HIGH SPEEDS: NASCAR officials have lowered the tolerance level of the pressure-relief valve on the radiator, hopefully forcing drivers to pull out of the draft to cool down their engines and eliminate the excessive speeds seen during the Budweiser Shootout.

BIG BUCKS: Thanks to an endowment left by midget racing historian Crocky Wright, the USAC Mopar National Midget Series Night Before the 500 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Indiana, will pay the winner $20,000 this year.

RENOVATE: Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, will be resurfaced and reconfigured later this year. As part of the project, the dogleg on the backstretch will be made even more pronounced.

GET FUELED: Beginning in 2012, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will switch from carbureted engines to fuel-injected powerplants. The series will test the technology throughout 2011 before implementing the program next year.

SEE YA LATER: Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan, won’t return to the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule in 2012.

DEUCES ARE WILD: Kurt Busch used a push from Jamie McMurray to capture the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night.

NEW FAMILY: Memphis International Raceway, previously known as Memphis Motorsports Park, has officially joined the International Hotrod Association family.

BACKING: Lucas Oil will sponsor the POWRi National Midget Series beginning this season.

NUMBER SEVEN: Bobby Gerhart drove to his seventh ARCA Racing Series victory at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night, holding off Chris Buescher for the triumph.

POLE STARTER: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the pole for next Sunday’s Daytona 500 after his 186.089 mph lap at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

RIP: Veteran Indianapolis Motor Speedway announcer Tom Carnegie, who worked at the speedway from 1946 until his retirement in 2007, died Friday. He was 91.

SUBSCRIBE: National Speed Sport News has been published weekly since 1934. To subscribe to National Speed Sport News, click here for more information.

HIGH SPEEDS: NASCAR officials have lowered the tolerance level of the pressure-relief valve on the radiator, hopefully forcing drivers to pull out of the draft to cool down their engines and eliminate the excessive speeds seen during the Budweiser Shootout.

BIG BUCKS: Thanks to an endowment left by midget racing historian Crocky Wright, the USAC Mopar National Midget Series Night Before the 500 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Indiana, will pay the winner $20,000 this year.

RENOVATE: Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, will be resurfaced and reconfigured later this year. As part of the project, the dogleg on the backstretch will be made even more pronounced.

GET FUELED: Beginning in 2012, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will switch from carbureted engines to fuel-injected powerplants. The series will test the technology throughout 2011 before implementing the program next year.

SEE YA LATER: Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan, won’t return to the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule in 2012.

DEUCES ARE WILD: Kurt Busch used a push from Jamie McMurray to capture the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night.

NEW FAMILY: Memphis International Raceway, previously known as Memphis Motorsports Park, has officially joined the International Hotrod Association family.

BACKING: Lucas Oil will sponsor the POWRi National Midget Series beginning this season.

NUMBER SEVEN: Bobby Gerhart drove to his seventh ARCA Racing Series victory at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night, holding off Chris Buescher for the triumph.

POLE STARTER: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the pole for next Sunday’s Daytona 500 after his 186.089 mph lap at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

RIP: Veteran Indianapolis Motor Speedway announcer Tom Carnegie, who worked at the speedway from 1946 until his retirement in 2007, died Friday. He was 91.

SUBSCRIBE: National Speed Sport News has been published weekly since 1934. To subscribe to National Speed Sport News, click here for more information.

HIGH SPEEDS: NASCAR officials have lowered the tolerance level of the pressure-relief valve on the radiator, hopefully forcing drivers to pull out of the draft to cool down their engines and eliminate the excessive speeds seen during the Budweiser Shootout.

BIG BUCKS: Thanks to an endowment left by midget racing historian Crocky Wright, the USAC Mopar National Midget Series Night Before the 500 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Indiana, will pay the winner $20,000 this year.

RENOVATE: Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, will be resurfaced and reconfigured later this year. As part of the project, the dogleg on the backstretch will be made even more pronounced.

GET FUELED: Beginning in 2012, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will switch from carbureted engines to fuel-injected powerplants. The series will test the technology throughout 2011 before implementing the program next year.

SEE YA LATER: Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan, won’t return to the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule in 2012.

DEUCES ARE WILD: Kurt Busch used a push from Jamie McMurray to capture the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night.

NEW FAMILY: Memphis International Raceway, previously known as Memphis Motorsports Park, has officially joined the International Hotrod Association family.

BACKING: Lucas Oil will sponsor the POWRi National Midget Series beginning this season.

NUMBER SEVEN: Bobby Gerhart drove to his seventh ARCA Racing Series victory at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night, holding off Chris Buescher for the triumph.

POLE STARTER: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the pole for next Sunday’s Daytona 500 after his 186.089 mph lap at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

RIP: Veteran Indianapolis Motor Speedway announcer Tom Carnegie, who worked at the speedway from 1946 until his retirement in 2007, died Friday. He was 91.

SUBSCRIBE: National Speed Sport News has been published weekly since 1934. To subscribe to National Speed Sport News, click here for more information.

HIGH SPEEDS: NASCAR officials have lowered the tolerance level of the pressure-relief valve on the radiator, hopefully forcing drivers to pull out of the draft to cool down their engines and eliminate the excessive speeds seen during the Budweiser Shootout.

BIG BUCKS: Thanks to an endowment left by midget racing historian Crocky Wright, the USAC Mopar National Midget Series Night Before the 500 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Indiana, will pay the winner $20,000 this year.

RENOVATE: Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, will be resurfaced and reconfigured later this year. As part of the project, the dogleg on the backstretch will be made even more pronounced.

GET FUELED: Beginning in 2012, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will switch from carbureted engines to fuel-injected powerplants. The series will test the technology throughout 2011 before implementing the program next year.

SEE YA LATER: Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan, won’t return to the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule in 2012.

DEUCES ARE WILD: Kurt Busch used a push from Jamie McMurray to capture the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night.

NEW FAMILY: Memphis International Raceway, previously known as Memphis Motorsports Park, has officially joined the International Hotrod Association family.

BACKING: Lucas Oil will sponsor the POWRi National Midget Series beginning this season.

NUMBER SEVEN: Bobby Gerhart drove to his seventh ARCA Racing Series victory at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night, holding off Chris Buescher for the triumph.

POLE STARTER: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the pole for next Sunday’s Daytona 500 after his 186.089 mph lap at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

RIP: Veteran Indianapolis Motor Speedway announcer Tom Carnegie, who worked at the speedway from 1946 until his retirement in 2007, died Friday. He was 91.

SUBSCRIBE: National Speed Sport News has been published weekly since 1934. To subscribe to National Speed Sport News, click here for more information.

HIGH SPEEDS: NASCAR officials have lowered the tolerance level of the pressure-relief valve on the radiator, hopefully forcing drivers to pull out of the draft to cool down their engines and eliminate the excessive speeds seen during the Budweiser Shootout.

BIG BUCKS: Thanks to an endowment left by midget racing historian Crocky Wright, the USAC Mopar National Midget Series Night Before the 500 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Indiana, will pay the winner $20,000 this year.

RENOVATE: Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, will be resurfaced and reconfigured later this year. As part of the project, the dogleg on the backstretch will be made even more pronounced.

GET FUELED: Beginning in 2012, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will switch from carbureted engines to fuel-injected powerplants. The series will test the technology throughout 2011 before implementing the program next year.

SEE YA LATER: Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan, won’t return to the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule in 2012.

DEUCES ARE WILD: Kurt Busch used a push from Jamie McMurray to capture the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night.

NEW FAMILY: Memphis International Raceway, previously known as Memphis Motorsports Park, has officially joined the International Hotrod Association family.

BACKING: Lucas Oil will sponsor the POWRi National Midget Series beginning this season.

NUMBER SEVEN: Bobby Gerhart drove to his seventh ARCA Racing Series victory at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night, holding off Chris Buescher for the triumph.

POLE STARTER: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the pole for next Sunday’s Daytona 500 after his 186.089 mph lap at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

RIP: Veteran Indianapolis Motor Speedway announcer Tom Carnegie, who worked at the speedway from 1946 until his retirement in 2007, died Friday. He was 91.

SUBSCRIBE: National Speed Sport News has been published weekly since 1934. To subscribe to National Speed Sport News, click here for more information.

Australia is one of the easiest places in the world to do business. Need a distributor or manufacturer? Join the United States Pavilion. The 2011 edition of the biennial Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo will be held in Melbourne May 12–14.

For more information, contact Christine Ellis, the Pavilion organizer, at 734/453-3500 or by e-mail at cellis@facetcompany.com.

Australia is one of the easiest places in the world to do business. Need a distributor or manufacturer? Join the United States Pavilion. The 2011 edition of the biennial Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo will be held in Melbourne May 12–14.

For more information, contact Christine Ellis, the Pavilion organizer, at 734/453-3500 or by e-mail at cellis@facetcompany.com.

SEMA manufacturing members are invited and encouraged to grab the specs they need for the 2012 Scion iQ during a SEMA Measuring Session on March 15.

The iQ is the automaker's premium micro-subcompact and features a 1.3L four-cylinder with continuously variable transmission.

During the session, manufacturers can crawl in and around the new micro-subcompact to take the measurements needed to develop products. Cameras are permitted for this session.

To participate, RSVP now. The deadline to sign up for the session in March 11. More information is available from Bill Wolf or Kelly Clancy.

SEMA manufacturing members are invited and encouraged to grab the specs they need for the 2012 Scion iQ during a SEMA Measuring Session on March 15.

The iQ is the automaker's premium micro-subcompact and features a 1.3L four-cylinder with continuously variable transmission.

During the session, manufacturers can crawl in and around the new micro-subcompact to take the measurements needed to develop products. Cameras are permitted for this session.

To participate, RSVP now. The deadline to sign up for the session in March 11. More information is available from Bill Wolf or Kelly Clancy.

SEMA members participating in the first SEMA CIAPE China Business Development Conference examine a customized Jeep at the CIAPE show.

Vehicle sales in China are growing across the board, but the luxury and SUV segments are increasing at the fastest rate, propelled by rising incomes and a wave of second-car buyers with a desire for something more upscale. That’s just one trend that bodes well for SEMA members eyeing the China market for future sales.

First, the big picture. China’s passenger-car market was the world’s largest in 2010. It grew by 33.17% compared to the previous year to 13.76 million units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). J.D. Power and Associates forecasts China’s passenger-car market will hit 20.9 million units by 2015. That includes cars, SUVs and MPVs.

“The luxury-car and SUV segments are gaining share in recent years, especially from 2008,” Jenny Gu, a senior analyst with J.D. Power in Shanghai, told SEMA. “One major reason is that the percentage of second-time buyers is increasing, and their first choice is an SUV or a luxury car.”

In 2010, SUVs accounted for 14% of the passenger-vehicle market; that will grow to 16% by 2015. Luxury cars accounted for 3.8% of the market in 2010; that will grow to 4.7% by 2015.

Based on new-vehicle registration data, SUV imports accounted for 51.7% of all imports in 2010, says Fourin’s China Automotive Intelligence Report No. 24, December 2010.

Why SUVs?

“These models offer great performance on rough roads and higher safety than ordinary passenger cars,” says the report.

More than half the buyers of imported cars in China were young, rich men. Some 66.8% of the buyers were male; 88.3% used cash; more than 90% were private owners; and men in their 30s and below accounted for 55% of the total, making China’s luxury-car purchase group the world’s youngest, said Fourin. The largest portion of the imported cars—some 34.6%—cost more than 500,000 RMB, ($75,900 USD).

Rising incomes in China’s tier-one and tier-two cities make them especially hot markets for luxury cars, said Gu. Residents in smaller cities are also developing an appetite for luxury cars, however, and manufacturers, such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, are adding dealerships there.

Of China’s luxury-car consumers, J.D. Power’s Gu said: “When demand becomes more diverse, some customers pursue trendy or niche markets. They like to be special, especially for those young elite or those who come back from foreign countries. They prefer import models. One reason is the design is the global trend. Also, there is a sense that the quality is better than locally produced models.”

SEMA is sponsoring a members-only trip to Beijing, China, September 7–10, 2011. Participants will have the chance to network and meet one-on-one with distributors and retailers of specialty products from throughout China.

For more information, visit sema.org/china or contact Linda Spencer at lindas@sema.org.