• BY JULIAN CAVAZOS - JCAVAZOS@VICAD.COM
• Originally published February 5, 2010 at 4:30 p.m., updated February 10, 2010 at 10:47 a.m.

• Hi-Pro Audio

  5209 John Stockbauer Dr.

  Victoria, TX 77904

Some guys judge Karissa Hosek too quickly when they enter the car audio shop.

They think that because Hosek is a girl, she is clueless about cars.

"They're startled at first," the 20-year-old said. "Some are cool about it, and some get completely shocked and think I don't know anything. But once they see what I've done, they realize and appreciate it and treat me like anybody else."

For the last four years, Hosek has installed and sold car audio systems at Hi-Pro Audio, her grandfather's Victoria shop.

Earlier this month, she edged out 33 other contestants - all men - at a national sponsorship contest with Rockford Fosgate, an Arizona-based company that designs and sells audio systems for vehicles.

She submitted a video of the audio system she installed in her 1994 Mazda RX-7 and nabbed 40 percent of total fan votes.

• Karissa's 94 Rx-7 Rockford Whats Your Volume Contest

"She's a pretty extraordinary young lady and we're extremely happy that she won," said David Slepak, senior marketing manager at Rockford Fosgate. "We couldn't have picked a better spokesperson, a better advocate that showcases our products, our philosophy."

As the contest winner, she receives Rockford Fosgate products worth $5,000, and gets featured in an upcoming issue of the company's magazine, Volume.

"It'll help promote my photography," said Hosek, who is taking a semester off from Victoria College. "I'd like to be an automotive photographer. That's what I'm going to school for."

She developed an interest in audio systems as a teenager after hanging out in parking lots with her older brother, Justin Hosek, and his friends. There, car enthusiasts gathered to socialize and show off audio systems.

"It's cool to have a little sister who likes the same stuff as you," said Justin Hosek, who also works at Hi-Pro. "It's cool to have a sister that's into cars. It's kind of a rare thing nowadays."

Her senior year of high school, Hosek built an audio system for her own car: a 1994 Mazda RX-7. She is also now fixing up another car - her 1989 Mazda RX-7 - for drift racing competitions, a motor sport where drivers intentionally slide sideways through racetrack turns.

Her boyfriend, Matthew Caldwell, likes having a girlfriend who is into cars, he said.

"It's cool. She's not worrying about me working on a car all the time and not spending enough time with her," Caldwell joked.

Hosek envisions continuing to work on car audio systems as a hobby for the rest of her life, she said. She finds a calling in enjoying the final product.

"Whenever you finish a build, it's like a whole accomplishment," she said. "Its nice to know all that work that took many months actually added up to something. You get the biggest smile on your face."

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