Mike Galimi of Hot Rod was honored with the SEMA Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council (MPMC) Robert E. Petersen Media Award at the 2025 Media Trade Conference held January 21-23 in Orlando, Florida. The MPMC Robert E. Petersen Media Award honors a member of the media who has made a substantial contribution to the motorsports industry within the past year.
Galimi is a long-tenured member of the automotive and motorsports media who has excelled in all aspects of the profession, including a freelance and staff writer, editor, and photographer for several prominent enthusiasts' titles, and now as a network director with Hot Rod.
Galimi grew up with two older brothers who loved cars, and even before he had a driver’s license, he was involved in the racing scene around New York City. After graduating from Fordham University, he worked on Wall Street as a stock analyst, but it wasn’t long before he began moonlighting for a website called Heads Up Review in 1998.
That same year he was introduced to Steve Wolcott and James Lawrence, who were in the process of launching their own magazine to support their race series. In March 1999, his work was included in the very first issue of Race Pages.
Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, Galimi followed his life’s passion and left Wall Street for good, going to work for Wolcott and Lawrence full time. In 2003, he joined the staff of Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords, and by 2012 he had moved on as the director of content and marketing for ProMedia, which then housed both the NMRA and NMCA series.
Since 2022, Galimi has been the network director of Hot Rod, where his dedication and determination to re-establish the Hot Rod brand have led it back to prominence.