Big Thunder Marine Elevates Bob Morgan Memorial Shootout Hall Of Fame Ceremony
Thirteen years after the first class assembled for the inaugural Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Bob Morgan Memorial Hall of Fame ceremony, dozens of past inductees—and four new members—gathered inside the Speed & Luxury Showroom at Big Thunder Marine’s Lake Ozark, Mo., location last night to honor Slug Hefner, Ray Lee, Greg Olson and Justin Wagner for their involvement with the annual event. It was an emotional evening—more smiles than tears, but many eyes watered up—and one nobody in attendance is going to forget anytime soon.
Slug Hefner, Greg Olson, Ray Lee and Justin Wagner (from left) were inducted into the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Bob Morgan Memorial Hall of Fame during a classy ceremony Tuesday night at Big Thunder Marine. Photos by Jeff Helkamp/Helmkamp Photos
It helped that the event found a great new home at Big Thunder Marine, the company—albeit a much larger one now—that offshore racing legend Bob Morgan founded decades ago at the lake. From this Shootout Hall of Famer, who unfortunately could not make last night’s celebration because of family obligations, I’d like to commend the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout board of directors (or whoever came up with the idea) on selecting a rather perfect new venue to host the Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony.
On Tuesday night, Hefner and Wagner, the two local inductees—Speedboat Magazine’s Lee lives in California and 2012 Top Gun overall winner Olson resides in Florida—received well-deserved ovations thanks to family and friends who came to celebrate the longtime supporters of the event.
Donning sunglasses to receive his plaque because he knew he was going to well up upon receiving the recognition and having to say a few words, Wagner, who owns Waves and Wheels as well as DWR/Doug Wright Powerboats, said he had a really good time at the event.
Waves and Wheels general manager Josh Roark, who has worked for Wagner since 2010, said it was awesome to see one of his best friends get the recognition he deserves.
“The amount of emotion in Justin’s speech last night I think said it best,” Roark expressed. “He loves the lake community, he loves the powerboating community and he works harder than anyone I know to continue to make it bigger and better. He is so passionate about everything he does and wants to see everyone succeed and grow. I think his passion and work ethic and selflessness is why he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”
Check out the slideshow above for more images from the Hall of Fame event.
Olson, who has not been back to the lake for the Shootout in several years, said he and his wife, Michelle, enjoyed the ceremony tremendously.
“The Hall of Fame banquet was quite the deal—we had such a fun night,” Olson said. “It was much nicer than we expected, honestly, and it was amazing to see so many friends and familiar faces and people from the boating world we hadn’t seen in a long time.
“I didn’t realize until I came back here how much I missed all this powerboat stuff—I mean we boat in Florida and in The Bahamas but it’s all outboards and center consoles not big blocks and go-fast cats,” he added and laughed. “I’m thinking I need to start coming back to visit more often. This place has changed so much since we were here last.”
Olson added that he’s looking forward to the rest of Shootout week, although he’s not sure it can get much better than the way it started.
“Certainly there were people more deserving than myself within the group there last night, but it’s still a real honor to be part of it,” Olson said. “I would like to give thanks to all the people in the background who make this competition, this event, this whole week a success. They don’t always get the recognition they deserve, but without them, participants like me wouldn’t even get a chance to race our boats.”
More than two dozen Hall of Fame members from the last 13 years returned to celebrate this year’s inductees.
After finding out about the honor a few months back, Olson decided to have his 42-foot Mystic Powerboats center console hauled from Florida to Missouri so he could enjoy the week on the lake. No, he does not plan to run it in the top-speed competition this weekend, but he said he’d consider coming out of retirement if he can get the new 45-foot Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats center console he’s taking delivery of later this year running fast enough.
All in all, just like Hefner and Lee, Olson is grateful for the honor—and very deserving of it considering he’s the only person in the past 20-plus years to win the competition overall in a non-Mystic Powerboats catamaran.
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