While this is a bit biased toward OMC....you should still get the idea.

If you are looking for a standard to measure your sanctioning body or event against.............these races should fit your need.

Those of you who know Fred Hauenstein from Mercury Racing may enjoy the footage of him from 40 years ago at 10:29 on the video.

http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...Racing-History

Nice attendance,wish we had that many now

yessir, and most races had only 2 classes.......no more than 4.

great footage, 90 laps would certainly separate the men from the boys in a 22 footer. Thanks for posting the link. What hull and power today would closest fit a class like that?

If you can dwell on the past so can I........St Pete 1999 turn 1 in Factory 1 or Factory 2....that was real powerboat racing! ps....you were there too!

Most of the hulls were under 20 feet...the singles were 16 to 18 footers. Closest thing today would be a GN inboard flatbottom. They still run endurance races but no where near as long in miles. Today's Champ boats came directly from the single engine outboard tunnel boats shown.

$50k purse...not bad!

I am not dwelling on the past...I am merely pointing out what is blatantly possible...and what the future could be. There really are people who didn't back down from close racing and received no automatic trophy for simply showing up....and showing off.

P.S...... I was also at many of the races shown in the video link.

A real race boat looks like this. Small, agile, fast.

We had the Champ Boats here in Toledo about ten years ago. Quite possibly the biggest crowd i have seen on our river front . Our riverfront and entertainment district lends itself well to that type of event. I had a great time watching them run right down our seawall about twenty feet away from the VIP sections.