The Gilmore Car Museum (GCM) in Hickory Corners, Michigan, is seeking sponsors for two of its upcoming exhibits. The first, “Drag Racing in America,” will run May 1–October 31, 2009, and follow drag racing from its humble origins to the mega sport that it is today.

More than 7,000 sq. ft. of gallery space will be devoted to showcasing the earliest and latest versions of Top Fuel Dragsters, Funny Cars, Pro Stock Cars, Super Stock, Altered Cars and more, plus the parts they used.

The second exhibit, scheduled to run May 1–October 31, 2010, will focus on circle track racing (exact features and information to be announced).

Current sponsors include:

• Hastings Manufacturing Company
• Melling Engine Parts
• Mahle-Clevite
• Federal Mogul
• Dura-Bond
• Isky Racing Cams
• Engine Pro (Perfit Corp.)

The Gilmore Car Museum (www.gilmorecarmuseum.org) is regarded as one of the country’s finest displays of automotive heritage, with nearly 200 vintage cars on display in a unique rural facility located on 90 acres. The GCM includes permanent exhibits, an active exhibit schedule and a loan program with other museums. It is a prime location for car shows and car club rallies, as well as large gatherings, corporate and company events.

Sponsor names and logos can appear on the brochures, postcards and newsletters that the GMC produces, reaching thousands of enthusiasts through direct mail, car shows, Autorama events and by hand at various outlets.

For more information, contact Jay A. Follis, director of marketing at 269/671-5089 or click here to e-mail.

SEMA has launched a new classifieds section on its www.SEMAShow.com website to assist SEMA Show exhibitors in hauling booth materials, vehicles, parts and other equipment to the 2008 SEMA Show. If your company needs items hauled to the Show, let us know about it!

Visit www.SEMAShow.com/classifieds to see the most updated listing of who has space and who needs space.

Need Gear Hauled to the Show?
If you have items that need to be hauled to the Show, click here to e-mail us. Be sure to provide all of the necessary information included in the content of the e-mail.

Have Room in Your Trailer?
Those SEMA Show exhibitors who have space in their trailer headed to the 2008 SEMA Show are also encouraged to help fellow exhibitors get their gear or vehicles to the Show by announcing it here. Click here to e-mail us and provide all the necessary information included in the content of the e-mail.

Complete information on the 2008 SEMA Show is available online at www.SEMAShow.com.

Filler for eNews

Rick Hendrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears want to give you some autographed goods. Items including signed hats, diecasts, banners and jackets will be raffled off daily at the SEMA Cares booth in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Stop by to fill out a free raffle ticket, and learn more about the programs sponsored by the SEMA Cares Committee—including Childhelp and Victory Junction Gang Camp—as well as the SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund, which supports educational and leadership goals for students in the automotive and specialty-equipment industries.

For the first time, SEMA is teaming up with Rick Hendrick and the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) this year to sponsor a bone-marrow testing program at the 2008 SEMA Show. Attendees are urged to visit the Marrow Donor Testing booth, co-located in the SEMA Cares booth in the Grand Lobby, to provide a cheek swab and fill out a questionnaire.

Each year, more than 35,000 children and adults are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases that are treatable by a marrow or cord-blood transplant. Only 30% of those individuals will find a matched donor within their family. The remaining 70% must turn to the NMDP Registry to search for a volunteer donor. Your name will be added to the National Bone Marrow Registry, and you may be the one to offer hope to patients searching for a match.

Registration is quick and free. Rick Hendrick’s charity organization, the Hendrick Marrow Program (HMP), will underwrite 100% of the costs of testing at the Show.

“Our mission is to help patients," says Chairman and CEO Hendrick. "By adding new donors to the NMDP Registry, we may be able to offer someone a second chance at life."

Marcel Horn's 2007 Audi TT won last year's GT Awards for Best European Import and Best of Show. Horn, president of SEMA-member company HPA Motorsports, has seen his car included in the latest installment of the Gran Turismo franchise, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

One of the highest honors a car builder can receive these days is inclusion into the best-selling racing video game franchise, Gran Turismo. In conjunction with the 2008 SEMA Show, Sony Computer Entertainment America—makers of the PLAYSTATION 3 and publisher of the best-selling racing game Gran Turismo—and "Top Gear" host Tanner Foust will host the sixth annual Gran Turismo Awards on Thursday, November 6, at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

In addition to honoring winning automobiles in categories including Best Hot Rod, Best Japanese Import, Best European Import, Best Domestic Automobile and Best Truck/SUV, an overall GT Awards winner will be selected as Best in Show and given the honor of having their vehicle included in the next Gran Turismo title in full 1080p HD.

Judging for the GT Awards takes place on the SEMA Show floor on Tuesday, November 4 and Wednesday, November 5. Judges will include industry influencers and representatives from various automobile magazines. The overall winner will be selected by one of the most influential individuals in the automotive industry, father of the Gran Turismo franchise Kazunori Yamauchi.  

If your car has what it takes to be the talk of the automotive industry, CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT THE ENTRY FORM, then e-mail to: 2008_GT_Awards@bncpr.com. You can also fax the form to 310/854-4848. 

To see more of what the Gran Turismo Awards are all about, check out this video.

As reported by a company press release, Amazon.com launched the opening of its Mobile Electronics Store. The store will provide customers access to car audio and video, navigation, security, accessories and installation products.

The store will offer more than 5,000 products from major brands in the mobile-electronics industry, including Infinity, Jensen, JVC, Rockford Fosgate, Sony Xplod, Boss, Dual, Clarion and Panasonic. Sellers in the store include Crutchfield and Car Toys.

“We know a car can be more than just a means of transportation from point A to point B,” said Faisal Masud, director for the Mobile Electronics Store. “Our goal is to provide our customers with competitive prices, selection and convenience while eliminating some of the guesswork when it comes to purchasing electronics for your motor vehicle. The store is a natural extension of our Automotive Parts and Accessories Store and will continue to evolve, with more brands added every day, to help customers discover the ideal configuration for their car.”

Key features of the store include:

• Car FitFinder, featuring a database of thousands of cars, allows customers to designate the make, model and year of their car to find a list of applicable products for their vehicle.
  
• InstallerNet cards allow customers to prepay for a fixed scope of installation work at the time they purchase an installable product.  Customers can activate their InstallerNet card online or by phone and request an installation date with a local installation provider from a network consisting of more than 6,000 installers, with 1,500 locations nationwide.  
  
• Customer Reviews and Bestsellers provide customers with a wide variety of customer reviews to read what other shoppers have to say about a product, as well as review products that are among the most popular with other Amazon.com customers.

The next SEMA webinar, "Fast Track Product Development with 3-D Technology," presented by SEMA Vehicle Product Data Analyst Oscar Muñoz, highlights new, affordable, 3-D-based technologies available to replace the tedious process of reverse engineering.

Title: "Fast Track Product Development with 3-D Design Technology"
Date: Thursday, November 20, 2008, 10:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m. (PDT)
Presenter: Oscar Muñoz, SEMA Vehicle Product Data Analyst

CLICK HERE to register for this webinar.

SEMA's Webinar Program: The SEMA webinar program brings the world-class business seminars featured during the SEMA Show right to your desktop. Different business-building sessions are constantly added to the program, offering members the latest insight and practices from today’s leading speakers.

All SEMA webinars are conducted live and are open to all employees of SEMA-member companies free of charge. To participate, all you need is a computer with Internet access and a telephone. All previous SEMA webinars are available for download by clicking here. To view upcoming presentations that you can attend via telephone and Internet, click here.

Spy shots of the psychedelic-camouflaged MINI Crossman from Brenda Priddy indicate that the hip BMW umbrella brand is readying the vehicle for production. Priddy notes that the crossover is toned down from the concept shown at the Paris Motor Show and received rear swing doors like the newest MINI on the roads, the Clubman.

Internet reports speculate that the Crossman will come with the same 4-cylinder drivetrain offered in current U.S. models, but will mate with an all-wheel drive, possibly supplied by German transmission specialist Getrag (via Consumer Guide Automotive).

The Crossman will be the first MINI assembled outside of the United Kingdom. Austrian manufacturer Magna Steyr will build the car for MINI, which is rapidly running out of space at its current facilities. The Crossman is scheduled for a 2010 release and will likely arrive in the States as a 2011 model.

MOVING ON UP: Germain Racing, which has fielded entries in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for several years, including that of 2006 series champion Todd Bodine, will enter a Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series next season with Italian Max Papis at the wheel. Geico will sponsor the team in 18 races.

SEVEN YEARS: NASCAR has landed a new title sponsor for its Truck Series. Camping World has signed a seven-year agreement to back the series, replacing Craftsman, which has sponsored the tour since 1995, at the end of this season.

LANDMARK: The Formula One Teams Association and the FIA have reached an agreement to cut costs and work together to improve all aspects of the Formula One World Driving Championship, the world’s most popular racing series.

EXTENSION: Roush Fenway Racing signed a multiyear agreement with Ford Motor Company to continue racing Fords in NASCAR’s three top touring series.

POWER RANKINGS: NHRA Top Fuel point leader Tony Schumacher remained at the top of the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings.  He can clinch his sixth Top Fuel title this weekend at The Strip @ Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The National Speed Sport News Power Rankings are published weekly in the 74-year-old motorsports publication.

SUBSCRIBE: National Speed Sport News has been published weekly since 1934. To subscribe to National Speed Sport News, click on the following link for a special industry rate www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/subscribe.html?pid=NQ%2BVfhkepT4%3D.

NEWS NUGGETS

HOPING VEGAS LIGHTS LEAD TO CALIFORNIA DREAMS, TEAMS PREPARE FOR FINAL TWO RACES OF 2008: With only two races remaining in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing series and Countdown to 1 playoffs, teams are scrambling to grab as many points as they can before the final runs are made and champions are crowned at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona, California.

Though U.S. Army dragster pilot and five-time POWERade world champion Tony Schumacher has all but secured his fifth consecutive title, the hunt for the second spot in the point standings remains, and KB Racing’s Hillary Will, Matco Tools dragster pilot Antron Brown and FRAM dragster driver Cory McClenathan all have a legitimate shot at that runner-up spot for the season.

In Funny Car, on the other hand, Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger driver Jack Beckman could still knock off front-runner Tim Wilkerson to collect his first world championship in just his third season in the category. Former world champion Cruz Pedregon looks stout in the third spot in the Funny Car standings and, coming off his win in Richmond, could shake things up in the ultra-competitive class.

The big question in Pro Stock is whether Kurt Johnson will be able to find success at his title sponsor’s event and knock off current points leader and defending world champion Jeg Coughlin to pick up his first POWERade title in an already impressive 15-year career. Third- and fourth-place drivers Dave Connolly and Greg Anderson are also in range of that top spot should any bad luck befall Coughlin or Johnson.

With nearly a month off since they last raced in Memphis, the Pro Stock Motorcycle category proves to be the most exciting of the four, as all Top 10 drivers battle it out for the POWERade world championship. Sophomore rider Eddie Krawiec has yet to find the winner’s circle aboard his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson, and a first win for him in Las Vegas may just be enough to move him around current points leader and defending world champion Matt Smith for the top spot among the bikes.

MOPAR EXTENDS ITS LONG-RUNNING SPONSORSHIP OF MILE-HIGH NATIONALS: Mopar, longtime sponsor of NHRA Drag Racing, has renewed its multi-year entitlement agreement through 2011 with the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Mile-High Nationals race held annually at Bandimere Speedway near Denver. The 30th annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, which represents the traditional launching point for the three-races-in-three-weeks Western Swing through Denver, Seattle, and Sonoma (California), will be held July 10–12, 2009, at Bandimere Speedway. This will mark the 21st consecutive year that Mopar has been the title sponsor of the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, which first raised the Mopar flag in 1989.

TECHNICOAT, KALITTA MOTORSPORTS EXTEND PARTNERSHIP THROUGH 2013: Technicoat Companies and Kalitta Motorsports will extend their long-running and greatly successful partnership for an additional five years. Technicoat will continue its support as a major associate sponsor on the Top Fuel dragsters driven by Doug Kalitta and Dave Grubnic and on the Ken Black-owned, Kalitta Motorsports-managed Top Fueler driven by Hillary Will.

Technicoat will also continue to have major associate signage on the Team Kalitta Funny Car driven by Jeff Arend. Technicoat President Bob Coffman and COO Glen Williams, aka “the Cowboys,” are fixtures in the Team Kalitta pit area at most NHRA national events with their trademark cowboy hats. Technicoat Companies is a worldwide leader in industrial waterproofing and flooring based in Las Vegas and Westminster, California.

GANN TO RIDE X-TREME REBELLION/XXX RACING FUEL BUELL FOR REMAINDER OF SEASON AND INTO 2009: Pro stock Motorcycle racer Shawn Gann will ride a new S&S-powered Buell owned by Lister Harrell for the remainder of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season and into the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Gann will climb aboard the X-Treme Rebellion/XXX Racing Fuel Buell, tuned by Gann’s father Blake. The new team will compete at the last two NHRA events of the season, the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals and Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals and plans to run the entire 2009 season.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

ACDELCO LAS VEGAS NHRA NATIONALS, OCTOBER 30–NOVEMBER 2: The NHRA POWERade Series makes its second stop of the season in Las Vegas where drivers in all four professional categories will fight it out at the next-to-last race of the Countdown to 1. Defending event winners include Rod Fuller (Top Fuel); Tony Pedregon (Funny Car); Greg Anderson (Pro Stock); and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NHRA FINALS, AUTO CLUB RACEWAY AT POMONA, NOVEMBER 13–16: The 2008 season comes to an end where it started in sunny California, and the Countdown to 1 comes to an end as POWERade world champions are determined in this final race. Defending event winners include Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel); Robert Hight (Funny Car); Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock); and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

HE SAID, SHE SAID

GIANT KILLER?: Current Funny Car points leader Tim Wilkerson has made a career this season out of knocking off multi-car teams. In a teleconference this week, Wilkerson discussed being a single-car team owner in a multi-car team world.

“I don’t really know what the answer is totally,” Wilkerson said. “But I believe that having a single-car team, sometimes you can focus on your car and the few sponsors that you have, and you can take better care of them because you don’t have all the politics. You know what I mean? I know sometimes with multi-car teams, there’s some clashing that goes on in the different crew chiefs. It’s just the way it is. That’s the way it happens.”

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

3: The number of wins Pro Stock driver and three-time POWERade world champion Greg Anderson has at the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals, the most of any professional driver at that race. Anderson, who has five wins this season but none in the Countdown to 1 playoffs, is currently 82 points behind first place driver Jeg Coughlin and could use a win this weekend to stay in the hunt for his fourth world championship.

DID YOU KNOW…

…that current Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader Matt Smith, second-place rider Eddie Krawiec, and third-place rider Chris Rivas have never won a race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In fact, out of the Top 10 drivers in the Pro Stock Motorcycle point standings, only four (Angelle Sampey, Chip Ellis, Andrew Hines and Craig Treble) have ever walked away from Las Vegas with a coveted Wally.