Race Place and BEAST Tuning Tools began in 1994. Our founder, Scott Holmer, was in the ski industry as a Manufacturer's Rep, owner of The Lift Ski Shops and had three kids, Cami, Eric and Kelsey, who excelled at ski racing with honors at local and national levels.

Traveling to many race venues brought Scott into contact with parents, coaches and race techs who were using various ski tuning tools and techniques, which seemed quite primitive. Having an inventive mind, Scott began thinking about how to design more accurate tools while driving the long roads home from ski races.

In August 1994, Scott was at Mt. Hood observing US Ski Team Techs setting base edge bevels for one of their athletes. The techs wrapped tape around a file to elevate it at an angle to establish the base edge at a bevel. Being the curious type, Scott asked what degree bevel they were setting. The reply was 0.5°. He then asked how many wraps of tape produced this angle, and the response was one. The next logical question was how far from the ski edge they held the tape, and they declined to answer. Scott then questioned the accuracy unless the tape that created the angle was always the same distance from the ski edge. The tech replied that proper tuning was an acquired art. With that, Scott said, "even good artists have bad days," and he traveled back to his shop in Bend.

That evening he cut and glued small pieces of wood together and shaped a piece of metal that screwed onto the wood frame. The basic design held the metal elevation strip at a constant distance from the ski edge to solve the accuracy issue, and the original Base BEAST was born!!

The name BEAST is an acronym for Best Edge Accuracy Ski Tool, and the Base BEAST is the most sold base edge bevel guide in the World, with over 50,000 sold since 1994. Other BEAST products designed since that time are; Side of BEAST, Pocket BEAST, Plane BEAST, True BEAST, Jaws of the BEAST, Bench of the BEAST and too many others to name.

Race Place also began that fall as a mail-order catalog before also having an online presence in 1997. We create a new catalog each fall and mail it to over 35,000 ski racers. A relatively recent feature of the catalog is the Cover Athlete contest. The athlete winning the front cover spot is awarded $3,000 of merchandise, and the back cover athlete is awarded $1,500.

Race Place has grown to become the largest supplier of alpine race gear in North America with an extensive in-stock product line, very knowledgeable staff and a philosophy of shipping orders the day they come in!