In article ,
"ShawnD2112" wrote:

Well, there's two things here. The first one is that there was a post
refering to TBO of 600 hours. To me, TBO is an official limit, and I hadn't
heard of one announced by Lycoming, so wanted to make sure I hadn't missed
anything. And, with respect to whether engines make it to 1500 hours or
not, you may be on to something in that most of my mates are at Intermediate
at best, and try to keep the gyro stuff to a minimum if they're flying with
metal props. I'm not hanging out with the Advanced and Unlimited guys but I
could see how they'd be shagging their engines a bit more. There's a Pitts
over here that's offered for sale by a certain airshow performer who the
public loves but the aviation community maintain a distance from. He
doesn't seem to be getting much interest because people have seen him fly
and reckon the airplane and engine're pretty much toast.

And that is why airshow performers seek sponsors!
You fly, they pay the bills.
Not only do they pay for your overhauls, they pay for spare engine(s).
You cannot display their brand if you are not flying while you wait for
the engine shop to finish the job.