PROGRESS: Riding the current

For nearly his entire life, Mike Lamb has loved the feeling of power at his feet.

Long before he walked the halls of Greenfield High School, Lamb was already working alongside his father, Bill, in the family tiling business — learning the rhythm of engines, the weight of dirt and the satisfaction of a job finished at ground level.

He would eventually take over the business, Lamb Tiling, continuing the work his father started. Today, the company employs five or six workers, tackling a wide range of jobs — digging ponds, performing demolition and handling tiling needs for area farmers.

Since the 2024 tornado reshaped Greenfield, Lamb Tiling has played a steady role in the town’s recovery. Crews have dug basements for new construction across the community, including a new bank and the Adair County Health System EMS house, which was completed late last year.

“Since the tornado, we’ve been busy because it got two of our locations. We’ve recovered from that,” Lamb said. “I enjoy the people we work for and enjoy digging in the dirt, I guess. You go out in the spring or fall and dig up some dirt — it smells kind of good. It’s quite a service to the county. We work a lot in Adair and Madison counties. It’s nice to work close to home.”

But Lamb’s appreciation for horsepower doesn’t stop on land.

In 1996, a trip to a drag boat race at Little Wall Lake in western Iowa changed everything. What began as curiosity quickly turned into something more with a drag boat that he already had been taking on the water for pleasure.

“I thought, ‘Gosh darn, we could do this,’” Lamb said. “So the next year, we took this boat and went up there.”

That first attempt didn’t go as planned — he blew the motor on his very first run. But it didn’t take long for things to turn.

“We got another motor together, took off — me and a couple other guys — and I got second place,” Lamb said, recalling his second race in Austin, Texas. “That’s all it took.”

Lamb admits he didn’t know much about drag boat racing when he started. His original boat topped out around 90 mph. Today, his current boat averages closer to 165 mph, skimming across 1,000 feet of water in a matter of seconds. His team is called “Just One More.”

He competes in a 5.6-second index class, where precision matters as much as speed. Racers must finish as close as possible to 5.6 seconds without going faster.

“We moved up through the years and went a little faster. Then I switched boats and got this boat I have now,” Lamb said. “That first one was a flat-bottom boat and very hard to drive. That’s why I switched to a hydro, which lifts the back of the boat and has two sponsons out front. It’s also much safer, but faster.”

Race weekends begin with Saturday qualifying rounds, where drivers chase near-perfect times to earn a top spot for Sunday eliminations.

“You go 5.59 and it doesn’t count — you have to go 5.6 or slower,” Lamb said. “You can run a 5.60. We can do it — maybe not every time — but we’ve run a 5.60. We can get it really close, which is hard to believe on water. But we can.”

At the starting line, infrared beams track reaction times as a countdown ticks from 10 seconds. Drivers choose when to launch, balancing instinct and timing.

“If you cross the line too soon, that’s a red light,” Lamb said. “On Sundays, you’ll get beat if you red light and the other guy doesn’t.”

Unlike land-based racing, water adds its own layer of unpredictability. Wind, temperature and surface conditions all influence performance.

“The hotter the air, the worse the boat will run. The cooler the air, the more horsepower it’ll make,” Lamb said. “We can go way faster with that motor and setup if we wanted, so we have to slow it down to fit our class. We could go into the next class, which is 5.2. Four-tenths of a second doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is.”

Over the years, Lamb has built a dependable crew. John Schultz of Greenfield, Ron Hogan of Bevington and Jason and Melissa Brewer of Greenfield, with their daughter Addison, help keep things running smoothly. His wife, Tanya, has been by his side throughout the journey, and John’s brother, Jimmie Schultz, painted Lamb’s current boat.

Tanya said her favorite part of drag boat racing is that she and Mike have “the best team we have ever had.”

“We all want to win and have a great time. Everybody does their thing, whether it’s from cooking breakfast to running the valves, our team is a well-oiled machine,” she said. “We do what we need to do and the rest is up to the driver, aka Mike. That makes for a great weekend — and a better one if we win. It goes without saying, Just One More.”

Lamb typically competes in about four races each year, with many held in Wheatland, Missouri, on a man-made lake designed specifically for drag racing.

The sport itself may be evolving. The International Hot Rod Association recently acquired the drag boat racing sanctioning body, a move Lamb hopes will bring growth and investment.

“It’s supposed to be a lot better,” he said. “They’re going to throw a lot of money in it.”

While the speed is undeniable — a blur of water and engine noise — Lamb says the real draw lies elsewhere.

“We like to run a good number. We like to be competitive,” he said. “It took us a long time to get good. We weren’t very good at first. I didn’t win anything until 1999 or 2000. It seemed like forever. We’ve won a lot since then.”

Among those wins is a world championship in Phoenix in 2010, a milestone he still considers one of his greatest accomplishments. Now 62, Lamb has thought about stepping away from the sport — but not just yet.

Success in drag boat racing doesn’t come easily. It requires long hours in the garage, constant maintenance and a willingness to keep learning. During the week, Lamb remains focused on his business, serving clients across the region.

“We try to work our normal schedule, but this is just a different type of work — something we enjoy,” Lamb said. We’ve spent a lot of time doing it, and it’s been our vacations. It’s a commitment. It can be rewarding, and it can be humbling.”

Lamb is also appreciative of his family’s support: his mother, Mary Lou; brother Jerry Lamb and sisters Joni Baker and Nancy Gruss.