In the last issue we talked about John Roth's 388 Skater and how it was our bet that it would be the Top Dog at the LOTO Shootout. Their goal was 200 mph, and judging the hardware on it's merits, the goal seemed very attainable. Vern left West Coast Drives on the Sunday before the shoot out. He explained that when you are going that kind of distance with the goal of winning, you don't want any surprises on the trip. He finished the 1500'ish mile drive in three days arriving at Lake of the Ozarks on Tuesday, and the trip was incident free, A welcome reward of good preparation. He brought with him John Roth's 388 Skater, and the team also brought a very nice OuterLimits to cruise the lake and head to the local hangouts. After spending a few days having cocktails and telling war stories at Captain Ron's, and Hanging out at Camden it was time to get down to business.
On Thursday John Roth, sent his personal plane to Florida to pick up Johnny Tomlinson of TNT Marine, whom would be driving the beast in the Shoot Out. They splashed the Skater and just gave it a shake down run, or what Vern calls a "warm up" just to make sure everything is 100% in working order and to make sure she's in Fight shape for the Shoot Out. Again there will be no equipment surprises on race day, everything is in the preparation.
Saturday Morning it was go time, and with anything your first pass is just to "Feel the boat out" and determine if you need any adjustments or prop changes.