Boat Limit Per Driver.

[timothy johnson]

Well said Mike, at all the races I have attended they always adjust the heats to make everything flow. There's good signups for the Atlanta race and I'm sure they will make it work.

 

[Wasted wages]

Actually there was a time in dist 4 IMPBA when races limited racers to just two entries, late70 early 80s. this was back when there were only the 4 hydro and mono classes, there were alot of racers in dist 4 impba. Seamed to work out ok. There was a third boat allowed if you had a scale hydro, they were trying to promote the class. Main reason I got into scale hydros HA

And.. that was when all of the frequency conflicts had to be worked out in all of the heats too...

 

[Samuel Hagan JR]

Sam I have to ask where are you going with this?

Just seeing what people’s opinions where on that. I understand from both sides reading through the comments.

Tom and Doc pretty much summed it up.

 

[Ron Olson]

To me, it depends. I usually enter 4 boats, two for me and two for my son. Those alone keep me busy especially if I have to do a lot of work between rounds.

 

[Mark Bullard]

Ok guys. Like Mike said we never like turning anyone away. The trick is to put boat limits on the classes. Not the total number of boats. And all classes must have a boat limit the same. Not fair to have more boats in one class and not the same as the others. You have to look at the total classes with the boats in each class. This goes into the total heats for a round. A good number to push for in heats a day is about 75. We have done this all the time at the Internats. You should work the math out on the heats for a round before you post it for entry. Now some classes will not make or you have at least three boats to run one heat. This will help adjust the classes if you have more boats to enter. But I have seen a huge problem with to many classes in an event. Plus very important to have a great race you must start on time and keep it moving. You tell this to the racers at the drivers meeting and this will make it go better. Racers will pay attention and be ready for every heat when this is spelled out.

 

[Ray Sametz]

Mark, do you do 2 hot pits at a time, so ones always ready after retrieve boat docks? Atlanta did this, I remember one year almost 90 heats in one day at a 2 day race!!! That's rocking it........ just saying.

 

[Mark Bullard]

Mark, do you do 2 hot pits at a time, so ones always ready after retrieve boat docks? Atlanta did this, I remember one year almost 90 heats in one day at a 2 day race!!! That's rocking it........ just saying.

Yes we do Ray. But the one thing I would like to point out. Talk to the racers and tell them to pull off a good race they have to be ready when the heat is ready to go on the clock. I do not remember if we had to wait on anyone at the last Internats. And I thank them at the banquet for the good job they did to help out in this way.

 

[T.S.Davis]

We banged out 105 heats in Atlanta one spring. That required racers to be on their game. They were. Everyone left the pond baked though. It was brutal.

The problem should be self regulating but that only works if the contest doesn't cater to anyone. If you can't keep up and the heat runs without you.....you probably wont do that again. If the race organizers adjust because someone isn't quite ready for their heats that isn't fair to the rest of the racers. Been guilty of this as a CD myself. Just know that everyone quietly despises the guy that gets preferential treatment because they make bad decisions.

The worst in my opinion is when you unknowingly set up NEXT to a guy running 9 classes. Maybe you have 3 boats because that's how many you're comfortable managing at a race. You can't do any of that because...............can you pit for me?.....I need a pit....can I get a pit.....are you busy.....can I bug ya one more time?......is yer boat fixable?after you pit for me again?..........ahhhhhh. You don't want to be a jerk but you did choose your class count based on how hard you wanted to work. By 2:30 you need a steak, a nap, and 3.5 shots of Jameson.

You guys that want to run 9 classes need to plan for 9 classes worth of pit guy too. Maybe a mechanic too. I once signed up for 17 classes. Went exactly like you would think. Epic failure.

 

[Mike Hughes]

105 is impressive. The best we did was 88 heats. We kept them on their toes the whole time. Start at 8 and finished around 530. It was not that bad once we got the bunch of the guys into a routine. Definetly not going to do that many on the first day of racing. We try and kept that one a little lite and ramp up from there.
Mike

 

[FloridaScaleBoater]

Mark, do you do 2 hot pits at a time, so ones always ready after retrieve boat docks? Atlanta did this, I remember one year almost 90 heats in one day at a 2 day race!!! That's rocking it........ just saying.

Hey RRRay,
I'm sure this is the year Doug Smock & I CD'd the race.
I can tell you, I heard **** about how hard we pushed for years from a select group of drivers, about how hard we pushed to make that happen.
Some people just ain't happy unless there bitchin & causing trouble.

 

[Terry Keeley]

We ran 128 heats at the Can-Am in 2019, we can't start until 9am and run 'til 6 on Sat. and finish at 4 on Sunday so that's 8 heats per hour.

Two pits helps a bunch but "when the boat hits the dock you're on the clock".

 

[Don Ferrette]

The absolute time killer is retrieving dead boats. I went to the Atlanta Spring Nats 5 straight years back in the early to mid 2000's and they sure did nail it. Retrieve boats went out as soon as last running boat was in and the next heat went on the clock as soon as the retrieve boats hit the dock, out fast & in just slow enough to not create wakes. If you were in back to back heats you had someone go get your dead boat. I cringe whenever I hear "we need a retrieve" at a race, a huge waste of precious minutes.....

 

[BigChuck]

The absolute time killer is retrieving dead boats. I went to the Atlanta Spring Nats 5 straight years back in the early to mid 2000's and they sure did nail it. Retrieve boats went out as soon as last running boat was in and the next heat went on the clock as soon as the retrieve boats hit the dock, out fast & in just slow enough to not create wakes. If you were in back to back heats you had someone go get your dead boat. I cringe whenever I hear "we need a retrieve" at a race, a huge waste of precious minutes.....

Don & Ray Nailed it..IT would seem that this is more bout sitting in a lounge chair on top of the trailer while the Racers do
what they do best. Mike asked a Question: where are you going with this? Mark , need not Qualify his credentials. If you have not been to a Barn Burner..Stay home..Go to the races that have Lounge chairs. 98 heat in one day is work..TRUST ME. But it can be done with Pre-planning. The same way a racer follows his points, the CD follows, or should follow the race. By the time we get to Sunday morning if not combining...something has gone wrong...or the Race is filled with the BEST running equipment IN THE WORLD... Point being..One racer wanting to run 3,5 or 7 boats is not a delay on the race, or a deterrent
to another racer. Each person is in control of his OWN LIMITS.

 

[gooycheese]

When it's time to register for a race... Enter what boats you got to race. Don't procrastinate. Be prompt to notify if your entry won't be making the class, so hopefully you give someone on a waiting list the chance to race.

We can't stop classes from filling cuz people like myself wait til the last minute to enter a race.

Like mentioned, some don't wanna travel hundreds maybe even thousands of miles to race 1 boat....

Myself running 3 boats seams alot, some run alot more than that... What ever floats your boat... Be happy and play boats...