Born and raised in Camdenton, one of the communities within Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, Ernie Dampier has been around boats of all of his life. Yet it wasn’t until he stopped racing Pro Mod dragsters and started hauling boats for a living that he really started to enjoy them. It helped that he was friends with the late Bob Morgan and was able to do some poker runs with the legendary boat racer who owned and operated the lake’s Big Thunder Marina for many years.
Ernie Dampier runs his recently restored 42-foot Fountain in the Performance Boat Center Spring Fun Run. Photo courtesy Brad Glidewell