No one knew exactly how this year’s Lake of the Ozarks Shootout would turn out in a go-fast boating season that has seen every large-scale event land on the COVID-19 pandemic chopping block. But the wildly successful 32nd annual aquatic top-speed contest in Central Missouri had at least two things going for it before the first boat ran down the three-quarter-mile course.

First and foremost, it happens in the Show Me State, which has been among the aggressive states in the union in terms of keeping businesses open during the pandemic. Second, well, it is the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout—the only event of its kind—with a week of activities including an RC boat shootout, Bob Morgan Memorial Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Tuesday, Wednesday’s Shootout On The Strip exhibition sponsored by Waves and Wheels, Shootout title sponsor Performance Boat Center’s annual Thursday night welcome party and more preceding two days of top-speed competition.

With a robust fleet of competitors, the 2020 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout will go down as the biggest high-performance powerboat happening of the year. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Plus, the separately produced Super Cat Fest—the finest collection of go-fast catamaran hardware on the planet—runs concurrently during the second half of the week at the Camden on the Lake Resort and is home to the Saturday night Shootout live auction that raises a substantial amount of money for the event.

Of course, without at least one significant challenge to face, the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout hosted at Captain Ron’s Bar & Grill in Sunrise Beach, Mo., wouldn’t be an “official” 2020 event. Every high-performance happening so far this year—meaning the few that weren’t cancelled—have had to clear some kind of hurdle. For the first competition day of the top-speed contest, that hurdle was weather.

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