It’s been ten years since a couple of things happened that had an effect on ballooning. In 1986 a few weeks before a big BFA event was to happen, the people in charge of putting on the event quit. They gave several reasons, but they did quit. I believe that these people thought the BFA Board would come back to them on their knees and beg them to come back and run the event. It didn’t happen. A White Knight rode up and the event went on as scheduled. Tasks like “Sink the Bismarck”, “Let’s Make a Deal” and “A Bridge Too Far” were called. Never before and never since. Luckily there were a few experienced Observers who took over scoring and other important jobs. The rules were changed, the scoring changed and no cut was made as 101 pilots flew all the events. ( Allen Yost was allowed to enter late on a technicality.) When the week ended, Sid Cutter was the National Champion in 1986. Some people still refuse to acknowledge that this event ever happened. It is their loss. What happened next was what this article is about.
A few months after the 1986 Nationals, the BFA Board decided to give the running of all BFA ballooning events to some of the same people that had walked out on the 1986 Nationals. These people were called the Competition Division. In doing this, the BFA Board gave away it’s second largest money maker. Now the good thing about this is that the CD was able to generate large amounts of prize money in their events for the pilots.. Only Tom Gabel and Bill Meadows had been able to do this previously. This prize money has grown into six figures for the 1996 Nationals. The CD gets more than their share of the sanction fees and wastes a lot of the money they have taken in. (They didn’t give the BFA Board a financial report for the first 4 years or so of their existence.) But they have been able to bring other cities of the country into big time ballooning. Most of these cities have a common link when the BFA moves on. San Antonio, Baton Rouge, Palm Springs, and Middletown businessmen were left with debts and bankruptcies. Others may follow. The BFA now had a tarnished name.
A few years ago the BFA Board took it upon itself to try and solve the problem the CD had caused. They hired an outside person to try and find some large corporation to that might form a partnership with the BFA and bank roll some of the events. The wrong person was probably chosen and nothing really came out of this attempt. The BFA had wasted $15,000. The ironic thing about all this is that the BFA was trying to help the CD, but the CD thwarted all attempts on the part of the person the BFA hired to find a Corporate Partner. It’s been almost ten years since the CD was established and they still don’t realize that local government bodies cannot spend the amounts of money the CD asks to put on a balloon event without outside money. Wouldn’t it be much better if the CD found a company willing to help put on ballooning events in their name (Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta). I think so. Gwinnett dropped the Team event after one year. Columbia may be rethinking future Nationals. We need some people to look to the future in balloon competition. When your BFA ballots come, both BFA and CD Boards, choose the right person to vote for. Maybe we need some new blood to present new ideas. Please vote.
I have noticed that Championship Director of this years Nationals, Dan Sherrill, has decided not to make a cut at this years event. Maybe some people still remember what fun balloon racing can be.
Finally I noticed in the last CD minutes that the sanctions against Christian Amundin were extended for another year. Christian had not apologized to the CD for things he had said and written. My question might be, “Why does a person have to apologize for telling the truth.”