I meant that the expense of our 25' Active Thunder Factory 1 boat with sealed HP 500 in 1988/1999 was more expensive than our current class 6 26' Joker with
our own motor.

The purchase, without a doubt yes a bracket boat is way cheaper, when I first approached Fountain about acquiring a F1 in NO(2002) they quoted me 150 G w/o a trailer lololol I waited a few years and some, well a lot of depreciation to get "The Freak"

As far as my motor, 2001 CRE sealed, freshened/resealed in 2007 spring job every 75 hours thoughout the years, change oil and filters every race. Only had a electric fuel pump(ethanol BS) go bad in all the years. dirt cheap in comparison

But back on topic, the bracket classes were all created as entry level, "race what you brung" scenario. The goal was to introduce people and they could see what spec class they wanted to go into. Well just as F1 is dead, the brackets evolutionized to where they are today and god bless Smitty. The brackets have gotten so far out of control, that if he enforces the letter of the law of the rulebook(even just the prop calc formula), he'll lose 10-15 boats and if he throws the rulebook away and starts from scratch, everyone is self serving and will *itch and moan...

Racing with 1 or 2 pretty blue motors is twice the money. This is the beauty of production class racing. Build your own and go have fun.
I'm sure there are a couple guys in 6 that have been there awhile with piles of horsepower and win a bunch. If i were to race 6 in whatever my bank account could afford I think I would be happy to learn from those guys before they move up which they will at some point.
People who want to race will race with whatever they got. All they have to do is show up. They should not worry about what everybody else has. I'd be willing to bet that someone who shows up with a running 500-600 hp rig every race and finishes without breaking down or breakin out will not only have a hell of a time but will leave a hell of a impression.
Besides, I always learned more from the back in the beginning. And its fun as heck learn how to go fast. BW Just my opinion

Uhmmm to do any race you have to fill out a piece of paper and hand over a check, this consitutes "entering" a race as you have officially submitted your entry. Thus by its very nature, wouldn't having to "enter" a race as a prerequisite to actually racing, qualify all racing levels as "entry level"???

As OPA does not have entry fees, you would not have to hand over a check.

Damn!!!logic foiled again!!!!!

IM NOT SELF SERVING WELL NOT MOST OF THE TIME.
AND I NEVER *****

If ya had a REAL entry level, say 60MPH or SOB class I'd be in for Jupiter this year.

That is exactly what some people were thinking.Single Outboard Vee offshore powerboat racing was very popular in APBA,NPBA and USO from the mid seventies until the mid nineties.The NPBA races in the northeast consistently drew upwards of 20 boats in this class.USO offered the class when they were founded in 1992.It started off with only 2 or 3 boats but grew quickly.In fact, USO had about 15 registered teams in 1994 when they decided to do away with the class because the boats were "too small" for the newly named US OFFSHORE PRO TOUR.

This type of class is currently offered in other countries(Trinidad,PuertoRico,England,Norway,Swede n,Turkey,UAE,Australia,New Zealand,Japan...and Bermuda) where there is offshore powerboat racing.Some classes are speed bracketed(Trinidad uses 60mph) and others are not.I think people need to remember ENTRY LEVEL is based on cost to compete,and not experience level.While some teams in the past moved up in class over time;others did not because it was all they could afford.I do understand OPA's reluctance to consider adding a class like this again.It was offered back in 2005;and only 2 boats showed up after alot of effort was put into getting it going.If it was to be considered again;I would think it would make sense to make it a non prize money class.Also,interested teams would have to step and register with OPA to prove that they were committed to doing this.I feel we need to find some way to continue to attract more participants to our sport.I also feel that the current combination of race courses on the OPA schedule make this concept even more viable.With some of the short calm water courses that we have now...this could be one of the most exciting classes for both the racers and the fans!