For good reason, the 2025 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout will be most-remembered for the 242-mph run by Darana Hybrid Electro-Mechanical Solutions owner Darryl Cutell and Steve Curtis. Their 50-foot Mystic catamaran was just two-miles-per-hour shy of the 244-mph mark it set in 2014 when the course was still a full-mile before it was shortened to its current three-quarter-mile length. The accomplishment left jaws dropped, especially given that electrical issues sidelined the team on Saturday.
Cutell and Curtis had at least 242 reasons to be stoked.
But every Shootout competitor has a story, of course, and his or her “stoke-level” is commensurate with goals and expectations. John and Steve Rihacek, a pair of brothers from Illinois, are just one of many examples. John reached 108 mph in his 27-foot Fountain V-bottom they typically run together but piloted solo during the Shootout to save weight.
“I was up on the hill at our condo watching the run,” Steve recalled. “John and I use radio headsets to communicate. The second I saw 108 mph pop up on the broadcast screen, I just lost it. All those long days and long nights just melted away and I was able to feel relief.”
Last weekend’s event was their second Shootout experience. It will not to their last.
“Next year or the year after, our engine will make north of 1,800 hp,” Steve added. “When we get to 120 mph, we’ll be happy.”
And then there is the case of Upstate New York’s Kelly O’Hara—another second-year Shootout participant—who ran his unique 40-foot MTI catamaran powered by twin 1,100-hp engines from Mercury Racing. O’Hara took the wheel. His longtime friend Chad Shutter throttle. They made multiple passes, the best of which was 148 mph.
They reached 147 mph in all of their other passes, so consistency was no issue for the cockpit duo. Though O’Hara had competed at the Shootout once before as noted—he ran his 35-foot Fountain V-bottom to 120 mph in the 2016 affair—last weekend’s event was Shutter’s first Shootout experience.
“Our last run felt good enough to crack 150 mph, but we had to correct for a crosswind right before finish,” O’Hara explained. “Our goal was 140 mph so we exceeded that by a lot. Chad did a great job throttling and trimming the boat.
“It’s hard for people to imagine how quickly three-quarters of a mile goes by when you’re trying to get a big cat to accelerate smoothly,” he continued. “Chad did an awesome job getting the boat to spool up quickly and pull hard to the finish line. We probably left a few miles per hour on the table by not having shorter props, but overall we were super happy with how well we competed.”
No matter who runs the fastest, every Lake of the Ozarks Shootout competitor has a story.