Swoop Motorsports Skater Putting Safety First at Lake of the Ozarks Shootout

With the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri coming up in two weeks, the Swoop Motorsports team wrapped up its final round of testing in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., last weekend. Summer Richardson, who ran her DCB Performance Boats F32 catamaran 147 mph in the 2015 event, said the team’s Dial 911 Skater Powerboats 388 catamaran ran well after having the Mercury Racing No. 6 drives freshened up by Vern Gilbert at West Coast Drives and the 1,800-hp Carson Brummett engines gone through by Brummett and his team, which completed a leak-down test on the motors, added fresh oil and plugs, and went through all of the programming.

Summer Richardson is ready to show off the power behind the Swoop Motorsports Dial 911 Skater. Photos courtesy Swoop Motorsports

“Summer has gotten more seat time in the Skater and is really handling the power well—she respects the boat and its capabilities,” said Travis Richardson, the Swoop Motorsports team manager/owner who has been married to Summer for two years. “Our overall goal for the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout is safety and having fun. We are not targeting any particular top-speed number, we are just going to get out there and see what the conditions are like that morning and discuss as a team what we are comfortable with Summer trying to run.

“Summer is very competitive and wants to run with the big boys,” he continued. “I know she can, but at the end of the day this is not a raceboat, it’s an open-cockpit, 190-plus-mph monster that can take your life. We need to put ego aside and just be safe—a mechanical failure at those speeds is unrecoverable and will end tragically. At the Desert Storm Poker Run Shootout in April we had no intention of Summer running 176 mph on radar (185 mph on GPS), she did that on her own. Crew Chief Don London and I were expecting numbers in the 160s, but that’s my wife. She is so damn competitive and wants so badly to make the statement that girls can do it too that she pushes the limits.”

Travis said he expects Summer to make three or four passes depending on the conditions and to put on a great show for all of the spectators, as well as her fans and sponsors. He added that the Dial 911 Skater is going to be on display for the Shootout on the Strip street party Wednesday evening (Aug. 24) and that the first 100 fans to come say Hi can get an autographed 18-inch x 24-inch “Mrs. Swoop” poster.

For fans looking to get an even closer look at the Skater, the team is going to have it parked at the Camden on the Lake Resort docks on Thursday and Friday for Super Cat Fest. On Saturday, the 38-foot cat is expected to be at the docks at Captain Ron’s in Sunrise Beach.

The Swoop Motorsports team is planning to leave Lake Havasu on Sunday, Aug. 21, with a caravan of DCBs and Skaters—11 boats to be exact. Travis called it possibly “the coolest performance-boat convoy in history,” and he could be right.

Last year, Swoop Motorsports and DCB may have started a tradition—Travis described the road trip as “almost as much fun as being in the Ozarks.”

“We built great friendships along the way and are excited to build more this year,” he said, recalling the Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo as one of the highlights. “You can follow all the play-by-play action this year on the Swoop Motorsports Instagram page and of course on speedonthewater.com.

“We would like to thank all of our sponsors for the support this year,” he continued. “That includes Carson Brummett Engines, West Coast Drives, NRI Insurance, Boat Bling, Speedonthewater.com, Boostpower Marine, AJE Construction and Super Cat Fest.”

Swoop Motorsports Skater Putting Safety First at Lake of the Ozarks Shootout

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