In the first month of the new year, the Hydrotown Group has been busy finalizing the 2024 H1 Unlimited Hydroplane schedule along with organizing details of the race events and marketing the sport all in an effort to continue to prepare for a successful season filled with new opportunities and excitement around hydroplane racing.

Countless discussions and planning sessions are already taking place with the 2024 race sites, which has led to an impressive schedule of race events.

Official 2024 H1 Unlimited Schedule:

May 31: Preseason Testing – Tri-Cities, Washington

June 29-30:  Guntersville Lake Hydrofest – Guntersville, Alabama

July 5-7: Madison Regatta, Madison, Indiana

July 26-28: Tri-City Waterfollies – Tri-Cities, Washington

August 2-4: Seattle Seafair – Seattle, Washington

August 23-25: Detroit Hydrofest & APBA Gold Cup**, Detroit, Michigan

September 13-15 – San Diego Bayfair*, San Diego, California

*Tentative Events

“We’re extremely pleased with the status of the schedule for 2024,” said Mike Denslow, Chairman of the Board of H1 Unlimited and co-founder of Hydrotown Group. The planned additions of Detroit and San Diego will certainly round out a nice schedule. We’re actively working with the race site groups from both Detroit and San Diego to secure title sponsorships for those events to remove their tentative status. We feel that this schedule covers various regions of the country and allows the sport to get in front of as many fans as possible this year. As we continue to discuss the broadcast opportunities for the season, it’s important to have a solid schedule of events at great race sites ready to work alongside Hydrotown Group to promote this great sport.”

The plan is that each of the race events will feature six preliminary heats plus a final with a minimum of four boats in each of those heat races. This will ensure that the excitement never stops when the H1 Unlimited race teams take to the water.

“We want to ensure that the fans are always getting a good show from our competitors,” said Charlie Grooms, H1 Unlimited Board Member and co-founder of Hydrotown Group. “We are still getting inquiries and having discussions with interested parties in fielding boats for this season so we’re encouraged. And there is no limit on the number of boats that can participate in a race weekend. As long as the safety regulations are passed and registrations are complete, we are ready to welcome all those ready to compete.”

While many race teams are busy at work in their shops to prepare for the start of the season, others have been busy promoting the sport at various locations with more plans forthcoming. The Miss Madison team prepped a show boat to display at the Louisville Boat Show and driver Andrew Tate spent a day there visiting with fans and signing autographs all while helping promote the upcoming Guntersville Lake Hydrofest to kick off the season in June and the Madison Regatta in July. Meanwhile, the Strong Racing team was celebrating their champion, J. Michael Kelly, being honored at the APBA Hall of Champions event in Orlando, Florida.

Additional cross promotional events are on the horizon for the H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Series competitors as the season draws near. The initial test session is currently scheduled for May 31 in Tri-Cities, Washington.

UPDATE – APRIL 2024:

The San Diego Bayfair event has been finalized and will be run as scheduled Sept. 13-15, 2024.

The Detroit event has been postponed until 2025 to help in attracting sponsorship for a long-term return.