By Washington, D.C., Staff
 The SEMA Garage Open House provided racing enthusiasts and SEMA members with a number of opportunities to engage with their lawmakers, customers, families and friends about the RPM Act and the need to protect the future of motorsports. |
Hundreds of motorsports manufacturers, racers, celebrities and supporters gathered at the SEMA Garage’s annual Open House last week, where they got a firsthand look at SEMA’s state-of-the-art facility.
The event underscored the ongoing uncertainty regarding how the motorsports industry is regulated. Despite withdrawing a problematic racing regulation in April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains that it has the authority to regulate street vehicles modified exclusively for the track and the businesses that make those products – despite Congressional intent.
A bipartisan bill now pending in the U.S. Congress, the RPM Act, would make it clear now and in the future that modification of street vehicles for competition is legal and beyond the reach of EPA regulations. The RPM Act addresses any doubts regarding regulation of racecars and gives the public and racecar industry much-needed certainty regarding how the Clean Air Act is applied.
The Open House provided racing enthusiasts and SEMA members with a number of opportunities to engage with their lawmakers, customers, families and friends about the RPM Act and the need to protect the future of motorsports.
If you missed the Open House, check out the digital toolkit provided to attendees: www.sema.org/rpmtools.
The toolkit includes a sample press release, sample letter to the editor, and post for you to share on social media. Questions about how to use the materials? Contact SEMA’s DC team at san@sema.org.
You can learn about additional ways to support the RPM Act and the future of racing here: www.sema.org/epa-act.
About the SEMA Garage
Each year, SEMA members introduce thousands of cutting-edge tools and accessories designed to add enjoyment to vehicle ownership. While some have universal fitments, many have model-specific applications that require significantly more research and development.
The SEMA Garage gives SEMA-member businesses access to the special high-tech tools and equipment needed to get products off the drawing board and into customer hands. It is the only known facility of its kind in the United States.
Covering 15,000 square feet and filled with nearly $2 million of equipment, the SEMA Garage includes all of the tools specialty-product developers could hope for and then some, including two vehicle lifts, a portable coordinate measuring machine (CMM) for 3D scanning, a 3D printer for fast prototyping, digital race car scales for the most precise vehicle weight measurements and a dynamometer for power output measurements.