They do pretty well on 1/8 mile and shorter tracks keeping up. There are some heavy hitting 450's that are able to run the big tracks and keep up with the really good 500's. You will have a couple of really good 250's that are within a few 1/10's of a 500 and the good driver can make a couple of those up. So I guess I am saying you can be competitive with a few of the opens, but the better open drivers will be a few 1/10's faster. Run within your budget and try to build up. Starting in a 250 will not hurt anything. If you can learn to keep up in a 250, once you can afford a 500 or 450, you might start winning some races! Best of luck to you.