Rowland Upping His Pontoon Game For Lake of the Ozarks Shootout – Speed on the Water
Hoping to break his own 113-mph top-speed record on the three-quarter-mile Lake of the Ozarks Shootout course, Illinois-based Brad Rowland arrived at the Central Missouri waterway this week with Tooned In, his 25-foot South Bay tri-toon, in tow. To help reach that goal, Rowland has added nitrous oxide systems to the boat’s triple Mercury Marine ProMax 300 outboard engines, each of which reportedly produces 400 hp.
“Black Magic Racing of King George, Virginia, installed them for me,” said Rowland, who is member of the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Bob Morgan Memorial Hall of Fame.
Brad Rowland has added nitrous oxide systems to the trio of 400-hp outboard engines powering his 25-foot pontoon boat. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
To activate the system, Rowland will press a button on the cockpit sole with his left foot as his “hands be a little busy” managing the steering wheel and throttles.
“I plan to hit it about halfway down the course,” he said, then chuckled. “I don’t want to hit it at 113 mph.
“I don’t how much faster the boat will be,” he added. “I wish I had an answer but I just don’t know.”
The 35th annual top-speed competition is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
At present, Rowland is more concerned with the sweltering Missouri heat’s effect on the power output of his outboard engines than anything else. The daytime high is expected to top 100 degrees by Friday, but drop to a cooler 90 degrees on Saturday.
“Nothing runs when it’s this hot,” he said. “So I plan to get out early in the morning this week to test. But at least Saturday looks better than the rest of the week.”
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