the ozarks danger ahead! - Performance Boats Online

October
2011
PLAYIN’ POKER
In Florida
DANGER AHEAD!
Canada’s Scary
River Battle
Speed and Mayhem in
THE OZARKS
208 or 58 mph
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280 S.W. 32nd Court
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315
Ozark
LOTO’s Poker Run and Shootout
gives the people what they want.
DAREDEVI
My Way, the 208-mph turbine-powered Mystic
that wound up winner of the Shootout.
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
www.performanceboats.com
ILS
B
ill Tomlinson and Ken Kehoe truly did it their way in My Way, the duo’s turbinepowered Mystic, amazing the Lake of the Ozarks crowd with several speed runs in
excess of 200 mph, making them this year’s Top Gun champs at the 2011 Lake of the
Ozarks Shootout.
For four years running, Ron Duggan of organizer Captain Ron’s Bar & Grill has helmed
this sprawling LOTO event, which features a combination poker run and shootout. It has
become one of the best-attended performance-boating attractions in the world, drawing
participants and spectators from all over the country. Following is our conversation with
the good captain, which took place shortly after the 2011 installment.
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P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
ozarkdaredevils
Performance Boats: How did this year’s
event compare to previous years?
Ron Duggan: Things went very well. We
had a lot of racers who have been there in
the past—they know the program, where
they’re supposed to go, how to get lined up
and so on. So it really went really smoothly.
From a spectator point of view, the crowds
were huge. We’re estimating around 100,000
people this year, and they all had a great
show to watch. I know it was a lot of fun for
them. There was also a lot more to see this
year. We didn’t have quite as many racers—I
think we had 108 this year, compared to 121
last year. On the other hand, we had a lot of
faster runs. We clocked My Way going 208
mph three times.
PB: Unfortunately, some of their runs failed
to register on the radar gun.
RD: I hate to say it, but I’m pretty sure one
of those runs might have been faster. He
sent me a video that showed the GPS at
221. Maybe these guys did hit those numbers, and I would love it if they did. I would
love to show a huge number like that. In
any case, we’ve already looked into it, and
will be investing in a new radar type of system for next year. So hopefully that won’t
happen again.
PB: There were quite a few extremely fast
boats at LOTO this year.
The Arizona-based Skater Stray Cat.
RD: And it was exciting for all the fans,
because we did have some really big numbers. I know we had a pontoon boat go 107
miles an hour, which is pretty incredible. We
also had a lot more vendors on the property
by Captain Ron’s, so there was a lot more to
see there. And you know, the event was well
attended all week long. Yeah, it was a really
nice event this year.
PB: MaryMac, the turbine boat, caught fire
and suffered some pretty troubling damages.
What happened?
RD: I saw the boat’s throttleman, John
Arruda of Turbine Marine, Saturday night at
the restaurant, and I asked him if he was OK
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
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and that I was sorry for what had happened.
I said, “You didn’t get burned, did you?” He
said, “No. The flames shot up in the cockpit
and we pulled the fire extinguisher and
bailed out.” Unfortunately, sometimes that
happens with turbines, and the best thing to
do is just get out of there.
The 26 Velocity PFE Racing,
owned by Gary Cook.
PB: In your opinion, what were the bitchenest boats at LOTO this year? The real showstoppers?
RD: Well, of course, the My Way boat was
beautiful, as was the Batman MTI. That’s a
very cool bo\at with an absolutely incredible paint job. On Friday, when we had the
poker run, not only were there many Skaters
and MTIs, but boats from so many different
manufacturers. That was really a neat scene.
PB: Do you own a boat? Ever participate in
the Shootout yourself?
One of the most impressive partticipants
at this year’s LOTO was this triple
outboard-powered pontoon.
RD: I did the first year. I wanted to know
what it was like. I own a 29-foot Fountain,
which I ran the first year, and actually won
my class!
PB: Tell our readers exactly what Captain
Ron’s is.
RD: It’s a restaurant and bar that’s been in
business for five years. It has become one
of the premier destinations down here at
the lake. Because of the beaches and property it encompasses, we are able to handle
lots of different events. We have everything
from the Shootout to bass tournaments and
pontoon parties. Just about everything you
can imagine.
We actually have three restaurants; two of
them are on the lake and one of them is on
a golf course.
Buck Stracener’s Nordic 28’ SS Cat set a new
single-engine record with an impressive 138 mph.
PB: How long does your season last in the
Ozarks?
RD: The heavy part of the season ended
Labor Day weekend. We call what we have
the 100 days of summer—that’s when we’re
most busy, although we will still continue to
host events in September. Every weekend
we have some kind of event, even through
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P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
ozarkdaredevils
Jay Jorgensen, in his 43' Sunsation,
made the long trek out to LOTO as well.
October we have a lot of events. We’ll close
mid-November for the year, and then we’ll
reopen next spring.
PB: What goes on behind the scenes of this
event? Who’s responsible for putting it all
together?
RD: We have a committee of about 45 different people organize the Shootout. They’re
the ones who actually deserve all the credit.
They line up all the volunteers and do all
the work. The committee members and the
volunteers are the ones that pull this event
off, and it wouldn’t be anything without all
of them. I just kind of guide everybody—I’m
the person who makes sure that everybody
is doing what they’re supposed to do. And
they just do an extraordinary job.
The F3-11 Skater Team Douglas.
Lake Havasu’s own, Chip Romer, made
a blistering pass of 191 mph in his 388
Skater and took first place in his class.
PB
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
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ozarkdaredevils
Richard Chaney’s turbine-powered #741 “Miss
MaryMac” (below and bottom) caught fire and
suffered considerable damage.
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
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P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | November 2011
13
ozarkdaredevils
One of the pair of
Big Thunder Motorsports rigs.
The Taz Fountain.
The “St. Luke’s Early Detection” Vector
V24 Bat Boat.
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
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ozarkdaredevils
An outboard-powered
P1 competitor.
Make it Rain, a Hustler.
Wellcraft Scarab.
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
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A 26-foot Redline.
The Raymonds Fountain.
“Franky & Louie’s,” a 34’
Advantage Party Cat.
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P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | November 2011
17
ozarkdaredevils
Hammertime, the 44' MTI.
Lake Havasu City’s Gary Smith made the trek in his 43’ Skater SS
“Predator.” The boat peaked at 180 mph and reached Top Gun in the
Manufacturers Class for the second year running.
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
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ozarkdaredevils
The Loriblu offshore race team.
A classic-looking
Velocity catches some air.
Hustler’s latest creation, this 39' Rockit with twin
powered 725-hp Ilmors, obtained an impressive
110 mph radar reading.
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
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ozarkdaredevils
The famous MTI Batboat.
PB Publisher Chris Davidson at the Performance Boat Candy booth.
A Nor-Tech rips up the water.
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
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ozarkdaredevils
Two of the many dazzling Skaters at LOTO’s Shootout.
PB
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
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HI PERFORMANCE BOATS
Wild
TIMES
Photography by
Kenny Dunlop
T
he fifth running of the CP Regatta—now officially
known as the Performance Regatta—was held
on the Sandbar about a mile north of the Aha
Quin resort in Blythe, CA. Organizer Gene Cheadle
(“Slow Burn” in the Performance Boats forums) is also
the event’s biggest enthusiast and promoter, and a
lover of the California Performance gullwing hull that
inspired the event—in fact, he recently purchased one
for his father’s retirement present. (To the uninitiated,
California Performance is the company created by former jetboat racing legend Bill Scotten, who won scores
of championships and set dozens of records during his
lengthy racing career; the hulls are low, lean, loud, and
blazing fast.) CPs make up a significant chunk of the
jetboats in attendance—about 50 in all. According to
Cheadle, a total of 270 boats made the trip to Blythe for
the late-August festivities. “It’s a great day on the river,”
he says. “You get to run your boat, you get to see some
racing, get an eyeful of beautiful women, chrome and
paint. And there’s never been even one police officer
to mess with us. We make sure they’re aware of what
we’re doing, we let them know that it’s a controlled
event—nobody’s going to get drunk and stupid. We’ve
been very successful in making it a safe and fun event for
everybody. We’ve also worked the last couple of years
working in conjunction with the campgrounds at Aha
Quinn. It’s a pretty big effort.”
P E R F O R M A N C E B O A T S | October 2011
www.performanceboats.com