Well the holidays are only a few weeks away and Santa’s already loading up his sleigh for the long trip south. From the results of our ACHA meeting this past weekend it looks like Santa’s already left some goodies for the smaller classes in the form of tow money in 2012, purse money, and new engine tech rules for the H-350 class which should make this class as competitive as the Grand Prix class now. New rules, new marketing plan, many boats changing hands, new boats coming out, several owners stepping up in classes, etc. What an exciting time to be an owner, driver, crew member, or just one of our loyal race fans!
Don’t forget January 21st for our first ever ACHA convention in Valleyfield. There are a lot of positive things happening behind the scenes which everyone will be hearing about after the first of the year. Besides the GP class, I can’t wait to watch ACHA’s newest class, the H-350s. ACHA wants to have 21 registered H-350 boats for the 2012 ACHA series and from the looks of things they’re almost there. I know a lot of you out there remember the old 360 class and how popular it was.
Goodbye and special thanks go out to Mike Weber and his GP crew. Mike has to give up his GP team in order to concentrate on his new position in APBA. Mike was recently voted in to the office of Inboard President for the APBA association and will be devoting all his extra time to his new office. We all wish Mike the best of luck and will miss him racing with us in his GP 55 “My Way.” Speaking of the APBA Inboard Division, Mike has a whole lot on his agenda for the 2012 racing season. One of his first orders of business is to invite our ACHA officials to a special “sit down meeting” at the 2012 APBA National meeting in Chicago in late January and review all the different rules, race formats, and race sites that exists between our two countries and once and for all finalize all these items in writing ASAP so all of our race teams can begin planning ahead for the 2012 season. Mikes got a very tough agenda ahead of him but knowing Mike for over 25 years he’s the one person in APBA that can make it happen. Best of luck Mike from all of us in the ACHA series.
We would all like to wish Pierre Maheu the best of luck on his retirement from our sport. Pierre is leaving at the top of his game having won three GP high point championships in the most competitive class in all of inboard racing. He will be missed by all of us and is retiring a true champion. Thanks from all of us.
In closing I would like to thank everyone in boat racing for a great 2011 season and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Huey
