With their gaudy top speeds and snazzy looks, the American Ethanol catamaran and the Factory Billet V-bottom currently command the most attention during the annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout competition. That’s is as it should be given their outrageous performances of the past several years. Both boats are slated to return to next weekend’s event in Central Missouri. For good reason, fans can’t wait to see them blasting down the course again. Both boats are entertaining and, frankly, a little terrifying.
A pair of soft-spoken guys, John Cosker of America Ethanol and Jim Schultz of Factory Billet represent the Shootout, in addition to their respective Mystic and Outerlimits brands, as the approachable. gentlemen they are. They strive to make time, not an easy thing to do on Shootout weekend, for their fans.
But if you had to pick one competitor who embodies the original, run-what-ya-brung spirit of the 37-year-old top-speed contest, that person would be longtime competitor Carrie Sixkiller of Topeka, Kans.
Just like American Ethanol’s John Cosker and Factory Billet’s Jim Schultz, Sixkiller loves the event. Also like Cosker and Schultz, she is a member of the Bob Morgan Memorial Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Hall of Fame. She was inducted in 2017 alongside John Tomlinson, Bob Bull and the late Jim Melley, Richie Prince and Garth Tagge.
Shootout Hall of Fames classes don’t get more heady than that.
But Sixkiller doesn’t pilot a seven-figure 50-plus-foot catamaran or V-bottom with thousands of unbridled horses under its hatches. She runs a single-engine Baja V-bottom with a supercharged 525-hp Mercury Racing engine. She has coaxed the 24-footer to 73 mph on the three-quarter-mile course, but she’s always looking for more.
Next weekend will be her 19th consecutive year competing at the event. She simply refuses to miss it. The appeal for her is strong and multi-faceted.
“It’s for charity first and foremost—you actually see and meet the people who benefit from this event,” Sixkiller explained. “That makes my heart swell to know I am an itty-bitty tiny part of that.
“It’s about the relationships—the Shootout is my family and it’s the ultimate family reunion, same time every year,” she continued. “It’s talking to little girls and women and telling them they can do it too, that they can do anything. If I can inspire just one person to do this, it’s the thing.
Sixkiller paused for a moment, then continued.
“It’s about bringing my old boat to the street party and parking next to million-dollar boats,” he said. “ I stand by her with the pride of a momma, telling people they don’t have to have big expensive boat to compete. It’s about the nervous feeling I get before every run and the relief at the end the course knowing what I just accomplished.
“It’s about so many things,” she added.
Sixkiller, whose fashion trademark is a bandana that protects her noggin from the sun, never stops smiling when she greets her fans—and she has legions of them. Humble and polite by nature, she’s flattered and honored by their attention. She’s mindful of their support and grateful for every bit of it.
No one knows this better than fellow Shootout Hall Of Famer Jason Johnson. Working with Powerboat magazine and Speedonthewater.com, Johnson has invested more time an energy into covering the event than any media-person on the planet—including this one.
Johnson has been a Sixkiller fan for years.
“For almost as long as I can remember covering the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, powerboat enthusiast Carrie Sixkiller and her Baja Marine V-bottom have a been a fixture at the event thanks to her consistent participation, positive attitude and red bedazzled bandana,” Johnson said. “Despite owning one of the slowest boats to run down the three-quarter-mile course each year, she’s always smiling. Sixkiller and her supportive crew epitomize the spirit of the community-focused event.
Sixkiller made it into the Shootout Hall of Fame when Ron Duggan was still running the show at Captain Ron’s in Sunrise Beach.
“Carrie epitomizes what the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout is all about—that anyone can compete,” Duggan said a few weeks before her 2017 induction. “For more than 10 years, Carrie has been a great ambassador for this event because she’s the perfect example that the Shootout is for everybody.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman or if you have stock power single-engine boat or a twin-turbine-powered boat that runs 200 mph,” he added. “This event has always been about the average boaters just as much as the Top Guns.”
Duggan and Johnson nailed it. No matter who achieves what next weekend, when it comes carrying on the spirit of the Lake of the Ozarks, Carrie Sixkiller has no equal.
Every year, she’s the real Shootout Top Gun.