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When discussing the Modified aka 1400 Outlaw .......

So OPBRA’s stake in the ground is to simply throw around the supposed “Fair Competition” rule. Do they know that when changing a rule results in Outlaw style racing you cannot try and cover your own ass by simply bumping up a boat that has the advantage the OPBRA has created.

So now OPBRA’s first response to many has been basically this .... “don’t worry if a boat comes out with an unfair advantage then they’ll just get bumped to Outlaw” ...... but yet OPBRA created this potential.

Essentially they’ve screwed the non-drag block / unmodified power racers and they’ve now essentially screwed the big dogs too by now telling people that have concern about this new outlaw class.

OPBRA couldn’t show it any more clearly that they aren’t sure about what they’re doing and certainly do not care about the racer and the money they have spent and will spend to be able to compete. Just as racers start to gain a competitive spirit towards this class they kick the doors down on its most competitive class by now allowing completely unlimited power in Modified but then say if you run away with the class even on the first race they’ll just throw you up in to a class they aren’t a fit for.

I don't have a dog in this fight, I don't have a boat to race in the class, I'm no longer a board member of OPBRA. I haven't been privy to any conversations about these rule changes but I would like to shed some light to this with a clear head and rationale as a spectator, since that is what I am.

I feel your big concern Jeff is that OPBRA has essentially turned modified into a 1400 lbs outlaw class correct? There are options for people and a big deal is being made before the water has even become liquid.

My thought process is this. If your boat is fast (and by fast I mean too fast for the class), you get bumped up to Outlaw. That only happens if it is of the view by the board that your boat may actually be competitive there. If you're winning every race but its close racing, then you stay where you are and others need to step up their game to compete. Whether that means, better setup, better power, better props, etc., who cares. It is racing and if you want to win sometimes you need to spend some money.

On the flip side, if you're not competitive in modified there is always the option to run lake racer, put back on your stock heads and go racing. Some people may agree that it is going to cost too much money to race modified because the competition will step up their game.

In short, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the rule change. Its been written, its been published. Interpret it how you want, build a boat to suit, and show up and race. But its also not fair to call out the organization stating that they don't know what they're doing either. It creates a belief in people to automatically hold a grudge and think that its the "organization against the member". That isn't the case and I also don't believe that is the intention. At the end of the day, the racer, as an individual, can decide for themselves what class they want to run in. They are all smart people and can make an educated decision for themselves.

I know nothing about the rules but l have a question. If the same guy wins all the time and is not cheating what is the problem?

I think the issue is the rule change may favour those with a bigger budget and may make last years setup obsolete. I'm not sure how big of an issue it actually is as it doesn't seem to garner a bunch of discussion.

Keep in mind that everyone is told not to even debate anything OPBRA.

..... yes it’s an issue. It’s now grudge racing and not class racing. There was little parody before but there was some. Even for a group starting out. Now instead of refining rules they’ve taken the uneducated approach and just made a 1400 Outlaw. Unless you have a highly ported motor you are not competing with any well prepared drag block. Dropping down to LakeRacer is stupid because for some reason there’s no 24v trim although you can run a cheater trim set up like some do that are involved with opbra ....

Jeff....who is told not debate OPBRA and who did the telling?