Guest Author: Tim Matyn

Tim Matyn’s comments build upon Jay Peters’ remarks and adds perspectives on fans being heard, race day formats and schedules, and attracting new fans to the sport.  You can read more about Tim in his bio below.  UHR Dave.

I agree with Jay Peters that the sport is in dire need of new fans.  However, I also think that Unlimited Hydroplane Racing has a solid core of fans whose opinions and ideas have been ignored over the years.

Solicit Fan Opinions

Part of the solution for “growing the sport” is to solicit the views of the fans. But on Facebook, to quote a recent interview with Steve David, H1 usually “slams” any comments they deem to be negative.

Race Day

As I have written previously (here and here) I think the program needs to be altered to a one day race that takes no longer than three to four hours to complete. I am, like Jay, a life long fan who began attending the Detroit races in the 1950s.

When the Gold Cup was held elsewhere, the Detroit Memorial Regatta was held in June and the Silver Cup Race was held in September, usually on Labor Day weekend. Both races were one day events, even though they took many hours to run because of the speeds of the boats, the time it took to launch and retrieve the boats, etc. But in this day and age heats are run in less time and there should be no need to stretch out the program with one to two hours between heats.

In truth there is far more down time than there is racing time. The amount of time it takes to run the race could also be reduced if teams were limited to one engine, and endurance was re-introduced as part of the event. In the 1960s each heat of the Gold Cup was 10 laps. And for a few years engine changes were not allowed.

Nowadays, no major sporting event takes more than one day (and three to four hours) to run: i.e. the super bowl, a world series game, a Stanley Cup game, the Indy 500, a NASCAR race, etc. In this modern day when people have so many options as far as entertainment, I think most people are unwilling to commit their entire weekend to a boat race, unless they are long time devoted fans like Jay and me.

New Fans

Another way to attract new fans is to structure the race so that the media can cover it. Live coverage of the final heat, or same day coverage like the Indy 500 used to use, would be a huge step forward. Live Internet is nice, when it works, but no one knows about it except those core fans, and even if others did most people don’t want to spend their entire afternoon sitting in front of their computer screen. The current TV coverage, months after the actual event, is disappointing to true fans of the sport. And for those who think live coverage is impossible, they should be reminded that the final heat of the 1957 Gold Cup race was carried LIVE on Detroit television during the Detroit-Seattle rivalry years. Even next day coverage would be better than the current broadcasts.

New boat sponsors are also needed, but you can’t attract sponsors if you won’t use the name of the boat during the broadcast, like Miss Budweiser, Atlas Van Lines, Circus Circus, Miller High Life, etc., etc., etc. I cannot believe the move made by H1 to reduce the use of the boat’s names and replace it with the name of the drivers. Why would anyone want to sponsor a boat if the name of the boat is downplayed or never mentioned? I always thought that was one of boat racing’s advantages to prospective new sponsors. Race cars have always been identified by the driver but boats have always been identified by the name on the boat, with the driver gaining fame as a result of his performance.

Would Budweiser have stayed in the sport as long as they did if their name wasn’t mentioned every time the boat hit the water? And how many fans who remember the name Miss Budweiser could even name more than one or two of the many men who drove for the team over its 40+ years in the sport?

Lastly, more races each summer are obviously needed, with help from the national organization in sponsoring the event. If the races were broadcast on a timely basis the next race to be held could be mentioned with ticket info, etc. Here in Detroit the media doesn’t give hydroplane racing much air time.

Why?

I don’t know, but somebody should be asking that question. The races in Detroit were shown live in the 1960s, as they are still in Seattle. Why not broadcast the final heat live?

I think the right equation is as follows:

More fans = More sponsors = More media coverage = More races = More fans…

Timothy Matyn

Our Guest Author

Timothy Matyn is a life-long fan, born and raised in Detroit, and has attended the races since the 1950s. Some of his favorite boyhood memories involve hanging out at Kean’s Marina in Detroit with his Dad. Kean’s was the marina where most of the Detroit boats were kept during the summer months, with names like Such Crust, Gale, Miss U.S., etc. Over the years he has attended races in many of the cities where the Unlimiteds raced or formerly raced.

Now retired, he builds and sells model hydroplanes through his website at NostalgicUnlimiteds.com with over 75 models built to date.