Posted By Jim Birmingham on 12/29/2008 10:36 AM
Well lets see JT
1. I didnt start the topic over there.
2. At the time I started the topic here, there hadn't been any answers there. That of its self was strange.
3. Things seemed strange that SDBA would schedule a race on top of Marble Falls. Implication something up at IHBA.
4. After reading the repies to date I hear "No its not been sold" NO WHERE do I read NO ITS NOT FOR SALE. Hence the original question remains unanswered, sort of. In Scotty's opinon if the price is right. As with most of us.
5. Most other major associations have posted "tentitive schedules". The only thing I found on IHBA was the Marble Falls website with their 2009 plans. Kudos to their webmaster and the promoter for gettin' er' done.
6. I stayed out of stirring anything here or there. I was looking for Information.
1 & 2, like scotty said and nancy told me, ihba isn't sold, they aren't actively trying to sell, and are planning on '09 with no intentions to sell. realistically, if you look at it there's very little equipment that would be involved - a few trucks, trailers and boats. the big deal would be the name and the ability to use all that stuff to put on a race, which some individuals seem to believe is the easy part (not). and, like scotty said, everything is for sale at the right price.
3 & 4, in september, i was told by a frequent and influential sdba person that hates charlie and ihba (and is not shy about it), that there was a high probability there wouldn't be an ihba race in marble falls this year. i was told this while sitting in my boat next to him on a rope. when i questioned this further, i got no response, other than an invitation to race sdba.
it's very apparent to me that there are a couple people influential within their clubs, less than a handful, that utilize whatever influence they have to manipulate club activities to expressly undermine ihba, as though it would be better for the clubs if ihba disolved. these are generally good people, but can't see the forest for the trees. purposely scheduling club races on top is just another tactic.
i've always felt this is just bad for dragboat racing, no matter what the reasoning. it's understood that limited water availability creates the situation. but when clubs purposely seek overlapping dates, imo, they're trying to kill the sport.
5. njba has not posted a schedule, and most likely won't until very late january or, most likely, february. there schedule is based on kern county approving the dates requested. plus, although their website says nothing about it, they are trying to get everything aligned to have a race at elsinore. they don't want to put a "tentative" thing out there because some people might start setting their schedules up, and it could be turned completely upside down at a later date.
6. i've read all the crap on the other site. i'm not even going to respond to all of it, but i will say a couple things. every place i've gone, there have been issues/challenges to the organization putting on the race.
i've had good/thorough tech inspections, and i've had flybys inspections. over 9 years, there've been two occasions where ihba tech people pulled some real cs crap with me because they were "important", so i just did what i had to to "please" them, but guess what, they're no longer around and good riddance. whether they were still around or not, i'd still be racing rather than bitching. i've also had inspectors charge me $5.00 for a stupid med-tag at njba - they're no longer around either, and i've raced there for many years since then.
there were problems with njba's brand new system at the nationals that caused us to sit on the rope for over half an hour, sitc had timing system issues - so what, that stuff happens everywhere. and it seems that don bauscher got over his issues with charlie's comment, since he raced with ihba this year. and yes, i've had charley get snarly with me once, when i asked the wrong question at the wrong time, but 5 minutes later we were good. every other time i've ever asked him anything, he's been polite and cordial, and the few times i needed help, he did everything he could to be helpful.
the only time i've -ever- been verbally attacked was at an njba event by a board member. does that make me an njba hater? hell no, it makes me feel sorry for the idiot that attacked me, and all the people sitting around that got an earful of me responding (who i apologized to).
nobody ever said dragboat racing is cheap or easy. people make their own decisions whether or not to race. if small/minor crap becomes so overwhelming that people just can't get past it, they probably shouldn't race. it's still no justifiable reason to try and undermine or kill any organization...