People Places & Racing News

Movers & Shakers: VP Racing Fuels Opens First Branded Station in Baja, Mexico; Mark Donnelly Joins COMP Performance Group

Compiled by SEMA Editors

VP
VP Racing Fuels Inc. has announced the grand opening of its first location in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

VP Racing Fuels Opens First Branded Station in Baja, Mexico

VP Racing Fuels Inc. has announced the grand opening of its first location in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. VP President and CEO Alan Cerwick’s plan for bringing the VP brand to the street through the rapid expansion of branded locations is ahead of schedule and with many other locations planned for the near future.

Luis Larralde
Luis Larralde

Maxxsonics Appoints Sales Director for Latin America

Maxxsonics brands, Hifonics, MB Quart, Crunch and Autotek are growing across business units and in global markets. In order to strengthen the company’s market share in Latin America, Alden Stiefel, CEO of Maxxsonics USA, has appointed a new director to drive the market development. Luis M. Larralde has been named as Latin America sales director, effective immediately. In his new role, Larralde brings two decades of experience in consumer electronics, where he headed the International sales efforts.

AMSOIL Partners With Team O’Neil Rally School

AMSOIL INC. has partnered with Team O’Neil Rally School as the school’s official lubricant partner. The partnership complements the official oil status for the American Rally Association and New England Forest Rally, July 19–20. For more than 20 years, Team O’Neil Rally School, located in Dalton, New Hampshire, has offered a variety of driving courses, including rally driving; winter-safe driving; drift driving; and off-road and security courses for individuals, private companies and government agencies. Courses offer educational and recreational experiences appropriate for all abilities, which takes a toll on the school’s fleet of rally vehicles. The Team O’Neil Rally School facility sits on 585 acres with more than six miles of stage-rally roads, and miles of OHRV and four-wheel-drive trails. Students include automotive enthusiasts and racers, members of every branch of the military and celebrities. As Official Oil, AMSOIL will provide synthetic lubricants for Team O’Neil Rally School’s fleet of rally vehicles and support vehicles.

Oracle
Oracle Lighting’s staff at its Metairie, Louisiana, headquarters.

Oracle Lighting Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Oracle Lighting has announced it is celebrating its 20th anniversary as a market leader in creating lighting products and LED solutions for the automotive/12-volt, powersports, motorcycle and marine markets. Oracle Lighting has received accolades from numerous organizations for its business practices, including being listed on the Inc. 500 list of the Fastest Growing Businesses in the USA for the past eight years consecutively, winning the 2012 Bronze Stevie Award for Consumer Products Company of the Year, and most recently being named the Small Business Administration's Exporter of the Year and a Small Business Champion by the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. Oracle has also won numerous local awards.

Takumi
The team at Rossi Machinery Services (L–R): Mike Rossi, founder; Christine Baker Rossi, majority owner/president; and Trent Hitchcock, sales and service manager.

Takumi USA Names Rossi Machinery Services Distributor Exclusive for North Central and Northeast Ohio

Takumi USA has named Rossi Machinery Services of Ashland, Ohio, as its exclusive full-service distributor for North Central Ohio and Northeast Ohio, effective immediately. Mike Rossi, founder of Rossi Machinery Services, established the company in 1986 as a part-time service venture to provide machine maintenance and repair. New customers included TLT Babcock, JM Smuckers and Eaton Corp., along with a variety of regional manufacturing companies. As the company’s reputation for high-quality service and support became well known, Rossi was able to take the company full time in 1995 with the hope of becoming a “one-stop shop” for new and old machine tools. Rossi Machinery Services will offer sales, service, parts, training and applications support for Takumi USA customers in North Central and Northeast Ohio.

Advanced Tire & Auto Center Changes Name to Reflect Growing Focus on Safety-Enhancing Driving Technologies

Advanced Tire & Auto Center has changed its name to Advanced ADAS Calibration Centers (AACC) in a move that reflects its growing focus on the next-generation technologies known as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Demand continues to grow for the specialized ADAS training, expertise and diagnostic technology that has become the dominant focus of the Keyport, New Jersey, business over the past five years. AACC opened its second location in Old Bridge, New Jersey, to exclusively serve its insurance industry and body shop clients precisely because of this growing demand for ADAS services. As part of the name change, Advanced ADAS Calibration Centers launched a new website at www.advancedadas.com.

Mark Donnelly
Mark Donnelly

Mark Donnelly Joins COMP Performance Group

Mark Donnelly has been named the new West Coast territory manager for the COMP Performance Group and will be based in Seattle. He has worked in all aspects of the automotive aftermarket for 23 years, including shop work as a teenager, warehouse picker/packer, WD sales, retail, repair/service and manufacturer sales. With extensive knowledge in fuel injection and drivetrain/powertrain upgrades, Donnelly’s most recent position was with Vision X Global Lighting Systems.

Kathi Cover Joins Directed as General Counsel

Directed, a provider of remote start and security, connected car and ignition interlock devices, has announced that Kathi Cover has joined the company as general counsel. She will join the executive team and report to Bob Struble, Directed CEO. Prior to joining Directed, Cover worked for 11 years as vice president, intellectual property and assistant general counsel at iBiquity Digital Corp. There, she was instrumental in building the HD Radio intellectual property portfolio and contributing to the successful licensing and litigation strategy of the business. She also worked for more than a decade at Sidley Austin LLP, focusing primarily on patent infringement litigation and appellate work.

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