One ‘Dam’ Impressive Shootout On The Strip

Last night’s Shootout On The Strip presented by Waves and Wheels that helped kickstart this week’s 36th annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri was probably the best street show I’ve ever attended at a performance boat event. And that’s saying something as I’ve seen some very impressive displays of boats at events such as the Desert Storm Poker Run in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., the Boyne Thunder Poker Run in Northern Michigan and, of course, the ultimate raceboat display along Duval Street in Key West on Friday night during the annual offshore world championships.

The crowd was huge and the weather was perfect for last night’s Shootout On The Strip in Lake Ozark, Mo. Photo by Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix

But yeah, I’m finally ready to crown the Shootout On The Strip the best street party in the country. You’re welcome Shootout folks—you finally convinced me.

Surely the pleasant low-80s/high-70s temperatures that the spectators along Bagnell Dam Boulevard enjoyed yesterday helped its cause—I think I sweated through two shirts during last year’s sweltering Shootout On The Strip—but ultimately it was the quality of boats and the sheer number of them showcased for nearly a mile between School Road and the Bagnell Dam Viewing Lot that sealed the deal.

In several places, boats were staged two deep on the Bagnell Dam Strip as the locals call it or on display in parking lots off the strip, which is where I found the Shootout’s longest-running Top Gun, the American Ethanol Mystic Powerboats catamaran owned by Don Onken. In another parking lot, about halfway through my walk down to the dam, is where I got a closer look at the two college-student-led teams—Princeton and University of Michigan—that had their electric-powered boats on hand.

Owned by Michigan’s Dave Burgess, this Waves and Wheels Edition 42-foot Doug Wright was one of several catamarans in the Waves and Wheels display. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp/Helmkamp Photos. (Click to watch a documentary video on the 42 Carbon build.)

As I walked the street, I was amazed by the volume of catamarans on tilt trailers from the likes of CTS Custom Trailers and MYCO Trailers. I’m talking outboard cats from American Marine Performance, DCB Performance Marine, Doug Wright Powerboats, Fountain Powerboats, MTI, Performance Powerboats and more, as well as raceboats from teams such as GC Racing, H.P. Mafia, M CON/Monster Energy, Montlick Injury Attorneys and Team Allen Lawn Care and Landscaping. There was even a rare Victory pleasure catamaran on display that is owned by Wozencraft Insurance’s Devin Wozencraft.

Of course the numerous center consoles from a variety of manufacturers held their own next to the bad-ass catamarans and the cool V-bottom sportboats that were few and far between. Standing next to the bright green MegaFit Meals MTI-V 50 center console powered by five Mercury Racing 500R talking with friends I haven’t seen since last year, it was easy be in awe of the incredible machine and the matching Lamborghini parked beside it.

Check out more of Pete Boden’s images from the Shootout On The Strip in the slideshow above.

And that was just one of the over-the-top center consoles on display. I saw some beautiful models from AMP, Cigarette Racing Team, Donzi Marine, Fountain, GSX Powerboats, Mystic, Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats, Renegade Powerboats, Sunsation Powerboats and more.

I have to say the number of boats, tow vehicles and exotic vehicles on display was impressive. The level of showmanship was out of this world and the local representation from companies such as Big Thunder Marine, Poly Lift Boat Lifts, Torque Motorsports, Marty’s Marine, which had several pontoon boats on display, WIA Marine Insurance and, of course, Waves and Wheels was amazing.

Sunsation Boats nation sales manager Ryan Wenk and his wife, Madolin, represented the center console brand. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp

At the end of the night as the boats were starting to roll out and after saying goodbye to several friends—including fellow Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Hall of Famers Carrie Sixkiller, who had her Baja sportboat on display, and Tim Kowalski of Bio-Kleen, who had his cleaning supplies booth setup alongside his company-branded toterhome and 34-foot Sunsation center console—I ran into the ever-cheerful Jon Smiley of CTS Custom Trailers, who was taking video of the boats as they left the strip.

Smiley told me he had walked up and down the street about three times that day, which sounded challenging and would have been next to impossible to pull off last year when the temperatures hovered around 100 degrees.

He also said that he had never seen anything like this year’s event before. And he wasn’t just saying that because CTS had 19 trailers on display compared to two years ago when they showed off their first boat trailer at the event. From my perspective, their coolest trailer was probably the first gooseneck tilt trailer that carried a Performance Powerboats 420 cat. A close second, and a fraction of the size, the mini tilt that CTS built for the Princeton team was pretty cool too.

Check out more of the hardware on the Strip thanks to drone images by Jeff Helmkamp.

Finally, as I stood at the edge of the street party waving goodbye to participants hauling their boats away with Shootout executive director Leah Martin and Shootout broadcaster Bob Teague I couldn’t help but smile and think back to a year ago when I was pounding waters all day in the heat. I couldn’t wait to leave the strip that night, but last night I was thinking to myself that I could use a sweatshirt. It was a refreshing 65 degrees out but relatively speaking that felt pretty cool.

Coming off their fifth successful Rock The River Fun Run in Ohio, Pat and Matt Feldhaus enjoyed last night’s Shootout On The Strip affair. Photo by Pete Boden

But that was then, as the saying goes. On tap tonight, the annual Performance Boat Center Welcome Party will attract thousands of revelers to its Osage Beach, Mo., sales and service center. And members of the Skater Powerboats family will flock to tonight’s Skater 50th Anniversary celebration—complete with company founder Peter Hledin—at the Camden on the Lake Resort, the home base for Super Cat Fest, which starts with boat arrivals today.

Of course Friday is the Poly Lift-backed Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Poker Run followed by two days of top-speed competition on the three-quarter-mile Shootout course in front of Captain Ron’s Bar & Grill. Needless to say, there is still plenty of action left at the lake.

As you can see, the Bagnell Dam Strip takeover was massive—and this Jeff Helmkamp image only captures half of it.

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