When thinking of the Lake Of The Ozarks Shootout, or LOTO as it is affectionately called, it brings to mind visions of ultra high-end boats, running impossible speeds, which came from such places as Key West, Miami, Texas, and other renowned locales. Pretty much the last place that comes to mind when you think of the LOTO is Parker, AZ. Enter Kelly Kraiss and Ron Gibbs. Kelly and Ron are a team based out of Ron’s shop in Parker, Bad Attitude Boats, and they have become the proverbial giant slayers of LOTO. Armed with Kelly’s 2002 32’ Skater B model, the boys from Parker have been giving the factories and big dollar boats absolute fits lately. But, it all started at the 2011 LOTO Shootout…
Kelly and Ron had just run the Lake Of The Ozarks Shootout and won their class at 149 mph. They were happy with their finish, but like any racers they felt there was more speed to be had. When they called their engine builder after the shootout he informed them that he had two 598 ci engines sitting in the shop. The wheels started turning and the quest for more speed had begun. In addition to the new engines, Chip Romer running 190 mph with PSI blowers had piqued their interest and it was decided that PSI blowers would be included in the new build. In order to fund their new project the pair first sold one of their existing engines and bought one of the new engines and the PSI blowers then soon sold the other original engine and were able to purchase the second new engine. In a game of millionaires the humble team from the Colorado River was slowly funding their way toward their dream power. All told the re-power took Kelly and Ron about 18 months to complete, but the journey didn’t end there.
In September 2013 they were finally able to fire up the boat and run it. It was immediately apparent that the props were too small for the new power. 3 short months and $9000 later they were in business again with a brand new set of props. As the process of repowering their boat continued, Kelly and Ron relied on and appreciated the advice of such industry heavies as Peter from Skater and Bob Teague of Teague Custom Marine both of whom made themselves available to help out even though the duo from Parker didn’t always have the money to do things exactly as were recommended.
Once the package was running right Ron took the engines up to a dyno shop in Reno where a friend let them spend as much time as they needed to get the engines tuned properly for the up coming LOTO Shootout. After a couple trips to Reno, Ron had the engines making over 1600 hp each and more importantly, more than 1400 lb/ft of torque! Ron notes that the real restriction on the package at this point is that the engines are carbureted rather than injected. With a new fuel injection system Ron feels that they will be closer to 2000 hp per side!
With power now lined up and just a short time to LOTO it was time to see if all this work was going to pay off once the boys got to Missouri and the only way to do that was to go run the boat. Ron and Kelly organized and coordinated a team of safety boats, divers, and firemen to maximize safety and went up to Lake Havasu to make a