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The Gilmore Car Museum (GCM) in Hickory Corners, Michigan, is seeking sponsors for two of its upcoming exhibits. The first, “Drag Racing in America,” will run May 1–October 31, 2009, and follow drag racing from its humble origins to the mega sport that it is today.

More than 7,000 sq. ft. of gallery space will be devoted to showcasing the earliest and latest versions of Top Fuel Dragsters, Funny Cars, Pro Stock Cars, Super Stock, Altered Cars and more, plus the parts they used.

The second exhibit, scheduled to run May 1–October 31, 2010, will focus on circle track racing (exact features and information to be announced).

Current sponsors include:

• Hastings Manufacturing Company
• Melling Engine Parts
• Mahle-Clevite
• Federal Mogul
• Dura-Bond
• Isky Racing Cams
• Engine Pro (Perfit Corp.)

The Gilmore Car Museum (www.gilmorecarmuseum.org) is regarded as one of the country’s finest displays of automotive heritage, with nearly 200 vintage cars on display in a unique rural facility located on 90 acres. The GCM includes permanent exhibits, an active exhibit schedule and a loan program with other museums. It is a prime location for car shows and car club rallies, as well as large gatherings, corporate and company events.

Sponsor names and logos can appear on the brochures, postcards and newsletters that the GMC produces, reaching thousands of enthusiasts through direct mail, car shows, Autorama events and by hand at various outlets.

For more information, contact Jay A. Follis, director of marketing at 269/671-5089 or click here to e-mail.

SEMA has launched a new classifieds section on its www.SEMAShow.com website to assist SEMA Show exhibitors in hauling booth materials, vehicles, parts and other equipment to the 2008 SEMA Show. If your company needs items hauled to the Show, let us know about it!

Visit www.SEMAShow.com/classifieds to see the most updated listing of who has space and who needs space.

Need Gear Hauled to the Show?
If you have items that need to be hauled to the Show, click here to e-mail us. Be sure to provide all of the necessary information included in the content of the e-mail.

Have Room in Your Trailer?
Those SEMA Show exhibitors who have space in their trailer headed to the 2008 SEMA Show are also encouraged to help fellow exhibitors get their gear or vehicles to the Show by announcing it here. Click here to e-mail us and provide all the necessary information included in the content of the e-mail.

Complete information on the 2008 SEMA Show is available online at www.SEMAShow.com.

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Rick Hendrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears want to give you some autographed goods. Items including signed hats, diecasts, banners and jackets will be raffled off daily at the SEMA Cares booth in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Stop by to fill out a free raffle ticket, and learn more about the programs sponsored by the SEMA Cares Committee—including Childhelp and Victory Junction Gang Camp—as well as the SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund, which supports educational and leadership goals for students in the automotive and specialty-equipment industries.

For the first time, SEMA is teaming up with Rick Hendrick and the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) this year to sponsor a bone-marrow testing program at the 2008 SEMA Show. Attendees are urged to visit the Marrow Donor Testing booth, co-located in the SEMA Cares booth in the Grand Lobby, to provide a cheek swab and fill out a questionnaire.

Each year, more than 35,000 children and adults are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases that are treatable by a marrow or cord-blood transplant. Only 30% of those individuals will find a matched donor within their family. The remaining 70% must turn to the NMDP Registry to search for a volunteer donor. Your name will be added to the National Bone Marrow Registry, and you may be the one to offer hope to patients searching for a match.

Registration is quick and free. Rick Hendrick’s charity organization, the Hendrick Marrow Program (HMP), will underwrite 100% of the costs of testing at the Show.

“Our mission is to help patients," says Chairman and CEO Hendrick. "By adding new donors to the NMDP Registry, we may be able to offer someone a second chance at life."

Marcel Horn's 2007 Audi TT won last year's GT Awards for Best European Import and Best of Show. Horn, president of SEMA-member company HPA Motorsports, has seen his car included in the latest installment of the Gran Turismo franchise, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

One of the highest honors a car builder can receive these days is inclusion into the best-selling racing video game franchise, Gran Turismo. In conjunction with the 2008 SEMA Show, Sony Computer Entertainment America—makers of the PLAYSTATION 3 and publisher of the best-selling racing game Gran Turismo—and "Top Gear" host Tanner Foust will host the sixth annual Gran Turismo Awards on Thursday, November 6, at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

In addition to honoring winning automobiles in categories including Best Hot Rod, Best Japanese Import, Best European Import, Best Domestic Automobile and Best Truck/SUV, an overall GT Awards winner will be selected as Best in Show and given the honor of having their vehicle included in the next Gran Turismo title in full 1080p HD.

Judging for the GT Awards takes place on the SEMA Show floor on Tuesday, November 4 and Wednesday, November 5. Judges will include industry influencers and representatives from various automobile magazines. The overall winner will be selected by one of the most influential individuals in the automotive industry, father of the Gran Turismo franchise Kazunori Yamauchi.  

If your car has what it takes to be the talk of the automotive industry, CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT THE ENTRY FORM, then e-mail to: 2008_GT_Awards@bncpr.com. You can also fax the form to 310/854-4848. 

To see more of what the Gran Turismo Awards are all about, check out this video.

As reported by a company press release, Amazon.com launched the opening of its Mobile Electronics Store. The store will provide customers access to car audio and video, navigation, security, accessories and installation products.

The store will offer more than 5,000 products from major brands in the mobile-electronics industry, including Infinity, Jensen, JVC, Rockford Fosgate, Sony Xplod, Boss, Dual, Clarion and Panasonic. Sellers in the store include Crutchfield and Car Toys.

“We know a car can be more than just a means of transportation from point A to point B,” said Faisal Masud, director for the Mobile Electronics Store. “Our goal is to provide our customers with competitive prices, selection and convenience while eliminating some of the guesswork when it comes to purchasing electronics for your motor vehicle. The store is a natural extension of our Automotive Parts and Accessories Store and will continue to evolve, with more brands added every day, to help customers discover the ideal configuration for their car.”

Key features of the store include:

• Car FitFinder, featuring a database of thousands of cars, allows customers to designate the make, model and year of their car to find a list of applicable products for their vehicle.
  
• InstallerNet cards allow customers to prepay for a fixed scope of installation work at the time they purchase an installable product.  Customers can activate their InstallerNet card online or by phone and request an installation date with a local installation provider from a network consisting of more than 6,000 installers, with 1,500 locations nationwide.  
  
• Customer Reviews and Bestsellers provide customers with a wide variety of customer reviews to read what other shoppers have to say about a product, as well as review products that are among the most popular with other Amazon.com customers.

The next SEMA webinar, "Fast Track Product Development with 3-D Technology," presented by SEMA Vehicle Product Data Analyst Oscar Muñoz, highlights new, affordable, 3-D-based technologies available to replace the tedious process of reverse engineering.

Title: "Fast Track Product Development with 3-D Design Technology"
Date: Thursday, November 20, 2008, 10:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m. (PDT)
Presenter: Oscar Muñoz, SEMA Vehicle Product Data Analyst

CLICK HERE to register for this webinar.

SEMA's Webinar Program: The SEMA webinar program brings the world-class business seminars featured during the SEMA Show right to your desktop. Different business-building sessions are constantly added to the program, offering members the latest insight and practices from today’s leading speakers.

All SEMA webinars are conducted live and are open to all employees of SEMA-member companies free of charge. To participate, all you need is a computer with Internet access and a telephone. All previous SEMA webinars are available for download by clicking here. To view upcoming presentations that you can attend via telephone and Internet, click here.

Spy shots of the psychedelic-camouflaged MINI Crossman from Brenda Priddy indicate that the hip BMW umbrella brand is readying the vehicle for production. Priddy notes that the crossover is toned down from the concept shown at the Paris Motor Show and received rear swing doors like the newest MINI on the roads, the Clubman.

Internet reports speculate that the Crossman will come with the same 4-cylinder drivetrain offered in current U.S. models, but will mate with an all-wheel drive, possibly supplied by German transmission specialist Getrag (via Consumer Guide Automotive).

The Crossman will be the first MINI assembled outside of the United Kingdom. Austrian manufacturer Magna Steyr will build the car for MINI, which is rapidly running out of space at its current facilities. The Crossman is scheduled for a 2010 release and will likely arrive in the States as a 2011 model.

MOVING ON UP: Germain Racing, which has fielded entries in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for several years, including that of 2006 series champion Todd Bodine, will enter a Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series next season with Italian Max Papis at the wheel. Geico will sponsor the team in 18 races.

SEVEN YEARS: NASCAR has landed a new title sponsor for its Truck Series. Camping World has signed a seven-year agreement to back the series, replacing Craftsman, which has sponsored the tour since 1995, at the end of this season.

LANDMARK: The Formula One Teams Association and the FIA have reached an agreement to cut costs and work together to improve all aspects of the Formula One World Driving Championship, the world’s most popular racing series.

EXTENSION: Roush Fenway Racing signed a multiyear agreement with Ford Motor Company to continue racing Fords in NASCAR’s three top touring series.

POWER RANKINGS: NHRA Top Fuel point leader Tony Schumacher remained at the top of the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings.  He can clinch his sixth Top Fuel title this weekend at The Strip @ Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The National Speed Sport News Power Rankings are published weekly in the 74-year-old motorsports publication.

SUBSCRIBE: National Speed Sport News has been published weekly since 1934. To subscribe to National Speed Sport News, click on the following link for a special industry rate www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/subscribe.html?pid=NQ%2BVfhkepT4%3D.