Catching Up With Velocity’s Scott McCormick: ‘It’s Going To Be A Great Year’

Scott McCormick has come a long way from sweeping the floors of Velocity Powerboats for free as a teenager from DeLeon Springs, Fla., but the 51-year-old owner of the Sanford, Fla., V-bottom sportboat and center console builder never lost his enthusiasm for the brand. McCormick, who among other things worked on Wall Street as a stock broker for 10 years after exiting the marine industry and returned to purchase Velocity with backing from a private investor in 2018, is frothing with enthusiasm.

“My passion for Velocity never dissipated,” he said.

With backing from Velocity Powerboats, the recent 2020 Rus Matos Toys Tour attracted a record-setting 95 boats. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Though Velocity completed its expanded and upgraded Sanford facility in 2018, the permit-approval process dragged on for a year, according to McCormick, who brought in a consultant to handle complete ISO certification for the company.

McCormick also immediately beefed up the company’s lamination schedules for all models.

“One of the biggest things I bought back to the brand was to reassure our customers that the boats were not going to fall apart,” he said. “Some of the builds had a reputation for being ‘potato chips.’”

More recently, Velocity opened a full-time in-house upholstery shop to complement its lamination and rigging departments.

“We are only 14 months in and things are going phenomenal,” said McCormick. “We had planned to build and sell 10 boats in our first year and we did 23 boats. I hired Walt Braithwaite to head up our sales and marketing and he is doing a phenomenal job with everything, including building our dealer network. Everything we build is back-logged—I have four 290s with Mercury Racing 400R outboards on order right now. It’s going to be a great year. My goal is $10 million in sales in 2021.

“We are growing the business carefully and organically,” he continued. “I would rather build 20 first-class boats than 40 pieces of junk. Our rigging is second to none. I’m an OCD kind of guy.”

McCormick is far from alone in his enthusiasm for the brand. Among the more high-profile and passionate Velocity fans is Spartan Powerboat Club founder Del Flores of New Jersey, who owns a 39-footer..

“Scott has reinvented Velocity,” said Flores. “His vision is to give Velocity its well-deserved recognition through quality and performance.”

This new Velocity 290 SC reportedly reached 104 mph on Lake X.

Before purchasing the company, McCormick took an unflinching, data-driven look at the high-performance market. And it didn’t’ take him long to appreciate the momentum and value of the outboard engine power movement, which has translated to Velocity adapting its models to accommodate outboard power. That’s not to say the company won’t build a stern-drive-engine boat, but outboards are first and foremost.

Equipped with Mercury Racing Verado 400Rs, the second Velocity 290 SC built with outboards reportedly reached 104 mph at Mercury Racing’s Lake X facility in St. Cloud, Fla.

“With bigger propellers, I expect it to be a 106-, 108-mph boat,” said McCormick. “The first one we did had 300Rs and it accelerated really, really hard.”

A new outboard 43-footer also is in the works for Velocity. The upcoming Lamborghini-orange offering will be powered by a pair of Mercury Racing 450R outboards.

Said McCormick, “The new 430 is going to be incredible. We have a lot surprises coming up next year.”

The founder and president of the Spartan Powerboat Club and the adoring owner of 39-foot Velocity sportboat, Del Flores is one of the company’s biggest boosters. Photo from Sarasota, Fla., 2019 by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Catching Up With Velocity’s Scott McCormick: ‘It’s Going To Be A Great Year’

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