Parvey Family Returning to Shootout with Massive Power in Black Thunder

Since the early 1990s, Dennis Parvey of PF Marine Intercoolers has competed in the annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri. According to his son, Jason, the senior Parvey’s first Shootout ride was a 32-foot Black Thunder V-bottom. By 2000, the Parveys had stepped up to a 43-foot Black Thunder V-bottom. A pair of electronically fuel-injected, supercharged 1,675-hp engines that use PF Marine’s intercooler units are current power for the boat, and they’ll tap that power at the end of month to try to top their Shootout class.

Having missed the 2014 Shootout with a mechanical issue, the Parvey’s—shown running here in the event in 2012—are eager to get back on the Lake of the Ozarks liquid-mile at the end of the month. Photo courtesy/copyright Jeff Helmkamp.

The Parveys are looking to top out in the 140-mph range. (To watch of video of them doing just that earlier this month, click here.) With their relatively new fuel-injected engines that run on E85 fuel, they’re bringing more to power to the Shootout than they ever have before.

“We’re still making some changes here and there,” Jason Parvey said. “We still make bottom modifications from time to time.

“My dad still owns the boat,” he added. “And I will be along as he runs it through the course.”

In the non-professional V-bottom class, the Parveys have dominated in recent years. The father-and-son duo ran the tall V-bottom with 1,500-hp supercharged engines to 139 mph in 2013, 128 mph in 2012 and 129 mph in 2011. A transmission issue knocked them out of the 2014 Shootout before they were able to lay down a run.

“We were going try for the overall V-bottom record this year, but I don’t think we’ll get there,” Parvey said. “We have plenty of power—the cost to dial it in and the time required is a ‘cubic function.’ ”

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Portfolio: Jeff Helmkamp