Lake of the Ozarks Shootout History | Captain Ron's Lake of the Ozarks Shootout

The Lake Rescue Shootout started in 1988 as an event in which many local boats participated simply to establish who had the fastest boat. As the years went by it became a bigger and bigger event that also helped supplement the Lake area Fire Departments water rescue efforts.

1988: Osage Beach, Sunrise Beach, and Lake Ozark Fire Districts participated.

1991: Ad book was a 5 1/2” x 8 1/2” format

1993: The ad book became the current 8 1/2” x 11” format. The book has continually grown each year as more merchants and businesses participated. At this time it became called the Shooters Shootout or Natoli’s Shooters 21 Benefit Shootout through 1993 (Chairman of the Shootout board was then Carmelo Natoli)

1995: It became known as the Caleco’s Shooters 21 Benefit Shootout (Chairman of the Shootout board was then Mark Michael).

1996: Gravois and Mid-County Fire Districts joined the Osage Beach, Sunrise Beach, and Lake Ozark Fire Districts.

1997: The event became officially known as the Lake Fire Rescue Shootout. The number of boats participating has continually increased each year. On Sunday of 2000, 80 boats ran, making 128 passes through the course that day. Boats over 22 feet in length are allowed to run. Boats run in classes by length, hull design, size of motors, and number of motors.

In 2002 the Lake Rescue Shootout was proud to bring on POWERBOAT Magazine, Charter Communications and Tan-Tar-A Resort as sponsors.

In 2005 Jack Miller Marine and Velocity Powerboats joined as sponsors.

2006: Brought on Extreme Power Sports from here at the Lake and a new course record set by Dave Callan and John Cosker of 208 mph.

2007: The poker run is now 2 days and Lucas Oil on the Edge on Speed TV will be on location filming the event & John Cosker breaks his own record with an amazing 209 mph run.

2008: The 20th Anniversary Shootout brought a whole new atmosphere for the first time in 20 years. The Shootout was held at a new location. Captain Ron's Bar and Grill was chosen for the new site following the demolition of Shooters 21. With the new location & renewed excitement over 60,000 fans watched the 2 day races. Dave Scott reclaimed the TOP GUN with a 178 mph run.

2009: New records were set all over the place as David Scott set a new course record at 196 mph and record attendance was estimated at over 70,000 spectators. Despite a sagging global economy, the Shootout remains stronger than ever.

2010: David Scott and John Tomlinson made it three in a row with a blistering run of 208 mph. With the addition of 6 new events to complete a week long schedule of activities, the committee set a new record by donating $70,000.00 to 20 different charitable organizations. The goal of the new committee was to make it a week long event instead of just a weekend. 2010 saw that happen as they added a Treasure Hunt, a Mini-Shootout, a meet and greet with the Racers during the Shootout on the Strip, Puttin' on the Wish Rides, a fantastic Fireworks display, and an additional Concert featuring David

Ball on Monday night that provided much needed food items to a local food pantry.

2011: For the first time in three years a new champion was crowned. Canadian Bill Tomlinson and Ken Kehoe driving a sleek turbine powered Mystic named "My Way" ran 8 times and tied the course record of 208 mph on three different runs. A record of over 100,000 fans witnessed the record setting week as $70,570.00 was donated to 20 different organizations. Another record of 493 Volunteers donated 5727 hours to make this event the largest community event of its kind.

2012: We are extremely excited to announce that we have donated $100,000.00 to 22 different organizations in the Lake area. We achieved our 5 year goal thanks to all of our sponsors, participants, vendors and to the public for attending all of our events this year. A big thank you also goes out to the 569 Volunteers that donated 6,425 hours to making this event the most successful in the history of the Shootout.

In the 5 years since the event was moved to Captain Ron's, the Shootout organization has donated over $322,000.00 to Lake Area Charities and continues to grow each and every year.