Reptile dot com enters online auto field with 43 car communities

OnlineHobbyist.com, Inc., a long established Central Texas-based builder of online social communities, announced today that it has entered the automotive field with the launch of 43 new car communities.

Austin, Texas (PRWEB) -- OnlineHobbyist.com, Inc., a long established Central Texas-based builder of online social communities, announced today that it has entered the automotive field with the launch of 43 new car communities.

OnlineHobbyist.com, Inc. is an established presence among online communities, having launched its kingsnake.com pet owner community in 1997 and operated the PetHobbyist communities since 1999.

kingsnake.com is the largest and most popular reptile and amphibian owners' community and one of the most popular pet sites on the Internet. Delivering over a quarter billion page views per year, it served as a prototype for a new software system developed in-house that has been dubbed internally the "global community platform."

"Watching our existing communities grow over the past 12 years, we have developed an intimate knowledge of what makes communities work from both the technical and social aspects," said OnlineHobbyist.com CEO Jeff Barringer. "The software we have developed based on this knowledge will allow us to build and grow multiple communities using a single platform. It's very scalable, allowing us to develop large and small communities and tailor them to our users' needs."

A native of Indianapolis, Barringer was literally born with cars in his blood; his mother attended the Indy 500 just three months before he was born.

The son of a former GM staffer and Buick sales manager, he spent his youth watching Indy time trials, collecting Hot Wheels, and reading the numerous car brochures and magazines found around the house. By his teens he was doing electronic mods on the family cars, and in his twenties was working for Road Sounds and Custom Sounds doing design and installation of high end electronics systems in luxury autos. After 10 years working on and driving cars such as Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, Bentleys and other marks, in 1991 Jeff left the car aftermarket industry to enter the computer industry.

Speaking from the SEMA convention in Las Vegas, Mike Cofield, president of Custom Sounds, one of the nation's leading mobile electronics retailers, said, "With Jeff's obvious love for cars, we were surprised to see him leave the aftermarket industry for computers back in '91, but his success on the Internet has been outstanding."

These new communities mark his return to the automotive industry after almost 20 years, during what many would say is the worst possible time.

"People called me crazy when I quit Compaq Computers to launch a web site for snake enthusiasts, so I'm used to swimming against the current of popular opinion," said Barringer. "Barring Cash For Clunkers, there will probably never be any fewer cars on the road than there are today.

The technologies may change, the people may change, the companies may change, but people will always need cars and car parts."

"We are excited to see that Jeff has come full circle, and have no doubt that the integration of his love for cars and success in the Internet industry will result in outstanding achievements," said Cofield. "Seeing that success in other industries we chose to be early adopters when he came back to the automotive field, and look forward to working with him to market our products. We are excited to see the launch of his new communities, and will be participating as sponsors."

To market the new car communities, Barringer has also launched kingsnake racing, which has been building a fleet of tuner project cars, including a C6 Corvette decked out in carbon fiber. Driving the Corvette coast to coast during the late summer, Barringer displayed the car at a number of trade shows, including shows in Daytona Beach, Chicago, and Anaheim.

"Everywhere I stopped, people wanted to take their picture with the car," he said. "There must be thousands of picture floating around the Internet now."

As to plans for racing the project cars, Barringer was less certain. "We are planning on racing all of our cars in some fashion, but we will need to find a few more sponsors to get them track ready. We have three cars now, and we plan on adding three more in 2010."

Barringer will be traveling to this week's SEMA show in Las Vegas to officially launch the new communities and meet with advertisers and sponsors.

About OnlineHobbyist:

A privately held corporation, OnlineHobbyist.com, Inc. was formed in September of 1999 based on the assets of the former kingsnake.com publications. OnlineHobbyist is a builder of virtual communities located outside the Silicon Hills of Austin, Texas and specializes in building social communities for hobbyists of all kinds. It maintains its own server farm at the PrismNet collocation facility in Austin Texas, and develops the majority of its code in-house.

Contact: Jeff Barringer - jeffb at kingsnake dot com President/CEO/Founder
OnlineHobbyist.com, Inc.
P.O. Box 104
Walburg, Texas 78626

For more information on kingsnake racing and sponsorship opportunities see http://kingsnake.com/racing

OnlineHobbyist Initial Car Communties:

4x4hobbyist.com
acurahobbyist.com
alphahobbyist.com
astonhobbyist.com
audihobbyist.com
beetlehobbyist.com
bentleyhobbyist.com
bmwhobbyist.com
camarohobbyist.com
celicahobbyist.com
corvettehobbyist.com
challengerhobbyist.com
chargerhobbyist.com
eclipsehobbyist.com
ferrarihobbyist.com
firebirdhobbyist.com
gtihobbyist.com
gtohobbyist.com
hondahobbyist.com
hyundaihobbyist.com
infinitihobbyist.com
jaguarhobbyist.com
jeephobbyist.com
lamborghinihobbyist.com
lexushobbyist.com
lotushobbyist.com
maseratihobbyist.com
mazdahobbyist.com
mercedeshobbyist.com
mghobbyist.com
minihobbyist.com
mustanghobbyist.com
oldshobbyist.com
pontiachobbyist.com
porschehobbyist.com
rxhobbyist.com
saturnhobbyist.com
scionhobbyist.com
ssrhobbyist.com
subaruhobbyist.com
toyotahobbyist.com
triumphhobbyist.com
viperhobbyist.com
zcarhobbyist.com

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OnlineHobbyist.com, Inc.
JEFFREY BARRINGER
512-691-6536
E-mail Information
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