IT’S OFFICIAL: Stewart Haas Racing officially announced the hiring of Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman as its second driver for the 2009 season.

INVESTOR?: Danny Sullivan, the 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner, is part of a group of investors that are trying to buy Bill Davis Racing, the NASCAR team, which fields cars in the Sprint Cup Series and trucks in the Craftsman Truck Series.

NEW ROAD: Humpy Wheeler, who retired as president and general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May, has created the Wheeler Company, which will be a management-consulting operation focused on sports, motorsports and general business.

ROAD RACING: IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon will be joining the de Ferran Motorsports American Le Mans Series team for the October 4 Petit Le Mans event at Road Atlanta. He will team with car owner Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud in the team’s Acura ARX-01b for the 10-hour endurance race.

IT’S BACK: The Southern 500 name will return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington (South Carolina) Raceway next May. The Southern 500 was traditionally held Labor Day weekend, but the race went away in 2004 when the track lost one of its two Cup Series dates.

POWER RANKINGS: NHRA Top Fuel point leader Tony Schumacher remained at the top of the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings after his 10th victory of the season in just 17 races on Sunday at Pennsylvania’s Maple Grove Raceway. 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.

NEWS NUGGETS

HAPPINESS AND HEARTACHE IN READING AS FINAL FEW SPOTS DISAPPEAR IN COUNTDOWN TO 1: To say that Funny Car driver Jack Beckman had an exciting weekend would be an understatement. The Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger driver not only picked up his second win of the season, but he did it facing one of his drag racing heroes and drag racing school employer, Frank Hawley. But Beckman’s excitement began long before he reached the final round of Sunday’s Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pennsylvania. In fact, some might say it was his second-round win against John Force that brought the most excitement. Not because Beckman had posted a 4.185-second run against the drag racing legend, but because Beckman’s win and Funny Car competitor Del Worsham’s second round loss secured his spot in the Top 10 in the point standings and a berth in the Countdown to 1 playoffs.
     It was a similar scene for many drivers that day, as round wins and round losses paved the way for many drivers as more than 14 drivers clinched their spots heading into the last race of the regular season, the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Such was the case for Top Fuel pilot Doug Herbert. With a first round loss to Dave Grubnic, Herbert was left on the outside looking in, though not for long. After Grubnic lost to Larry Dixon in the second round, Herbert’s spot was clinched.
     A similar occurrence happened to Pro Stock phenom Dave Connolly. Connolly, who missed the first five races of the season, made it all the way to the final round only to lose on a red light to Cagnazzi-racing teammate Jeg Coughlin. But it was Connolly’s second round win against points leader Greg Anderson that secured the driver’s second Countdown to the Championship appearance. Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle points leaders Tony Schumacher and Matt Smith only strengthened their point lead over the competition with their wins at Maple Grove. 

FIELDS SET FOR U.S. SMOKELESS SHOWDOWN, RINGERS PRO BIKE BATTLE: While some were clinching their spots in the Countdown to 1 playoffs, others were securing positions in the bonus events as the final fields were set for the U.S. Smokeless Showdown and Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, which will occur during the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
    In the U.S. Smokeless Showdown, Funny Car driver John Force moved into the final eighth-place spot in the field. Force qualified fifth for the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals last weekend while Gary Scelzi and Jerry Toliver failed to qualify for the event. The last-effort run will match father against daughter, as John will face Ashley Force in the first round of the event. Ashley enters the event in the top spot, while John Force Racing teammate Robert Hight sits second. Hight will face seventh-place Del Worsham in the first round, while brothers Cruz and Tony Pedregon will be the final first-round pair in the field.
     In the Ringer’s Gloves Pro Bike Battle, Chip Ellis locked up the top spot in the field and secured a first-round matchup against eighth-place Matt Guidera. Second-place driver Matt Smith will do battle with seventh-place Chris Rivas, while three-time and defending bonus event winner, Andrew Hines will go head-to-head with sixth-place driver Karen Stoffer. Eddie Krawiec and Angelle Sampey round out the final first-round pair. 

FORCE INDUCTED INTO MOTORSPORTS HALL OF FAME OF AMERICA: This past week, drag racing legend John Force was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Novi, Michigan. NHRA President Tom Compton introduced the 14-time champion to the celebrated audience during the presentation Wednesday night, August 13. Force joins a long list of motorsport greats, which include such drag racing legends as Don Prudhomme, Joe Amato, Shirley Muldowney and Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

MAC TOOLS U.S. NATIONALS, O’REILLY RACEWAY PARK AT INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 27–SEPTEMBER 1: The final stop for the regular season, drivers in the NHRA POWERade Series will have one last chance at the historic Raceway in Indianapolis to secure a spot in the Top 10 in the point standings and advance to the Countdown to 1.
    Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle competitors will also have the chance to compete for cash and bragging rights in the U.S. Smokeless Showdown and the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle. Defending winners of the race include Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel); Mike Ashley (Funny Car); Dave Connolly (Pro Stock); and Craig Treble (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

NHRA CAROLINAS NATIONALS, zMAX DRAGWAY @ CONCORD, SEPTEMBER 11–14: In the first race of the Countdown to 1, the NHRA POWERade Series heads to the newly constructed zMAX Dragway @ Concord and its first visit to North Carolina. All four professional categories (Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle) will compete in this inaugural event.

O’REILLY SUPER START BATTERIES FALL NATIONALS, TEXAS MOTORPLEX, SEPTEMBER 18–21: Making its second stop of the season in the Lone Star State, drivers in all four professional categories will fight it out in the second race of the Countdown to 1. Defending event winners include Larry Dixon (Top Fuel); Tony Pedregon (Funny Car); Dave Connolly (Pro Stock); and Peggy Llewellyn (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

HE SAID, SHE SAID

A TOUGH DAY; A TOUGH LOSS: Funny Car driver Del Worsham knew that to secure a spot in the Countdown to 1, he needed to make sure he stayed one step ahead of Jack Beckman and Mike Neff Sunday at Maple Grove. After a second round loss to Cruz Pedregon, Worsham could only watch as his hopes for the 2008 POWERade world championship came to an end with each round won by Beckman.
    “When you wake up on Sunday and see that Jack (Beckman) had to race Wilkerson in round one, and then probably (John) Force in round two, you think maybe that part of the deal will go your way,” said Worsham. “That was an enormous mountain to climb, so give Jack and his team all the credit they deserve, because they took out some huge hitters to eliminate us from the Countdown. They earned every bit of it.”

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

7: The number of open spots left in the Top 10 point standings in all four professional categories heading into the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals; the final race of the Countdown to 10 regular season (two in Top Fuel, two in Pro Stock, three in Pro Stock Modified).

DID YOU KNOW…

…that four-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Andrew Hines has won the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle bonus event in Indianapolis three times in five appearances, but has never won the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

For more information, visit www.nhra.com.

Babcox named Scott Shriber as publisher of BodyShop Business, a Babcox publication that serves the collision-repair industry. Shriber, previously was with the Ford Motor Co. for 28 years in a number of positions and, most recently, was the national sales manager for OEConnection. He will officially take over as publisher on Monday, July 25. 

Robert Grusky and William Crowley were elected to the AutoZone board of directors. The move is the result of an agreement with ESL Investments, AutoZone’s largest shareholder, through which the company agreed to add three new members to its board of directors. The company expects to add a third board member by December 2008. Grusky is the founder of the investment firm Hope Capital Management LLC and co-founder of New Mountain Capital LLC, a private equity firm. Crowley has served as a director and executive vice president of Sears Holdings Corp. since March 2005.

Jack Roush has partnered with Valvoline to create Roush Motor Oil, a line of six new motor oils for early- and late-model performance engines. Roush Fenway Racing currently uses Valvoline in its stock cars. For more information, visit www.roushoil.com.

Pirelli announced that the Silvio Tronchetti Provera Foundation and the University of Shandong in Jinan (China) signed a research agreement for the study of new ecologically friendly tires. The university researchers will work in cooperation with the scientists in Pirelli’s R&D department to produce low-rolling-resistance tires. Pirelli’s goal is to create more eco-compatible tires, such as its new “green” (Cinturato) tire it released in Europe earlier this year.   

Hagerty Insurance recently launched Car Club Central, an online resource tool for car clubs and their members. The resource showcases the benefits and features that Hagerty offers to car clubs nationwide and makes those benefits more easily available. More information is available at www.hagerty.com/carclubcentral.

Two Bridgestone commercials, “Scream” and “Lucky Dog,” were chosen as finalists at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, which recognizes advertising creativity around the world. As finalists, the commercials were placed among the top 10% of more than 4,600 entries from 85 countries. “One of the driving forces of our Bridgestone brand team, including our teammates in advertising and marketing, is a shared passion for excellence, and these ads hit that standard,” stated Phil Pacsi, vice president of consumer marketing Bridgestone Firestone North America. “To receive this level of recognition at such a prestigious festival is remarkable.”   

Click on the logo to visit SBN's website.

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Click on the logo to visit ARMO's website.

ARMO Special Projects in Motion

Sponsorships are being accepted for the ARMO Industry Awards Reception. Now is the time to participate in this great opportunity to show your support of the restoration market, its community, its people and its businesses. Click here to download and print a sponsorship form.
 
For more information, contact any Select Committee member or Jan Desma, 909/396-0289, ext. 134, or e-mail jand@sema.org.

ARMO Column in SEMA Member News

Click on the logo to visit TORA's website.

The TORA, in conjunction with the SEMA education and marketing departments, has created a CD compilation of SEMA webinars. Having access to webinars online is a great SEMA-member benefit, but listening to one still requires sitting down at the computer and downloading.

With this CD, TORA members can listen to 11 TORA-relevant seminars without the need for Internet access. You can listen in the car or on a plane. If you are savvy enough to convert and load the files onto your iPod, you can even listen to them while tearing up the treadmill!

The 11 seminars included on the CD are:

1. Making sure your web store is open for business
2. Secrets to marketing a highly effective website
3. How reps can help installers sell to car dealers
4. Your customer doesn’t live here any more
5. How manufacturers can communicate more effectively with distributors and customers
6. The mindset of leadership—timeless qualities of a successful leader
7. Lean Manufacturing—how to eliminate waste in manufacturing and distribution
8. Management strategies for the most challenging situations
9. Six Sigma—the secret weapon of success
10. Financial management for the non-financial manager
11. Get Paid: Avoiding slow/non-paying customers and collecting debt.

For a copy of the "TORA Education & Training Benefits Webinar CD," TORA members can contact Staci Bostock at stacib@sema.org. The 11 seminars featured on the CD are but a small sampling of what’s available from the SEMA website. On the SEMA homepage, click on “Shows and Events” then “webinars.” You can search the webinars by author or topic.

TORA Column in SEMA Member News

Read TORA's column featured in the July/August issue of SEMA Member News by clicking here.

Filler for eNews

The SEMA Store is running a series of promotions through the end of August on merchandise from the 2007 SEMA Show.

The current promotion: From August 20–26, the SEMA Store is offering 30% off all SEMA sweatshirts, plus free shipping on orders of $50 or more. The grey hooded sweatshirt is screen printed on the front only.

Dates and locations for several upcoming SEMA-sponsored shows and activities have been announced. Details are:

>> SEMA Webinar, "25 Common Mistakes Made by SEMA Show Exhibitors," August 28, 2008 10:00 a.m. (PDT)
>> SEMA Show 2008, November 4–7, 2008, Las Vegas 
>> SEMA Dealer Day, November 5, 2008, Las Vegas

For association-related travel, contact Manya Petropaki (manya.p@travelstoreusa.com) at Travel Store USA, 949/930-9268.

Looking for Some Extra Publicity for Your Industry Event?
Publicize your events through the SEMA Online Calendar of Events located at www.sema.org/calendar. The calendar is stocked with information on events taking place throughout the year, broken down by month. Examples of events featured in the calendar include consumer shows and club events, educational and training workshops, conventions and trade shows, races and more.

To submit your event details for the calendar, e-mail company name and the date(s), location and name of the event to Shirley Presecan at shirleyp@sema.org.

Despite high gas prices that have diminished sales of trucks and SUVs and altered consumer driving habits, it's unlikely that truck and SUV owners will sell their vehicles, says the The New York Times.

The reason behind this is the simple law of supply and demand. With the demand for trucks and SUVs at dismal levels compared to last year, the value of the vehicles has also fallen to new lows. SEMA market research shows that sales of new SUVs have dropped by 46%. The New York Times states that the value of the vehicles, as demonstrated by their trade-in values, has dropped by a third of their value from last year.

What this means for consumers is that they are unlikely to trade in or sell their gas guzzlers for new vehicles. The money saved in gas by spending less money at the pumps by trading in a used SUV for a more fuel-efficient small car is offset by the costs of buying the new car. In other words, consumers are learning that the potential money saved in gas by trading in their SUVs is lost when considering the costs of buying a new car.  

Individuals are opting to either make do with their old vehicles or wait until the values of their vehicles possibly recover. 

What this means for SEMA members is that while market entry—new purchases of trucks and SUVs—has been down, market exit is quite low. Few individuals are willing to sell their vehicles at such low values. Manufacturers of specialty equipment for these vehicles will still benefit by them being on the road.

For more SEMA market research, please visit www.sema.org/research.

With the economy still suffering and gas prices only slightly recovering, auto sales continue to slump in the recent market. But a study by R.L. Polk & Company, as reported by Automotive News, suggests that sales to "ethnic" consumers have been consistently strong, and growth in their population contains much potential for growth in the auto industry.

Recent trends identified in the U.S. census show growing levels of income for many ethnic groups, which translates into more disposable income ripe for the auto industry. Though overall new vehicle registrations were down 3.3% in 2007, Hispanic, Asian and African-American consumers maintained 22% of the market.

"Multicultural markets have been showing growth over the past few years in an automotive market that has been in decline," said Mark Pauze, senior solutions consultant at R. L. Polk & Co.

Many indicators point to this market growing, especially that of ethnic population growth. According to the U.S. census data from 2007, Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans are expected to make up over 33% of the American population by 2010, and by 37% by 2020. The Polk study suggests that marketing towards these groups could benefit leading auto manufacturers.

SEMA research suggests that marketing specialty equipment towards this demographic could be beneficial as well. According to SEMA’s Automotive Lifestyle Study, enthusiasts that classified themselves as ethnic minorities spent around 10% more on specialty equipment in 2007 compared to those that classified themselves as “white.”

Although the number of Hispanic, Asian and African-American enthusiasts that took the survey was small—only 18% of the survey respondents classified themselves as one of the ethnic minority groups—this market is likely to grow in the future, yielding potential profits.

For more SEMA market research, please visit www.sema.org/research.

Source:
-"Study: Ethnic Market Offers Opportunity," Mary Connelly, Automotive News, 8/11/08

Sales of Ford's F-Series Light Duty edged out the Chevy Silverado in July.  

Pickup sales have dropped 26% compared to the same period last year, according to SEMA research. The specialty-equipment industry has long revered the pickup vehicle segment as an opportunity for profits due to its past growth, but hikes in gasoline prices this year have taken a toll on recent sales. The table below shows the top 20-selling pickups in July of 2008, in addition to how they sold last year.



Around 57% of enthusiasts that own pickups said that they purchased their vehicle used, according to SEMA's Automotive Lifestyle Study of automotive enthusiast magazine subscribers, administered late last year. This means that as more used trucks enter the market from consumers switching to other vehicle types, there is potential for SEMA members to market toward consumers purchasing these used pickups at depreciated market values with extra money in their pockets for custom parts and accessories.

Looking at those enthusiasts that currently own pickups, according to the Automotive Lifestyle Study, some of the top activities reflect a need for a pickup. Fifty-percent said they go camping or hiking; 49% hunting, fishing or shooting; 47% off-roading; and 32% boating or sailing. In addition, the top profession noted by these enthusiasts was “skilled trade,” a line of work that often requires a pickup.

R.L. Polk registration data shows that 12% of all vehicles registered in the United States are fullsize pickups. A survey sent to SEMA members earlier this year showed that 70% either manufactured or sold specialty products for large pickups. These sales shifts have the potential to impact SEMA members in a major way. However, the market for used pickups may still hold strong.

So while new pickup sales are down this year, specialty-equipment companies could still benefit by focusing on current pickup owners.

For more original SEMA research, please visit www.sema.org/research.