SEMA News—October 2012

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
By Mike Imlay

Bettering Your Business With Apps

The words “there’s an app for that” have become somewhat of a cliché—and with good reason. Not long ago, many businesses pursued mobile applications mainly as a gimmicky exercise in marketing. Having a cool branded game or similar whiz-bang app was considered a trendy way to burnish a company’s image with smartphone and tablet users. But times are changing, and the world of apps is maturing.

According to Michael Beller, vice president of Media Works and emerging media at Source Interlink Media, apps nowadays are more likely to be developed to better a business and its operations than to merely awe or entertain consumers.

“There’s a whole range of ideas coming from our clients that fall into a lot of different buckets,” Beller explained. “They could be database-driven apps; they could be more marketing-related apps for reps to use with retailers; or they could be more consumer-based apps to help consumers learn about their products. It’s all really interesting.”

Laying the Groundwork

Of course, the term “app” is shorthand for an application or software program accessed through a computer, smartphone, tablet or related device. Up until recently, the question facing many manufacturers—and even retailers—was whether to hop on the app-development bandwagon at all. Now, however, with a wide range of utilitarian apps available—especially those designed for mobile devices—there’s no question that they can make a business more efficient, productive and portable. So what are some best practices in approaching mobile apps and/or related emerging media?

If your company’s goal is to improve its marketing to consumers, mobile optimization of your website is always a recommended first step. While not technically app development, such optimization lays the foundation for other digital marketing efforts. Beller pointed out that customers in a retail environment can easily research information, compare pricing and even make online purchases via their smartphones while waiting at the counter. If a website isn’t mobile optimized, frustrated consumers can quickly bail on it in favor of another company’s site that is. Fortunately, mobile optimization can be accomplished easily and inexpensively.

“We tell our clients that no one wants to pinch and zoom anymore,” said Beller. “No matter who develops it, you have to have a mobile website.” One example would be including an easy-to-use online database containing product information, availability and pricing.

After optimizing its website for mobile viewing, a company can next move on to consider whether specialized applications make sense. The realm of choices is broad. Apps can be:

• Utilitarian—for instance, enabling customers or even staff and field representatives to look up products and information from their smartphones or tablets.
• Brand extensions—applying the power of a brand to an app that’s not necessarily directly related to core business but that nevertheless supplies a service to users.
• Content-driven—offering users videos, reviews, news, feeds and related marketing collateral or updates pertaining to a business.
• B2B tools—such as a marketing app created so that sales reps can educate potential buyers about a company’s offerings at trade shows, events or in the field.
• Training related—specifically for a company’s employees or sales representatives.

According to Beller, deciding what type of app to pursue comes down to two considerations.

“First,” he said, “it depends on what specific vertical you are in—direct to consumer, direct to retailer, inventory management, web-based versus mobile-based. The other consideration may be a challenge that needs a specific solution. For example, a company may need an inventory-management-type make, model, year app for a certain part it manufactures.”

Branding Utility

Toyo’s recently introduced app was designed to educate the company’s sales team, dealers and dealer customers about Toyo products. It displays product overviews, features and benefits, training materials, multi-media product videos, commercials and photos along with media stories and product sizes and specs.

“You should identify your target audience and the content that is important or useful to them,” agreed Amy Coleman, senior director of marketing for Toyo Tire USA Corp., which recently developed an innovative iPad business app with Source Interlink Media’s assistance. “Establish a good outline of the project in advance. This will act as your road map and guide, establishing the content you need to gather or create and milestones along the way.”

Toyo’s recently introduced app was designed to educate the company’s sales team, dealers and dealer customers about Toyo products. It displays product overviews, features and benefits, training materials, multimedia product videos, commercials and photos along with media stories and product sizes and specs. It also features PDFs of product brochures, the company’s dealer magazine and links to the Toyo website and social-media channels. It has proven to be an extremely useful B2B tool for the company’s field representatives.

“The goal was to consolidate product information into one, easy-to-use-tool,” Coleman said. “It was first launched with our Proxes 4 Plus and now features 17 products. It’s a tool that can be used in sales meetings, in employee training, on the showroom floor and at events, including the SEMA Show. The sizes and specs data is pulled from our website, which is updated regularly so our sales department and dealers will always have the latest information at their fingertips. This is the first time all Toyo product information is together in one tool for our sales department and dealers.”

Read the complete article featured in the October 2012 issue of SEMA News.

Dirt Late Model Champ Rick Eckert to Share Setup Strategies at PRI Show
This year’s Race Industry Week, held in conjunction with the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show, could prove to be a big on-track winner for Dirt Late Model teams with the addition of the “Winning Setup Strategies for Dirt Late Models” chassis seminar, Friday, November 30.

The seminar will offer an opportunity to hear about winning engine and chassis strategies in Dirt Late Model racing. It’s designed particularly to provide information to those racing at local tracks and on regional tours. The panel discussion is being organized by Dick Berggren and Karl Fredrickson of Speedway Illustrated magazine.

Speakers will include Rick Eckert, 2011 World of Outlaws Late Model champion, who is currently second in points in the series. Eckert is the winner of the 1999 Dream at Eldora as well as many other major DLM events.

Roush-Yates Engine’s Jeff Clark will also share information about today’s high-performance dirt late-model engines. Clark is highly regarded as an expert in the race-engine field with experience across a broad array of on-track powerplant disciplines. A third major speaker will be added.

The “Winning Setup Strategies for Dirt Late Models" is one of more than 35 special events during Race Industry Week that will take place in conjunction with this year’s PRI Trade Show, which will run November 30– December 1, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. The 25th Annual PRI Trade Show features the latest product lines of more than 1,000 manufacturers of racing and high-performance automotive components, as well as precision machining equipment. It will be attended by approximately 38,000 racing business people from all over the United States and from 70 countries. For more information, visit www.performanceracing.com/tradeshow.

	FOX-sponsored athletes Jesse Jones and Bryce Menzies are teaming up once again to drive the FOX OFFROAD Racing trophy-truck in the Baja 1000.

FOX Athletes Jesse Jones and Bryce Menzies Join Forces at 45th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
FOX-sponsored athletes Jesse Jones and Bryce Menzies are teaming up once again in Baja. They first teamed up at the 2012 Baja 500 sharing pits and logistics. The move paid off, netting Menzies the overall win and his second consecutive Baja 500 win and Jones reaching the podium in third place. They're stepping up their collaboration for the Baja 1000 by sharing driving duties of Jones' FOX OFFROAD Racing trophy-truck.

The 45th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 is a point-to-point peninsula run that starts in Ensenada, Baja California Sur and finishes 1,121.55 miles south in La Paz, Baja California Sur.

Optimum G Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Seminar Returns To Race Industry Week
After a successful opening run in 2011, long-time race engineer Claude Rouelle will return to Orlando with his “Advanced Vehicle Dynamics & Data Acquisition” seminar, November 26–28, as part of Race Industry Week in conjunction with the 25h annual PRI Trade Show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

The Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Seminar joins the AETC as one of two kick-off events to Race Industry Week—the week-long racing business extravaganza leading into this year’s PRI Trade Show.

The seminar is designed to help teams and designers not only learn about finding the correct setup, but also about understanding why a setup change is working or not working, and knowing how to quantify this advantage. It will aid in understanding how, why and how much certain factors affect vehicle behavior, rather than relying on experience and intuition.

Rouelle's career includes experience as technical advisor and manager on dozens of circuits and rallies, including the European Rally Championship, European Touring Car Championship, French Formula 3, Japanese F3000, Formula One and the CART series. In 1997, he created OptimumG, a consulting company that specializes in race car engineering and data acquisition through software development, consulting services and seminars.

Topics scheduled to be addressed in the three-day seminar include: tires, aerodynamics, kinematics, steady state weight transfer, shocks, ride and transient weight transfers, data acquisition, and car design, tuning modification and chassis setup. There is a fee to attend.

The OptimumG seminar is one of eight major events taking place in conjunction with this year’s PRI Trade Show, which will run November 29–December1, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Overall, “Race Industry Week” is scheduled to include more than 35 special events to be held in conjunction with the 2012 Show.

For more information, visit www.performanceracing.com/tradeshow.

	Falken Tire will continue participation in the American Le Mans Series, Formula Drift, King of the Hammers and Supercross.

Falken Tire "Waves the Green" for an Expansive Motorsports Program for 2013
Falken Tire will continue participation in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), Formula Drift, King of the Hammers and Supercross.

 In the GT Class, ALMS competition, Falken engineers continue to ramp up further as Falken plans an “intense testing schedule in 2013,” according to Derrick Walker, who will return for his third year as team manager of Falken’s ALMS program. Both Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler, who have scored three victories in their two years together as co-drivers of the Team Falken Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, will continue their partnership in 2013. The ALMS will merge with its road-racing counterpart—the Grand Am series—in 2014 to form a single North American sanctioning body and racing program.

In Formula Drift, Team Falken will return with a three-car lineup featuring Justin Pawlak in his ’13 Mustang GT; Darren McNamara, driving a new V8-powered Nissan S14; and Daijiro Yoshihara, who will again enter his 2011 Championship-winning Nissan S13, however, though a new collaborative effort with Subaru, Yoshihara will campaign a new BRZ in 2014 with heavy development and testing takings place throughout the 2013 calendar year.

Falken Tire will expand its off-road program when the brand enters the 2013 King of the Hammers competition with Japan-based Team Tsuda Racing as well as supporting Race Prep Racing for a second year. Tsuda Racing features Driver Masa Tsuda and Co-driver Daiten Izumi, and Race Prep will have Driver Richard Carte and Co-driver Kristen Carter on board. Both teams will run on WildPeak All-Terrain tread.

More than 30,000 fans converge at Means Dry Lake in Johnson Valley, California, to form “Hammer Town”—a makeshift city made up of RVs and campers. Falken will also have a base of operations there, providing tire support to its teams and distributing Falken products and team “swag” to its neighbors during the week-long event.



Falken Tire also recently announced the signing of its second multiyear contract as the Official Passenger Car and Truck of AMA Supercross as well as with the series’ 2012 Champion, Ryan Villopoto, who has won back-to-back titles.

	The new co-sponsors for the 2013 Induction Banquet for the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame are the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and Summit Racing Equipment.

International Drag Racing Hall of Fame Announces Major Sponsors
Don Garlits, chairman of the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing (Ocala, Florida) has introduced two new co-sponsors for the 2013 Induction Banquet for the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, based at the museum.

The new co-sponsors are the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) [Glendora, California] and Summit Racing Equipment (Tallmadge, Ohio).

The event will be known as the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame Induction Banquet presented by NHRA and Summit Racing, and will be held at the Paramount Plaza Hotel & Suites (Gainesville, Florida) Thursday, March 14, 2013, preceding the NHRA Gatornationals. The 2013 class of inductees include: Dave Boertman (Norton Shores, Michigan), Wally Booth (Beverly Hills, Michigan), Bernie Fedderly (Brownsburg, Indiana), Harry Hibler (Shadow Hills, California), Hirata, Hobbs & Vodnik – Kenny Hirata (Lowell, Indiana), Phil Hobbs (Greenwood, Indiana) and Bobby Vodnik (Oak Forest, Illinois), K.S. (Tiger) Pittman (Springfield, Missouri), Dick Rosberg (Rockingham, North Carolina) and Louis Senter (Encino, California); and the Founders Award – Dr. Robert C. Post, PhD (Easton, Maryland).

To get tickets to the ceremony, call 877-271-3278 or e-mail Donna Garlits at donna@garlits.com.

Dirt Late Model Champ Rick Eckert to Share Setup Strategies at PRI Show
This year’s Race Industry Week, held in conjunction with the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show, could prove to be a big on-track winner for Dirt Late Model teams with the addition of the “Winning Setup Strategies for Dirt Late Models” chassis seminar, Friday, November 30.

The seminar will offer an opportunity to hear about winning engine and chassis strategies in Dirt Late Model racing. It’s designed particularly to provide information to those racing at local tracks and on regional tours. The panel discussion is being organized by Dick Berggren and Karl Fredrickson of Speedway Illustrated magazine.

Speakers will include Rick Eckert, 2011 World of Outlaws Late Model champion, who is currently second in points in the series. Eckert is the winner of the 1999 Dream at Eldora as well as many other major DLM events.

Roush-Yates Engine’s Jeff Clark will also share information about today’s high-performance dirt late-model engines. Clark is highly regarded as an expert in the race-engine field with experience across a broad array of on-track powerplant disciplines. A third major speaker will be added.

The “Winning Setup Strategies for Dirt Late Models" is one of more than 35 special events during Race Industry Week that will take place in conjunction with this year’s PRI Trade Show, which will run November 30– December 1, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. The 25th Annual PRI Trade Show features the latest product lines of more than 1,000 manufacturers of racing and high-performance automotive components, as well as precision machining equipment. It will be attended by approximately 38,000 racing business people from all over the United States and from 70 countries. For more information, visit www.performanceracing.com/tradeshow.

	FOX-sponsored athletes Jesse Jones and Bryce Menzies are teaming up once again to drive the FOX OFFROAD Racing trophy-truck in the Baja 1000.

FOX Athletes Jesse Jones and Bryce Menzies Join Forces at 45th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
FOX-sponsored athletes Jesse Jones and Bryce Menzies are teaming up once again in Baja. They first teamed up at the 2012 Baja 500 sharing pits and logistics. The move paid off, netting Menzies the overall win and his second consecutive Baja 500 win and Jones reaching the podium in third place. They're stepping up their collaboration for the Baja 1000 by sharing driving duties of Jones' FOX OFFROAD Racing trophy-truck.

The 45th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 is a point-to-point peninsula run that starts in Ensenada, Baja California Sur and finishes 1,121.55 miles south in La Paz, Baja California Sur.

Optimum G Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Seminar Returns To Race Industry Week
After a successful opening run in 2011, long-time race engineer Claude Rouelle will return to Orlando with his “Advanced Vehicle Dynamics & Data Acquisition” seminar, November 26–28, as part of Race Industry Week in conjunction with the 25h annual PRI Trade Show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

The Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Seminar joins the AETC as one of two kick-off events to Race Industry Week—the week-long racing business extravaganza leading into this year’s PRI Trade Show.

The seminar is designed to help teams and designers not only learn about finding the correct setup, but also about understanding why a setup change is working or not working, and knowing how to quantify this advantage. It will aid in understanding how, why and how much certain factors affect vehicle behavior, rather than relying on experience and intuition.

Rouelle's career includes experience as technical advisor and manager on dozens of circuits and rallies, including the European Rally Championship, European Touring Car Championship, French Formula 3, Japanese F3000, Formula One and the CART series. In 1997, he created OptimumG, a consulting company that specializes in race car engineering and data acquisition through software development, consulting services and seminars.

Topics scheduled to be addressed in the three-day seminar include: tires, aerodynamics, kinematics, steady state weight transfer, shocks, ride and transient weight transfers, data acquisition, and car design, tuning modification and chassis setup. There is a fee to attend.

The OptimumG seminar is one of eight major events taking place in conjunction with this year’s PRI Trade Show, which will run November 29–December1, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Overall, “Race Industry Week” is scheduled to include more than 35 special events to be held in conjunction with the 2012 Show.

For more information, visit www.performanceracing.com/tradeshow.

	Falken Tire will continue participation in the American Le Mans Series, Formula Drift, King of the Hammers and Supercross.

Falken Tire "Waves the Green" for an Expansive Motorsports Program for 2013
Falken Tire will continue participation in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), Formula Drift, King of the Hammers and Supercross.

 In the GT Class, ALMS competition, Falken engineers continue to ramp up further as Falken plans an “intense testing schedule in 2013,” according to Derrick Walker, who will return for his third year as team manager of Falken’s ALMS program. Both Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler, who have scored three victories in their two years together as co-drivers of the Team Falken Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, will continue their partnership in 2013. The ALMS will merge with its road-racing counterpart—the Grand Am series—in 2014 to form a single North American sanctioning body and racing program.

In Formula Drift, Team Falken will return with a three-car lineup featuring Justin Pawlak in his ’13 Mustang GT; Darren McNamara, driving a new V8-powered Nissan S14; and Daijiro Yoshihara, who will again enter his 2011 Championship-winning Nissan S13, however, though a new collaborative effort with Subaru, Yoshihara will campaign a new BRZ in 2014 with heavy development and testing takings place throughout the 2013 calendar year.

Falken Tire will expand its off-road program when the brand enters the 2013 King of the Hammers competition with Japan-based Team Tsuda Racing as well as supporting Race Prep Racing for a second year. Tsuda Racing features Driver Masa Tsuda and Co-driver Daiten Izumi, and Race Prep will have Driver Richard Carte and Co-driver Kristen Carter on board. Both teams will run on WildPeak All-Terrain tread.

More than 30,000 fans converge at Means Dry Lake in Johnson Valley, California, to form “Hammer Town”—a makeshift city made up of RVs and campers. Falken will also have a base of operations there, providing tire support to its teams and distributing Falken products and team “swag” to its neighbors during the week-long event.



Falken Tire also recently announced the signing of its second multiyear contract as the Official Passenger Car and Truck of AMA Supercross as well as with the series’ 2012 Champion, Ryan Villopoto, who has won back-to-back titles.

	The new co-sponsors for the 2013 Induction Banquet for the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame are the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and Summit Racing Equipment.

International Drag Racing Hall of Fame Announces Major Sponsors
Don Garlits, chairman of the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing (Ocala, Florida) has introduced two new co-sponsors for the 2013 Induction Banquet for the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, based at the museum.

The new co-sponsors are the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) [Glendora, California] and Summit Racing Equipment (Tallmadge, Ohio).

The event will be known as the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame Induction Banquet presented by NHRA and Summit Racing, and will be held at the Paramount Plaza Hotel & Suites (Gainesville, Florida) Thursday, March 14, 2013, preceding the NHRA Gatornationals. The 2013 class of inductees include: Dave Boertman (Norton Shores, Michigan), Wally Booth (Beverly Hills, Michigan), Bernie Fedderly (Brownsburg, Indiana), Harry Hibler (Shadow Hills, California), Hirata, Hobbs & Vodnik – Kenny Hirata (Lowell, Indiana), Phil Hobbs (Greenwood, Indiana) and Bobby Vodnik (Oak Forest, Illinois), K.S. (Tiger) Pittman (Springfield, Missouri), Dick Rosberg (Rockingham, North Carolina) and Louis Senter (Encino, California); and the Founders Award – Dr. Robert C. Post, PhD (Easton, Maryland).

To get tickets to the ceremony, call 877-271-3278 or e-mail Donna Garlits at donna@garlits.com.

While these photos were originally shot June of this year, the crew at Brenda Priddy & Co. has been receiving a lot of interest in the ’13 Dodge Challenger as the anticipated introduction at the North American International Auto Show draws closer.

According to Priddy, major changes are in store for the Challenger lineup for the 2015 model year—including renaming the car Barracuda. However, based on these photos, a mid-cycle facelift will be taking place very shortly, as well as a rumored supercharged engine with 550 hp.

It appears the updated Challenger may be getting more a Charger-type/Dodge-styled grille (the center-vertical bar is visible through the camouflage), updated headlamps and a larger air intake down low—not to mention a boost in horsepower.

Photo Copyright: Brenda Priddy & Co.

While these photos were originally shot June of this year, the crew at Brenda Priddy & Co. has been receiving a lot of interest in the ’13 Dodge Challenger as the anticipated introduction at the North American International Auto Show draws closer.

According to Priddy, major changes are in store for the Challenger lineup for the 2015 model year—including renaming the car Barracuda. However, based on these photos, a mid-cycle facelift will be taking place very shortly, as well as a rumored supercharged engine with 550 hp.

It appears the updated Challenger may be getting more a Charger-type/Dodge-styled grille (the center-vertical bar is visible through the camouflage), updated headlamps and a larger air intake down low—not to mention a boost in horsepower.

Photo Copyright: Brenda Priddy & Co.

	Showgoers view the Toyota HiLux, which SEMA imported from the Middle East.

More than 100 companies have signed up to measure the 2012 Toyota HiLux—a compact pickup popular globally but not sold in the United States. SEMA imported the vehicle in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce to provide an opportunity for members to measure it and create export-ready products.

In the short time since the vehicle arrived in the United States in mid-July, 18 SEMA members already have created product, which were displayed at the SEMA Show.

SEMA members exhibiting products for the HiLux at the Show included:

• American Racing
• AMP RESEARCH
• ATS Design
• C.R. Laurence Co. Inc.
• Cequent Performance Products
• Dynatrac Products Co. Inc.
• Firestone Industrial Products
• Hellwig Products
• Husky Liners
• JRi Shocks
• K&N Engineering
• McGard LLC
• OMIX-ADA
• Penda Corp.
• Rugged Liner Inc.
• Stampede Products
• Timbren Industries Inc.
• Truck Covers USA

	Showgoers view the Toyota HiLux, which SEMA imported from the Middle East.

More than 100 companies have signed up to measure the 2012 Toyota HiLux—a compact pickup popular globally but not sold in the United States. SEMA imported the vehicle in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce to provide an opportunity for members to measure it and create export-ready products.

In the short time since the vehicle arrived in the United States in mid-July, 18 SEMA members already have created product, which were displayed at the SEMA Show.

SEMA members exhibiting products for the HiLux at the Show included:

• American Racing
• AMP RESEARCH
• ATS Design
• C.R. Laurence Co. Inc.
• Cequent Performance Products
• Dynatrac Products Co. Inc.
• Firestone Industrial Products
• Hellwig Products
• Husky Liners
• JRi Shocks
• K&N Engineering
• McGard LLC
• OMIX-ADA
• Penda Corp.
• Rugged Liner Inc.
• Stampede Products
• Timbren Industries Inc.
• Truck Covers USA

Kyle Busch's "Rowdy Edition Camry" was named the winner of the 2012 Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge.

Kyle Busch and his creation known as the "Rowdy Edition Camry" was named the winner of the 2012 Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge. As the first-place winner, Busch received $50,000 for his designated charity, with second place receiving $25,000, third place $15,000 and fourth place $10,000. The announcement was made last week at Toyota's SEMA Show press conference by television racing commentator and "Top Gear USA" host Rutledge Wood.

Announced earlier this year, the Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge was a vehicle-modification build competition where fans determined the winner among four Toyota Racing drivers who were competing for charity. Fans were invited to vote via Facebook for their favorite vehicle, customized with parts and accessories available through TRD, begging near the end of October.

View the video of the Toyota Press Conference at the 2012 SEMA Show.

Kyle Busch's "Rowdy Edition Camry" was named the winner of the 2012 Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge.

Kyle Busch and his creation known as the "Rowdy Edition Camry" was named the winner of the 2012 Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge. As the first-place winner, Busch received $50,000 for his designated charity, with second place receiving $25,000, third place $15,000 and fourth place $10,000. The announcement was made last week at Toyota's SEMA Show press conference by television racing commentator and "Top Gear USA" host Rutledge Wood.

Announced earlier this year, the Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge was a vehicle-modification build competition where fans determined the winner among four Toyota Racing drivers who were competing for charity. Fans were invited to vote via Facebook for their favorite vehicle, customized with parts and accessories available through TRD, begging near the end of October.

View the video of the Toyota Press Conference at the 2012 SEMA Show.

	All active and retired military personnel receive free admission for the Goodguys 23rd Autumn Get-Together, Sunday, November 11, at the Pleasanton Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California.

Free Admission for Military Personnel at Goodguys 23rd Autumn Get-Together
The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association and Specialty Sales Classics have teamed up to offer FREE admission to all active and retired military personnel for the Goodguys 23rd Autumn Get-Together, Sunday, November 11, at the Pleasanton Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California. The two-day automotive event features more than 2,500 American-powered hot rods, custom cars, classics, trucks, musclecars and street machines of all years, makes and models. The event also includes vendor exhibits, a giant swap meet and car corral, Goodguys AutoCross and more. All U.S. Military will be admitted for FREE (valid military ID required for admission) Sunday, November 11, for a special Veteran’s Day celebration. The U.S. Color Guard will post the colors during a special ceremony at high noon at the main stage. Other festive Veteran’s Day activities will also be featured.

Transamerican Auto Parts Names Jim Jackson International Sales Manager
Transamerican Auto Parts Company hired Jim Jackson as international sales manager, a newly created position for the company. According to Transamerican, Jackson is highly regarded in the automotive aftermarket industry, most recently serving as president of ARB USA/Air Locker Inc. for 23 years. Prior to that, Jackson was the international sales manager for six years at Warn International. Although Jackson's duties will require travel, he is based at Transamerican Auto Parts' headquarters in Compton, California.

Pictured left to right: Mitch Fogle, president, Lund International; Gary Disher, Niagara Truck 'N' Stuff; and Ed Orzetti, president & CEO,  Keystone Automotive Operations Inc.

Keystone Automotive, Lund International Give Away Chevrolet Silverado
Keystone Automotive and Lund International teamed up to offer one lucky Keystone customer a chance to win a customized ’12 Chevrolet Silverado for supporting and promoting the Lund International family of products. The contest, which began March 3 and ended October 1, was open to customers purchasing LUND and AVS products who earned entries to become one of the five finalists with a chance at picking the key to the giveaway vehicle. The five finalists were flown into Las Vegas for a three-night stay and VIP Tour of the  2012 SEMA Show. The final event - the grand prize drawing—took place in Last Vegas, at the SW Steakhouse on October 31, 2012, and Gary Disher was the grand prize winner of the customized Silverado.  

John Nodson to Serve as Vice President for Marx Group Advisors
Marx Group Advisors named John Nodson as the company's vice president. He will be responsible for providing hands-on experience as an analyst and dealmaker for acquisitions and divestitures. Nodson is also an advisory board member of Marx Group Advisors. According to the Marx Group Advisors, Nodson was with Standard Motor Products for 35 years, most recently as director of marketing, where he provided leadership for business units building and managing multiple brands and full lines of engine management, brake products and retail accessories. Since 2009, Nodson has been the vice president of research for The Marx Group, an allied organization of Marx Group Advisors that specializes in marketing communications in the automotive and commercial vehicle aftermarket. In that role he has been managing the market research department, including primary and secondary research, focus groups and online studies. He also works with major data providers to help clients select the right information to incorporate into customized data analyses.