Performance Boat Center Looks To What’s Next in Racing & Charity Events

Performance Boat Center’s name is on most everything boating at Lake of the Ozarks.

Today, PBC enjoys the day with customers and friends raising money for H.E.R.O.E.S. Care in the 10th Annual Support Our Troops Poker Run. Performance has taken lead sponsorship of the event, and continues to support the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, Lake Race, and their signature Cigarette Rendezvous Fun Run -- as just a taste of Performance Boat Center's brand expansion. 

And why not? Expectations are high. The performance boating industry is at its strongest in the last decade, PBC is killing it on the race track and the service center is sizzling.

The Performance Boat Center Service Team has become a central focus. Led by Andy Sanders, the team rigs race boats for customers from all over the world in Osage Beach.

While The PBC/Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast Team wants victory in every race, led by Driver Myrick Coil and Throttleman John Tomlinson, PBC believes the biggest accomplishment, the most satisfying, is when one of the boats they rigged wins.

“That is why we came up with the idea of having a race boat, to show what our service center is capable of,” General Manager Brett Manire says. “Our boat was an empty shell, we added the wiring, the engines, the graphics and our crew rigged the entire boat. When we pull off national and world championships because we have the fastest boat out there, that says a lot about how we are going to take care of our customers' boats.” 

The Superboat-class Performance Boat Center Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast Skater Powerboats 388 Catamaran took home the win at the Key West World Championship last year. For the 2016 season, Performance brought back to Lake of the Ozarks big wins from the National and Florida Circuit, taking the Triple Crown in the SBI Superboat Class and the “Golden Eagle Award,” for being voted by peers as exhibiting exemplary professionalism in the sport of powerboat racing, for being well liked, and for working hard to win.

“Any time you can win it is invigorating,” Manire said. “We go hoping the boat stays together and safe... wining is a bonus. We have some talented guys at Performance Boat Center. They are organized, and they go prepared, and that makes all the difference.”

Right now immediate sights are set on Florida, for a non-SBI sanctioned showdown for bragging rights and charity at the Sarasota Powerboat 2017 Grand Prix Race, July 1-2. 

“It was kind of a gentlemen’s agreement between Mark Waddington (owner of Performance Boat Center) and Mark Smalls (Cleveland Construction) that if they came to Lake Race we’ll go to Sarasota and support their charity event for children.” 

Coil got his first win 11 years ago in Sarasota, driving a 42’ MTI sponsored by Anheuser Busch.

The PBC/Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast team won this season's opener at the SBI Thunder on Cocoa Beach in May. 

“We got a good eight-second lead in the first couple of laps,” Coil said. “Pro Floors started to catch up, but we came away with the win, and the national points.”

But the hometown team came into Lake Race with some glory dust, and took a disappointing loss.

They battled strong, trailing close behind WHM Motorsports for the one-day, two-round, six-lap race. The pressure was on in the the last quarter-mile straightway when WHM pulled farther ahead, leaving Coil and Tomlinson in their wake. 

“It was a hard-fought race, but they had a faster boat in this one,” Coil said. 

The Performance Boat Center 38 ft. 388 Skater Catamaran with twin Sterling Performance engines gave WHM a run for their money, a purse WHM's Billy Mauff would ultimately give back to Lake Race charities.

“The water conditions were good, except a couple of wakes in the west turn,” Myrick said. “When you’re not in the lead boat, the guy in front of you can really mess with your game plan. Billy left us the same lane every time, and it was narrow. But it made for some intense competition. We tried everything we could to get around them.”

In boat racing it’s hard because you can’t draft, you will eat their rooster tale. “You have to set up on the outside and hope they go deep into the turn. It’s different than car racing where you usually get right behind the bumper and wait for them to make a mistake. When you go on the outside you can keep your speed up, but it’s hard to see the buoys,” Coil said.

The two boats have the same drive and engine package. “They have a little more compression and their boat is a bit taller in front. We have more control in choppy water, but a flat-water race - if you are a little faster and go outside, you will pull out ahead.”

Performance will meet WHM again in the next SBI race in Mentor, Ohio. Last year in Mentor, Performance broke a propeller. “We are looking to get revenge on those gremlins,” Manire said. The Mentor Super Boat Grand Prix is scheduled July 22-23.

So What's the PBC Plan For The Lake of the Ozarks Shootout?

Nothing is out of the bag yet. Performance has not settled on what boat to run, but Coil and Tomlinson will compete in the world's most popular unsanctioned race Aug. 26-27 at the 32MM.

“We love going to the Shootout and supporting all the charities that benefit from the Shootout,” Coil said.

Last year, with PBC as lead sponsor sponsor, The Shootout raised more than $200,000 for 34 local charities.