Our History
THE ROOTS
Steve’s father, John A. Stimely, was an avid golfer and spent many hours at the local country club. While enjoying the game of golf, he also enjoyed mechanical work and would service the club’s carts. He would even take the unwanted junked pieces and fix them up and sell them occasionally. When John passed away in January 1993, Steve was asked to carry on this work, in his spare time of course.
WHO’S JAKE?
Steve was a paving superintendent for 25 years with a sideline of building racecars and now custom golf carts and parts. It was common for him to work away four days a week and be home on Friday. This gave him some time to work on the fun stuff. Time went on and he continued the side work with some assistance of his 65 year-old neighbor, Bob, whose 83 year-old dad, named Jake, lived beside him. Jake would sit on his porch all day and occasionally take a check or tell people to come back a little later. Hence, the name Jakes.
THE LIFT KIT
In 1997, Steve was approached by a friend who wanted something made for his Yamaha golf cart and told him if anyone could, he could. The lift kit was designed and engineered over the next several months. Along with the lift, he made a power kit to accomplish what he knew was going to be needed, getting some torque back from putting larger tires on a golf cart. Both seemed to work pretty well, and so he started selling some to local distributors and friends he had in the industry. It was a hit.
THE MAN BEHIND IT
If anyone knows Steve, you’ll know there is never a ceiling. There’s always a goal on top of another one for him. Business was going well… perhaps too well. Five carts became 50 carts, 100 lift kits became thousands, and soon it was time to ‘roll the dice.’ In 1998, Steve retired from his full-time career and went full-force ahead on the golf carts, lift kits and other ideas. And it hasn’t stopped yet.
The Yamaha lift kit went through intense factory quality tests and inspections, which now allows the lift to be adorned with the ‘factory-authorized’ label.
Yamaha made a very nice offer to move the family down to Newnan, Georgia for more engineering ideas. Although tempting, family and home easily prevailed. New patent-pending designs and high quality products were on the horizon. It was just the first of many deals in the next few years from all the Big 3 players: Club Car, EZ-Go, and Yamaha.
In March 2007, after years of pending status, Steve was awarded a patent for his golf cart spindle design. This design pulls together a lift kit with unmatched quality and a race car like design. Better yet, it’s proudly made in United States of America.