Hydroplane Race Site Lessons from Lake Dardanelle

Webmaster’s note:  Our friend Frantz, from Arkansas has had an amazing journey over the last couple of months in his quest to bring Unlimited Hydroplane Racing to Lake Dardanelle.  His contributions to the first chapter of The Boat Book have been invaluable, providing all of us with insights into what it takes to just land a site for an initial race.  As you’ll read below in the recap he asked me to publish, the real work is now beginning – funding the entire package.  This will be the basis for the next section of The Boat Book.  Congratulations, Frantz!

Dave

I just read through all that I have written in The Boat Book so far. So much has gone on in the last four months or so, it’s time to break this part down to the simple facts.

I was concerned initially with getting the city to host a race and that was premature. I wanted to use “this body of water,” or “that body of water,” and that did matter because the race course is huge.

Notice the “I” factor? Bingo! The first mistake.

I was trying to decide where to have a race. When the Boat Book page started, Dave and I discussed what needed to be done to help others in this adventure. So this is the reason for telling everyone these things to keep you from going through unnecessary steps.

We have water everywhere in Arkansas, so the water wasn’t the main issue. H1 has run on as small of a containment as 1300 acres. The main issue when anyone starts this project, is whether there is room for people and parking. I could have saved a lot of grunt work by focusing almost solely on that aspect.

We had a race of another sort on one of our big lakes a few years ago. The factors above weren’t figured in, and it was a total bust. It left a bad taste for all concerned, which in some cases, are some of the people I am dealing with now.


The reason for the bust?

Hardly any of the spectators could see the race. This factor could be one of the reasons there aren’t more races. In most of the places that have big containments of water, everything has been developed around them (i.e. houses, campsites etc.) As a result, there is very limited space for pits, parking, or much less, viewing.

For future prospects, do your homework before opening your mouth and inserting your foot like I did. Instead, just go take a look to see if people will fit at a spot you are thinking about that might work. I could have saved other people and myself time by doing so before hand. On the other hand though, the people who run these parks are more suited to tell you if they can accommodate this venue with the information you can provide them about such of an event.

Everyone involved with putting on one of these races in their local area is looking at the monies it can generate for all concerned. It’s a win-win for everyone if all these pieces come together.

As an individual, you will have the excitement, challenge, and satisfaction that you had a part in bringing the fastest boats in the world to your neck of the woods. I guess the next step we will start focusing on will be raising the monies to pay for a race. A good budget to successfully fund everything unless you can get a lot of freebies is six hundred to seven hundred thousand dollars. We have work to do.

I am headed to Detroit next week for the Cold Cup, and will get back with more good news.

Later,

Frantz


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