Off-Road Racer Live - Eric Conner of SoCal Suspension - 2026 Off-Road Expo

Welcome to the first edition of Off-Road Racer Live. These recordings come from the 2026 Off-Road Expo, in the Josh the Auto Buyer booth.In this edition, Matt Martelli and Desert Dime sit down with Eric Conner of SoCal Suspension to talk about his unusual path into off road, starting with a career as a professional skateboarder before moving into cars, fabrication, prerunners, and eventually desert racing.Eric talks about growing up around skateboarding in Southern California, skating professionally through his teens and early twenties, and how his father taught him to work on cars and build things himself. When skateboarding started slowing down, Eric took a job at a local shop and quickly found a new direction working on cars. From street racing and custom cars to low riders and hot rods, those different parts of car culture eventually led him into the off road world.A big part of the conversation is the connection between skateboarding and off road. Eric explains how the freedom, creativity, style, and community that drew him to skateboarding are the same things he sees in prerunner culture. He also talks about the difference between that culture and the competitive side of desert racing, and why he wants to see more of the different groups within off road come together.Eric also talks about getting his son Zach into racing. What started with Zach driving a 1450 truck at King of the Hammers turned into a serious racing career, including winning King of the Hammers the following year. Eric explains what it has been like watching his son develop as a driver, the challenges of co driving for him, and how racing together has created a bond between them that goes far beyond the track.The conversation also gets into the larger off road community and the importance of telling the stories of the racers throughout the field, not just the Trophy Truck drivers. Eric talks about bringing more attention to the families, personalities, and different communities that make up off road racing, along with ideas for bringing prerunner, overland, and racing communities together at events.Recorded live at the 2026 Off-Road Expo.