Don Onken is 83 years young and has accomplished a lot in his powerboat racing career. But he’s not done yet. “Our goal with American Ethanol is to go as fast at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in 3/4 mile as we previously did in one mile” Onken said. “People didn’t think we’d ever get to 200 mph on the short course, but here we are.”
In 2022, driven by Tony Battiato and throttled by John Cosker, the owner of Mystic Powerboats, Onken’s 51 ft. Mystic Catamaran produced a run of 207 mph to capture the LOTO Shootout Top Gun award for the eighth time.
The boat was powered by four Vortech Supercharged, 600 cu. in. Big Block Chevys that were built by Earl Moorman at Onken’s performance engine shop, Onken Racing. The engines use Big Chief cylinder heads, Holley Dominator engine management systems, Custom Marine headers, and run on E85 ethanol fuel from Renegade Race Fuel. The engines are mounted crank-to-crank, tractor pull style, producing 2250 hp each to spin the number 10 Arneson drives through SCS crash boxes.
In preparation for this year’s LOTO assault, Onken planned to outfit the Mystic with four new engines. Built using Mercury Racing Engine blocks and double overhead cam cylinder heads, the 557 cu.in. short stroke engines will use Procharger superchargers to make 2550 hp each. Don felt confident that the extra 1000 hp combined would get them the additional 10 mph they needed to get the boat to 217 mph which would have equaled their one mile best speed.
In the episode, Don talks about this very ambitious undertaking.
You can find Don Onken and American Ethonal Racing on Facebook @American Ethonal Mystic Race Team
To learn more about the Lake of the Ozarks (LOTO) Shootout visit them online https://lakeoftheozarksshootout.com/
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