Road Ready.

THE ATTEMPT OF A ONE-TIME CSUN ENGINEERING STUDENT TO SOUP UP HIS VOLKSWAGEN IN THE '70s TURNED INTO AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE HIGH-PERFORMANCE AUTOMOBILE WORLD

IN the late 1970s, Brian Skipper was a sand buggy enthusiast who just wanted to make his vehicle go faster.

The Cal State Northridge engineering student stumbled into a job at a local performance parts-maker that helped him pay for his racing habit.

More than 20 years later, Skipper owns that company, Sway-A-Way Inc., and over the past four years has nearly doubled its revenues and expanded a product line that once catered primarily to souped-up Volkswagens.

Revenues have jumped from $2.25 million in 1996 to an expected $4.8 million for 2000. Meanwhile, Sway-A-Way's product line has expanded from a selection of sway bars for mini-trucks, Volkswagens and off-road vehicles to sway bars and suspension systems for sprint cars and Winston Cup racers.

"It's a good market right now," Skipper said. "A lot of people have money and they like to spend it on their toys."

In the '60s and '70s, race car drivers focused on their engines to improve the car's speed. Today the focus has moved to improving a car's cornering and how it runs to make it go faster.

For example, sprint cars have 850-horsepower engines and weigh 1,100 pounds. While the cars could easily go 190 mph, they don't because the small circle courses they travel requires such tight cornering.

For that reason, sway bars, which are u-shaped bars that prevent the car from leaning too much to the side as it turns a corner, are important because the better a car corners, the less time it takes to circle the track.

"Sway bars are a large growth area," Skipper said. "People are getting much more aware of what good suspension systems can do. In the late '60s and '70s, it was all about having a big motor. But with smog regulations, there's not as much you can do with a motor now. So people are spending money on suspension systems."

Off and running

Skipper, who bought an interest in the company in 1981 and the rest of it when the former owner retired in the late 1980s, has been expanding the company's product line over the last several years.

Company employees, mostly race car enthusiasts themselves, visit races on a regular basis to watch the cars and talk to drivers about problems and listen to complaints. Sway-A-Way's team of four engineers and Skipper then set out to design parts that can improve the way a car corners and a suspension system that can shave off time.

The company has grown from a staff of 19 people four years ago to 38 today. In the coming months, it will move from its 15,000-square-foot building in Chatsworth, where it has been for the last decade, to a 30,000 square foot site down the street.

Skipper has tried to use the company's engineering focus to differentiate it from the rest of the pack. Because he and most employees are racers themselves, they have an intimate understanding of what a driver is looking for and the problems a car can encounter.

"I know exactly what the car is doing," said Skipper, who raced for years in the Baja 2000, a 700-mile off-road race in Mexico. "Everyone here is involved in motor sports. Their passion is cars and high-performance vehicles. I like to hire people who are interested in racing."

Because the company is small, it can cater to performance retailers and design system packages that other manufacturers don't.

"They're definitely the No. 1 seller in their marketplace," said Jeff Quinn, president of McKenzie's Performance Parts in Anaheim, a retailer that carries Sway-A-Way parts. "They're very well-known by racers."

Taking it to the street

Quinn said the Sway-A-Way line is by far more expensive than other suspension parts, but it's products are popular because they make more varieties of each product than other manufacturers. For instance, Sway-A-Way has three different lengths of torsion bars for Volkswagens that come in 10 different sizes.

While the company, started in 1969, still makes parts for VWs. "It's still a very popular market, but it's in its autumn time frame," Skipper said. "A lot of people love to tinker with those still."

Now the growth is in the race market.

Sway-A-Way has expanded its products because of what it hears and the interests of its engineering staff.

After receiving financing in the past four years, the company has been able to expand into more product lines.

"Now we do a lot of street performance sway bars, shock absorbers, axles, torsion bars and coil springs," Skipper said.

The company also makes shock absorbers and other components for Sega GameWorks and its virtual reality games. And Sway-A-Way is now expanding into the motorcycle racing market.

Sway-A-Way

Spotlight

Year Founded: 1969

Core Business: Performance parts for race cars

Revenue in 1996: $2.25 million

Revenue in 1999: $3.6 million

Revenue in 2000: $4.8 million (projected)

Employees in 1996: 22

Employees in 2000: 38

Goal: Be the No. 1 suspension manufacturer in the performance market

Driving Force: Growing demand for parts that make race cars go faster