IMPBA Internats US1 format

[Greg Bonahoom]

I was out of racing for a dozen years or so and since I came back three years ago, they have a "nitro nats" but not an Internats. I am just curious about what happened to that format. Is it done forevor? I noticed the us1 format is still outlined in the IMPBA rule book.

 

[Tom Kelly]

It was becoming more and more difficult to hold US 1 events because of attendance. Host clubs with access to their ponds for a week became scarce. With the economy the way it was recently, racers could not afford to spend a week racing model boats. The last Internats using US-1 format was a few years ago in Charleston.

As things improve, I hope this format will viable again in the future, as it truly decides "The best of the best".

 

[John Knight]

Tom is correct, the time needed to attend an Internats is just not there now. The Charleston club hosted the last one in June 2012 and due to the time commitment the attendance was about 130 racers. Not really enough to justify the cost and time needed. The host club has to provide awards for each of the heat racing, SAW time trials and the oval time trials and then the final awards. That is a huge financial outlay for the host club. If you do want trial records to be eligible for national records, then a course survey is needed and that is $400-1,000 additional. Only time will tell if the Internats format will continue in the future.

The Charleston club is hosting the 2015 Nitro Nationals in late June and will be the heat racing national championship format. The race will be open for registration next week.

 

[Robert Pickard]

Also there are here in Florida speciality races just for Nitros 3 times a year