Thu, 09/17/2015 - 15:22
By Della Domingo

 media
Journalists will have exclusive access to the Media Center in its new location to work on and file stories.
  
Journalists and reporters at the 2015 SEMA Show will have exclusive access to the Nitto Tire Media Center, in its new location along with the New Products Showcase on the sky bridge between Central and South Halls.

“The New Products Showcase is the No. 1 attendee attraction at the SEMA Show and is a valuable resource to journalists looking for hot, new products to report on,” said Peter MacGillivray, SEMA vice president of communications and events. “By co-locating the Media Center with the New Products Showcase, it will be easy and convenient for journalists to stop by the Showcase and gather product information.”

Media can use a free scanner to select the products that interest them the most, receive more information on those products and then head over to the Media Center to work on and file stories. Filled with a number of valuable resources, such as computers, press-kit materials, a copy machine and more, the Nitto Tires Media Center, located in room S220, is available during the following hours:
  • Friday, October 30–Sunday, November 1: 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
  • Monday, November 2: 7:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, November 3: 7:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, November 4: 7:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
  • Thursday, November 6: 8:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
  • Friday, November 7: 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Members of the media can visit the Media Center, room S220, to obtain their Show credentials immediately upon arriving. To register to attend the 2015 SEMA Show as media, visit www.SEMAShow.com/media.
Thu, 09/17/2015 - 15:22
By Della Domingo

 media
Journalists will have exclusive access to the Media Center in its new location to work on and file stories.
  
Journalists and reporters at the 2015 SEMA Show will have exclusive access to the Nitto Tire Media Center, in its new location along with the New Products Showcase on the sky bridge between Central and South Halls.

“The New Products Showcase is the No. 1 attendee attraction at the SEMA Show and is a valuable resource to journalists looking for hot, new products to report on,” said Peter MacGillivray, SEMA vice president of communications and events. “By co-locating the Media Center with the New Products Showcase, it will be easy and convenient for journalists to stop by the Showcase and gather product information.”

Media can use a free scanner to select the products that interest them the most, receive more information on those products and then head over to the Media Center to work on and file stories. Filled with a number of valuable resources, such as computers, press-kit materials, a copy machine and more, the Nitto Tires Media Center, located in room S220, is available during the following hours:
  • Friday, October 30–Sunday, November 1: 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
  • Monday, November 2: 7:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, November 3: 7:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, November 4: 7:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
  • Thursday, November 6: 8:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
  • Friday, November 7: 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Members of the media can visit the Media Center, room S220, to obtain their Show credentials immediately upon arriving. To register to attend the 2015 SEMA Show as media, visit www.SEMAShow.com/media.
Thu, 09/17/2015 - 14:28

Compiled by SEMA Editors

 formulad
Fredric Aasbo defeated Tony Boisvert-Bellemare in the Formula DRIFT World Championship in Canada.
  

Formula DRIFT World Championship: Fredric Aasbo at Top of the Podium in Canada

Scion presents Formula DRIFT Canada entered Autodrome St. Eustache for the eighth round of the inaugural Formula DRIFT World Championship. Fredric Aasbo in the Rockstar Energy Drink/Hankook Tire/Scion tC took the victory to extend his world championship points lead.

The semi-finals pitted two World Championship contenders, Fredric Aasbo and Matt Field, in a battle against each other in which Aasbo won to advance to the finals. The other semi-final match-up was between Tomy Boisvert-Bellemare in his Signature KCS Nissan S13 and Marc Landreville in his Perry Performance Nissan S14. Bellemare edged out Landreville to get to the finals where he lost to world championship points leader Aasbo.

The 2015 Formula DRIFT World, Pro, and PRO2 Championships will continue to Irwindale Speedway: Final Fight on October 9–10, just outside of Los Angeles.

Banning Motorsports Takes Home Win at BITD Vegas to Reno

Banning Motorsports returned to the 2015 Best In The Desert “Vegas To Reno” to claim another win. The 550-mile race started with Bryan Folks behind the wheel of the #2488 Banning Motorsports car. Rick Graf took over driving responsibilities and, despite part failures, the car still managed to win the class and grasp the points lead.

Thu, 09/17/2015 - 14:28

Compiled by SEMA Editors

 formulad
Fredric Aasbo defeated Tony Boisvert-Bellemare in the Formula DRIFT World Championship in Canada.
  

Formula DRIFT World Championship: Fredric Aasbo at Top of the Podium in Canada

Scion presents Formula DRIFT Canada entered Autodrome St. Eustache for the eighth round of the inaugural Formula DRIFT World Championship. Fredric Aasbo in the Rockstar Energy Drink/Hankook Tire/Scion tC took the victory to extend his world championship points lead.

The semi-finals pitted two World Championship contenders, Fredric Aasbo and Matt Field, in a battle against each other in which Aasbo won to advance to the finals. The other semi-final match-up was between Tomy Boisvert-Bellemare in his Signature KCS Nissan S13 and Marc Landreville in his Perry Performance Nissan S14. Bellemare edged out Landreville to get to the finals where he lost to world championship points leader Aasbo.

The 2015 Formula DRIFT World, Pro, and PRO2 Championships will continue to Irwindale Speedway: Final Fight on October 9–10, just outside of Los Angeles.

Banning Motorsports Takes Home Win at BITD Vegas to Reno

Banning Motorsports returned to the 2015 Best In The Desert “Vegas To Reno” to claim another win. The 550-mile race started with Bryan Folks behind the wheel of the #2488 Banning Motorsports car. Rick Graf took over driving responsibilities and, despite part failures, the car still managed to win the class and grasp the points lead.

Thu, 09/17/2015 - 13:33

Compiled by SEMA Editors

Sentinel Capital Partners Acquires Driven Performance Brands

Sentinel Capital Partners—a private equity firm that invests in promising companies at the lower end of the middle market—has acquired of Driven Performance Brands (DPB)—a designer, manufacturer and marketer of automotive performance products. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. DPB's product line includes exhaust, transmission, drivetrain and electronic tuning products, and is marketed under five brands: Flowmaster, B&M Racing and Performance, Hurst Shifters, Hurst Driveline Conversions, and Dinan Engineering. Headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, DPB sells through online specialty retailers, WDs, auto dealers, traditional auto parts retailers, OEMs and directly to consumers.

  deuce
Al Nagele's Deuce Flyer ’32 Ford Roadster captured the Goodguys 2015 Flowmaster America’s Most Beautiful Street Rod crown.
  

“Deuce Flyer” ’32 Ford Roadster Named Goodguys Flowmaster America’s Most Beautiful Street Rod

Retired engineer and lifelong car enthusiast Al Nagele of Wilmette, Illinois, had always envisioned a modern street-rod roadster with a European sports-car panache—something that blended the Ford’s iconic looks with American performance and handling. The Deuce Flyer emerged and became a Pirelli Great 8 Ridler Finalist. In July it was a finalist for the Goodguys Classic Instruments Street Rod of the Year and recently captured the Goodguys 2015 Flowmaster America’s Most Beautiful Street Rod crown.

Working straight off Nagele’s design, The Roadster Shop team welded up a custom chassis equipping it with a Pete and Jake’s 5-in. dropped axle to rest beneath the modified Brookville Roadster steel body. Raised rear wheel wells, a reshaped cowl, stretched hood, frenched ’39 Ford taillights and saddle tanks with full belly pans were massaged into place, and then painted PPG Topaz Metallic by Charlie Hutton. Grumbling behind the Iconic Pines Winterfront grille is a GM LS Motor with CNC heads, Comp Cams, Edelbrock dual quads and a Tremec 5-speed. It rolls on coated one-off Billet Specialties five-spoke wheels. Beneath the chopped-down cloth top (complete with exotic side windows) is a sporty brown and black leather interior by Upholstery Unlimited. The custom dash houses one-off Classic Instruments gauges while the steering wheels and shifter were milled from solid chunks of aluminum.

Fellow Finalists for the 2015 Goodguys Flowmaster America’s Most Beautiful Street Rod included Dale Fode (’34 Ford), Greg and Dotty Meyer (’33 Chevy), Gary Rausche (’32 Dearborn Deuce) and Brian Georges (’47 Ford).

sharon
Sharon Teuscher


  

The Buzz Maker! Hires Account Executive and Account Coordinator

The Buzz Maker! has hired Sharon Teuscher as account executive and creative manager, and Anne Dudley as account coordinator. Teuscher's professional experience includes project management, creative in-store merchandising, package design, B2C marketing, social-media campaign management and community relations for consumer goods.

An award-winning fine artist, her work was recently featured in Edible Columbus magazine.

Dudley's professional experience includes B2C and B2B public relations, marketing communications, internal communications, community relations and event planning as well as website development and social-media campaign management.

PPG Sponsorship of FenderBender Live at SEMA Continues

For the fifth consecutive year, PPG is the exclusive paint sponsor of FenderBender LiveFenderBender magazine’s website for 2015 SEMA Show coverage. FenderBender Live, online at fenderbenderlive.com, functions as a one-stop industry source for news relating to the annual SEMA Show. FenderBender Live will operate concurrently with the Show, providing comprehensive event coverage, including interviews with key industry professionals, celebrities, exhibitors and staff.

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

Thu, 09/17/2015 - 12:53

By Michael Hart

darnell
Steve Darnell of Vegas Rat Rods will participate in Shifting Gears as part of the 2015 SEMA Show Education program.

Through the 2015 SEMA Show educational session, “Shifting Gears: Industry Interviews With Leaders & Legends,” attendees will get the chance to learn what makes the industry’s most innovative thinkers and doers tick and what made them fall in love with their work.

On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, November 3–4, well-known SEMA figures will get the chance to sit down with some of their heroes and—much like a talk show host would do on the “Tonight Show” or “Late Night,”—ask some questions, get unrehearsed answers and have a little fun with their heroes of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

“There’s a motivating aspect to it,” said Joe Sebergandio, owner of Motor Media, a SEMA veteran and the host of Wednesday morning’s session. “We’re going to get to eavesdrop on a conversation with the people who are creating the energy that is fueling our industry. How can you miss that?”

First, on Tuesday morning, SEMA Hall of Famer and Coker Group President Wade Kawasaki will visit with some of today’s icons, including:

  • Harry Hibler, also known as “Hand Grenade” Hibler and the longtime publisher of Hot Rod magazine.
  • Linda Vaughn, who many still call “the preeminent beauty queen of stock-car racing.”
  • Ed Pink, already known as “The Old Master” way back in the 1930s when he first began to make his mark on the drag-racing world.

Sebergandio will take over on Wednesday as he continues the conversation with some of those who are creating the automotive industry of the future, including:

  • Steve Darnell of Vegas Rat Rods, and one of the most creative minds behind today’s cutting-edge rat-rod phenomenon.
  • Boris Maryanovsky of Street Machinery in Cleveland, who is on the forefront of the trend to take vehicles with the original rusted patinas and turn them into the industry’s next big thing.
  • Brett Voelkel of RideTech, also known as the “King of Airbags,” who has been involved in everything new in the industry for years.

“These are the builders,” Sebergandio said, “and the builders are the celebrities today.”

Register Now! View a complete list of SEMA Show Education sessions available.

Thu, 09/17/2015 - 12:53

By Michael Hart

darnell
Steve Darnell of Vegas Rat Rods will participate in Shifting Gears as part of the 2015 SEMA Show Education program.

Through the 2015 SEMA Show educational session, “Shifting Gears: Industry Interviews With Leaders & Legends,” attendees will get the chance to learn what makes the industry’s most innovative thinkers and doers tick and what made them fall in love with their work.

On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, November 3–4, well-known SEMA figures will get the chance to sit down with some of their heroes and—much like a talk show host would do on the “Tonight Show” or “Late Night,”—ask some questions, get unrehearsed answers and have a little fun with their heroes of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

“There’s a motivating aspect to it,” said Joe Sebergandio, owner of Motor Media, a SEMA veteran and the host of Wednesday morning’s session. “We’re going to get to eavesdrop on a conversation with the people who are creating the energy that is fueling our industry. How can you miss that?”

First, on Tuesday morning, SEMA Hall of Famer and Coker Group President Wade Kawasaki will visit with some of today’s icons, including:

  • Harry Hibler, also known as “Hand Grenade” Hibler and the longtime publisher of Hot Rod magazine.
  • Linda Vaughn, who many still call “the preeminent beauty queen of stock-car racing.”
  • Ed Pink, already known as “The Old Master” way back in the 1930s when he first began to make his mark on the drag-racing world.

Sebergandio will take over on Wednesday as he continues the conversation with some of those who are creating the automotive industry of the future, including:

  • Steve Darnell of Vegas Rat Rods, and one of the most creative minds behind today’s cutting-edge rat-rod phenomenon.
  • Boris Maryanovsky of Street Machinery in Cleveland, who is on the forefront of the trend to take vehicles with the original rusted patinas and turn them into the industry’s next big thing.
  • Brett Voelkel of RideTech, also known as the “King of Airbags,” who has been involved in everything new in the industry for years.

“These are the builders,” Sebergandio said, “and the builders are the celebrities today.”

Register Now! View a complete list of SEMA Show Education sessions available.

Thu, 09/17/2015 - 12:53

By Michael Hart

darnell
Steve Darnell of Vegas Rat Rods will participate in Shifting Gears as part of the 2015 SEMA Show Education program.

Through the 2015 SEMA Show educational session, “Shifting Gears: Industry Interviews With Leaders & Legends,” attendees will get the chance to learn what makes the industry’s most innovative thinkers and doers tick and what made them fall in love with their work.

On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, November 3–4, well-known SEMA figures will get the chance to sit down with some of their heroes and—much like a talk show host would do on the “Tonight Show” or “Late Night,”—ask some questions, get unrehearsed answers and have a little fun with their heroes of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

“There’s a motivating aspect to it,” said Joe Sebergandio, owner of Motor Media, a SEMA veteran and the host of Wednesday morning’s session. “We’re going to get to eavesdrop on a conversation with the people who are creating the energy that is fueling our industry. How can you miss that?”

First, on Tuesday morning, SEMA Hall of Famer and Coker Group President Wade Kawasaki will visit with some of today’s icons, including:

  • Harry Hibler, also known as “Hand Grenade” Hibler and the longtime publisher of Hot Rod magazine.
  • Linda Vaughn, who many still call “the preeminent beauty queen of stock-car racing.”
  • Ed Pink, already known as “The Old Master” way back in the 1930s when he first began to make his mark on the drag-racing world.

Sebergandio will take over on Wednesday as he continues the conversation with some of those who are creating the automotive industry of the future, including:

  • Steve Darnell of Vegas Rat Rods, and one of the most creative minds behind today’s cutting-edge rat-rod phenomenon.
  • Boris Maryanovsky of Street Machinery in Cleveland, who is on the forefront of the trend to take vehicles with the original rusted patinas and turn them into the industry’s next big thing.
  • Brett Voelkel of RideTech, also known as the “King of Airbags,” who has been involved in everything new in the industry for years.

“These are the builders,” Sebergandio said, “and the builders are the celebrities today.”

Register Now! View a complete list of SEMA Show Education sessions available.

Thu, 09/17/2015 - 12:43

By SEMA Editors

Are you hunting for a new job? The “Positions Available” section in the SEMA Member Classifieds lists more than 50 job openings around the country. Here are some of the latest classifieds posted to the website.

Electrical Engineer
Bully Dog is hiring an electrical engineer to ensure quality and timeliness of Firmware updates for existing products and platforms. The successful candidate must have a BS in electrical engineering and 0–2 years’ engineering experience. Familiarity with firmware and software development, C/C++ programming and basic automotive technology knowledge are required.

Sales Manager
American Eagle Wheel Corp.
is hiring a sales manager to develop a business plan and sales strategy for the market in their territory that ensures attainment of company sales quotas and profitability. Prior sales and management experience in the automotive aftermarket wheel and/or tire industry is required.

Tradeshow Registration Coordinator
SEMA
is hiring a tradeshow registration coordinator to provide customer support; qualify companies for eligibility to attend trade shows and events; and oversee all large-group registrations for OEM exhibitors, sales staff, sponsors and special groups. The successful candidate will have an associate or college degree or 3–5 years’ experience in the trade-show industry.

Differential Technician
Autotech Driveline
is hiring a differential technician to assemble new Wavetrac limited slip differentials. The successful candidate must have high attention to detail, excellent communications skills and the ability to read and understand assembly schematics.

Thu, 09/17/2015 - 12:43

By SEMA Editors

Are you hunting for a new job? The “Positions Available” section in the SEMA Member Classifieds lists more than 50 job openings around the country. Here are some of the latest classifieds posted to the website.

Electrical Engineer
Bully Dog is hiring an electrical engineer to ensure quality and timeliness of Firmware updates for existing products and platforms. The successful candidate must have a BS in electrical engineering and 0–2 years’ engineering experience. Familiarity with firmware and software development, C/C++ programming and basic automotive technology knowledge are required.

Sales Manager
American Eagle Wheel Corp.
is hiring a sales manager to develop a business plan and sales strategy for the market in their territory that ensures attainment of company sales quotas and profitability. Prior sales and management experience in the automotive aftermarket wheel and/or tire industry is required.

Tradeshow Registration Coordinator
SEMA
is hiring a tradeshow registration coordinator to provide customer support; qualify companies for eligibility to attend trade shows and events; and oversee all large-group registrations for OEM exhibitors, sales staff, sponsors and special groups. The successful candidate will have an associate or college degree or 3–5 years’ experience in the trade-show industry.

Differential Technician
Autotech Driveline
is hiring a differential technician to assemble new Wavetrac limited slip differentials. The successful candidate must have high attention to detail, excellent communications skills and the ability to read and understand assembly schematics.