SEMA News—August 2022

SEMA DATA

By Gigi Ho

SEMA Data Product News

The products featured below are from SEMA Data member companies that have attained Gold- or Platinum-level data, which means that their product data is robust and complete—likely to drive customer purchase decisions. SEMA Data members meeting data scorecard requirements are invited to submit product releases for consideration to enews@semadatacoop.org.

Borla

F80/F82 M3/M4 2015-2020 Cat-Back Exhaust System ATAK

System features a merge X-Pipe for increased performance and improved sound. The system has valves and features polished T-304 stainless steel tip and Borla’s Polyphonic Harmonizer Technology, which utilizes patented units that contain pipes of different diameters and lengths to create multiple exhaust notes that harmonize to deliver a clean, rich, full-bodied sound to the Borla mufflers. The mufflers then enhance this sound to the character and volume appropriate for our Touring, S-Type and ATAK systems.

Information: www.borla.com

PN: 140731

Forgestar

F14 Wheel Satin BLK

Forgestar performance wheels bridge the gap between forged wheels and cast wheels for the world’s most prestigious luxury and high-performance machines. Its innovative rotary-formed production process allows Forgestar to create a lightweight cast wheel with strength and impact values similar to a forged wheel. In turn, we’re able to create a lightweight aftermarket wheel solution for various street, racing and drag-racing applications, catering to various applications and vehicles. Custom bolt patterns. Lightweight monoblock construction. Rotary-formed flow-formed barrel. Semi, deep, super-deep concave and ultra-deep concave profiles. Big-brake-kit clearance.

Information: www.forgestar.com

PN: GH-13053X

RIGID

Adapt LED Light Bar With EIGHT Beam Patterns, GPS And
RGB-W Backlight, 30 in.

The RIGID Adapt LED Light Bar has a signature look that is unlike any other light bar on the market. Feature-packed, this light bar has eight selectable beam patterns and accent lighting that can be programmed to display any color in the light spectrum. The Adapt features an integrated optics design with spot, flood and driving zones. Horizontal beam patterns range from 90-degree slow or moderate speed broad beam to a highly focused 15-degree high-speed spot beam in a single fixture. The new Active View Technology allows the beam pattern to automatically adjust based on the vehicle’s speed when set to adaptive mode.

Information: rigidindustries.com

PN: 230413

By Caroline Fletcher

Hundreds of land-speed records have been set and broken by racers driving all types of two-, three- and four-wheeled vehicles. Photo courtesy: D.Lopez-FotoMundo America/Shutterstock.com

For more than 100 years, racers have descended upon the crystalline white salt remnants of the ancient lakebed that comprises the Bonneville Salt Flats in search of epic speeds. Not only does this unique landmark attract tourists, filmmaker and other commercial activity, but it also possesses rare physical qualities that make it the perfect venue for land-speed racing.

Despite being designated as a historic landmark, Bonneville is imperiled. Beginning in the ’60s, federal mining leases allowed salt to be transferred from Bonneville for potash extraction. Once processed, the remaining salt was not returned to Bonneville until 1997, and the amounts pumped in subsequent years have not made up for decades of losses.

SEMA has worked with the Save the Salt Coalition—a group of concerned racers, businesses and community members—to create the “Restore Bonneville” program. The goal is to gradually increase the yearly amount of salt brine pumped onto
Bonneville from an average of 300,000 tons per year to more than 1 million tons per year. SEMA and the racing community have joined forces with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Utah Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Utah Geological Survey, and Intrepid Potash Inc. in the collaborative restoration effort.

The restoration program is managed by DNR in conjunction with the BLM, and it is operated by Intrepid Potash. In working with Intrepid Potash, the volume of salt laid down on Bonneville will be increased by updating and improving the efficiency of the current pumping infrastructure and water conservation efforts, which includes rebuilding water wells, covering ditches and installing new pipes and pumps. Great efforts to use water more efficiently will help achieve the goal to increase the volume of salt returned to the salt flats.

More than $1.2 million in federal and Utah state funds were released last year to start the ambitious restoration effort. During the summer of 2021, a new water well was installed along with equipment to measure water evaporation rates and collect scientific data. The data will seek to identify the best ways to take advantage of the salt laydown and study the effects on the salt crust and underlying brine aquifer. For example, the program will consider ways to contain the salt within the large pumping area with dykes or berms.

Stakeholders are now pursuing projects to continue increasing the volume of salt being pumped in 2022 and beyond. While the fight to save the Bonneville Salt Flats is far from over, this program represents a tangible step toward “saving the salt” and protecting the future of racing at Bonneville. If you’re looking for a way to help, financial contributions to the program from the racing community are gratefully accepted at www.savethesalt.org.

Quick History Lesson

Bonneville’s hard salt provides a cool surface that doesn’t overheat tires as vehicles hit mind-boggling speeds. Hundreds of land-speed records have been set and broken by racers driving all types of two-, three- and four-wheeled vehicles. Speed Week is the marquee event, drawing large crowds of racers and spectators nearly every August since 1949. Bonneville also has a long history of being nature’s test track for equipment produced by SEMA and PRI members.

Bonneville serves another important role as a crucial resource for potash used primarily in fertilizers. To obtain potash, salt brine is collected in large solar evaporation ponds from which potash is separated out and processed. The remaining salt is stored and may then be returned to the Salt Flats as salt brine.

Beginning in the ’60s, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which manages the land, issued leases to the north of Interstate 80, where motorsports racing and other recreational activities take place, allowing salt brine to be collected in open ditches for commercial potash processing. The mine operator began pumping the processed salt back onto Bonneville in 1997 as part of a pilot project SEMA helped create, but it has not kept pace with the loss of salt over previous decades.

In the ’60s, the racing venue at Bonneville was more than 13 mi. in length, but there is now 8 mi. or less that can be used for competition. SEMA and the racing community are now pursuing a program to dramatically increase the volume of salt returned to Bonneville.

By Ashley Reyes

Brian Doyle is the SEMA Future Leaders Network’s (FLN) newest spotlight member. Doyle is the general manager at Tire Service International Inc., an aftermarket manufacturer of tire service equipment and shop tools.

Get to know Doyle in his interview with SEMA below.

SEMA: What is the best advice you have ever received?

Brian Doyle: You fail your way to success. The owner of TSI told me this when I first started here. It allowed to me to realize that I don’t have to be perfect here or at home, that I will make mistakes and I will fail. In the end, as long as I learn from those failures personally as a parent, husband or at work, I will ultimately become the man, husband and leader I want to be and know I can be.

SEMA: What keeps you in the industry?

BD: The people. We are a unique fun-loving group of people. I’ve been in this industry for more than 17 years, and the hard work has been so rewarding to myself and family. We work hard and play harder!

SEMA: Where can you be found on a Saturday?

BD: With my family. Nowhere else I’d rather be.

SEMA: How do you prepare for an important meeting?

BD: In my position, I rely heavily on data. I will spend hours researching and developing a plan for attack.

SEMA: If you could go to lunch with one industry leader, living or dead, who it would be and why?

BD: In working for Discount Tire for more than 15 years, there is only one man I would have loved to have lunch with and just pick his brain—Mr. Bruce Halle. He was a visionary, a leader and motivator. I met him two to three times over my tenure there, and each time, our one-to-two-minute exchange was more captivating than ever. I wish I had the chance when he was alive to just pick his brain for an hour or two.

If you are a current FLN member, fill out an FLN member spotlight form. Selected candidates may be featured on FLN’s social media, SEMA News and FLN member updates.

By Ashley Reyes

SEMA members will be able to connect with notable off-road racer, entrepreneur and professional stuntwoman Sara Price during a Facebook and Instagram live chat on Wednesday, August 3, at 12:00 p.m. (PDT).   

Sara Price was the first factory-supported female racer under Monster Energy Kawasaki, as well as an X-Games medalist.

Named the 2016 Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Rising Star, Price’s racing career is unlike any other. A versatile competitor, she was the first factory-supported female racer under Monster Energy Kawasaki, as well as an X-Games medalist. She has also competed in a vast array of competitions, and has many wins under her belt for motocross, rallying, the X Games and Stadium Super Trucks. Today, Sara can be found competing with RPM Offroad in a Trophy Truck Spec. in Baja, Mexico, in the SCORE International Desert Series.  

Tune into the SBN Facebook page where you will have the exclusive opportunity to ask Price questions on her career accomplishments, anecdotes and the challenges she’s overcome.  

Live Chat Location: SBN Facebook page and SBN Instagram page (@sbn_sema).

B. Force, Tasca III, Enders and Gladstone Get Wins at Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals

Brittany Force went 3.709 seconds at 335.48 mph in her 11,000-hp Flav-R-Pac dragster to beat Mike Salinas in the final round.

Top Fuel star Brittany Force rolled to her fourth win of the 2022 season last Sunday and moved into the points lead in front of a packed house at the 34th annual Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals. Bob Tasca III (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Joey Gladstone (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won at the 12th of 22 races during the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season and the second stop of the three-race NHRA Western Swing. All four winners on Sunday are first-time Sonoma winners as well.

Force went 3.709 seconds at 335.48 mph in her 11,000hp Flav-R-Pac dragster to beat Mike Salinas in the final round, moving back into the points lead over Salinas with her first win at Sonoma and 15th in her career. Salinas now trails Force by six points.

Tasca III went 3.911 at 325.61 in his 11,000hp Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang to knock off John Force in the final round.

Erica Enders knocked off Greg Anderson on a holeshot in the final round to collect her first career victory at Sonoma Raceway. Enders posted a brilliant .018 reaction time and held off Anderson at the finish line with a run of 6.574 at 196.62 in her Melling Performance/Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to earn her 39th career win and sixth this season.

After back-to-back final-round appearances, Gladstone broke through for his first career victory in Pro Stock Motorcycle last Sunday, knocking off Eddie Krawiec in the final round with a pass of 6.759 at 200.68 on his J&A Service Suzuki Hayabusa. Krawiec went a quicker 6.758, but Gladstone was quicker on the starting line with a .026 reaction time and held off the veteran to claim his first win in the class.

The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series returns to action on July 29–31 with the final race of the Western Swing, the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Seattle. It is the first race at the track since 2019.

Maynards Named Majority Owner of DSR Top Fuel Team

Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) and Joe and Cathi Maynard have announced an expanded partnership that sees the Maynards as majority owners of the Top Fuel operation piloted by Tony Schumacher. The new Maynard Family Racing/Don Schumacher Racing team (JCM/DSR) will launch during the NHRA Northwest Nationals (July 29–31 at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington), when the Maynards will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Schumacher-driven/Todd Okuhara-tuned machine.

DSR will continue to operate its hospitality program, graphic design and vinyl installation, nitromethane, parts, and chassis sales, and a 75,000-sq.-ft. precision machining and fabrication facility in Brownsburg, Indiana. Additionally, DSR’s trio of Factory Stock Showdown Series entries will also continue to compete under the DSR banner. Don Schumacher, DSR Performance President Chad Osier and DSR Vice President Megan Schumacher will continue to develop DSR Performance, DSR’s performance aftermarket, aerospace and defense manufacturing division.

Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2022

The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF) has announced its class of 2022 includes Randy Anderson, Lance Clifford, Vic Curl, Butch Dean, Jim Fricker, Brad Lovell, Eric Solorzano, Scott Taylor and Mike Thomas.

The ORMHOF Class of 2022 will be celebrated at the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Gala presented by 4 Wheel Parts on Sunday, October 30, at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa in Las Vegas. For biographies of the inductees, visit the ORMHOF announcement here. For more information, visit ormhof.org.

Kyle Larson Wins Best Driver Award at 2022 ESPYs

The 2022 Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly (ESPY) Awards presented by Capital One recently celebrated athletes, teams, and moments in the world of sports. Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson received the honor of “Best Driver,” beating out Max Verstappen (Formula One), Steve Torrence (NHRA) and Alex Palou (IndyCar).

The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet claimed 10-points-paying Cup Series victories in 2021, including the Championship 4 season finale at Phoenix Raceway to claim the title and a win in the annual All-Star Race.

NASCAR Hall of Famers and fellow Hendrick alumni Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson each own four ESPY awards for the same distinction, with Larson’s victory being the 19th time a NASCAR driver took home the nod. Kyle Busch is the most recent NASCAR driver to win the award, claiming it in 2019. Kevin Harvick (2015) and Martin Truex Jr. (2018) are the only other active NASCAR drivers to have won an ESPY.

For more racing news, visit Performance Racing Industry’s (PRI) website.

By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff

Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington will hold their 2022 primary elections on Tuesday, August 2, and Tennessee will hold its primary on Thursday, August 4. It’s important to know which candidates support racing when going to the polls or voting early. For information on voting in the primary (including absentee and early voting), registering to vote and identifying your lawmakers and the candidates running in 2022, visit SEMA’s vote racing page.

The Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act (RPM Act), H.R. 3281 and S. 2736, enjoys strong support from Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee and Washington members of Congress. The bipartisan RPM Act guarantees the right to modify street cars, trucks and motorcycles into dedicated race vehicles and safeguards the industry’s right to offer parts that enable racers to compete. For more information on the RPM Act, click here.

Below is a list of federal lawmakers who have co-sponsored the RPM Act in the 2021–2022 session of Congress and are running for re-election in 2022. Below is a list of federal lawmakers who have co-sponsored the RPM Act in the 2021–2022 session of Congress and are running for re-election in 2022.

ARIZONA:

• Sen. Mark Kelly [D-AZ]*
• Rep. Paul A. Gosar [R-AZ-4]
• Rep. Debbie Lesko [R-AZ-8]*
• Rep. Tom O'Halleran [D-AZ-1]*

KANSAS:

• Rep. Jake LaTurner [R-KS-2]
• Rep. Tracey Mann [R-KS-1]

MICHIGAN:

• Rep. Bill Huizenga [R-MI-2]
• Rep. Haley M. Stevens [D-MI-11]*
• Rep. Tim Walberg [R-MI-7]

MISSOURI:

• Rep. Billy Long [R-MO-7]**
• Rep. Jason Smith [R-MO-8]

TENNESSEE:

• Rep. Scott DesJarlais [R-TN-4]
• Rep. Mark E. Green [R-TN-7]
• Rep. Diana Harshbarger [R-TN-1]
• Rep. David Kustoff [R-TN-8]

WASHINGTON:

• Rep. Suzan K. DelBene, [D-WA-1]
• Rep. Dan Newhouse [R-WA-4]
• Rep. Kim Schrier [D-WA-8]

*Original RPM Act co-sponsor

**Running for U.S. Senate.

For more information, contact erics@sema.org.

By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff

The Biden Administration announced that it has revived the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR) that was created in 2011 and disbanded in 2017. FICOR will provide a forum for federal government agencies to coordinate recreation management, improve access and provide a better recreation experience on federally managed lands and waters. The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR), of which SEMA is a member, has been working to restore the council and increase collaboration between federal agencies to address recreation management issues such as increased demand.

ORR is America’s leading coalition of U.S. outdoor recreation trade associations. It represents more than 50,000 businesses that produce vehicles, apparel, equipment and services enjoyed in our nation’s parks, waterways, trails and outdoor spaces. SEMA’s focus within ORR is on motorized recreation (four-wheel, ATVs, UTVs, etc.) along with all the equipment that makes it possible to tow RVs, trailers, boats and off-road vehicles (suspension, wheels, tires, increased horsepower, etc.).

Click here for an ORR fact sheet on FICOR.

For more information, contact Caroline Fletcher at carolinef@sema.org.

The grand opening of the SEMA Garage Detroit will be held Thursday, August 18, from 5:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m. (EDT), in the new facility at 14655 Jib St., Plymouth, MI 48170.

Be one of the first to view this state-of-the-art facility that will bring automotive aftermarket products to market even faster. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore all the innovative services the new SEMA Garage Detroit will offer and tour the brand-new facility while enjoying food, drinks, music, giveaways and more.

RSVP by August 1 to reserve your spot.

BendPak Announces Senior Leadership Changes

(L–R): Jim Fornear, Jeff Kritzer, Don Henthorn, Javier Arias and Rudy Diaz.

Effective August 3, Don Henthorn will step down as president and CEO, taking on a more limited role in the day-to-day operations as chairman emeritus. Jeff Kritzer, who has been an integral part of the company for more than 40 years, will succeed Henthorn as president and CEO, effective August 3. At the same time, Rudy Diaz will step up from vice president of information technology to executive vice president and COO. Jim Fornear will move from financial controller to CFO. Javier Arias will continue in the role of vice president of operations. Henthorn will remain active in an advisory capacity to ensure a seamless transition of leadership.

Brembo and Gold Phoenix Join Forces to Create a Leading Friction Technology Player

Brembo and Gold Phoenix have signed a 50/50 joint venture agreement (subject to the local and antitrust usual fulfilments) establishing a new company, Shandong BRGP Friction Technology Co. Ltd., to create the first large-scale Brembo manufacturing facility fully dedicated to produce aftermarket pads. The newly formed company will bring together Brembo’s leadership in braking systems with Gold Phoenix’s high-tech friction solutions, and it will focus on product quality and innovation, especially in terms of performance, comfort, durability and sustainability, with the aim of anticipating the challenges of electrification and autonomous driving, according to the companies.

The Joint Venture will serve the segments of passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, leveraging on new opportunities arising from a growing market. Shandong BRGP Friction Technology Co. Ltd. is expected to start operations in early 2023 in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province in Eastern China. The overall investment from both companies is approximately € 35 million over the next three years.

Cummins Announces Jennifer Rumsey as CEO

Jennifer Rumsey, left, and Tom Linebarger.

Columbus, Indiana-based Cummins has announced Jennifer Rumsey, president and COO, will assume the role of president and CEO. She replaces CEO Tom Linebarger, who ends his term with the diesel and alternative fuel engine and component manufacturer on August 1.

Rumsey will be the seventh CEO and first woman to lead the company since it was founded in 1919. Linebarger will continue to serve as chairman and executive chairman of the board of directors, working directly with Rumsey on specific initiatives, including the pending acquisition of commercial vehicle aftermarket manufacturer Meritor.

Since taking on the role of COO in March 2021, Rumsey has overseen Cummins’ global operations. In February, she was elected to the Cummins board of directors. She will continue to maintain her seat on the board.

LSI Promotes Julie Blankenship to Chemical Business Development Manager

Lubrication Specialties Inc. (LSI) has promoted Julie Blankenship to chemical business development manager. Blankenship will be the primary support to international distributors authorized to sell LSI Chemical-branded additives and Hot Shot’s Secret products. She will coordinate sales and marketing for LSI Chemical’s current 12 distributors in nine countries in Central America and Europe. She will also manage LSI Chemical’s trade show and conference event schedule and coordinate all educational and promotional materials.

Blankenship has more than 30 years of experience with non-profits, corporate, trade associations and public policy. Before this position, she served as LSI’s operations manager for the research and development department since December 2020.

K&K Insurance Names New President, CEO

K&K Insurance, the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based motorsports insurance company, has announced Ron Norton as its new president and CEO. He replaces Todd Bixler, who retired after 12 years with the company.

With 36 years at K&K, Norton began as an associate underwriter in 1986, according to published reports. He would later manage programs, including leisure camps, campgrounds and more before being promoted to vice president of the leisure division in 2007. In 2019, he was promoted to chief underwriting officer.

Have some company news you would like to share? Let us know and the news may appear in an upcoming issue of SEMA News. Send your items for consideration to editors@sema.org.

 By Chris Shelton

The SEMA Hall of Fame award honors those who built the specialty-equipment market into the $51 billion powerhouse it is today. Since 1969, SEMA has inducted some 170 pioneers. Tomorrow, in Anaheim, California, it adds three more: Walker Evans, Jack Roush and Gene Winfield.

It seems simple enough to elect three industry leaders from an organization that boasts more than 6,500 members. But as the SEMA Board and its Hall of Fame Task Force members will testify, it’s no easy job. How does one—much less a group of many—choose just a handful of people to induct into its annual Hall of Fame? It’s an unenviable task, to say the least.

If you love trucks, you owe a debt of gratitude to Walker Evans. Before he won the 1979 Baja 1000 in a ’78 Dodge pickup, trucks were largely relegated to towing the buggies and bikes that won the event every year prior. Starting as a driver for famed builder Bill Stroppe, Evans eventually set up his own shop building some of the most competitive trucks in off-road motorsports. At the turn of the millennium, he switched gears to develop and manufacture a line of performance products. Today Walker Evans Racing is a fixture across the off-road spectrum from Jeeps to snowmobiles.

It’s impossible to describe Jack Roush with any single title. His parent company has three units. Roush Performance develops and sells performance vehicles and aftermarket performance parts. Roush CleanTech develops clean-fuel solutions for fleet vehicle applications. Roush Industries designs, engineers, prototypes, tests and even manufactures across industries the mobility, aerospace, defense and theme-park industries. But it all began with OEM engineering jobs that morphed into a brief stint as a multi-
championship drag-racing enterprise. If Jack Roush hasn’t done it, it’s probably not worth doing.

Few people have inspired a more diverse array of automotive enthusiasts than Gene Winfield. A customizer of the first order, his career spans more than seven decades to include the golden age of the custom car. Scale-model manufacturers rendered his creations in miniature and, after recognizing his widely ranging talents, ultimately hired him to create full-scale examples. Soon the entertainment industry caught on to Winfield’s magic, giving him yet another career building for Hollywood—a professional arc that culminated in his shop building the automotive props for big-budget productions like Blade Runner and Back to the Future II.

Walker Evans: All-Terrain Ambassador

In 1979 Evans almost singlehandedly changed the way people thought about trucks by winning the Baja 1000 in one, the first in the event’s history. The current crop of long-travel rear suspensions can trace their ancestry to the novel cantilever design that helped make this truck so competitive. Fun fact: Evans did it with all the windows in place and the air conditioning blasting. Courtesy Walker Evans.

Today the light truck represents one of the preeminent and most lucrative divisions within the automotive market. But until 1979, the pickup represented little more than a support vehicle, something that would facilitate activities rather than spearhead them.

But that year a pickup did something unprecedented in the field of motorsports. In the hands of team owner, builder and driver Walker Evans, it beat a field of the most competitive dune buggies and motorcycles to win what’s arguably the most grueling auto-racing event in North America: the Baja 1000. It’s a win that transformed not just the off-road racing industry but the modern truck market as we know it.

In 2000, Evans quit driving full-time to transform his enterprise into a bona fide manufacturer. The first product line included wheels and shocks, but under his guidance and with the help of SEMA and its affiliates, Walker Evans Racing expanded to include parts and accessories for Jeeps, ATVs and snowmobiles. Courtesy Walker Evans.

Evans began racing in 1967, two years before actor James Garner and Fleetwood RV’s John Crean hired him to build engines for their American-Motors off-road race team. Though designated ride-along mechanic at 1969’s Baja 500, Evans found himself behind the wheel when driver Crean fell ill. His third-place finish inspired him to build an entry of his own, a Ford pickup prepped by legendary builder Bill Stroppe.

The Stroppe relationship led to a 1974 contract with teammate and event promoter Mickey Thompson, who a year prior founded the SCORE off-road sanctioning body. Though known now as Southern California Off Road Enterprises, Mickey initially branded it as Short Course Off Road Enthusiasts and hired Evans to build the organization’s flagship track at Riverside International Raceway, a course that served as a test bed for what became Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group’s successful short-course racing series.

In 2000, Evans (left) quit driving full-time to transform his enterprise into a bona fide manufacturer. The first product line included wheels and shocks, but under his guidance and with the help of SEMA and its affiliates, Walker Evans Racing expanded to include parts and accessories for Jeeps, ATVs and snowmobiles. Courtesy Walker Evans.

Evans raced with Stroppe until he founded his own team, Walker Evans Racing, in 1976. But it was a 1978 deal struck with Chrysler’s Dick Maxwell that changed everything. With factory backing, the team built a D100 pickup with innovations like a cantilever rear suspension and amenities like air conditioning. After only the briefest test session at Riverside, the team took the truck to the 1979 Baja 1000 where Evans proceeded to win not just Class 8, but the overall race—a first for a truck in the event’s history and an accomplishment that heralded the future of trucks in the motorsports and enthusiast markets.

Over the decade that followed, Evans oversaw the shop’s operations and either participated—and, in some cases, played instrumental developmental roles—in numerous sanctioning bodies. These included Short-Course Off Road Driver’s Association (SODA), Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) and High Desert Racing Association (HDRA). He also competed in NASCAR’s SuperTruck Series in 1995 and 1996. In a driving career that spanned 31 years, he amassed a whopping 142 overall and class victories, nine of those at SCORE Baja 1000 events.

“Ever since 1967 I raced full-time right up to 2000,” Evans recalls. “I had like 18 to 19 full-time employees manufacturing trucks, preparing them for almost all the races put on by whatever promoter. That was my full-time living.

“Right about that time is when I made a trip to China with a group of SEMA guys,” he recalls. “At the time I told them that I needed to go right away to put together a deal to meet with people in China to have some wheels made. Well, they said, ‘we’re going next week!’ I asked if they minded some company. ‘Mind? No! We’re wide open!’”

The China Expedition, a delegation formed to explore business opportunities, changed Evans’ focus. Inspired by the prospect of competing in a more global market, he began manufacturing wheels and shock absorbers, naturally promoting his products at SEMA’s annual Las Vegas trade show. “My company literally took off from that point.

“It was one of the greatest things that happened to me,” he continues. “If you accompany them, you’ll wind up meeting the right people and making great parts over there. They were excited to help me do it!”

For more than 50 years, Walker Evans has led the pack at every level of the off-road racing industry, first as driver, then as constructor, team owner and, ultimately, manufacturer. His career follows the arc of the industry’s grassroots model: He began as a young racer who leveraged his successes on the track into a prosperous business, becoming a legend in the process.

He excelled at every level of the performance industry. As a racer, he’s one of the most accomplished drivers, builders and team owners in off-road. As an entrepreneur, he excelled in promoting whatever activity that he participated in. As an employer, he mentored employees who went on to join SEMA and establish successful businesses of their own. And as a person, he facilitated some of the strongest working relationships the industry has known.

SEMA owes a large part of its identity and prestige to Walker Evans’s achievements and exuberant personality. And the world at large owes the popularity of the pickup in a sporting rather than supporting role to his endeavors on the track.

Jack Roush: The Engineer of Enterprise

In 1995 Roush began manufacturing parts and accessories for Ford vehicles. Later that year, the company began modifying Mustangs sold exclusively through Ford dealers. The Enhanced Ford Vehicles program now includes pickups. He pursues his other passion, aircraft, through the aerospace division of Roush Industries and through Roush Aviation, which supplies parts and certification services for vintage aircraft. Courtesy Roush.

Make no mistake: the automotive industry has produced its fair share of titans. But few have ascended the ranks quite as meteorically as Jack Roush. His various companies have produced more than 30,000 special-edition vehicles, won more than 400 national motorsports events and 30 championships, employ more than 5,000 people in five states and 19 countries, and generate nearly half a billion dollars in revenue annually.

Roush graduated from Berea College in 1964 with a mathematics major and a physics minor. He moved to Detroit that year and took a job in quality control at Ford’s Dearborn plant. Drawn by Ford’s extensive motorsports activities, he joined a group of fellow racing enthusiasts, The Fastbacks, in 1966.

He left Ford to work for Chrysler in 1969 but maintained relationships with former Ford colleagues. In 1970, he earned his master’s in Scientific Mathematics at Eastern Michigan University and left Chrysler to teach physics and automotive classes at Monroe County Community College. That year, he also teamed up with one of his former Ford colleagues, engineer Wayne Gapp. Roush attended his first SEMA Show in 1971, securing sponsorship for the 1972 Gapp and Roush Pro Stock Drag Racing Program. The team campaigned in NHRA, IHRA and AHRA events and won the NHRA Pro Stock championship in 1973. Gapp and Roush won three more championships over the two years that followed.

Since entering NASCAR in 1988, cars campaigned by Roush and his partners have covered nearly 2 million mi. and won more than 325 events. Most recently, Roush and partner Fenway Sports Group added driver Brad Keselowski to create RFK Racing. Keselowski drives the No. Ford Mustang GT. Chris Buescher fields the No. 17 Mustang. Photo courtesy: Roush.

Recognizing that domestic manufacturers were finding ways to rein in spending by minimizing the thing he excelled at—engineering—Roush ventured out as an independent consultant, founding Jack Roush Performance Engineering in 1976. He personally hired the firm’s first 100 employees, cultivating an organization of highly creative and divergent thinkers.

While Roush stopped operating a race team in the late ’70s, his company remained in motorsports by building engines for teams throughout the early ’80s. In 1982, he partnered with German firm Zakspeed to develop road-racing vehicles for Ford. In 1984, Roush returned to racing as a team owner in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) road-racing series. Through the remainder of the decade and into the following, Roush’s drivers won 119 races, 24 national championships and 12 manufacturer’s championships. Roush also captured 10 consecutive sedan-class wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, an unbeaten record.

Roush formed his first NASCAR Cup Series team in 1988, with future hall-of-famer Mark Martin behind the wheel of the #6 Thunderbird, and in the following year Roush Racing won its first NASCAR Cup Series victory.

An engineer at heart, Roush created numerous technological and safety features. He co-developed roof flaps to prevent stock cars from taking flight while spinning, a lifesaving feature required by all NASCAR entries since 1994.

In the early ’90s, Roush bought a pre-production SN-95 Mustang from Ford to develop a line of products under the Roush Performance banner. The venture culminated with a special-vehicle program where select Ford dealers sold Mustangs modified by Roush Performance. Over the decades that followed, Ford and Roush expanded the special-vehicle program to include the Focus and F-150. Roush Performance modifies Ford products to the extent that the company is listed as Manufacturer of Record, some models bearing warranties serviced by Roush rather than Ford.

Roush and Doug Yates partnered to form Roush Yates Engines in 2005. The Mooresville, North Carolina, shop supplies engines to Roush Fenway Racing, Team Penske and numerous teams in the NASCAR Cup, XFINITY, Truck and ARCA Series. Sister company Roush Racing joined Fenway Sports Group (FSG) to form Roush Fenway Racing in 2007.

Under Roush’s guidance, Roush Fenway won its first Daytona 500 trophy and the team’s 2,500th NASCAR Cup Series start in 2009. In 2021, Brad Keselowski joined the organization as owner/driver under its new name, Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing.

Though known for his participation in the automotive industry, Roush and the companies he formed play pivotal roles within the electronics, entertainment, aviation and aerospace industries. He began developing propane-fuel systems in 2008 and in 2010 formed Roush CleanTech to convert fleet vehicles. Roush Industries built the Firefly network of vehicles for Waymo, Google’s autonomous-vehicle program, and converts the Chrysler Pacifica vans that replaced the Firefly upon its retirement in 2017. The company is also designing engines for NASA’s so-called space-taxi program that promises to make space exploration more accessible. Another subsidiary, Roush Entertainment Services, designs and builds theme-park rides.

Though active in so many industries, Jack Roush remains a significant presence in SEMA activities. He’s participated as attendee, exhibitor, celebrity guest of various manufacturers, including Ford Motor Company, and by preparing concept vehicles for numerous automakers. He still consistently employs SEMA’s Global Platform to launch new products.

Gene Winfield: The Ace of Fades

The car that Winfield restyled in the late ’50s emerged unrecognizable from the ’56 Mercury that it started as. “Jade Idol” showcased the customizer’s metalshaping chops and its distinctive fade paint job put it at the forefront of the custom-car movement. Winfield owes much of his recognition to his promotional abilities; he and his crew toured the country attending car shows with “Jade Idol” for several years. Courtesy Gene Winfield.

There’s probably no better way to light a fire in potential consumers’ hearts and minds than to show the potential in a company’s goods or services. And few people have done it better than custom-car pioneer Gene Winfield.

In 1942 a 15-year-old Winfield bought his first car, a ’28 Ford coupe, for $75. The antenna he installed was more an array for the foxtail that topped it, for the car had no radio.

In 1946, inspired by the photos of custom cars he and his pal Bart Bartoni took and exchanged, Winfield converted an oversized chicken coop behind his family’s home in Modesto, California, into Windy’s Custom Shop, a dirt-floor auto salon. That year he also co-founded the Modesto Century Toppers car club, a group made of mostly by friends who brought their cars to Winfield for modifications. They elected him the club’s first president.

Winfield closed his shop when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in late 1949. While deployed to Japan, he and three other GIs rented a small shop, hired a local metal-shaping craftsman and began modifying cars.

Winfield returned to his converted chicken coop in 1951, reopening as Winfield’s Custom Shop. Whereas he once buried crudely welded seams in heaps of lead, Winfield now could shape, hammer-weld and metal-finish modified panels thanks to the mentorship of his former Japanese employee. To represent his new venture, he bought a ’50 Mercury that he’d previously restyled for a customer and modified it to a greater degree.

Initially working on a dirt floor in the converted chicken coop, Winfield expanded the shop several times, at one point installing a paint booth. But in 1955, to meet greater demands, he bought a former radiator shop in downtown Modesto. The finer work conditions attracted a finer grade of clientele. In 1958, Leroy Kemmerer brought his ’56 Mercury for a complete redesign. With a real budget, free rein and the license to show the finished product for the year following its completion, Winfield had his first complete commission.

He sectioned the car, essentially slicing a 4-in. band out of the body’s beltline. He reshaped the front fenders to fit stacked headlights in the style of the recently released ’58 Lincoln. He replaced the quarter panels with those from a ’57 Chrysler New Yorker, creating taillights and a rear grille every bit as radical as those in the front. He finished the body in a design where one color gently transitioned or “faded” into another. The two years he spent touring the “Jade Idol” around the country made Gene Winfield a name, its novel fade-paint design becoming his design signature. “That car made Gene a name,” recalls Russ Meeks, who worked for Winfield from 1962 to 1967.

Now a known entity in the custom-car world, Winfield appealed to the Custom Car Caravan. A joint venture between Aluminum Model Toys (AMT) and Ford Motor Company, the Caravan traveled the car-show circuit. It showcased Ford vehicles modified by prominent custom-car restylists, the premise being that the model company would produce the designs in 1:25 scale for the youth market. Winfield built two Caravan vehicles, one an asymmetrically styled Ford Econoline pickup dubbed “Pacifica.”

”Jade Idol” opened doors for Winfield, including a show-car project for an indoor car show promoter. After he fulfilled his touring obligations with “Reactor,” Winfield presented it to entertainment executives who used it in some of the era’s most significant TV productions. This outtake was from a photo session used to promote the “Bread and Circuses” episode in “Star Trek.” Photo courtesy: Gene Winfield.

In 1963, Promotions Inc., promoters of the famed Detroit Autorama among other events, commissioned Winfield to build a hand-formed asymmetrical body around a 427 Ford engine. “Strip Star” later appeared in Back to the Future II as a car from 2015.

Two years later, Hartford Autorama promoter Joe Kizis paid Winfield $20,000 to build a show rod based on a design by ArtCenter College of Design student Ben Delphia. The “Reactor” was an ambitious mid-engine, front-drive, aluminum-bodied sports car based on a Citroën DS suspension and powered by a turbocharged Corvair engine. The hydropneumatic suspension raised and lowered Reactor at driver’s will. “He always had an open mind,” Russ notes. “He wasn’t afraid to try anything.”

After completing the show circuit, Winfield promoted Reactor in entertainment circles. It appeared as the “Super Car” in “Bewitched,” as the “Jupiter 8” in the original “Star Trek,” “Catmobile” in “Batman,” and “The Freeze” in Mission: Impossible.

Reactor made Winfield a name among studio executives, who hired him to modify a Sunbeam Tiger for star Don Adams to drive in the “Get Smart” series. He gave Agent 86’s Tiger a cigarette lighter that doubles as a grenade and a car phone, an explosive throttle pedal, a poison-emitting radiator, a passenger-side ejector seat, a tailpipe that doubled as a machine gun and an oil slick dispenser, and a 50-caliber machine gun that emerged from a door in the hood.

In 1966, AMT hired Winfield to run its Speed & Custom Shop in Phoenix. Drawing upon his Hollywood credentials, AMT secured license to design and build the shuttlecraft for the first season of “Star Trek.” AMT also bought the rights to the Cycolac Research Vehicle (CRV), a concept car intended by Borg-Warner to explore the use of ABS plastic in automotive design. Winfield modified fullsize examples which AMT promoted as “Piranha” among car shows to sell scale-model variations. One Piranha appeared in “The MAN from U.N.C.L.E.” starting in 1967. Winfield oversaw numerous builds for commercial advertising projects, including splitting an Impala Super Sport down the middle for Chevrolet.

Recognizing the potential building for the entertainment industry, Winfield opened another California shop. Winfield’s Special Projects in North Hollywood built vehicles for Robocop, The Last Starfighter and—probably most notably—the 25 vehicles for Blade Runner and the flying DMC DeLorean for Back to the Future II.

You know you’ve got some clout when SEMA founders Ed Iskenderian (left) and Vic Edelbrock Jr. (right) lean in and give thumbs-up when they have their photo taken with you. With his, well…genial personality, Winfield makes friends across industries. His willingness to invest in the people who work for or around him has a ripple effect across the automotive industry. Courtesy Gene Winfield.

Winfield relocated to Mojave, California after leaving the entertainment industry. But one could hardly call it a retirement; he began hosting classes to teaches enthusiasts tricks of the trade, including how to apply his trademark Winfield Fade. At 95, he still travels the globe showing students how to unlock the potential in automotive designs.

Tickets for the gala are available at www.sema.org/gala.