All these horses in my boat

Editor’s Note: This is part two in a two-part series about local businessman and world-record holding boat racer, Slug Hefner.

Why horses? Why were horses the one animal that mankind decided to make that the name for how strong an engine can be?

While horses may not go that fast on water, they’re still the standard as it’s the duck that sets the stage on the water, the Dirty Duck.

The Dirty Duck racing boat is powered by two, Carson Brummett engines that put out 2,300 horsepower from each engine. The American Ethanol boat that Slug Hefner ran in 2016 has four engines and puts out about 10,000 horsepower but Hefner said Dirty Duck is on the tail of Ethanol.

“The challenge was … I had to find the right people to work on the boat, I had to find the right people to build the motors, find the right person to rig it, had to find the right throttle man, the right driver,” he said. “It’s kind of like building a sports teams. It gives you pride in your accomplishment. Everybody worked together.”

Hefner and his crew didn’t just throw the hull on the water at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout this past summer, it took a while to finely tune every aspect, something Hefner was keen on.

He said that was important to him, knowing every aspect of the boat.

“I wanted to just put down a big strong number with the Dirty Duck logo,” he said. “I had total control of the boat. It wasn’t somebody else that did the engineering.”

Dirty Duck’s driver, Myrick Coil, gave Hefner and Dirty Duck its props in a recent Speed on the Water article.

“The boat just comes to life thanks to Carson Brummett’s engines and Slug’s whole program—it’s unbelievable really,” Coil said in the article. “Coming out of the start box, we had a little lag with the turbochargers, but we got back to full throttle and it just took off. I had to tighten it up a few times due to the fact that the wind was pushing us around a little, but we came out the other end at 194 mph, which I wasn’t expecting. Everybody always says to me, ‘Go out there and see how fast it can go, but be safe.’ An oxymoron, I think, is what they call that.

“It’s such a wild feeling to think that I came to the Shootout as a spectator 23 years ago and here we are running the second fastest boat ever on the three-quarter-mile course,” he added. “Earlier in the week everyone at the shop was asking me what I think it would run and I told them I think maybe 180 even though I was really hoping for 190. I always try to predict conservatively. Then yesterday we went 187 and today we took that a step further today thanks to the Brummett power. If we had another (few) yards, we probably could have reached 200 mph.”

Dirty Duck is just the second boat to hit 190+ mph and the only twin engine to hit the plateau.

Hefner said it’s a sight to see on the water.

“Daylight all the way down the middle,” he said. “There’s maybe two feet in the back of the boat touching the water.”

With the season now in the rearview mirror, Hefner said the next step for the boat was to “pickle it.” Pickling the boat is where they take all the ethanol out, which the boat runs on, and then run regular gasoline, which is lead based, to lubricate everything inside the motor.

Hefner said the next shootout on their radar is in Texas next year and he’s already forecasting a victory as American Ethanol won’t be in attendance but Hefner said they will see their nemesis next year at Lake of the Ozarks.