A Home Run For High-Performance Marine Industry Commerce In The Ozarks

By
Matt Trulio
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From outstanding performances on the racecourse to raising big-money for local charities, the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri delivers like nothing else—because there’s nothing else like it. Other events have top-speed contests as part of their overall programs, and that’s great. They provide entertainment. Watching boats try to run as fast as they can in a limited distance is good stuff.

But the Lake of the Ozarks affair is the shootout. Nothing else comes remotely close, as anyone who paid even minimal attention to last week’s 37th annual happening can attest.

Though it doesn’t get talked about nearly as much, the high-performance marine industry commerce side is vital to the success of the event. If sponsors from boat-builders to cleaning-product manufacturers don’t sell products or at least grab legitimate leads during the Ozarks affair, they literally and figuratively have no business returning.

With a trio of new 43-foot center consoles sold, American Marine Performance reaped the benefits of the recent Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp/Helmkamp Photos.

Here, too, the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout traditionally excels. A few years back, John Cosker of Mystic Powerboats introduced the Deland, Fla., company’s M5200 center console during the event. He left with several orders for the 52-footer.

More recently, as in last week, Walt Braithwaite of American Marine Performance—AMP for short—reported selling three of the Pompano Beach, Fla., company’s new 433 center consoles during event. The brings the number of 43-footer’s sold since the flagship model’s mid-July debut at the 1,000 Islands Charity Poker Run in Upstate New York to five, meaning—for those in the mood for basic math—the company more than doubled unit sales at one event.

“And I’m working on closing number six,” Braithwaite said.

You can bet that AMP, like so many other sponsors, will be back. Yes, they love the top-speed competition and supporting charitable efforts that make tremendous local impact—though the final numbers aren’t in, there’s a good chance that this year’s event will haul in more than $1 million for local charities.

But the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout moves product. And that matters, too.