Former offshore racing notable Dave Scott can be one of the most gracious, engaging people you’ll ever meet. Back when he was racing in the various Anheuser-Busch-backed catamarans including Bud Light and Bacardi Silver with John Tomlinson, he and his crew would spend hour and hour talking with fans of all kinds. Scott was endlessly accessible. He was a truly great—and is a sorely missed—ambassador for the sport.

Heck, he might even buy you a Bud Light or Bacardi Silver after work hours.

But make no mistake, Scott is one fiery competitor. That’s especially true when it comes to the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. First, the event, which happens this year from August 23-30, is on his home water in Missouri. Second—he doesn’t like to lose.

“We plan on defending our Top Gun title again,” Scott told me in a recent email. “We’re bringing the Nauti Marine 50-foot Mystic powered by two 2,000-hp blown alcohol engines built by my guy ‘Lucky’ Bodenbach. Lucky was on my “Budweiser” crew and now owns a high-performance engine business named New Century Performance. We ran 196 mph last year for the Shootout’s Top Gun honors and would like to equal or exceed that speed.”

Even with some of the serious hardware reportedly coming to this year’s Lake of the Ozarks Shootout—more on that in tomorrow’s blog—I sure wouldn’t bet against him.