LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. -- MTI/CMS throttle man Randy Scism and driver Bob Bull ran an impressive 186 mph in 2012. The black and orange 48-foot MTI/CMS Catamaran is powered by twin Mercury Racing turbocharged 1350 engines that earned the Top Gun trophy last summer in the Manufacturer Catamaran class. The team was 6 mph behind the Shootout overall Top Gun, Greg Olson, who ran 192 mph in Fatal Attraction, an Eliminator Daytona, with twin 1,800 horsepower engines.
After his 186 mph pass last year, Bull said coolly, “I drove the boat to the races this morning and I am going to do some pleasure boating in it this afternoon.” He has a home on the Lake of the Ozarks and loves the fact that the Lake does not have a speed limit. For fun, his wife Debby likes to drive 150 mph on the way to breakfast in the morning.
Winning the Top Gun Shootout trophy is nothing new to Bull and Scism.
Bull has been racing boats for more than 20 years and has competed in seven Shootout events. He has won every national or world title in every class, except outboard catamaran. He has set official world speed records in most of the classes as well and he still holds a couple of Kilo records.
Scism raced in the first Shootout ever, in 1989, and he has won his class in the Shootout multiple times, including first overall with Bob Bull, Dave Scott, Reggie Fountain, Jeff Harris and Mike Defrees.
When Bull first started racing in Florida, the fastest boat time in the world was somewhere between 130–140 mph. Today pleasure boats are running up to 190 mph; the fastest ones can break 200. Currently Dave Scott has the “official” Kilo record at 198 mph, but Bull and Scism are in the process of building a 52-foot Cat with the goal of blowing Scott’s record out of the water. They hope to hit the 200 mph mark. The pair is also planning some point-to-point endurance runs. According to Bull, unofficially, they have already seen what 200 mph looks like in the 48 ft. MTI. But that number could become official this fall, as the team is planning a record run in late November in the 52-foot Cat.
“The records are always changing. We always have a target to shoot for, and then we try to break it to the next level,” Scism said. Both men say they would like to have the ability to clock official speed records at the Shootout. To make that happen, a sanctioning body such as Super Boat International or American Power Boat Association would have to be involved. An area of the water would be shut down and the boats would run a kilometer both ways, with their average speed being recorded.
Team MTI/CMS to showcase three boats at the 2013 Shootout
This year the team will enter three MTI extreme contenders in the Shootout. Returning after winning last year’s Top Gun trophy will be the 48-foot MTI Catamaran pleasure boat with twin 1350 HP engines. After a two-year absence, their 48-foot MTI Catamaran pleasure boat with twin 1650 engines, which claimed 2010 Top Gun bragging rights, will be back in the staging area. And unveiled for the first time at Shootout 2013 will be the 52 ft. MTI Catamaran pleasure boat with twin 1650 Mercury engines. The 52-foot Cat is an endurance boat, with a six-man race canopy.
The men are not gunning for the top speed award at the Shootout because their Cat is set up more for offshore racing, as opposed to a one-mile, straightaway quick-run. “These engines are endurance engines and are top-end performers, not out-of-the-hole fast,” Bull said. The engines have to run wide open for one hour to achieve peak performance, unlike the 5,000 horsepower engines of the turbine boats that are only good for about 20 minutes.
“The MTIs are really fast,” Scism said. “The engine’s center of gravity is further forward so this costs us in quick acceleration runs, but it takes more than one mile to get to optimum performance. Weight and balance is set up for racing in high winds and offshore waves, so the nose doesn’t fly up. We’ll be satisfied to win our class, and have some fun at the Shootout.”
Key West World Championship
The team took first place in the 48 ft. MTI at the granddaddy of all United States races at the 2011 World Championship in Key West, Fla. “It was a good race, except there were three tragic accidents. That’s where we lost Bull Morgan, J.T. Tillman and Joey Gratton; that took the fun out of it,” Bull said.
“It’s a dangerous sport, but you don’t think about wrecking,” Scism said. “If you’re going to think like that, you might as well put the boat back on the trailer.”
Bull has flipped over twice in catamarans and five times in Cigarette V-bottoms; thankfully no one was ever injured. The team went over in Pickwick, Tenn., doing 145 mph and then in Key West, Fla. in a catamaran at 120 mph. Both times they were in an MTI with an escape hatch. “Wrecking is pretty violent, and when you hit the water that hard you want to get out fast. It all goes down pretty quick, so you get in a hurry because that’s just too much water to drink,” Bull said.
Scism has been racing full-time professionally since 1989. He moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates and became involved with world powerboat competition. While in Dubai, he led the “Victory Team” for eight years all over the world, as the most successful offshore racing team to date in the Middle Eastern and European tours. While leading the Victory Team he had a large crew and sponsors with large pocketbooks. He raced a variety of boats and classes, earning Class-1 championship titles.
Scism’s fastest experienced speed as of 2013 was 204 mph in a 44-foot, turbine-powered MTI owned by Dave Scott.
When not racing boats, Scism is building boats. “I eat, drink and sleep boats,” he said. He knows his passion, and is able to do what he loves for a living. As the general manager of Victory Team, he had the opportunity to race in exotic circuits.
“I tried all kinds of technology,” he said. “My employers were very excited about offshore racing. We were constantly developing new products.” Adding the technology from around the world to the finest from the U.S., Scism returned to the United States and started MTI in St. Louis, Mo. “Building boats is a labor of love and passion,” he said. Now at MTI, he works with some of best engine manufacturers in the world to build the ultimate high-performance race engines and powerhouse engines for pleasure boats.
Of his expertise, Scism said, “Other manufacturers rely on second- or third-hand information. It’s hard to develop something new without having hands-on experience.”
Race Day
“You get out of bed on race day, the boat is ready and we have done our practice runs. We have learned the turns and picked the props. We add weight in specific locations to balance the boat, and now it’s time to focus on winning the race. You get kind of quiet as you go through the course in your head. We communicate on where to start, and how to take the turns. We become extremely focused, concentrating only on the next one hour. That is one of the nice things about racing, you forget about everything else,” Bull said.
“The adrenaline starts pumping and you get a little nervous,” he admitted. Hitting 186 mph on the water takes nerves of steel, experience, natural ability... and perhaps a little bit of crazy.
“When the green flag goes down, we say, ‘We’re not going to do anything stupid, we’re going to race smart,’” Bull said. “By turn one, that’s usually out the window. You drive every other thought out of your mind. We are in it to win, period.”
“We stay constantly alert,” he continued, “expecting something not to go right. Even though things are going perfect, we still expect a rogue wave, or something to break. We’re diligently listening and watching. It is a pretty intense hour. By the time the race is over, you’re pretty worn out. When you’re moving that fast, with all those variables, you just can’t relax.”
The Shootout is an event like no other, and the big-time boaters are not the only ones who make it so.
“I love that the Shootout is a race anyone can enter, even non-professionals,” Scism said. “I was glad to see Olson win last year. He is just an average Joe, who didn’t spend millions of dollars on his boat. I think the Shootout is spectacular in every way.”
The Shootout is a true performance extravaganza, loaded with speed and horsepower. “More million-dollar hardware comes to town for the Shootout than any other place I have seen. It shocks people at how much hardware shows up,” Scism noted.
Power Boating Canada writer Bull Brown attended the 2012 Shootout. His description:
“I have never seen such a spectating flotilla of boats that goes on for miles. If you are a high-performance boating enthusiast you might just think you have found the pearly gates to heaven. It’s a multi-million dollar chain of performance engulfed by a buzz of excitement.”
“The Lake of the Ozarks is the best kept secret out there,” Scism said. “It’s great to help so many deserving charities and have fun at the same time.”
