Independent Truck Company
Independent Truck Company is a skateboard truck manufacturer based in Santa Cruz, California, United States (US). Established in 1978, the company is owned by NHS, Inc. and sponsors an extensive list of team riders. The trucks are manufactured in the city of San Francisco, US, by Ermico Enterprises, Inc., the only dedicated skateboard truck foundry in the US.
History
The company was co-founded by Richard Novak, Jay Shiurman, Fausto Vitello, and Eric Swenson and the Stage 1 model was the inaugural product, released on May 23, 1978 in Newark, California, US. The Independent truck (or "Indy") was designed as a response to the lack of quality skateboard trucks on the market at the time. In reference to the two other major truck companies on the market, Blackhart stated that one broke, and one didn’t turn (Bennett Trucks and Tracker Trucks, respectively).[1]
Hawk recruitment
In January 2013, a brief video part was released[2] to publicly announce that prominent professional skateboarder and entrepreneur, Tony Hawk, had joined the Independent Truck Company roster—Hawk was identified as the second most influential skateboarder of all time by Transworld Skateboarding magazine in December 2011.[3] The video was released on YouTube's RIDE Channel, one of Hawk's various enterprises,[4] and Hawk was previously sponsored by the Theeve truck company.[5]
Logo
The iconic logo for the trucks, the Alisee cross (often mistaken for the Iron Cross, the logo is actually a variant of the Cross pattée), was inspired by an image of Pope John Paul II, who was wearing the icon on his vestment in an edition of TIME magazine. It has remained the Independent logo since the company's inception.[1]
Signature professional model trucks
As of 2012, four team riders have consistently released signature professional model trucks for the company: Andrew Reynolds, Eric Koston,[6] Chris Haslam,[7][8] and Geoff Rowley.[9] Christian Hosoi released a guest signature truck in the winter catalogue of the company's products.[10]
Team
- Tony Hawk
- Ryan Sheckler
- Eric Koston[11]
- Greg Lutzka[12]
- Chris Haslam[13]
- Andrew Reynolds[14]
- Lizard King[15]
- Braydon Szafranski[16]
- Justin "Figgy" Figueora[17]
- Fred Gall
- David Gravette[18]
- David González[19]
- Matt Miller[20]
- Luan Oliveira[20]
- Peter Raffin[20]
- Truman Hooker[20]
- Sean Conover[20]
- Evan Smith[20]
- Darren Navarette[21]
- Ben Raybourn
- Shawn Hale[22]
- Jeff Grosso
- Alex Olson
- Brian Anderson
- Victor Cortez
- Peter Hewitt[22]
- Emanuel Guzman[22]
- Lance Mountain[22]
- Dan Drehobl[22]
- Christian Hosoi[10][23]
- Ben Raemers[24]
- Dustin Dollin
- Aaron "Jaws" Homoki
- John Cardiel
- Greyson Fletcher
- Louie Lopez
- Curren Capels
- Corey Glick
- Chris Russell
- Tony Trujillo
- Ronny Sandoval
- Jagger Eaton
- Lizzie Armanto
- Ray Barbee
- Anthony Van Engelen
- Bob Burnquist
- Geoff Rowley
- Steve Alba
- Tony Alba
- Jesse Alba
- Omar Hassan
- Pedro Barros
- Rune Glifberg
- Bucky Lasek
- Stu Graham
- Kevin Kowalski
- Sam Hitz
- Gilbert Crockett
- Al Partanen
- Tommy Guerrero
- Steve Caballero
- Charlie Blair
- Scott Decenzo
- Dallas Rockvam
- Rick Howard
- Andrew Allen
- Elijah Berle
- Josh Borden
- Grant Taylor
- Auby Taylor
- Danny Way
- Chris Gregson
- Mike Smith
- Daniel Lutheran
- Eddie Elguera
- Wes Kremer
- Jake Johnson
- Ben Hatchell
- Mason Merlino
- Pat Ngoho
- Jim Greco
- Cyril Jackson
- Rowan Zorilla
- Kevin Long
- Braydon Szafranski
- Riley Hawk
References
- 1 2 Denike, Bob. BUILT TO GRIND: 25 YEARS of hardcore skateboarding from the archives of INDEPENDENT TRUCK COMPANY. San Francisco: NHS, 2004. Print.
- ↑ RIDEChannel (14 January 2013). "Tony Hawk's 2013 Welcome To Indy Video Part" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
- ↑ Blair Alley (30 December 2011). "THE 30 MOST INFLUENTIAL SKATERS OF ALL TIME – 2. Hawk". Transworld Skateboarding. Bonnier Corporation. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ RIDEChannel (15 January 2012). "Tony Hawk Welcomes you to Ride Channel" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
- ↑ Blair Alley (27 November 2009). "TONY HAWK ON THEEVE TRUCKS". Transworld Skateboarding. Bonnier Corporation. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
- ↑ APPLECRUNCH199abd (7 October 2012). "Eric Koston Independent trucks review." (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ Don Nyugen (2012). "5&5 With Chris Haslam" (Video upload). Strange Notes. NHS, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ IndependentTrucks (19 March 2010). "CHRIS HASLAM - NEW PRO V SERIES by INDEPENDENT TRUCKS" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ IndependentTrucks (2 November 2007). "New Independent Geoff Rowley Stage 9 Trucks out now!" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- 1 2 Aaron Smith (7 September 2012). "INDEPENDENT TRUCKS BEHIND THE AD WITH CHRISTIAN HOSOI". Skateboarder magazine. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ IndependentTrucks (21 August 2006). "Eric Koston - New Independent Stage 9 Low" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ Strange Notes (August 2012). "On The Spot With Greg Lutzka". Strange Notes. Strange Notes. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
- ↑ IndependentTrucks (19 May 2010). "CHRIS HASLAM - NEW PRO V SERIES by INDEPENDENT TRUCKS". YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
- ↑ Sidewalk (May 2012). "New Independent Trucks advert with Andrew Reynolds.". Sidewalk. MPORA ACTION SPORTS NETWORK. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
- ↑ "Team - Lizard King". Supra Footwear. One Distribution. 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ↑ Dustin Dollin (August 2012). "6 Pack: Braydon Szafranski" (Video upload). Strange Notes. NHS, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ Don Nyugen (2012). "6 Pack: Figgy" (Video upload). Strange Notes. NHS, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ IndependentTrucks (9 September 2011). "6 Pack with David Gravette" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ IndependentTrucks (14 July 2011). "David Gonzalez Rides Independent" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 kdub (19 February 2010). "Fresh team pick ups". Strange Notes. NHS, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ IndependentTrucks (2 October 2012). "5&5 with Navs" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 rhino (12 January 2013). "Agenda Trade Show weekend" (Photo upload). Strange Notes. NHS, Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ "Riders". Strange Notes. Strange Notes. August 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
- ↑ "5&5 with Ben Raemers" (Video upload). Strange Notes on YouTube. Google Inc. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.