Randy And Taylor Scism Join Forces In TS Motorsports MTI For Sarasota

In a truly marquee father-and-daughter pairing, MTI company founder and owner Randy Scism and his daughter, Taylor, who handles client relations and marketing for the Wentzville, Mo., company, will share the canopied cockpit of an MTI 390X catamaran in the new 450R Factory Stock class during the final race of the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix this Sunday in Southwest Florida.

Randy and Taylor Scism with share the cockpit of their MTI 390X raceboat this weekend in Sarasota, Fla.

“They want our class to run with the Supercats, so Johnny Tomlinson, who was going to throttle with me, will be with Lorne Leibel in the Canada Homes boat,” said Taylor Scism, who drove alongside throttleman Shaun Torrente at the American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series season-opener in Cocoa Beach, Fla., last month and at the Lake Race on the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri with Tomlinson earlier this month. “I’ve come to this race a lot with my family during the years. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Off the racecourse since a harrowing accident in 2017 during the Super Boat International Key West Offshore World Championships, Randy Scism has been his daughter’s practice-and-testing partner at the Lake of the Ozarks, their home-water. MTI has employed the same structural canopy technology that it developed for its former 48- and 52-foot raceboats for the 390X, he said.

“I really didn’t plan for this to happen, but it’s going to be fun,” he said. “My plan has been to get her seat time in the cockpit with the top people in the sport so she can learn faster on a closed course with all of the safety assets. She is getting better and better every time she goes out.

“I can get a little intense in the cockpit and I’m not sure I want her to hear me like that,” he added, then laughed. “We’ll see how relations are when we get back.”

Though the TS Motorsports team has run solo in the fledgling class so far this season, Scism said he is confident that it will grow.

“I think it’s going to be a great class,” he said. “We were looking to create something turnkey, and I think the reliability of the 450R will help provide that. Plus, the hulls have to be homologated for this class which means your boat won’t be obsolete in six months.

“There are people building other boats for the class—we may even have another by the time we get to Key West,” he continued. “We also have a couple of customers looking to build new MTIs with us, but they are 18 months out before they can have one”

Said Randy Scism of his daughter, Taylor, who shared the cockpit of their 390X raceboat with veteran powerboat racer Shaun Torrente in Cocoa Beach, Fla., last month, “She is getting better and better every time she goes out.” Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Randy And Taylor Scism Join Forces In TS Motorsports MTI For Sarasota

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