Make plans now to enter the second annual SEMA Pinewood Drag Race. Though the races aren’t until the first Saturday in August—coinciding with the 2009 SEMA Installation Banquet & Gala Fundraiser, August 1, in Pasadena, California—defending champs and runners-up from last year will want to waste no time tweaking for valuable tenths of a second.

If you didn’t race last year, this is a great opportunity to participate for a great cause. Proceeds from the races benefit Childhelp USA and Victory Junction Gang Camp. Builders/racers can choose one of three classes: Stock, Modified or Unlimited.

No time to build a car? Can't attend? No problem. You can also sponsor a child from Childhelp or Victory Junction Gang Camp to build a car and have a driver assigned to race it on the child's behalf. 

Click here to learn more about entry, classes and sponsorship.

To see a list of last year’s top racers (and develop your strategy accordingly), click here.

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To encourage participation from people of all ages and income levels, Hemmings Motor News has created a guide with tips and insight on getting started in the collector-car hobby. The company wants to demonstrate the fun involved with owning a classic and that the collector-car hobby is an inclusive, friendly pursuit available at all income levels.

Hemmings’ guide to “Getting Started in the Collector Car Hobby” will cover topics, such as identifying the right type of car, finding car clubs and dealers, insuring a collector car and some restoration basics. 

For more information on how to get involved, e-mail or call Advertising Director Jeff Yager at jyager@hemmings.com or 802/447-9679. 

SEMA’s latest webinar presentation, “Business Efficiency 101: Using Product Information to Increase Sales, Boost Image and Reduce Costs,” outlined how adopting product information data standards could be the most important step a company takes toward saving time, getting to market faster and selling more products.

Presenter Scott O’Toole, Motor State Distributing manager of product pricing & PIES compliance, covered the industry product information data standards PIES and ACES. PIES, or Product Information Data Exchange, is designed to standardize information used to buy and sell products, and ACES, the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) Catalog Enhanced Standard, helps standardize the information used to ensure proper product selection and fitment.

O’Toole outlined to simple reasons to adopt the standards: 1) To sell more parts and 2) To save time by reducing unnecessary phone calls and e-mails. 

To get started, O’Toole suggests identifying where your data exists and consolidate it, whether it’s in spreadsheets, text documents or on multiple computers. This is the product information that is vital to 95% of the distribution chain.

O’Toole stated that speed shops, performance dealers, chassis builders and even end users expect accurate electronic product data at their fingertips. “Chances are that if a counterperson has to pick up a printed price sheet to quote or close a sale, they will seek an alternative brand after doing so two or three times,” he explained.    

He also stressed the importance of having every part number produced or offered included in a product-data file. “Data quality and data quantity have an equal value in today’s marketplace,” stated O’Toole.

Click here to download the complete SEMA webinar presentation, sponsored by the SEMA Business Technology Committee (BTC).

The SEMA BTC is an initiative of the SEMA Board of Directors and is comprised of a group of industry leaders in the business-technology sector. The mission of the BTC is to help members adopt widely accepted industry data standards and best-business practices.

Registration for the National Catalog Managers Association's (NCMA) 36th annual Knowledge Exchange is now open. Complete conference materials and online registration are available on the NCMA website at www.ncmacat.org. The focus of the symposium and vendor trade fair, scheduled May 2–5, 2009, at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel in Newport Beach, California, is education and professional development.

Speakers include AutoZone Senior Vice President Mark Finestone; Activant Solutions Senior Vice President and GM Automotive Tom Aliotti; K&N Engineering Vice President Tim Martin; and Alise Miner, SEMA's vice president of internal projects and special teams. The NCMA member-registration rate is $495, and the group has secured a rate of $189 per night at the Marriott, guaranteed through April 3, 2009.

For additional information about the NCMA Knowledge Exchange, e-mail NCMA@aftermarket.org, or contact Robert Morris at 301/654-6664, ext. 1068.

Dust off your Fix-It-Again-Tony jokes: the new Fiat 500 convertible is due at European dealerships within a few months, and is a likely candidate for import to North America. Spy shooter Brenda Priddy's network caught this showroom-ready, pre-production specimen 500 Cabrio soft-top in Europe.

Priddy says the top is a retractable roof design—"more like a targa," she says—which wouldn't require a redesign of the body and will set it apart from competitors, such as the MINI or VW Beetle convertibles.

Photos copyright Brenda Priddy & Company. Reuse or reproduction without copyright holder's consent is prohibited.

Dust off your Fix-It-Again-Tony jokes: the new Fiat 500 convertible is due at European dealerships within a few months, and is a likely candidate for import to North America. Spy shooter Brenda Priddy's network caught this showroom-ready, pre-production specimen 500 Cabrio soft-top in Europe.

Priddy says the top is a retractable roof design—"more like a targa," she says—which wouldn't require a redesign of the body and will set it apart from competitors, such as the MINI or VW Beetle convertibles.

Photos copyright Brenda Priddy & Company. Reuse or reproduction without copyright holder's consent is prohibited.

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President Obama signed into law the $787 billion stimulus bill intended to jump-start the nation’s economy (a bill that, thanks to the persuasive efforts of SEMA members and SEMA Action Network [SAN] enthusiasts, did not include a “Cash for Clunkers” program). About 35% of the money is dedicated to tax relief for individuals and businesses, while the rest will be spent on a variety of programs ranging from infrastructure construction to expanded unemployment benefits.

Following are several tax provisions included in the new law of direct interest to SEMA members and their workers:

Business Tax Incentives

Extension of Bonus Depreciation: Businesses are allowed to recover the cost of capital expenditures over time according to a depreciation schedule. Last year, Congress temporarily allowed businesses to recover the costs of capital expenditures made in 2008 faster than the ordinary depreciation schedule would allow by permitting these businesses to immediately write off 50% of the cost of depreciable property (e.g., equipment, computers, etc.) acquired in 2008 for use in the United States. The new law extends this temporary benefit for capital expenditures incurred in 2009.

Extension of Enhanced Small-Business Expensing: In order to help small businesses quickly recover the cost of certain capital expenses, small-business taxpayers may elect to write-off the cost of these expenses in the year of acquisition in lieu of recovering these costs over time through depreciation. Until the end of 2010, small businesses are allowed to write-off up to $125,000 (indexed for inflation) of capital expenditures subject to a phase-out once capital expenditures exceed $500,000 (indexed for inflation).
   Last year, Congress temporarily increased the amount that small businesses could write-off for capital expenditures incurred in 2008 to $250,000 and increased the phase-out threshold for 2008 to $800,000. The new law extends these temporary increases for capital expenditures incurred in 2009.

5-Year Carryback of Net Operating Losses for Small Businesses: Under current law, net operating losses (“NOLs”) may be carried back to the two taxable years before the year that the loss arises (the “NOL carryback period”) and carried forward to each of the succeeding 20 taxable years after the year that the loss arises. For 2008, the new law extends the maximum NOL carryback period from two years to five years for small businesses with gross receipts of $15 million or less.

Individual Tax Incentives

Payroll Tax Credit: For 2009 and 2010, the new law provides a refundable tax credit of up to $400 for working individuals and $800 for working families. This tax credit will be calculated at a rate of 6.2% of earned income and will be phased-out for taxpayers with an adjusted gross income in excess of $75,000 ($150,000 couples).
   Workers will receive this benefit through a reduction in the amount of income tax that is withheld from their paychecks or by claiming the credit on their tax returns. The Treasury Department will adjust the withholding tables as soon as possible to reflect the change. For companies that use payroll software programs, the new tables should be included in software updates. For companies that refer to published booklets, the Treasury Department will likely send out a notice that the tables have been updated.  

Sales Tax Deduction for Vehicle Purchases: The new law allows consumers to take a federal deduction for state and local sales/excise taxes paid on the purchase of a new car, light truck, recreational vehicle or motorcycle through 2009. This deduction is phased-out for taxpayers with an adjusted gross income in excess of $125,000 ($250,000 for couples) and applies to car loans up to $49,500. For a family earning $250,000, it would save about $600 on a new $35,000 car.

Home-Buyer Tax Credit: First-time home buyers are eligible to receive a refundable tax credit of 10% of the home's purchase price up to $8,000. The home must be purchased after January 1, 2009, and before December 1, 2009, and the credit phases-out for taxpayers with an adjusted gross income beyond $75,000 for individuals ($150,000 for couples).

For more information, contact Brian Duggan at briand@sema.org.

Historic Vehicle Registration: Legislation (A.B. 2658) has been reintroduced in the New York Assembly to provide that historical vehicle owners only pay a one-time registration fee of $100 upon initial registration. The bill has been referred to the New York Assembly Transportation Committee for consideration. The $100 one-time fee would replace the current annual fee of $23. For more information, click here.

Street Rods and Custom Vehicles: SEMA-model legislation to create a vehicle titling and registration classification for street rods and custom vehicles has been reintroduced in the New York Assembly. The bill (A.B. 2429) defines a street rod as an altered vehicle manufactured before 1949 and a custom as an altered vehicle at least 25 years old and manufactured after 1948. Under the bill, kit cars and replica vehicles will be assigned a certificate of title bearing the same model-year designation as the production vehicle they most closely resemble. For more information, click here.

Taxing “Gas Guzzlers”: In a misguided attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, legislation (A.B. 3474) has been reintroduced in New York to establish a progressive purchase or lease surcharge for some new motor vehicles based on state calculations of carbon emissions. Depending on the vehicle purchased, this surcharge could require owners to pay up to $2,500 more for the vehicle. Separate legislation (A.B. 2800) proposes to create a task force that would recommend higher toll and registration fees for heavier vehicles, based on vehicle weight, emissions and fuel-efficiency ratings. If this effort is successful, the effects on a consumers’ ability to purchase the vehicle of choice, not to mention vehicle safety, will be dramatic. For more information, click here.

For details on any of these bills, please contact Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org.