I haven't spent a lot of time researching lumberjack sports event in N. America, but there are a couple near enough to me to allow me to come to some conclusions:
There is NO overall organization that sets up rules for everyone to abide by. A lot of the shows are put on by a local group that does it because they love the sport and getting together with each other. They do get along with their buddies in the next county, next state/province, or whatever, but each group seems to work the rules out to fit their conditions. Big sponsors don't like that, they want to get in cheap on a nation- or continent-wide event where they can get the most bang for their advertizing buck. Sorry, Dennis, it really sucks, but how many wannabe loggers in the suburbs of Chicago or Montreal will buy a Husky 340 because they saw one of your tuned 385's kick some serious tail
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But all the local folks have a really good time, a few church groups and service clubs get together and sell treats and make enough money to get something useful done that the government would just f@%k up other wise.
In the late '70's and early '80's I worked for a place that warehoused OPE stuff, and I dreamed of an event like Dennis is running...both the Logger stuff, and the riding lawn mower racers, plus a couple more events. Of course I was just a kid, in a job a little above my head (they hired me cheap) but I remember be unable to sell so much as a one day event at the local county fair. Bottom line was: "Show me 'da' money".
Maybe that's OK. Look at what happened at the Master's golf tournament. A bunch of ol' boys have a local event for years, then it gets big, gets noticed by the media, then a few years later it isn't their event anymore...they are called every name in the book for not making their event open to everyone. I aint a chauvanist pig, but their golf club is a men's club. So what! So, events like Clearwater are enthusiast events. Leave Husky, or Stihl out of it, or maybey they will force changes nobody wants.
Thus endeth the rant. At least my $0.02
