Rising health insurance premiums, fluctuating fuel prices and the ongoing economic crisis. These issues, and more, have a direct effect your ability to do business. The new Congress will be responsible for finding solutions to these critical issues. It is not an understatement to say that who gets elected this November will have a lasting impact on your business.

Visit the new SEMA Political Action Committee (SEMA PAC) website and learn more about efforts to support pro-industry lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Through SEMA PAC, we are able to amplify our cumulative voice on the issues and decisions made on Capitol Hill.

The new website contains information on SEMA's legislative issues, our friends on Capitol Hill and ways that you can play a role in impacting the composition of our leaders in Washington. You can learn more about this effort by visiting the new SEMA PAC website at www.semapac.org.

For details, contact Jason Tolleson, SEMA PAC Administrator: jasont@sema.org.

The following are some of the cars that will be on display at the 2008 SEMA Show. Where known, we've included location information. If you're in the final stages of building a car for the Show, visit CarDomain.com and create a page to document the build.

Vivid Racing's EVO X features an Agency Power GT35R turbo kit good for 650 hp, JIC Magic suspension and staggered IForged three-piece wheels. Click on the photo to see detailed component photos at CarDomain.com.

Import Tuner magazine and suspension specialist Tein have joined up on this Lexus IS-F, complete with titanium exhaust, Volk wheels, Five Axis custom lip and Tein coilovers. Click on the photo to see detailed component photos at CarDomain.com.

This Ford F-150 Striker R from the Performance West Group will be powered by a blown 5.4L V8 good for 500 hp. A Bell Tech suspension, 22-inch wheels and 15-inch Big Bite brake rotors round out this high-performance hauler.

Japanese luxury tuner ASI is bringing this unique take on the Bentley Continental GT. Look for it in the Toyo Tires booth.

One of two new Venza models that Toyota will display at the Show, this one built by Street Image (Five Axis built the other). The five-passenger crossover is expected to offer both a 2.7L four-cylinder and a 3.5L V6.

The Ford Motor Company will once again recognize the most significant design achievements at the SEMA Show with its 2008 Ford Motor Company Corporate Design Awards. These prestigious awards are given annually to those vehicles that make a significant contribution to vehicle design and stand apart from all others at the Show.

Awards will be presented for the most significant accomplishments in the following vehicle categories:

• Best of Show
• Best of Show on Ford Corporate Display Stand
• Best Ford Heritage Vehicle
• Best 2009 Ford Flex
• Outstanding Achievement(s)

Formal presentation of the awards is set for Tuesday, November 4, at 10:00 a.m., in the Ford Motor Company Show Stand located in the Racing & Performance section of the Central Hall. Note: It will be followed at 10:40 a.m. by the Ford Motor Company press conference.

Ford Motor Company's Corporate Design judging team will review all vehicles on display at the Show during set-up on Sunday and Monday (November 2 and 3). To assist the judging team in these efforts, exhibitors are encouraged to submit descriptions of their vehicles, pictures and the vehicle's Show location to semainfo@ford.com by Tuesday, October 28.

For the fifth consecutive year, "Car Crazy Central" will host SEMA TV, a series of live interviews featuring the best and most interesting industry pros, people, cars and trucks appearing at the 2008 SEMA Show. Barry Meguiar, founder and CEO of Meguiar’s and "Car Crazy Central," will once again take his post as the official host of SEMA TV. 

SEMA TV reports will run live on screens throughout the Show halls, reaching more than 100,000 Show attendees daily. Broadcasts will also run every night in more than 50,000 hotel rooms.

Interviews are currently being booked. If you have an interesting, cool or unique story to tell, contact Sabrina Suarez at 714/573-0899, ext. 27.

SEMA Show goers have a chance to win an autographed cap from Rick Hendrick or one of the Hendrick team drivers: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Casey Mears. To enter, simply stop by the SEMA Cares booth in the Grand Lobby. While in the SEMA booth, learn more about the important charities SEMA supports, including children’s charities Childhelp and Victory Gang Junction Camp, the SEMA Scholarship Fund and the bone marrow donor registry program.   

 Rick Hendrick, chairman and CEO of Hendrick Motorsports, established the Hendrick Marrow Program at The Marrow Foundation in 1997 after he was diagnosed with leukemia. Even though he did not need a marrow transplant himself, he wanted to help other patients who did not have the resources to find a marrow match or to cover the uninsured transplant-related costs that are often barriers to treatment. Rick Hendrick and the Hendrick Marrow Program invite you to join their team by becoming a volunteer marrow donor on the NMDP Registry at this year’s SEMA Show. 

Motorsports legend Rick Hendrick with bone-marrow transplant-recipient Samantha, a seven-year-old post-transplant patient who has fully recuperated thanks to a bone marrow donor. Why not help save a life at the SEMA Show? Visit the SEMA Cares booth at the SEMA Show in the Grand Lobby to join the national bone marrow registry. Want to sign up online? You can do so by visiting  www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/index.html. 

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In last Thursday’s webinar, “The U.S. and the World Economy: Will They Shift Forward?,” presenter William Strauss, senior economist and economic advisor at the Federal Bank of Chicago, addressed SEMA members’ growing concerns regarding the impact that current and future economic challenges will have on their businesses.

“This webinar was designed to give us a better understanding of the current state of the U.S. economy, its future outlook and primary risks facing the overall health of our system,” said Tom Myroniak, SEMA vice president of marketing and member services.

Strauss began the webinar by emphasizing that the U.S. is not currently in a recession. He noted that the National Bureau of Economic Research, an independent organization, is the one that makes this call and that they have yet to declare a recession. Strauss revealed that it is a common misinterpretation that two consecutive negative quarters of GDP growth is what defines a recession in the United States.

It is often the case that this coincidentally occurs as it did in the 1990–1991 recession, but in the case of the 2001 recession, while there were three negative quarter growths, none of them were consecutive. The NBER looks at monthly data, such as employment growth and industrial production. According to Strauss, the last recession peaked in March 2001 and reached a trough in November of the same year. The economy has been expanding since that point in time.

“While historically you do not need to have two consecutive negative quarters to have a recession, in all of the recessions that have been called for the U.S. economy, we have had at least two negative quarters of GDP growth, and so far we have had just one and that occurred in the fourth quarter of last year,” said Strauss.

Strauss declared a strong performance for the second quarter and a growth of 2.8% for the national economy, which is the overall GDP growth on a quarter-to-quarter annualized rate. He also observed an upside for SEMA members amid all the economic challenges.

“With the weaknesses that we have been seeing, it appears that businesses, in particular in the automotive industry, have been very aggressive at trying to keep their production in line with defining sales,” said Strauss. “So they have been able to take out inventories as the economy has weakened. What that means is that when the economy gets back on its feet and begins to expand, they will not have to be selling out inventories because of having bloated inventories. Production will be able to ramp back up fairly quickly in line with economic prospects.”
 
Strauss summarized his webinar with the following forecasts:

• The outlook is for the United States to expand at a rate below potential through 2008 and into 2009.
• Employment is expected to struggle this year and next, leading to a moderate rise in the unemployment rate.
• The volatile credit markets and the weak housing market are the biggest risk on the horizon for the U.S. economy.
  

For an audio or PDF download of this webinar, click here.

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