing it again to Dallas.


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