Legendary Marine adds high-performance service division

DESTIN, Fla. — Legendary Marine recently launched a new division — Legendary Performance — focused solely on high-performance service and repair. The dealership tapped two industry race veterans to lead the new initiative.

“We are very excited to launch Legendary Performance and are extremely pleased to simultaneously announce the addition of Scott Childs and Jeff Hopper to our award-winning service team,” Legendary Marine Managing Partner Fred Pace said in a release. “While Legendary had a long history in high performance sales in the past, our focus for the future in this niche is in the service area of high performance refresh, repair and repower. We are uniquely positioned to now offer high-performance service featuring a highly qualified and well seasoned service staff, accessible location, superior protected facilities, haul out and indoor dry storage capabilities for boats up to 51-feet.”

Childs and Hopper are former employees of Mercury Racing who have hands-on experience working at the Lake X and X-Site in Panama City, Fla.

Childs is a 28-year outboard and stern drive veteran who is fully certified and capable of rebuilding all standard and race outboards, along with sterndrives. He is a Mercruiser Master Technician and Mercury Outboard Master Technician who carries the Mercury Racing T.E.A.M. certification. He has also worked in race schedule support, including work with Poker Runs of America.

Childs has 15 years of extensive engine and boat setup experience including center of gravity, x-dimension, prop selection on 16-50 foot offshore Cats and Vee Bottoms, plus research, development and testing on all Verados from 90 hp to 350 hp. He has also provided support for the Offshore Super Series for the 525 hp class through 1200 hp class.

Prior to joining Legendary, Hopper spent 25 years with Mercury Racing beginning in 1985 at Lake X. His involvement in race team support is equally extensive, including travel to all sanctioned races from within the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

“Scott and Jeff represent the top echelon in the business,” Legendary Marine Director of Marina Operations Tripper Crisp said in the release. “We are thrilled to welcome them aboard and look forward to their significant contributions in this new endeavor. We are very serious about this end of the business and now offer plenty of horsepower to address this specialized market.”

• Can’t get enough boating news? Subscribe to our blog’s RSS feed, follow us on Twitter or look for “Boating Industry” on Facebook and LinkedIn.
• For more of the latest news, click here.