Let’s be clear, the safety record at the Lake of the Ozarks is practically impeccable—especially when considering how many 100-plus-mph boats have blistered down the courses in front of Shooters 21 and Captain Ron’s over the past three decades. In fact, only a few boats have ever wrecked while racing down the one-mile stretch.

Of course one accident—the sensational flip of a 46-foot Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats catamaran in 2014—led to the loss of Outerlimits founder Mike Fiore, who died at the hospital following surgical complications, a couple of days after the tragic accident. And other than Jeff McCann’s violent roll in his 22-foot Donzi Marine V-bottom last year and a hair-raising HTM Boats catamaran accident in 2003, the Shootout accident report is clean.

A devastating accident at a Maryland event last October killed Georgia performance boaters and Lake of the Ozarks Shootout veterans Jim Melley and Garth Tagge when their Skater Powerboats catamaran went airborne and flipped. And though the event wasn’t at LOTO, it got the attention of top-speed Shootout participants and race organizers alike. 

LOTO Shootout organizers made a change, and other races followed suit. Between the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, the Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees (GLOC) Performance Boat Challenge in Oklahoma and the Texas Outlaw Challenge, all three top-speed events agreed to shorten their courses to three-quarters of a mile in the interest of safety this year. It’s worth noting that the other events, although three and 10 years old respectively, also have excellent safety records.

And while there’s no guarantee the same thing couldn’t happen on a shorter course, the decision to decrease the course length by 25 percent to three-quarters of a mile seems appropriate and has received an overwhelmingly positive response.

“It’s the right thing to do, and it’s the smart thing to do,” said John Tomlinson, a multi-time Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Top Gun winner and offshore racing world champion who ran 197 mph a few years ago in an open-cockpit 38-foot Skater. “These boats aren’t built to survive a 200-mph crash—they’re not built to survive a 160-mph crash. The Skater I went 197 mph in on a one-mile course will probably be 15 mph slower on a three-quarter-mile course, but that’s OK.” 

“I think the shorter course is a step in the right direction to a certain extent,” said Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Hall of Famer and Mystic Powerboats founder John Cosker. “The unfortunate byproduct I see is that it could make people in smaller boats try to go even faster quicker, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. I’m also not so sure a shorter course does much to enhance safety even though it should limit speed to some extent.

“In all honesty, and I’ve told this to Ron Duggan and others who have asked my opinion, I think anyone with a boat faster than 150 mph should be required to have a canopy,” he continued. “Canopies really do save lives. Look at drag racing—guys are alive after wrecking at 200-plus mph.” 

Longtime top-speed shootout participant Tony Chiaramonte, who is the vice president of sales and customer service at DCB Performance Boats, said he understands the initiative to shorten the course.

“The whole idea behind the three-quarter-mile course is to try to slow people down, and that’s not a bad thing,” said Chiaramonte, whose fastest speed at the Lake of the Ozarks—173 mph—came last year in a customer’s DCB M35 Widebody powered by twin 1,550-hp Mercury Racing engines. “It just might be the necessary evil to keep this sport–and the people who enjoy doing it—alive. I’m thinking speeds will be about 20 mph slower than before, but who knows? I do think the new format will bring out some serious horsepower.

“I don’t know exactly what we’re going to do setup wise—I’m not sure anyone knows yet—but we’re definitely going to play with some different gears and propellers,” he continued. “I’ve even had a few of our customers who are doing the GLOC and LOTO shootouts already order new props for testing. Everyone seems pretty excited about the change. I know it’s going to force people to bring their ‘A” game this year.”

Every question you can think of—Can a shorter course save lives? Will a three-quarter-mile course work as well for spectators? How will the shorter course affect top speeds overall?—will be answered at the Shootout.

Until then, let the excitement (and the testing) begin. 

—Former Powerboat magazine editor Jason Johnson is the co-publisher of speedonthewater.com. Check out his performance boat reports on the daily news website.

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