Anyone who has met Greg Olson knows he’s not a “look-at-me” kind of guy. Yet, after his gutsy Top Gun-winning run at the 2012 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, Olson has become one of the most recognizable people in the performance boat world. Obviously he’s getting used to talking about himself—particularly the 192-mph run in his 33-foot catamaran from Eliminator Boats with twin 1,800-horsepower supercharged engines that had the entire powerboat community in awe last August. But he’d still rather let others speak for him.
“The man has no fear, that’s probably why he’s been so successful in business,” said Michelle Olson, Greg’s wife of eight years. “Words cannot explain the emotions of that day and watching your spouse run those speeds. Knowing what can happen, I have to admit I’m more than relieved he’s not doing it any more.
“Greg is such a kind-hearted person,” she continued. “People who know him were so thrilled he won the Top Gun. He really deserved it. If you would have asked us years ago when Greg first started doing the Shootout in his single-engine 26-foot Daytona, there’s no way we would have ever thought he’d take home the Top Gun trophy.”
And without Michelle’s blessing, Olson may never have attempted the jaw-dropping 192-mph run during Saturday’s festivities at the 24th annual Shootout.
Olson, who has been competing in the Shootout since 2003 when the event was still being held at Shooters 21, said he had officially called it quits after the 2011 event when he didn’t even get a chance to showcase all the hard work that went into preparing for that year’s Shootout.
“In 2010 we had the boat running pretty well and I went through the radar traps at 182 mph,” said Olson, reflecting on his impressive performance three years ago. “I’m honestly always surprised at how well the boat does. It seems that the boat is always at GT Performance getting ready, and I don’t get any time for testing or really running it hard. I’ve never had a chance to really open it up and see what it would do before each race.
“After the 2010 Shootout I said to Gary (Teague, owner of GT Performance) that we needed to try E85 fuel as it looked like that was the answer to getting more power, and he immediately went to work on it for the next year,” he added.
Olson said the crew at GT Performance changed the motors over to run on E85, which didn’t require an enormous amount of modifications. The main concern was getting the proper programming in the EFI (electronically fuel-injected) computer. Once that was handled, the engines were producing 1,800 hp on the dynamometer, better known as the “dyno.”
THE LETDOWN
“We had everything ready to go in 2011—we even blueprinted the bottom of the boat and sharpened up the No. 6 drives to a razor-sharp point,” said Olson, who lives in Alliance, Neb., and owns a feed company called Vitalix Inc., which manufacturers a molasses supplement that is packed with protein, vitamins and trace minerals for cows, sheep and horses that are grazing or on roughage. “On Saturday morning of the Shootout, I went out early to get one good test run in before the water got rough and something happened. Under full power, one of the fuel sensors went bad and told the computer that the motor was running rich. The computer reacted by leaning up the mixture, and the motor burned down from being too lean. There I was, an hour before the race, and broke down. All of that work, and nothing to show for it.”
Olson said he told his friends and family that 2011 was his last hoorah.
“Michelle had told me many, many times how much it scared her, and how she was sure I was going to kill myself,” said the 54-year-old who has two sons, Thomas, 24, and Philip, 22, from a previous marriage. “I had decided that no matter what happened, I would retire. I did not want to put the woman I loved through that anymore.”
Although it was tough to call it quits after not even getting in a single run, Olson was at peace with it. Fellow competitor Chip Romer of Arizona posted a 191-mph mark in his Skater Powerboats catamaran to win the class that year and Olson didn’t think that was attainable in his boat anyway. In fact, the Top Gun trophy that year went to Bill Tomlinson in My Way, a turbine-powered 50-foot Mystic Powerboats catamaran, with a 208-mph run. Olson knew that was completely out of his reach.
With his boat detuned and set up for 100-octane fuel, which Olson could buy at any airport (he also has his pilot’s license), Olson said the Eliminator was being used for recreational use. Well, at least until less than two weeks before the 2012 Shootout.
THE BLESSING
“I remember it clearly,” he said. “It was on Wednesday afternoon—10 days before the Shootout—and I was working. Michelle called me up to say she heard the My Way boat had an accident. She said she knew how much the racing meant to me, and if I really wanted to do it one more time, it was OK with her.
“Well I didn't give her a chance to change her mind—I immediately called Gary and asked if it was even possible to get the boat ready in time,” he continued. “The boat was in a storage unit in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., four hours from Gary’s shop. He would have to pick it up, bring it to L.A., change the EFI program back to what it was the year before, change the jets, change the fuel and then drive it 1,700 miles to Missouri. He said he could do it and they did!”
With extra effort from GT Performance’s Jamie Gamboa, who had been working on and documenting Olson’s boat since before he won the 2009 “King of the Desert” crown with a 174-mph run at the Desert Storm Poker Run Shootout on Lake Havasu, the boat arrived on Friday with no time for testing.
“On Saturday morning we put the boat in the water and ran it through some testing, but the race was already underway so we couldn’t go faster than no-wake speed,” Olson said. “It seemed good to go so I lined up and proceeded to start the run. I got it up on plane, made it to the start line and when the flag dropped I hit the throttles and the motors died. I quickly let off and they caught and I hit them again and they died again. Something was definitely wrong.”
Olson said he circled around and met up with Teague and Gamboa. With GT Performance computer tech Rudy Lytle on speed dial, Gamboa hooked his laptop into the EFI computer and Lytle walked him through the stats to work out a couple of issues.
“If the big dogs were there—any of the turbine boats—they would have probably won it all,” said Gamboa, who spent 30 hours trailering the boat nonstop from California with a co-worker. “But we got the boat running and Greg pulled it off. I believe that boat will go 200 mph, but we will never know. Greg’s run was straight out of the box without any fine-tuning. Once the boat gets over 120 or 130 mph, it’s unbelievable how stable it is.”
THE TOP GUN
Although the epic run was over in a matter of seconds, Olson remembers it vividly.
“When it was my turn again, I circled around, got up on plane and headed for the start boat,” said Olson, who got his first taste of the Shootout as a spectator in 2002. “The flag dropped and I pinned the throttles. The engines coughed again and sputtered so I let off the throttles a bit and they came alive. I gave them half a second at half throttle then opened them all the way up and they just loved it. Those motors were made for that fuel and that boost—they were begging for all I could give them. What a ride!
“There was just the right amount of chop that day, the boat was so solid,” he continued. “I held the throttle down and just focused on the finish-line buoys. The acceleration was unbelievable. I knew I was going fast but I did not know how fast. My speedometer pegs out at 180, but I didn’t have time to look at it anyway. All I could do was drive. As I crossed the finish line and let off the engines, my heart was pumping so fast and my adrenaline was on overload. As I pulled up to an idle, I started asking people how fast I went and someone said 192 mph. I almost fell out of the boat—I could not believe it.”
Olson gives a lot of the credit to Teague for setting up the boat so he could drive it safely by himself. Teague installed a foot throttle so Olson could keep both hands on the steering wheel. He also installed trim switches on the steering wheel so Olson didn't have to take his hands off the wheel.
Teague, on the other hand, passes the credit on to Olson and his boat.
“You can build as much power as you want but if the boat doesn’t handle well, it’s just overpowered,” said Teague, who also built the engine in Ivan “Buck” Stracener’s 28-foot Nordic Boats catamaran that ran 148 mph—the fastest single-engine boat at the 2012 Shootout. “Greg’s Eliminator just goes straight. It doesn’t do anything funny, it’s always accelerating and Greg has the huevos to drive it.”
That may be true, but Olson praises God for the opportunities he’s been given.
“People have said I am crazy to take a 33-foot Eliminator that fast,” Olson said. “Maybe I am a little, but I called my father before every run, and we would pray together that God would protect me. I was nervous going that fast, but never scared. I knew that God would take care of me.
“I honestly believe with a little more horsepower the boat could easily handle 200 mph,” he continued. “But it won't be me in there trying it. I am truly retired now. It is going to be much more relaxing just sitting there this year watching everyone else compete.”
Ron Duggan, owner of Captain Ron’s, which has hosted the Shootout since 2008, can’t wait to welcome Olson back to the Lake for the Shootout’s 25th anniversary.
“Greg’s run was as impressive as any Top Gun run we’ve ever had,” Duggan said. “It just goes to show you that anybody on any given day can win this thing and have your name forever engraved on the trophy.”
Olson, who can’t believe he’ll forever be linked to the likes of David Scott, Randy Scism and the many Shootout legends before him, made sure to thank his wife for allowing him to compete one more time “even though I know it scared her beyond what I can realize.”
“I also want to thank my Mom and Dad for their many prayers,” said Olson, who plans to have his boat on display at the Shootout Street Party on Wednesday. “I also want to thank Gary, Jamie and the GT Performance crew for building those incredible motors and for the 24/7 service that was above and beyond anything I had experienced. A special thanks goes to Ron Duggan and all of the volunteers who make the Shootout possible each year. And last but not least, I want to thank Bob Leach (owner of Eliminator Boats) and Preston Woolery (owner of Horizon Motorsports) for building me a very good boat.”
###
—Former Powerboat magazine editor Jason Johnson is the co-publisher of speedonthewater.com. Check out his performance boat reports on the daily news website.
