Powerboat Racing Stadium

[Danny McManus]

OK lets have some fun,I've had this dream for a long time now.
I'm wondering about the creation of a "purpose-built" marine activities facility...a kind of destination type of location to attract boating enthusiasts of many kinds to a popular site.
It would need to accomodate most types of powerboat racing as well as many other forms of boating activities where a controled environment would enhance the sport we all clearly share an interest in.

Includeing but not limeted to...
Boat racing,(Drag,OPC,Inboards, Unlimeteds,Ivy League rowing,etc.)

In the water Boat-Shows

Water-Ski Tournaments

Private testing sessions,(Manufacturers,Independent Teams,etc.)

Club Meets/Owners Rallies

Swim Meets, Hi-Dive competitions etc. etc. etc.

you get the idea...

underwater lighting,stadium lighting hospitality,maybe a clear underwater tunnel ala "Sea-World" shark encounter for underwater views of the races passing overhead (WOW! just imagine that view)
how about a general discusion about proposed locations,zoneing requirments, construction estimates and whatever else you can think of...

Maybe we could approach this from the

"If You Build It,They will Come" point of view.
I look at this idea from the observation that,by todays standards, there is nothing trick about the Indianapolis Motor Speedway...but the location is rich in racing heritage and home to one of the worlds most popular auto races...largely due to it being one of the first...
Enjoy the fantasy,
Thanks,
Danny McManus
Super-Sport#15

[Danny McManus]

Happy Birthday Bill,

Thanks for all your help and encouragment over the years dude

Danny and Family

[H2Onut]

Danny,

I have had the same dream, desighned lake for racing and other activities. Got it in Miami, complete with grandstands. To be purpose built would rule, ramp for putting in, with a seawall to prevent wave activity, sloped side for les reflectioon of waves, about 8 ft deep. When do we start digging ?

[Greg Moss]

What about Firebird Lake in Arizona? That is a puropose built lake/race facility. No diving/ swiming events that i know of but boating is well represnted there. I think the underwater tunnel would get killed by the insurance people It would be to expencive to build to satisfy them.

[Flat Out]

Could we build it in Canada and heat it for winter use. Just kidding or we could let it freeze an run ski-doos and various forms of ice racing or hey even tournament ice fishing ha ha.
Sounds like a great idea BIG$$$ and what about zoning,enviroment and all that BS. I still would love to see it happen. Dare to dream big.:D

[Jeff_G]

One of these days I'll write the history of the Miami Marine Stadium. If anyone has a question about it let me know.

Long Beach, Firebird Lake and Miami all have stadiums.

There have been numerous proposals to build other stadiums but the cost and environmental considerations as compared to projected revenues have killed the ideas. The closest I know of was some farmers around Macon Ga., and a group around Charlotte a few years back tried the idea but could not figure how to make a go at it without some huge investments in infrastructure and marketing. Without a large fan base the idea is still up in the air.

Another group brought property around a lake near Lake Placid Fla and race stocks and mods there in the spring and fall.

I would imagine if one could find an old rock pit that is big enough I would start with that. Or a small lake. Build up the fan base and racer base and slowly try to increase the infrastructure.

Alternative uses would be a key ingredient such as a campground etc. Something for a continual revenue stream.

Insurance could be a problem especially if you sanctioned with a body like APBA. If you could secure your own yearly insurance that would cover APBA and they would agree to it's use then it could be cost effective.

However the BOD of APBA a few years ago went on record as to not allowing a promoter or club to secure their own insurance outside of APBA. So an independent promotion would have to be the way.

The biggest problem once the "water" is built is securing enough boats to race! Heck there is plenty of water in most areas, not all, to race on but not enough drivers.

Oh well, I'm still looking for that magic piece of property to dig my lake!

[mr fun]

[COLOR=blue]:cool: once upon a time i saw a movie when i was a mere lad, "Clambake" was the title, the star was a young man from mississippi, Elvis Aaron Presley. the story was of a cabanna boy at the Eden Roc hotel on miami beach, he began(as i remember, i only saw it once, but belive i'll find it and see it again(in black and white ohmy) to blockbuster we go) my father soon had business in miami and being 16 yr old and trustworthy i sought out the landmarks and heros i had only dreamed of. i found the MIAMI MARINE STADIUM where master Presley endeavered in an inboard circle race, later i ran boats there myself, and met the likes of Telli Savalas, Bill Muncey, Roki Aoki, and had no idea how unreal it would someday seem. my bud saw the DOORS last concert there where Jim Morrison was arrested for stripping nude while performing on a barge in front of the stands. needless to say , if it could be done on water it happened there. i last was there a few years ago and the stands are there but "hurricane damaged" and the harbor(the size of at least 300 football fields) was deemed a manatee zone. (my ass) so put up a net at the end to keep the dear dumbasses out, do some beefin up of the structure, and let the good times ROLL! (i also met Don Aronow while playin the part!) SO ON TO NOW, there is a lake in the infield at DAYTONA that has some unfriekinbelivable possabilities!!!!! i had heard of a jersey speedskiff race to be there but that was a couple years ago, so lets start a petition drive and who knows!!! they can make it bigger if need be! fun out.;)

[KG4]

Theres one in Dayton Ohio,Its a man made lake they race mostly stock outboard but have run opc and inboards to.

[Mark75H]

Yes, there were races at Lake Loyd once upon a time, until a bad crash and Bill France forbid any more boat racing at Daytona. Maybe NASCAR grand pooh-bah (former OMC and APBA grand pooh-bah, too) Mr. Charles D. Strang can get us back in somehow? I've got my fingers crossed, my toes crossed, my eyes crossed.....


My fantasy.......yep, grand kids, thats me, your grandfather, leading the field at DAYTONA !

[Jeff_G]

Yeah the lake at Daytona was deemed too dangerous to race on yet the high banks aren't?
Bill france once said in a discussion with Strang I believe it was that the reason boat racing would never succeed was there are no stadiums and we couldn't control the water or the revenue.

Mr. Fun, Do I know you? Also The Doors never played the Stadium. They did play the Coconut Grove Auditorium where Morrison was arrested for the lewd acts. However in later days a number of the 60's bands did play at the Stadium. The last concert was with goups like Iron Butterfly, Guess Who, and a couple others and that was in the mid 80's.

Structurally there is nothing wrong with the stadium just a bunch of political BS.

I grew up in Miami and tested and raced there for 15 years.

[Gordie Miller]

OK guys, you're gonna need two things to make this happen. The first is a person with a PASSION for boat racing, I can name a half dozen when you tell me you got the second, which is a backer(hopefullly number 1 and 2 are the same)who is committed to a 50 year uninterruptible stream of cash(BIG CASH)to bankroll it. I dream like the rest of us, but until the public becomes enamored with boats were gonna have to race the old fashioned way. Dreams tempered by reality in Chicago--------Gordie Miller

[Jeff_G]

Almost forgot, I had a long discussion with one of the Presidents of the IHBA this past September. They were in the process of creating drag racing "stadiums" The idea is to help investors build 8 to 10 of these stadiums around the country. They would guarantee events at each and also help promote other activities such as water ski shows etc. From his description they would probably be too small to accomodate most other forms of racing. I don't know where the idea is now but let's keep our fingers crossed.

[mr fun]

:rolleyes: ahhh, ya think? it could happen! heck the offshore boys are in there as of this past year. me i barely got enough juice to float my boat, but a fertile mind! with all the money spent in various forms of aqua sports, the current craze "wakeboard" pops into mind, the money these rich brats are talkin there parents into spending for one of the rigs is more than my family's first, second or third house (#3 was purchased in 72). seems like sponsorshp is areas that may be so in your face as not to even be obvious, da easy as DELL dude! Yahoo sponsors an offshore rig now, ever heard of MOUNTAN DEW, they have a fleet of hummers runnin around (o yea they are PEPSI, never mind they wouldn't back a wacky idea like a race less than 400 miles) Brunswick corp. has a 4 sea ray plants within an hour or so, but what else could keep people's interest to not make it a one dementional sort of endeaver, wait , what if we had a international vacation destination an hour away, something cooky like DISNEY WORLD, wow what if, no i've got it, the VIAGRA water ski show?! (kinda makes your tow bar stand up to think of the costumes) how about the RINGLING BROTHERS 3 ring, oh you get the idea. DAYTONA is a familiar venue for corp. ad bucks, they used to race on the beach, the whole toothless tatooed fightin in the parkin lot honey does this tube top make me look yellow letter goodyear tire buyin bunch a good ole red white and blue AMERICANS spend a months trailer payments to have a memory to tell their grandkids about built that arena and fact is it sits un used 80% of the year. if it did katch on the owners may consider a lake at every speedway around the country, besides, B.F. sr has been replaced twice now and i personally now his grandson got so pissed at him one time he drove the firetruck into the lake!yall have a nice day,fun out.:D:D :D :rolleyes: :eek: ;) (ps jeff G, no tellin, i'm offically in midlife now and beeen around the world not all at once, i'll try to e mail ya)

[BarryStrawn]

I like the Lake Lloyd at Daytona International Speedway idea for an event. From looking at mapping software it looks to be about 750ft wide and 3300ft long. Not huge but big enough for a drag or cirle event. I don't know about an enduro. Would a four corner oval with 2,390ft on the straights and 250ft separation work? That is a one mile course and leaves 250ft on both sides and 500ft on the ends.

As far as when - the Daytona Beach Racing District has two big swap meets and car shows each year. http://www.carshows.org/default.htm They own the land which the track sets on and use the gate revenue to sponsor recreation events in the area. But I don't know if they have the rights to have any kind of motorsports contest at the track. Both show/swap events have a big crowd who need to be exposed to boat racing. Fall event is four days over Thanksgiving and packs the infield. Spring event is three days in late March and has space available. There are generally a few boats in the swap meet. Maybe we need a boat show and swap area with some racing to go along with it. The tens of thousands of folks who pay to get in should be attractive to race boat sponsors and the engine manufacturers. Crowd comes to see the car stuff and gets the boats as a bonus. After a few hours of walking around looking at cars and parts many would walk over to the lake to see what was going on.

The paved area to the south off turn two has a small ramp and could work for pits. Sides of the lake next to the crowd has a tall chain link fence. The adjacent east end of the infield to the West never fills up in the Spring and could work for the show and swap area. I think it could work. The ready made crowd is a big deal to get something started. Anyone know someone at the Daytona Beach Racing District?

[mr fun]

:D sir you are the kind of thinker needed in such a endever, i,m in jax and would be willin to be the legs of this thing, i know some promoters w/contacts in this immediate area, (we put on 2 offshore events here) your kind of factual analasiss is much needed to produce a pitch. i'll do anyfriekinthing to promote boating period! it's my love and fasination. i lived in daytona 6 yr and mingled w/locals enough to have names to start a quest. LET'S KEEP THIS THING ALIVE!:D :D :eek: :rolleyes: :cool: :p

[Danny McManus]

hey Mr. Fun,
you mentioned the"Clambake" movie...FYI we ordered five copies from blockbuster back in the summer of 2001 and took one with us to a race in Coushata La. You'd have gotten a kick out of seeing what happened; as all the race teams showed up friday eve.,Jeff Pira and his girlfriend Matty opened the doors to their dodge maxi-van and put the movie in the VCR,we soon called it the Blackbird Racing Theater as we looked around and racers and crews had brought out lawn chairs,coolers etc. I'd guess there were 15-20 people watching it.The most memorable and hillarious
thing was that Jack Barsh (Full Throttle Power Boats Owner) knew
ALL the words to ALL the songs and either he had enough beers
that he sang better than Elvis or else we had enough Jim Beam that he sounded better to us! Anyway,it was a blast of a parking lot party,and BTW the movies I got from blockbuster were in color...still fun to watch too

Danny

[H2Onut]

Maybe we can get Bill Gates interested in Hot Outboards, then we could tap into some cash and have one in each state.

[78switz]

I love the idea of a race at lake lloyd in Daytona, I would drive all the way from home in Wisconsin to see that. Hope these ideas could become a reality:D