The Shox Skinz Story
On a trip to a powersports convention several years ago
Scott Fasse stumbled upon an idea that has turned into a small business that is
closely related to his own hobby of auto racing. At the trade show Fasse noticed a few
manufacturers of shock covers had stepped up their ATV product offerings with
covers that featured cool, fresh colors and graphics. Although he knew that covers were available
in the autosport market, he wondered why no one had created a product that
offered a greater variety of colors and graphics.
Over the next several months he began researching and
experimenting with the idea of producing his own line of covers for open wheel racing. A lightning sprint / mini sprint racer
himself, he began designing and testing covers on his own car. The covers started getting attention at the
tracks where he raced and he soon started filling requests from fellow
competitors. “It was fun just to see the
covers I was making on the cars racing at seveal local tracks”, fasse
commented. After the covers had gained
some momentum he decided to make them official and began calling his product
Shox Skinz.
Fasse’s fledgling company expanded beyond the local scene
when a few racers competing in the famed Chili Bowl placed the covers on their
cars. “There’s no better place to be
seen than at the Chili Bowl and we were lucky enough to have covers on 6 or 7
cars competing in the race in 2008.” The
exposure helped Shox Skinz expand its sales throughout the United States and
even into Australia and New Zealand.
While Fasse’s initial product offerings included shock
covers that were plain or with flame or lightning bolt graphics, customers
quickly began asking for custom graphics.
“I guess it only made sense that a racer would want his name, number, a
sponsors name or some other text or graphics on the covers – just like any
other part of the racing car. Since we
were not a big company mass producing cookie cutter units, we were both willing
and capable of meeting their request.”
Today Fasse says probably 70% of the shock covers that Shox Skinz
produces feature custom graphics.
While the initial focus of the company was on covers for
mini sprints and midgets, today Shox Skinz has produced shock covers for many
different types of racing vehicles. “Our
first expansion was into other types of open wheel cars including sprint cars,
quarter midgets and TQ midgets. Next
were a few closed wheel cars like late models and modifieds. The Internet is a great thing and we soon
started receiving requests for some really unique applications. Things like monster trucks, UTVs, sand rails
and even roll bar pads for roller coasters.”
“It really is a pretty neat business. Anymore almost every job is something
new--whether it’s creating new graphics or manufacturing a new size of cover
for a special application. Although we
have been at this for several years now, I still get excited every time I visit
the track and see a pair on a car, or find photos of race cars on the internet
that have our covers on them”, Fasse commented in conclusion.
For more information on Shox Skinz custom shock covers,
visit www.shoxskinz.com.
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