Thoughts from the shootout weekend.........
 

3rd time to the shootout, first as a boat owner I have never seen as many beautiful boats over a weekend ever. Very impressive to see Thurs/Fri. nights. and many thanks to the organizers........I think it time to become a member.

The Lake Sun Leader was given estimates that 30,000 people attended. I heard traffic was backed-up to Hwy 54 both days.

My thoughts: Is this event to the point where it should be moved to bring in more people to a better location on the lake if one exists ? Its a matter of time before it leaves its location anyway if shooters gets developed which will happen.

Shouldn't the local enforcement (aka water patrol) start shutting down to no wake closer to where the Glaize/Osage meet to perhaps eliminate some of the rollers running up the course. Not *****in.........208mph says alot.

I would think most of the factory folks. would be more agressive in showing off what there equip. would do. Am I missing something, where was Fountain, Donzi, Formula et al. Yes the sport crusier from Fountain was impressive but where was the racing equip. ?

How much faster can these boats get. Will we see the bar raised with the new BudSelect boat next year. Can 215-220 be far off ..........

Re: Thoughts from the shootout weekend.........
 

What is LOTO? :p :p :p :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Re: Thoughts from the shootout weekend.........
 

Now Phantom...haven't you been in enough debates about LOTO yet over the years? You are not willing to concede to defeat are you? Can't knock it if you've never been! Just razzin you a little...kinda ;).

The weekend was great and I don't think moving the venue is a great idea. I think that it should continue to develop and would be even better with more exhibitors on land. I would agree about making the no wake area bigger to try and eliminate the rollers on the course though. Is an easy fix and a safety issue at 208 :eek:

Not sure where Cat Killer was...the Fountain express cruiser was pretty cool...quite a rooster behind him with the Arneson drives and the big diesels!!!

Re: Thoughts from the shootout weekend.........
 

The LOTO shootoout is without question the best high-performance boat event in the world. In terms of real spectators, not people who just happen to be on the beach when the boats are running (the kind of "spectators" offshore race promoters count), nothing can touch it. The fleet next to the course is thick. The boats that run the course are some of the best there are. Just being there is a blast.

But given what's going on with high-perf boat insurance and such, it's not hard to see why factory-sponsored entries from builders aren't there. If you think about it, Fountain is the only builder that's gone big, at least publicly, with being "the fastest" in its ads and marketing. It's worked for Reggie, so he's stuck with it.

But it's easy to see why other builders aren't touching it, at least for now. Still, it's just really, really cool to see owners pushing their stuff to the limits on LOTO.