Kids are born—literally and figuratively—to mess up adult schedules. Just ask Jim Schultz, the owner of Factory Billet Engines, which is housed in his mainstay Geremarie Corporation business in Lake Zurich, Ill. Schultz had planned to run Factory Billet,  his canopied Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats 51 GTX V-bottom with twin flexible fuel 1,950-/1,650-hp turbocharged Factory Billet engines, in the 2019 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout.

A return to Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and powering a new Supercat-class team season are part of this season’s plan for the Factory Billet crew (click image to enlarge) Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

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But just 24 hours before he and Factory Billet engine builder Mike Faucher had a chance to take one run down the three-quarter-mile course, Schultz had to head back to Illinois for the birth of his daughter.

Pesky detail, but one that demanded personal attention.

Schultz is dead-certain that no such schedule conflicts will arise this year and that he and Faucher will return to the Central Missouri top-speed event to vie again with Dennis and Jason in their open-cockpit 43-foot Black Thunder, who also have vowed to return. In 2017, the two teams tied with a 161-mph top speed. The following year, Schultz and Faucher managed a 162-mph run against the Parvey’s 153-mph.

That both teams are coming back is great news for Lake of the Ozarks Shootout fans, as the competition between the two big, turbocharged V-bottoms remains the most compelling of the event.

“We’ve been playing around with center of gravity modifications and taking some weight out of the boat,” said Schultz. “When we were at Lake of the Ozarks last year, the boat was substantially faster than it had been the year before. We had it running in the high 160s, but unfortunately we had to leave early.”

Read More: Factory Billet’s 2020 Charge

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