SEMA News—November 2013

Roy Littlefield

A Message From TIA Executive Vice President

On behalf of the Tire Industry Association (TIA), welcome to the 2013 Global Tire Expo—Powered by TIA. GTE continues to be the largest gathering of the tire industry in North America. From discovering new products to networking, I hope that you will take advantage of all the opportunities that GTE has to offer.

We are excited that the Global Tire Expo has experienced overwhelming growth this year and are pleased to welcome many new exhibitors. We continue to work with our valuable partner SEMA to ensure this year’s show will be a tremendous success.

As in years past, TIA is hosting its popular educational session tracks TPMS at 10, Truck Tires at 10 and Tires at 2, led by some of the industry’s top experts. Topics will include TPMS Troubleshooting, Shoulder Repairs in the Field, Monitoring Tire Pressure on Trucks, and more. And don’t miss “Understanding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” an informative session that will provide you with insight on how “Obamacare” may impact your business. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and meet with representatives from The Association Benefits Solution (TABS) and learn about their self-funded group benefit solution that is now being offered to TIA members.

I invite you to stop by the TIA booth (#40069) in the Lower South Hall, visit with our staff, learn about our training programs, and meet with some of our Member Benefit Partners, including:

• Federated Insurance (business insurance)
• HotRod Processing (credit card processing)
• Coface (collection services)
• The Association Benefits Solution—TABS (health insurance)

Each of our partners offers exclusive savings to TIA members that can help improve your business’ bottom line.

Whether you are an exhibitor or attendee, your support of the Global Tire Expo and TIA helps keep our industry strong. Again, on behalf of everyone at TIA, I thank you for being here and hope you enjoy the Expo and your stay in Las Vegas!

Sincerely,

Roy Littlefield
Executive Vice President
Tire Industry Association

SEMA News—November 2013

PEOPLE

A Message From Nate Shelton

SEMA Chairman of the Board

Once again, it’s “Showtime.” It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone, and we are once again on our way to Las Vegas. What’s not hard to believe is the excitement, passion and anticipation that is already building around this year’s Show.

This year, for most of us, 2013 has been a fairly lack-luster business year but all of us are working toward 2014 being that stellar year we all so greatly deserve. A great 2014 all begins with the 2013 SEMA Show—the Greatest Automotive Show on Earth!

As SEMA chairman of the board, I am excited about seeing all of you at this year’s Show. I am also excited to see what the many new displays are going to look like, and what fabulous new project cars and custom builds will debut. But what excites me the most is what we will see in creative, innovative and fascinating new products. This is what SEMA is all about, and I know you will be bringing your A game.

Two things that are must-sees at this year’s Show—for both attendees and exhibitors—are two of the many great benefits brought to you by your association. The first, the Vehicle Technology Center—located in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center—is set to help the industry understand the latest, cutting-edge technologies and, ultimately, to help you develop, design and create new products.

Second, I would be remiss if I failed to suggest that all of you go by the SEMA Data Co-op booth #20579 and have Jon Wyly and his team show you how getting your product data organized through them will increase sales and grow your business.

Wow—we have a lot to see and a lot to do! I know all of you are just as excited as I am about this Show, so let’s make this year’s trip to Las Vegas the best SEMA Show of our lives. See you there!

Cordially,

Nate Shelton
SEMA Chairman of the Board

SEMA News—November 2013

PEOPLE

A Message From Nate Shelton

SEMA Chairman of the Board

Once again, it’s “Showtime.” It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone, and we are once again on our way to Las Vegas. What’s not hard to believe is the excitement, passion and anticipation that is already building around this year’s Show.

This year, for most of us, 2013 has been a fairly lack-luster business year but all of us are working toward 2014 being that stellar year we all so greatly deserve. A great 2014 all begins with the 2013 SEMA Show—the Greatest Automotive Show on Earth!

As SEMA chairman of the board, I am excited about seeing all of you at this year’s Show. I am also excited to see what the many new displays are going to look like, and what fabulous new project cars and custom builds will debut. But what excites me the most is what we will see in creative, innovative and fascinating new products. This is what SEMA is all about, and I know you will be bringing your A game.

Two things that are must-sees at this year’s Show—for both attendees and exhibitors—are two of the many great benefits brought to you by your association. The first, the Vehicle Technology Center—located in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center—is set to help the industry understand the latest, cutting-edge technologies and, ultimately, to help you develop, design and create new products.

Second, I would be remiss if I failed to suggest that all of you go by the SEMA Data Co-op booth #20579 and have Jon Wyly and his team show you how getting your product data organized through them will increase sales and grow your business.

Wow—we have a lot to see and a lot to do! I know all of you are just as excited as I am about this Show, so let’s make this year’s trip to Las Vegas the best SEMA Show of our lives. See you there!

Cordially,

Nate Shelton
SEMA Chairman of the Board

SEMA News—November 2013

PEOPLE

A Message From Nate Shelton

SEMA Chairman of the Board

Once again, it’s “Showtime.” It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone, and we are once again on our way to Las Vegas. What’s not hard to believe is the excitement, passion and anticipation that is already building around this year’s Show.

This year, for most of us, 2013 has been a fairly lack-luster business year but all of us are working toward 2014 being that stellar year we all so greatly deserve. A great 2014 all begins with the 2013 SEMA Show—the Greatest Automotive Show on Earth!

As SEMA chairman of the board, I am excited about seeing all of you at this year’s Show. I am also excited to see what the many new displays are going to look like, and what fabulous new project cars and custom builds will debut. But what excites me the most is what we will see in creative, innovative and fascinating new products. This is what SEMA is all about, and I know you will be bringing your A game.

Two things that are must-sees at this year’s Show—for both attendees and exhibitors—are two of the many great benefits brought to you by your association. The first, the Vehicle Technology Center—located in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center—is set to help the industry understand the latest, cutting-edge technologies and, ultimately, to help you develop, design and create new products.

Second, I would be remiss if I failed to suggest that all of you go by the SEMA Data Co-op booth #20579 and have Jon Wyly and his team show you how getting your product data organized through them will increase sales and grow your business.

Wow—we have a lot to see and a lot to do! I know all of you are just as excited as I am about this Show, so let’s make this year’s trip to Las Vegas the best SEMA Show of our lives. See you there!

Cordially,

Nate Shelton
SEMA Chairman of the Board

SEMA News—November 2013

PEOPLE

A Message From Nate Shelton

SEMA Chairman of the Board

Once again, it’s “Showtime.” It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone, and we are once again on our way to Las Vegas. What’s not hard to believe is the excitement, passion and anticipation that is already building around this year’s Show.

This year, for most of us, 2013 has been a fairly lack-luster business year but all of us are working toward 2014 being that stellar year we all so greatly deserve. A great 2014 all begins with the 2013 SEMA Show—the Greatest Automotive Show on Earth!

As SEMA chairman of the board, I am excited about seeing all of you at this year’s Show. I am also excited to see what the many new displays are going to look like, and what fabulous new project cars and custom builds will debut. But what excites me the most is what we will see in creative, innovative and fascinating new products. This is what SEMA is all about, and I know you will be bringing your A game.

Two things that are must-sees at this year’s Show—for both attendees and exhibitors—are two of the many great benefits brought to you by your association. The first, the Vehicle Technology Center—located in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center—is set to help the industry understand the latest, cutting-edge technologies and, ultimately, to help you develop, design and create new products.

Second, I would be remiss if I failed to suggest that all of you go by the SEMA Data Co-op booth #20579 and have Jon Wyly and his team show you how getting your product data organized through them will increase sales and grow your business.

Wow—we have a lot to see and a lot to do! I know all of you are just as excited as I am about this Show, so let’s make this year’s trip to Las Vegas the best SEMA Show of our lives. See you there!

Cordially,

Nate Shelton
SEMA Chairman of the Board

SEMA News—November 2013

PEOPLE

A Message From Nate Shelton

SEMA Chairman of the Board

Once again, it’s “Showtime.” It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone, and we are once again on our way to Las Vegas. What’s not hard to believe is the excitement, passion and anticipation that is already building around this year’s Show.

This year, for most of us, 2013 has been a fairly lack-luster business year but all of us are working toward 2014 being that stellar year we all so greatly deserve. A great 2014 all begins with the 2013 SEMA Show—the Greatest Automotive Show on Earth!

As SEMA chairman of the board, I am excited about seeing all of you at this year’s Show. I am also excited to see what the many new displays are going to look like, and what fabulous new project cars and custom builds will debut. But what excites me the most is what we will see in creative, innovative and fascinating new products. This is what SEMA is all about, and I know you will be bringing your A game.

Two things that are must-sees at this year’s Show—for both attendees and exhibitors—are two of the many great benefits brought to you by your association. The first, the Vehicle Technology Center—located in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center—is set to help the industry understand the latest, cutting-edge technologies and, ultimately, to help you develop, design and create new products.

Second, I would be remiss if I failed to suggest that all of you go by the SEMA Data Co-op booth #20579 and have Jon Wyly and his team show you how getting your product data organized through them will increase sales and grow your business.

Wow—we have a lot to see and a lot to do! I know all of you are just as excited as I am about this Show, so let’s make this year’s trip to Las Vegas the best SEMA Show of our lives. See you there!

Cordially,

Nate Shelton
SEMA Chairman of the Board

SEMA News—November 2013

PEOPLE

A Message From Nate Shelton

SEMA Chairman of the Board

Once again, it’s “Showtime.” It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone, and we are once again on our way to Las Vegas. What’s not hard to believe is the excitement, passion and anticipation that is already building around this year’s Show.

This year, for most of us, 2013 has been a fairly lack-luster business year but all of us are working toward 2014 being that stellar year we all so greatly deserve. A great 2014 all begins with the 2013 SEMA Show—the Greatest Automotive Show on Earth!

As SEMA chairman of the board, I am excited about seeing all of you at this year’s Show. I am also excited to see what the many new displays are going to look like, and what fabulous new project cars and custom builds will debut. But what excites me the most is what we will see in creative, innovative and fascinating new products. This is what SEMA is all about, and I know you will be bringing your A game.

Two things that are must-sees at this year’s Show—for both attendees and exhibitors—are two of the many great benefits brought to you by your association. The first, the Vehicle Technology Center—located in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center—is set to help the industry understand the latest, cutting-edge technologies and, ultimately, to help you develop, design and create new products.

Second, I would be remiss if I failed to suggest that all of you go by the SEMA Data Co-op booth #20579 and have Jon Wyly and his team show you how getting your product data organized through them will increase sales and grow your business.

Wow—we have a lot to see and a lot to do! I know all of you are just as excited as I am about this Show, so let’s make this year’s trip to Las Vegas the best SEMA Show of our lives. See you there!

Cordially,

Nate Shelton
SEMA Chairman of the Board

SEMA News—November 2013

PEOPLE

A Message From Nate Shelton

SEMA Chairman of the Board

Once again, it’s “Showtime.” It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone, and we are once again on our way to Las Vegas. What’s not hard to believe is the excitement, passion and anticipation that is already building around this year’s Show.

This year, for most of us, 2013 has been a fairly lack-luster business year but all of us are working toward 2014 being that stellar year we all so greatly deserve. A great 2014 all begins with the 2013 SEMA Show—the Greatest Automotive Show on Earth!

As SEMA chairman of the board, I am excited about seeing all of you at this year’s Show. I am also excited to see what the many new displays are going to look like, and what fabulous new project cars and custom builds will debut. But what excites me the most is what we will see in creative, innovative and fascinating new products. This is what SEMA is all about, and I know you will be bringing your A game.

Two things that are must-sees at this year’s Show—for both attendees and exhibitors—are two of the many great benefits brought to you by your association. The first, the Vehicle Technology Center—located in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center—is set to help the industry understand the latest, cutting-edge technologies and, ultimately, to help you develop, design and create new products.

Second, I would be remiss if I failed to suggest that all of you go by the SEMA Data Co-op booth #20579 and have Jon Wyly and his team show you how getting your product data organized through them will increase sales and grow your business.

Wow—we have a lot to see and a lot to do! I know all of you are just as excited as I am about this Show, so let’s make this year’s trip to Las Vegas the best SEMA Show of our lives. See you there!

Cordially,

Nate Shelton
SEMA Chairman of the Board

SEMA News—November 2013

HERITAGE

By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archives

Crane’s First SEMA Show

The dapper man in the bow tie is Harvey Crane. He’s talking about his camshafts and valvetrain components to dealers in the Crane Engineering Company booth at the very first SEMA Show (though it wasn’t called that at the time).

In January 1967, some 100 aftermarket companies set up booths in the concrete aisles of Dodger Stadium’s Club Level for what was then called just “the trade show.” Crane, one of SEMA’s earliest members, brought his wares from his company’s headquarters in Hallandale, Florida, and demonstrated them using a “hand-operated engine simulator,” according to a story in Petersen Publishing Company’s Hot Rod Industry News.

Crane, who passed away in May at age 81, was among the pioneers of the automotive performance aftermarket. The son of a machinist and fabricator, he ground his first camshaft—for a Henderson motorcycle engine to be used in a midget racer—in 1946 when he was just 15 years old. He spent his teen years turning Ford flathead V8s into race engines, and he started Crane Engineering in 1953 using a corner of his father’s machine shop as his workspace. The company was incorporated in 1963, the year SEMA was formed.

While southern racers knew early on how much power Crane could coax out of an engine, he started garnering national attention in 1961, when Pete Robinson won Top Eliminator at the NHRA Nationals running a Crane camshaft in his blown Chevy mill. Crane would go on to patent the design for mechanical roller tappets; design the first rocker arms to feature roller tips, needle-bearing fulcrums and gold anodizing; introduce the concept of a cam with extra-high lift (0.669-in. lift); and debut the first budget-priced camshafts—his Fireball cams—at the 1972 SEMA Show.

Crane’s pioneering achievements weren’t limited to making drag cars, NASCAR competitors and others go faster. In 1965, he revolutionized the ability to compare camshafts by developing the technique of measuring duration “at 50”—between .050-in. of lifter rise and .050-in. before the lifter closed. He was also what we now call an early adopter of computer technology, drafting his first computerized camshaft design in 1967 using a timeshare computer and a program sent from Michigan through telephone lines.

Crane was forced out of his namesake company in 1989 but went on to form a consulting company and a cam school, where he taught more than 100 engine builders the secrets of making power. He was inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame in 1981 and was elected a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1988.

SEMA News—November 2013

HERITAGE

By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archives

Crane’s First SEMA Show

The dapper man in the bow tie is Harvey Crane. He’s talking about his camshafts and valvetrain components to dealers in the Crane Engineering Company booth at the very first SEMA Show (though it wasn’t called that at the time).

In January 1967, some 100 aftermarket companies set up booths in the concrete aisles of Dodger Stadium’s Club Level for what was then called just “the trade show.” Crane, one of SEMA’s earliest members, brought his wares from his company’s headquarters in Hallandale, Florida, and demonstrated them using a “hand-operated engine simulator,” according to a story in Petersen Publishing Company’s Hot Rod Industry News.

Crane, who passed away in May at age 81, was among the pioneers of the automotive performance aftermarket. The son of a machinist and fabricator, he ground his first camshaft—for a Henderson motorcycle engine to be used in a midget racer—in 1946 when he was just 15 years old. He spent his teen years turning Ford flathead V8s into race engines, and he started Crane Engineering in 1953 using a corner of his father’s machine shop as his workspace. The company was incorporated in 1963, the year SEMA was formed.

While southern racers knew early on how much power Crane could coax out of an engine, he started garnering national attention in 1961, when Pete Robinson won Top Eliminator at the NHRA Nationals running a Crane camshaft in his blown Chevy mill. Crane would go on to patent the design for mechanical roller tappets; design the first rocker arms to feature roller tips, needle-bearing fulcrums and gold anodizing; introduce the concept of a cam with extra-high lift (0.669-in. lift); and debut the first budget-priced camshafts—his Fireball cams—at the 1972 SEMA Show.

Crane’s pioneering achievements weren’t limited to making drag cars, NASCAR competitors and others go faster. In 1965, he revolutionized the ability to compare camshafts by developing the technique of measuring duration “at 50”—between .050-in. of lifter rise and .050-in. before the lifter closed. He was also what we now call an early adopter of computer technology, drafting his first computerized camshaft design in 1967 using a timeshare computer and a program sent from Michigan through telephone lines.

Crane was forced out of his namesake company in 1989 but went on to form a consulting company and a cam school, where he taught more than 100 engine builders the secrets of making power. He was inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame in 1981 and was elected a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1988.