LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. -- Tooned In is the fastest pontoon in the world. Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2012 Top Gun winner Brad Rowland challenges anyone to prove him wrong.
The South Bay 925CR Tri-Toon won Top Gun in what may be one of the craziest classes in the Shootout: the pontoon class. Tooned In is sponsored by Forest River, Inc., French Construction, and Papa Chubby’s.
Rowland ran in the NP1F3 Class. That specification allows non-professional racers with factory, three-engine pontoons, 22–26 feet in length.
Though his pontoon already possessed two muscular engines, two years ago Rowland upgraded it with a third, 300-horsepower engine; that required some beefing up of the structure. In the end, the triple 300X Pro Max Mercury outboards with modifications were bringing 500 HP apiece on his aluminum pontoon. With that power, Rowland set a new Shootout course record of 112 mph last year.
“I see 120 not out of the reach,” he said.
Probably few boating enthusiasts could imagine cruising the Lake of the Ozarks at 90 mph in a Fountain and then noticing a pontoon passing them! The strange juxtaposition sits well with Rowland, though. “I always wanted a pontoon for the family,” he said, “but I also like to get there in a hurry.”
Tooned In is Rowland’s first race boat, and the evolution from family boat to triple-engine racing machine has been a step-by-step process. Rowland started with two 300X engines, and he spent seven years dialing them in to attain 93 mph. But pontoon racing means traversing uncharted waters, and Rowland is learning as he goes. The extra weight at the rear of the boat has created balance problems, which he resolved by adding logs to the bottom. Before he even added the third motor, the boat weighed 1,300 pounds more than when he started.
Rowland ran his first Shootout in 2003, and he has won every race in his class for the past 10 years, except for two years when he tied Ken Gouty’s “Little Putt Putt” in 2009 at 91 mph, and again in 2010 at 100 mph. “Ken’s the only person that ever gets close,” Rowland mused.
Gouty claimed the 2012 Top Gun win with a 103 mph run in the NP2P1, non-professional, 27–31 foot, one-engine pontoon class. He returns this year in his PlayCraft with hopes of topping Rowland’s course record.
“Little Putt Putt” has a single, blown, big-block Dart inboard engine with 1,300 horsepower. The motor was built by Mason Aaron and modified with a custom wipple intercooler and a custom ignition and fuel system.
“Ken Gouty is a super guy,” Rowland said. They shake hands every year at the Shootout, like boxers going into the ring. “I never know what he has under the hood. If he pumps up some horsepower in that baby, who knows, he could beat my speed. He was coming on strong for a while but I don’t know if his one motor can handle any more. My three motors are lighter than his one big one.”
Notable numbers
• In 2005 and 2006 Gouty set two official world Kilo records of 57.8 mph and 65.3 mph with an inboard stock at the World’s AMF Racing in Florida.
• At the 2010 LOZ Shootout, Gouty was the first in the world to hit 100 mph with a pontoon. He raced first, but Rowland made two runs, also hitting 100 mph. It was a tie. Both pontoons took the 2010 LOZ Shootout Top Gun in their classes.
• Rowland’s top speed in a pontoon with two motors is 93 mph.
• In 2009 Gouty ran 91 mph; in 2010 he hit 100 mph; in 2011 it went to 104 mph; and he topped out at 103 mph in 2012, all in the LOZ Shootout.
• Rowland has been steadily increasing his speed every year. He ran 93 mph in 2009, 100 mph in 2010, 107 mph in 2011 and 112 mph in 2012.
“When Ken started getting close, I had to figure out a way to go faster,” Rowland said. “Ken has an inboard and can do a lot more than I can so I had a wild idea to add the third motor. It was a no-brainer that it would go faster, even though a lot of guys said the weight would slow it down. Pontoons just are not that aerodynamic — you’re basically pushing a box down the water — and mine is fully loaded with everything from a stereo to sinks.”
But all that weight is not necessarily a bad thing, according to Rowland.
“I feel safe in it,” he explained. “When my boat packs air and I am up on the water, that is when I get my best speed. It’s like a [catamaran] packing air: the air lifts you up and so there is less drag, and more speed. It’s a win, win deal. If you can keep her from flipping over, that is.”
He almost went over at the 2012 Shootout but pulled it down at the last moment. “We have never flipped and we don’t talk about that,” he said.
“When you go over 100 mph in a pontoon it gets tricky and you are taking your own life into your hands,” Gouty said. “I have worked in a rescue boat and I have picked up racers out of the water after a crash and it seems 100 mph is the magic number for a Cat or a pontoon.”
“But I love speed,” he continued. “I have flipped a couple of times, once in a little boat, and once when a jet boat turned sideways and it threw me out of the boat. It will put the fear of God in you. Things happen when you get to going fast. I’ve been pulled out of the water three times by a rescue boat, but luck was on my side and I’ve never been hurt. The wind is violent on any exposed part at 100 mph in a pontoon.”
“We’re getting to the point where we’re getting so high up in speeds, who knows what will happen,” Rowland mused.
Indeed, the high velocity being obtained by boats not traditionally known for speed is making waves in the boating world. Gouty recalls his best memory: the day the guy with the fastest boat in the world asked him for a pontoon ride. Ken Warby holds the world powerboat speed record of 317 mph in his boat “The Spirit of Australia” a 24 ft. 6,000-horsepower turbine.
“He just wanted to see what it was like to go that fast in a pontoon,” he said.
Gouty has participated in the top three powerboat races in the country: Lake Havasu, Ariz., the Florida Kilo Runs, and the LOZ Shootout. One stands out: “The LOZ Shootout is the best powerboat race in the world,” he said. “You just don’t see billions of dollars’ worth of boats in one place like you do at the Shootout. This is the fastest and the best.”
Rowland says he likes that the Shootout is a spectator event and the fans can get close to the boats and shake the racers’ hands. “We put on a good show for the fans. They come over and tell me I’m crazy and how unreal fast my boat is.”
Gouty says he expects his boat to be even faster this year.
“Our goal is to beat Brad. He has held that record every year for 10 years. It’s time for someone else to break [it].”
Pontoon racing competition at the Shootout is as hot as ever. And all eyes will be on “Little Putt Putt” and “Tooned In,” as they roar uncannily across the water, in the never-ending race for speed.
