Racers travel to prove they have the right stuff at the Lake Rescue Shootout.

By Gregg Mansfield
Photos by Tom Newby

Offshore racer Brian Devlin considers himself lucky when he only has to tow his boat 1,700 miles to get to an event.

Trips to Florida and the East Coast are a regular occurrence for the Californian, who came to the Lake Rescue Shootout in late August to promote the Raylar 496 Mag HO kit in his 2750 NuEra LaveyCraft Performance boat.

"We're used to this," said Devlin, who needed 26 hours to complete the trip. "This is nothing—it's halfway. It's easy for us."

Long gone are the days when the Shootout at Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks, was pretty much limited to people who vacationed at the lake. Now out-of-state license plates from places as far as Washington and Florida are a common sight in hotel parking lots. That's good news for organizers, who use the event to raise money for area fire protection districts.

"We found that a lot of people who came for the Shootout weekend, also started vacationing here," said Jeff Dorhauer, fire chief of the Osage Beach Fire Protection District and the event's main organizer. "I even know people who bought places on the lake after attending the Shootout."

Spend an afternoon on the lake or at Shooters 21 where all the action takes place during the Shootout, and you'll quickly understand why racers and performance boaters make the trek.

For some it's the thrill of being the center of attention for thousands of spectator boats while they run their performance boat down the 1-mile course. Others just want to be part of the unmatched scene, whether it's an offshore race or a poker run.

Take Serge Carbonneau from Quebec City, Canada, who ran his PowerQuest with twin 900-horsepower Chief engines in the Shootout. When having the engines built last winter he asked Chief owner Tom Hofstetter what he could do with his boat, and Hofstetter suggested the Shootout.

Speed contests are nothing new for Carbonneau, who says he has run 128 mph on a snowmobile. So the 88 mph he ran in his boat on the course probably seemed pretty tame.

"Normally, I'm the big boy up there," said Carbonneau, whose trip took more than 24 hours. "Down here I'm the little boy."

But that doesn't mean Carbonneau didn't feel at home with his boat docked among the higher-dollar catamarans at Shooters 21.

"Every sport has its big kings," he said. "But they can relate to normal people like us."

For every Bud Select or Miss Longlite that competes in the Shootout, there were dozens more guys in smaller boats trying not for the Top Gun prize but to win their class. And competitors such as Kelly Kraiss of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., were willing to drive 1,500 miles for the opportunity.

His twin-engine 30-foot Spectre ran 124 mph on the course, good for a tie in his class. Kraiss and his friends did a four vehicle caravan, which took them 25 hours to arrive at the Shootout.

"I thought I knew what to expect when I went out there to do the run," said Kraiss, who brought his son, Cole. "It was better than I expected. I was on cloud nine."

Jason Cramer of Parker, Ariz., also was part of the Arizona contingent that participated in the Shootout. Cramer was hoping to break 100 mph in his 28-foot Conquest Boss Cat, but rollers that swept down the course kept that from happening. (He did post a 99-mph run.)

At the docks, Cramer said he enjoyed seeing all the other boats and working on their own boats.

"We come out with the Spectre and Conquest, they're pretty small boats," Cramer said. "But the people are talking to you like the folks with the big MTIs and Skaters."

Dorhauer said it was probably 10 years ago that he started noticing an influx of competitors—and spectators—who weren't just from the nearby states. Besides raising money for the fire agencies, the tourists spend plenty of money at local businesses and hotels. Plus the event has raised awareness that Lake of the Ozarks is an ideal summer vacation destination, Dorhauer said.

And not everyone comes just to watch the boats run. Donna Galveston of Dayton, Ohio, has gone to the Shootout for the past two years. While she spent her Sunday afternoon looking at the boats with her husband, Galveston admitted she came more for the festive atmosphere.

"I keep telling people there's no other event like this," Galveston said. "Parties, fast boats and fun people. What else would you want?"

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