Top-speed wasn’t the only competitive aspect of the 37th annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in late August. While most folks were still snoozing on Thursday, August 22, throttleman Nick Buis and driver J.J. Turk were breaking the existing dam-to-dam speed record.
Buis and Turk ran the 1,500-hp Lycoming T53 turbine-powered 50-foot Mystic, XINSURANCE, to Truman Dam and back. They covered the roughly 180-miles of what in 1 hour and 17 minutes while reaching 160-plus mph and logging plenty of time above 150 mph. Also on board were Jamie Pellizzi and Shannon Rice, crew chief for the XINSURANCE Cat 300 boat.
The team’s average speed was 134 mph and the team broke the previous record of 1:37.05 set by the father-daughter team of Randy and Taylor Scism in a Marine Technology Inc. 390X raceboat.
“When we got to the north end of the lake past Sunrise Beach, there are areas where you have to watch your water depth,” said Buis. “There was also a lot of debris.” There were also spots where the team had to pick its route around islands and if they guessed wrong, they might have been stuck in a cove.
Powered by 1,500-hp Lycoming T53 turbine engines, this 50-foot Mystic carried Buis and Turk into the record books.
As part of the rules of the run, when the boat arrived at Truman Dam, there must be video of someone getting off the boat, running up the dock and touching the land. While Rice made the sprint up the docks, Buis checked the time and the first leg had taken 37 minutes.
“That’s when I knew we were in good shape,” he said. “The water was super smooth. We had 500 gallons of fuel to start with. We knew we could run 150 plus consistently.”
Buis is no stranger to running a boat powered by turbine engines having experience with them when he used to run a 50-foot Statement with the engines along with his partner Todd Werner. He said the engines are loaded with power and the throttle response is instant.
“You never feel like the motors are really working hard,” said Buis. “They’re just humming along.”