Dirty Duck Skater Hits 202 MPH To Lead Day Two Highlights From The 2024 Lake Of The Ozarks Shootout
Following two days of top-speed competition and exhibitions on Missouri’s most popular waterway, it was clear that the 36th annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout at Captain Ron’s Bar & Grill in Sunrise Beach was one of the most unforgettable weekends in the event’s storied history.
Myrick Coil and Rusty Williams ran an impressive 202 mph in Slug Hefner’s 43-foot Skater, Dirty Duck, on Sunday during the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. Photos by Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thril Pix
Why? Because spectators on Sunday witnessed the first 200-mph boat in event history that was not built by John Cosker and the team at Mystic Powerboats in DeLand, Fla. That’s right, a Skater Powerboats 438 catamaran owned by Slug Hefner that was driven by Myrick Coil and throttled by Rusty Williams—both of Performance Boat Center, the title sponsor of the Shootout with Monster Energy—reached a remarkable 202 mph on the Shootout course on Sunday just before noon.
Dirty Duck’s impressive run followed the team’s 199-mph pass on Saturday afternoon, which took place several hours after the most decorated boat in Shootout history—the American Ethanol Mystic Powerboats catamaran owned by Don Onken—secured its 10th straight overall Top Gun title thanks to a record-breaking 221-mph run with John Cosker on the sticks and Tony Battiato on the wheel.
“I’m so happy for Slug—he deserves to have the first Shootout boat to break 200 mph, other than a Mystic, of course,” said Coil, who said ending on a “double nine” after Saturday’s 199-mph run was not an option. “We’re so happy to break the 200-mph mark. I had a good feeling we could do it after I felt the boat last week with the upgrades, including the nitrous that prevents any lag at the start and shuts off after we start rolling, to basically the same engine package that was in the Skater last year. The boat felt really good; it pulled hard all the way through.
“After Saturday’s run we made an adjustment,” he added. “We hit the rev-limiter on Saturday about three-quarter track so Carson (engine builder Carson Brummett) gave us three more pounds of boost and we went up two pitches. That way the engine would be loaded better and not get so close to the rev-limiter. Unless they had a bad pass or mechanical issues, we knew coming into this that we couldn’t challenge American Ethanol, and then they put up 221 to end all hope. But that wasn’t our goal, we wanted 200 mph and we got it. The best part, which is something I like to tell everyone, is that we drove the Skater from PBC, docked it, drove it back to the start line and then drove it back to PBC. Everyone else’s 200-mph boats are getting towed out to the start line, but not Dirty Duck.”
Check out the slideshow above for more images from Sunday’s top-speed competition.
That’s exactly what the untouchable V-bottom top-speed record holder—and new Bob Morgan Memorial Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Hall of Fame member—Jim Schultz said after he reached 186 mph in Factory Billet, his 51-foot canopied Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats V-bottom, a boat he drove to and from the Shootout on Saturday.
Coil, who also is a member of the Bob Morgan Memorial Hall of Fame, was proud of the team’s accomplishment.
“We came into Sunday’s run thinking we could go 200 no problem, which is crazy when you think about it,” Coil said. “I’ll never forget it either. Right before the yellow buoys, I saw, just out of my peripheral, a two. It’s not something you’re used to seeing on the big old Garmin screen. You’re just used to seeing a one and that two was so much broader. Instead of just a one line, it like fills up the screen. I said to Rusty, ‘Yeah that was a 200 pass.’ And he’s like, ‘Are you sure?’ Then we got the call and we were so happy for Slug. Then someone told me that we were the first non-Mystic to break 200 mph and I started thinking back and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I think that is true.’ Just incredible, that’s all I can say.”
Also on Sunday, the Shootout record book welcomed its first 100-mph personal watercraft as local racer Joe Cardella reached a 104 mph on his modified 2018 Yamaha. Cardella, who owns Anchor Marine in Lake Ozark, also ran his Hustler Powerboats 377 Talon catamaran up to 111 mph on Sunday afternoon, which was fast enough to win his class.
Kentucky’s Dan and Julie Weiss, who own a 39-foot Nor-Tech center console, borrowed Ison Marine’s new 36-foot GSX Powerboats center console powered by triple Mercury Racing 500R engines to run in the Shootout after they won an entry into the event during the Kuttawa Cannonball Run.
A frequent visitor to the Shootout but a first-time participant in the top-speed contest, Kentucky’s Julie Weiss had a blast at the event thanks to a Shootout VIP experience auction item that she and her husband, Dan, won at the Kuttawa Cannonball Run in June. In fact, with support from Kentucky-based Ison Marine’s Tiffany Crawford and Paul Michael Ison, Weiss was able to run two boats in the competition—a 2024 Cigarette Racing Team 42 Auroris powered by quad Mercury Racing 500R engines and a 2025 GSX Powerboats 36 center console with triple 500R engines—and bring home two class trophies.
“What an amazing experience—best day ever,” said Weiss, who went 83 mph with Crawford by her side in the 42-foot Cigarette Liquid Assets, and reached 93 mph in both of her attempts in the GSX 36 demo model alongside her husband. “The auction item we won came with a poker run entry and a Shootout entry and Dan looked at me said, ‘What are we going to do with the Shootout entry?’ So Tiffany, who was at Kuttawa, and I decided right on the spot that we were going to run the Cigarette.
“Being that it was our first Shootout, we didn’t know the ropes, but we figured things out pretty quickly,” she continued. “The boat ran great—it popped right out at we ended up at 83 mph. I think the best that they’ve seen out of it was 87 and we had coolers full of drinks and were half full of fuel, so overall we’re really happy.”
Weiss said she also had fun running the GSX with her husband who had never competed in the event either.
“Dan and I weren’t planning to run together, but we just decided while Tiffany and I were registering to go for it,” said Weiss, who thanked Ison Marine and GSX for letting her drive the beautiful vessels. “I’m so glad we did; it was cool to do it together. I would absolutely do it again—especially if someone else lets me borrow their boats (laughs).”
Maryland’s Joe Erickson competed in the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout for the first time yesterday and hit 142 mph in his Skater.
Another first-time participant, Maryland’s Joe Erickson decided to enter Orange Crush, his 40-foot Skater catamaran powered by twin 1,500-hp Sterling Engines, and was happy with the 142-and 141-mph passes he and Maryland Offshore Performance Marine Center owner Andy Imhof made on the three-quarter-mile course.
“That was pretty fun; we’ll be back for sure next year,” Erickson said, adding that he’s planning on having his next project—a pleasure version of the former Miss GEICO MTI—finished before the 2025 event. “The whole week was fun, to be honest. This entire event is so well organized and this lake is so impressive. I couldn’t believe how many people were rafted up out there for the Shootout. It’s pretty amazing to see in person.”
Maryland Offshore’s Mitch Kramer felt the same way when he got the chance to run the new Doug Wright Powerboats 39 Carbon Waves and Wheels Edition catamaran with throttleman Ricky Maldonado and when he watched Orange Crush run as well.
“We didn’t have Joe’s boat on ‘kill mode’—it’s in a pretty reserved tune so Joe can run the boat reliably at events,” Kramer said, referring to Erickson’s Skater, which is headed to the Pirates of Lanier run in Georgia with the Maryland Offshore crew next week as part of the Teasers Tour. “So speed-wise, we were happy with the 142 with the way the boat is set up.”
Mitch Kramer and Ricky Maldonado ran the new 39-foot Doug Wright from Waves and Wheels up to 132 mph on Sunday.
Kramer said getting to run the brand new Waves and Wheels demo 39-foot Doug Wright featuring twin Mercury Racing 450R engines that received a special tune before the event, was a highlight of the trip.
“We only did 125 mph on the second pass, but our first pass was 132 mph, which felt pretty good,” Kramer said. “That boat feels so solid and it accelerates like crazy.”
Jason Billmeyer of Performance Boat Center put together a solid top speed in a Performance Powerboats P-280 catamaran, cracking the century mark twice with a 101-mph pass on Saturday and a 102-mph pass on Sunday.
Performance Boat Center’s Jason Billmeyer ran the latest Performance Powerboats P-280 catamaran to a top speed of 102 mph.
With its 119-mph run on Sunday, the Valvoline Powerboat Racing Norway team led by owner and veteran driver Per Taraldsen matched its best speed from Saturday in its Twister 24 catamaran powered by a Mercury Racing 450R engine.
Will Smith of Phantom Boats in Sarasota, Fla., brought his twin 500R-powered 30-foot sport deck and ran 109 mph on both days.
Although no one came close to reaching 115 mph in a pontoon like Shootout legend Brad Rowland did on Saturday, John Odom, the general manager of Marty’s Marine who has been competing in the Shootout for 24 years, won his class with a top speed of 84 mph in a PlayCraft.
Earlier in the day, before the top-speed runs kicked off, the Shootout welcomed competitors in its second annual American Power Boat Association-sanctioned kilo runs. And while no records were broken, six teams took a shot and made some impressive runs up and down the course, including the 450R Factory Stock-class GC Racing team of owner/driver Willy Cabeza and throttleman Grant Bruggemann that had an average speed of 124.94 mph. Last year, Cabeza and throttleman Gary Ballough set the APBA class record at 127.42 mph.
Check out some of the images from the Shootout kilo runs in the slideshow above.
Another 450R Factory Stock team that gave it a go was the TS Motorsports team in its MTI 390XR catamaran, which ran 118.6 mph with driver Taylor Scism alongside her father and MTI founder, Randy Scism, on the throttles. Taylor Scism, who joined the Shootout’s board of directors earlier this summer, also ran the first 482 catamaran from MTI in the Shootout on Sunday afternoon. She recorded a top speed of 136-mph in the 48-foot catamaran powered by twin Mercury Racing 1100 engines.
Taylor Scism reached 136 mph in MTI’s new 482 catamaran powered by twin Mercury Racing 1100 engines.
As for the secretive Kansas City-based team with drivers named John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, the crew didn’t have much luck with its new Skater 388 catamaran that was wrapped up with just enough time to make its first Shootout appearance. The American One boat idled into the start box and basically took off from a standing start, unlike most teams who enter the box around 30 mph or more. The Skater leapt out of the water and barreled down the course reaching an impressive 170 mph at the end of it. Officially, the boat was disqualified for not coming to a stop before the end of the closed course; unofficially, the Skater at least made it to the water and has plenty of people wondering what kind of show it might put on next year.
The 38-foot Skater called American One, which is powered by twin 612-cubic-inch Noonan solid billet aluminum engines running on alcohol, made just one pass at the 2024 Shootout and was disqualified.
Speaking of next year, Don Onken said he plans to return with an updated engine program in hopes of maybe running a jaw-dropping 230 mph.
“We’re happy with 221 mph, but we felt like we could probably do a little better,” Onken said on Sunday after announcing the boat would not run again. “We’re going to save it for next year. We’ll see if anyone beats us today and then we’ll know what we need to do moving forward.”
Last but not least, speedonthewater.com would like to give kudos to the Shootout broadcast team for a job well done. As expected, it wasn’t without its hiccups but the various angles of the action and variety of commentators throughout the two days of racing was better than ever.
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