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History of Summerford Racing (STV) |
by Roark Summerford:
Laser Boats
of Texas was the Parent Company that had a race boat division to attract
attention to its bass and pleasure boats. The race boats started as
“one-off” tunnel boats and “V” bottom race boats.
Finally, in 1981 APBA
recognized that a large group, mixed of “V” bottom, and semi-tunnel
type boats, could be a single
class. The result was the start of the Mod
VP class. In this class ”V” bottom, and tunnel boats with a
center pod, made of fiberglass, could compete against each other.
Laser
needed a new bass boat and with a little work the 380 Ray was built. The 380 Ray was a race boat that could be used as
a bass boat, ski boat, and a really good handling “V” bottom race
boat. The first 380 Ray was done just in time for the 1982 Havasau Classic held on Thanksgiving weekend. It was the only
Mercury powered boat in a field of 25 boats. The 380 Ray powered by the
Mercury blew the field away by finishing a full lap ahead of the field.
The 380 Ray was used in the 83-race season and won the over-all title.
It was also evident, that to remain on top of the Mod VP class, it was
going to take a tunnel boat. Late in the 1983 race-season, I took a
wrecked 380 Ray race-boat and sectioned it by dropping the sides around
the vee’d center. The 18 ft. V’nosed Mod VP boat was born. This boat
was known as an LTV, Laser Tunnel Vee. The first two proto-types were raced in Burmuda
late in 1983. These boats had what would be known as the ski boat deck
on them. Chris Bush & Gray
Tuttle drove the boats and Chris simply played with the field. Gary
did not have as good luck and blew over on the last lap.
That winter the narrow cockpit deck was developed and the driver was
moved one foot forward in the boat. For the 84-race season the 18 ft.
boat became known as the LTV
and was used even after Laser was sold. At the time of the sale of
Laser, the company was split into the Bass boat, Ski boat, combination
and the Race boat division. This was the beginning of Summerford
Racing and STV.
STV
(Summerford Tunnel Vee) was actually a model designation for the 18 ft.
Vee nosed, Mod VP race boat. Customers used STV to describe all boats
built at Summerford Racing and it became the general name used. The other term that was used to satisfy the US Coast Guard was, “Pro
Comp”, short for “Professional Competition”. Since all boats
built at Summerford Racing were all race boats and were exempt from
Coast Guard horsepower ratings. Pro Comp was used to describe each model
built. Customers again would shorten names for ease of conversation. The
original 18 ft. “V” nose was built only as two models at Summerford
Racing, the Pro Comp Race Boat
and the Pro Comp Bass Drag Boat.
Other than the two-proto types with the wide cockpits, which were both re-decked with new narrow decks, no wide deck 18 ft. boats were ever made. We did offer the 18 ft. boat with two bucket seats up front and a small rear seat, but it was still sold as a race boat. Some of the drag race classes required offset steering.
During the winter of 1984, I began to develop the “pickle-fork”,19 ft. Mod VP boat. Tom Drozd raced the first proto-type at St. Louis. Although the boat had a better hole slot and was about 10
mph faster than the 18 ft. boat, it was not predictable in a turn in
race conditions. There were four of these proto-types built. Only two of
these boats kept the original decks the other two were converted over to
the Pro Comp style decks.
The bottom of this boat was fine-tuned several times over the next 3
years. There were only two decks offered on this hull which were the Pro
Comp (narrow dash) and the Pro Comp Ski (wide dash). Because these boats
had about 1/3 more sq. ft. of surface area than the old 18 ft. boat,
they were never as light as the 18 ft. boat. There were rumors of
Pro Comps at less than 400 lbs. and there was one built for Chris Bush
that weighed 385 lbs. We raced this boat with 50 lbs. of lead under the
gas tank to keep it on the water. At the end of the season this boat was
cut up and put in the trash can.
Rusty
Campbell took over the job of driving the Mod VP boat, and Chris
Bush drove a “one-off” wooden Champ Boat. Rusty went on to dominate
the Mod VP class for the next several years, Chris won the Champ Class
in his first year in the very competitive Champ Class.
At the end of the 1988 race-season, I redesigned the bottom of the 19
ft. boat to the current configurations of what is know as the “Ski Boat Bottom”. This bottom was much quicker and better tops
speed potential. This bottom had a problem in rough water settling for a
turn. Once again for the 90-race season I changed the bottom for
handling in rough water turns. This bottom became known as the “Race Boat Bottom”. These two bottoms were used under the Pro
Comp deck, the Pro Comp Ski deck, the Euro
deck, and the Capsule race
deck of which the Two Seater
was also built. When the old Pro Comp race deck was dropped the River Rocket deck was its replacement. The
20 ft. STV “V” Bottom was
only built for a brief time and only had one deck on it. This boat won
the New Orleans to St. Lewis race in 1986 driven by Lynn Simburger. Lynn
never got the credit for the win because of bad politics. My
team of Craftsmen built STV's. from 1985-1996.
STVowners.com
would like to thank Mr. Summerford for contributing this informative
article to our site.
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