A Brainerd, Minn., body shop whose owner had been researching the Spanesi Touch for two years won the measuring system earlier this month during the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ annual SEMA raffle.

SCRS and Spanesi marked SCRS’ 10th year of Repairer Driven Education and Spanesi’s 50 years in business by giving away a Spanesi Touch and a year of vehicle data, together worth more than $30,000.

Spanesi founder Orazio Spanesi himself drew the winning ticket at SCRS’ booth Nov. 8 — that of Shannon’s Auto Body service manager and Western Snow Plow lead salesman Josh Shaw.

To be eligible, entrants had to collect stamps from all of the Repairer Driven Education exhibiting sponsors’ booths on a “report card” and return it to the SCRS booth.

“I was blown away when I got the call that we won,” Shannon’s Auto Body owner Shannon Christian said, according to SCRS’ Nov. 18 news release announcing the winner. “The number one thing that I wanted to purchase at the SEMA Show this year was that Touch. … We spent a lot of time Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday shopping on the Show floor, and planning out equipment needs for a shop expansion I’m working on; I’ve actually been researching that specific system for 2 years now. We want to use it for blueprinting, increasing production and pre and post repair inspections. Winning it frees me up to invest in some of the other equipment I’ve had my eye on as well.”

Christian is a former technician who opened his own shop in 1996, according to a LinkedIn profile. Today, the shop spans 17,000 square feet and has “20 employees who seek to utilize the latest in auto repair technology,” according to SCRS.

“Being involved with SCRS in a capacity of offering this prize experience is something we always see as an opportunity to give back to an industry that continue to be very good to our company,” Chief Operating Officer Timothy Morgan said in a statement. “We have enjoyed a tremendous amount of success during the SEMA Show every year, and it’s exciting to us to see a company like Shannon’s Auto Body win our equipment. Shannon has been a great customer, and we were fortunate to have done business with him earlier in the week as well, and I know this is just a phenomenal way for him to close out his Show. It’s very rewarding to know we are able to help support good people, working to do great things for consumers by investing in their industry, in their business and in acquiring knowledge. We couldn’t be more proud of how this turned out.”

Shannon’s Auto Body is I-CAR Gold Class and has ASE-certified technicians. It also joined SCRS as a new Platinum Member during SEMA 2019.

“I’ve been to SEMA every year for the past 10 years, and this year I brought four of my employees,” said Christian, according to SCRS. “It’s also the first year I took classes, and I was blown away by what we gained from that experience. I was also really excited to spend time in the SCRS booth and demo the new Blueprinting Optimization Tool that SCRS released. I’m even more excited after seeing the demo in person. Honestly, this was simply an amazing Show; such a good experience.”

For more information about SCRS, call 877-841-0660, email info@scrs.com, or visit www.scrs.com.

“We really want to thank Tim Morgan and Spanesi Americas, as well as (export and marketing manager Cristina Spanesi), Orazio and the entire Spanesi family for their continued generosity and support over the years,” SCRS Chairman Brett Bailey (A&B) said in a statement. “It’s also really nice to see one of our new members enjoy such good fortune while participating in the SEMA Show. It was also really exciting for all of us to see so many collision repair businesses in the booth on Friday, just waiting to see if they were the winner. It’s a testament to the excitement surrounding the Touch Measuring System, and the value it brings to our audience. We’ve always focused on creating positive impact for those in the industry around us, and this year was special for many reasons; namely that it marked 10 years of SCRS working with SEMA to deliver positive impact at the Show. It’s moments like these when we see members benefit that I’m reminded of how lucky we are to do the work we do, who we get to do it with, and most importantly who we get to do it for.”

SCRS and Spanesi gave away a more than $28,000 Spanesi 14500A inverter spot welder at SEMA 2018, and SCRS Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg recalled the duo had a conversation then about how “we want to go big next year” to mark the Spanesi and SCRS anniversaries.

“You guys really came through on that,” he said before the Nov. 8 drawing. He noted that “we’ve had such an interest” in the Touch from SCRS’ 2019 booth visitors.

More information:

“SCRS Announces Winner of Annual Prize from the 2019 SEMA Show”

Society of Collision Repair Specialists, Nov. 18, 2019

Images:

With Spanesi founder Orazio Spanesi, second from right, drawing the winning ticket, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists and Spanesi raffled off a more than $30,000 Spanesi Touch package on Nov. 8, 2019, at SEMA. (John Huetter/Repairer Driven News)

Spanesi Chief Operating Officer Tim Morgan, left, poses with Shannon’s Auto Body service manager and Western Snow Plow lead salesman Josh Shaw, center. Shannon’s Auto Body owner Shannon Christian is at left. Shaw had the winning ticket in the Society of Collision Repair Specialists and Spanesi’s 2019 SEMA giveaway of a Spanesi Touch and a year of vehicle data, together worth more than $30,000. (Provided by SCRS)