I have dreamed of racing offshore for literally decades. I don't want to race million dollar boats, and I don't want race high performance cats that could kill me. I have an older 35 Fountain Lighting, with whipple charged hp500's good for the mid 90's. Is there a class for me, and what kind of budget would I need to race one or two races a season?

Saris racing needs to chime in here!!!

OPA class 4

The Don Aronow Memorial Race around Long Island might be the answer for you . You could run your current boat with only slight modifications ( mainly safety ) . A race of this length would give you some real seat time under race conditions . If everything works out with this race , you could be part of a Historic event ( in the offshore world ) that may lead to more future events of this type . You may even get to rub elbows with some of the legends of Offshore racing that have been there from the beginning ( like going to a NASCAR race and meeting Junior Johnson , Richard Petty , Childress , Hendricks , ect.) I have not raced in 20+ years , but I'm building a boat purposely for this event because I consider it something you cant miss . Hope to see you out there . GOOD LUCK !!!!!! Check out the Don Aronow Memorial Race thread for more info.

OPA class 4 you would fit right in. Come out and play ! http://youtu.be/dfgyFHnz-e0

Agree: OPA class 4.
$ 1,000.00 to register the boat for the entire season.
$ 300.00 for each riding crew member
$ 000.00 zero entry fees
= ALOT of FUN!

300? Did it go up? Thought is was a buck fifty.

$150 to OPA, another
$150 for APBA membership

OPA went up to $1200 for equipment fee in 2014 as well as the APBA membership is $150 if paid prior to 2/28/15 and goes up to $225 if paid after 2/28/15 https://www.apba.org/sites/all/files...HIP%20FORM.pdf

Your safest bet no matter how you look at it is to budget $5000 per race whether you chose to race in Florida or up north. With your location being shown as Texas, you are going to have to travel a pretty good clip. Now people will come on here and say it can be done cheaper and yes they are right, but what happens when you make your plans off of someone saying it costs 3 g and then you end up in Atlantic City and it ends up costing you $7000? If you chose to race in Key West you had better factor on minimum 10 g for the week, add for duval crawl allowance as well. My best suggestion is call Dee 732-977-5638(Lucididee on OSO, Also OPA's Chief Registar) and she will give you the truth about costs as she has done team P & L's on both sides of the alphabet soup and can answer pretty much any question you have

Do yourself a favor and pay someone that is looking for a driver for a couple of races. You may get to race for a season as compared to campaigning your pleasure boat with the mods and repairs. Same cost less heart burn. Then buy a older RACE BOAT that was built to race and have a blast.