NEWS NUGGETS

The new track at Concord, North Carolina's zMax Dragway will host the first of the Countdown to 1 playoffs.

THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE COUNTDOWN AND A NEW TRACK: NHRA drivers and fans have been waiting nearly a year for the new track in Concord, North Carolina. It is now time to begin racing and everyone involved with the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series is excited for the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals at zMax Dragway. As if all that is not enough, the first race of the Countdown to 1 playoffs will bring plenty of thrills.

Points leaders Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Tim Wilkerson (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) have their 30-point leads they hope to increase when they leave North Carolina. For the other racers in the Top 10 who are vying for a world championship, Concord means a chance to unseat the leaders with winning performances. Pro racing begins on Friday with the first qualifying sessions scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Saturday's qualifying is at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday's eliminations begin at noon.

NHRA WORKS WITH TEAMS, ELECTRIMOTION ON SAFETY SHUTOFF CONTROLLER: NHRA is working with the Top Fuel and Funny Car teams of Robert Hight, Jim Head, and Larry Dixon to test and evaluate a new Safety Shutoff Controller developed by Dave Leahy of Electrimotion. The Safety Shutoff Controller can shut off fuel and ignition to the engine as well as deploy the parachutes when triggered by a variety of conditions including depressing the steering-wheel-mounted driver's button, manifold burst panel rupture, fire-bottle activation, excessive oil-pan pressure, and dragster rear-wing failure.

NHRA will begin working with other teams and Electrimotion immediately to further evaluate the system. After system validation is complete, NHRA could mandate the use of the Safety Shutoff Controller on Funny Cars later this year. Use of this controller on Top Fuel cars also will be evaluated with the goal of mandating them for that class as well.

TASCA RACING BREAKS GROUND IN NORTH CAROLINA: Rookie Funny Car driver Bob Tasca and his Tasca Racing Team have announced that beginning in 2009 they will be headquartered in Concord, N.C. Essentially working from the road this year, the team will have a home base where they can test, work and house the racing team when they are not on the road.

"I see the Charlotte area as a great place to build our new racing home," said Bob Tasca III, owner and driver for Tasca Racing. "We'll have the nation's premier race track five minutes from our doorstep, and the location allows for our team to return home for more than half the races in the season, and to have a home shop to work out of between races."

HAMMONDS HIRES TOM AS CREW CHIEF: Pro Stock driver Tom Hammonds will now have the ability to focus on driving his Tom Hammonds Enterprises Chevy Cobalt after hiring Kenny Tom to be crew chief. Tom brings more than 23 years of motorsports experience and has been crew chief on other Pro Stock Cars.

"As the driver of our number 20 Chevy Cobalt, I have not sat in the lounge of our transporter for a long time. Bringing Kenny Tom onboard allows me to do what I do best, and that is driving our Chevy Cobalt down the track," said Hammonds.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

NHRA CAROLINAS NATIONALS, zMAX DRAGWAY, SEPT. 11–14: In the first race of the Countdown to 1, the NHRA POWERade Series heads to the newly constructed zMAX Dragway and its first visit to the state of North Carolina. All four professional categories (Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle) will compete in this inaugural event.

O'REILLY SUPER START BATTERIES NHRA FALL NATIONALS, TEXAS MOTORPLEX, SEPT. 18–21: Drivers in all four professional categories will fight it out in the second race of the Countdown to 1 in this second stop of the season in the Lone Star State. Defending event winners include Larry Dixon (Top Fuel); Tony Pedregon (Funny Car); Dave Connolly (Pro Stock); and Peggy Llewellyn (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

O'REILLY NHRA MID-SOUTH NATIONALS, MEMPHIS MOTORSPORTS PARK, SEPT. 26–28: The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series heads to the south for its third stop in the Countdown to 1 playoffs. Defending event winners include Melanie Troxel (Top Fuel); Gary Scelzi (Funny Car); Dave Connolly (Pro Stock); and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

HE SAID, SHE SAID
 
BEING FIRST HAS ITS BENEFITS: Funny Car points leader Tim Wilkerson is enjoying his best season in his 13 years of racing. He has had his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala on top since May. Wilkerson is learning what it means to be ahead of everyone else.

"We have worked so hard to do this and I'm very proud of our efforts," said Wilkerson. "It's interesting being first. They take you a little differently than when you were just a guy that went down the race track from time to time."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

30: The number of points separating first-place from second-place in the POWERade Series championship standings. The leaders after Indy earned a 20-point bonus to have a more than one round lead over the drivers in the number two position. From second to 10th place the drivers are separated incrementally by 10 points beginning with 2,060 for second place and ending with 1,980 for 10th place.

DID YOU KNOW...
...that the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals at zMAX Dragway @ Concord will mark the first time in history that an NHRA national event has been held in the state of North Carolina.

ACI (Agri-Cover Inc.) offered its Gold Star Certified Dealers a chance to win airfare to the 2008 SEMA Show during a recent second-quarter promotion. The two lucky winners—Perry and Lori Brown of American Topper & Accessories in Des Moines, Iowa—will enjoy free airfare to the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The winner was chosen via a random drawing after earning a qualified entry during the promotion. Mr. Brown said he appreciates the opportunity this promotion created for him and American Topper & Accessories.

UltraFit Manufacturing appointed Tim Creasy to vice president of sales and marketing. He will be responsible for both the continued expansion of UltraFit’s contract manufacturing business and on the company's aftermarket exhaust product lines through UltraFit Exhaust. Creasy most recently held a consulting position at Beltraine Solutions.

Alan Johnson, one of the most decorated Top Fuel crew chiefs in NHRA history, will field a two-car team in 2009 through a partnership with Qatar-based Al-Anabi Racing. A seven-time NHRA Top Fuel champion with 75 professional-level national event victories to his credit, Johnson has tuned for Tony Schumacher during his last four Top Fuel titles and the current points lead. This new alliance will field a Top Fuel dragster and a Funny Car and will start the 2009 season on February 5–8 with the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California. Johnson has not selected drivers for the new cars.

Benty & Associates (B&A) is currently producing two- and four-minute video segments for manufacturers to be aired on "Whipnotic TV". Dedicated content segments within the show have been purchased by Flowmaster, Magnacharger, Surf City Garage and others, each manufacturer receiving both Spanish and English versions, as well as copies of the video for Internet placement and promotion. "Whipnotic TV" is a weekly 30-minute aftermarket performance program that airs in the Los Angeles market. The show has made excellent penetration in the Hispanic market through Telemundo, Channel 52, where it is No. 1 in its 9:30 a.m. Sunday time slot, reaching more than 250,000 viewers each week. The show also how airs in English on KNBC in Los Angeles at 5 p.m. Saturday (rebroadcast again Sunday morning). For more information contact David Fetherston at B & A Inc., 707/478-3413.

The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum announced that it has reduced its admission price to $1 for those attending the Los Angeles County Fair (September 7–30). Tony Thacker, Parks Museum executive director, said many fairgoers might be unaware that the Museum, located on the Fairplex property, is open during the event. “Visiting the Museum is a great companion activity for those attending the Fair,” Thacker said. For more information on special exhibits, museum events or directions, call 909/622-2133 or visit http://museum.nhra.com.

Continental AG is an official sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa in the tires product category. The company announced that it secured significant TV coverage during the 260 qualification group matches to be played in Europe. Continental will appear on four of the advertising hoardings in the stadiums at over 170 matches, and with TV images being broadcasted around the world, will also appear on millions of TV screens.

JS Chamberlain & Associates, a group of manufacturing, engineering and international supply chain experts in the automotive manufacturing supply industry, has joined the Performance Warehouse Association as a service provider and is interested in supporting specialty-equipment manufacturers "up stream" with any of their North American outsourcing or international supply chain needs.

“We are providing innovative solutions to the outsourced manufacturing and supply chain needs of automotive manufacturers of all types,” writes President Bill Chamberlain. “We have broad product capability from mechanical assemblies, forgings, castings, machinings, stampings, to complete expertise in most areas of plastic industry and almost everything in between. We have roughly 80 manufacturing sources in the USA and Asia in the automotive manufacturing supply industry.”

Chamberlain stresses, however, that the company will not discuss sales representation of any kind with any PWA manufacturer.

For more information, visit www.jscanda.com.

Click on the logo to visit PRO's website.

Read PRO's column featured in the September/October issue of SEMA Member News by clicking here.

For information about PRO, contact Jim Skelly at jimsk@sema.org.

Click on the logo to visit ARMO's website.

ARMO Special Projects in Motion

Sponsorships are being accepted for the ARMO Industry Awards Reception. Now is the time to participate in this great opportunity to show your support of the restoration market, its community, its people and its businesses. Click here to download and print a sponsorship form.
 
For more information, contact any Select Committee member or Jan Desma, 909/396-0289, ext. 134, or e-mail jand@sema.org.

ARMO Column in SEMA Member News

Click on the logo to visit TORA's website.

TORA Column in SEMA Member News

Read TORA's column featured in the September/October issue of SEMA Member News by clicking here.

Filler for eNews

Filler for eNews

Dates and locations for several upcoming SEMA-sponsored shows and activities have been announced. Details are:

>> SEMA Webinar, "Listen to Your Customers, Their Opinions Really Do Matter," September 18, 2008 10:00 a.m. (PDT)
>> Honda Fit Measuring Session at American Honda, Torrance, California, September 23, 2008 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
>> SEMA MRC Town Hall Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona, September 23, 2008 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
>> SEMA Webinar, "U.S. and the World Economy: Will They Shift Forward?" October 2, 2008 10:00 a.m. (PDT)
>> SEMA Webinar, "Right-On, No-Bull Guide to Marketing in a Tough Economy," October 16, 2008 10:00 a.m. (PDT)
>> SEMA Show 2008, November 4–7, 2008, Las Vegas 
>> SEMA Dealer Day, November 5, 2008, Las Vegas
>> SEMA PRO Open Meeting, November 6, 2008, Las Vegas
>> SEMA Speed Networking Breakfast—Powered by SBN, November 6, 2008 7:15 a.m.–9:00 a.m. (PDT), Las Vegas
>> SEMA MPMC Media Trade Conference, January 20–22, 2009 El Segundo, California
>> SEMA Technical Skills & Training Conference, March 27–28, 2009, Orlando, Florida
>> PAACE Automechanika Mexico, July 15–17, 2009, Mexico

For association-related travel, contact Manya Petropaki (manya.p@travelstoreusa.com) at Travel Store USA, 949/930-9268.

Looking for Some Extra Publicity for Your Industry Event?
Publicize your events through the SEMA Online Calendar of Events located at www.sema.org/calendar. The calendar is stocked with information on events taking place throughout the year, broken down by month. Examples of events featured in the calendar include consumer shows and club events, educational and training workshops, conventions and trade shows, races and more.

To submit your event details for the calendar, e-mail company name and the date(s), location and name of the event to Shirley Presecan at shirleyp@sema.org.

A concept version of the 2010 Honda Insight hybrid.

With all the hype surrounding the Chevy Volt, planned for a 2010 debut, GM competitors are preparing for their own hybrid and electric car releases within the next couple of years.

According to Honda’s Insight website, the automaker is manufacturing a less expensive version of the electric hybrid that will obtain approximately 40 mpg. The website claims that “this new car will be priced significantly lower than hybrids available today.” Honda will reveal a concept version of the vehicle in October 2008 at the Paris Auto Show and is preparing for a spring 2009 release in the United States. According to www.popularmechanics.com, the sticker price for the 2010 Insight will likely run under $20K. The Volt’s sticker price is speculated to be within the mid- to high-30K range.

Ford is also working on an affordable plug-in vehicle for the masses. According to a Ford press release, a plug-in prototype of the Escape Hybrid was delivered in December 2007 to Southern California Edison to begin road testing as part of a partnership between the automaker and the utility company. The press release stated, “The two companies are exploring new business models related to the electrification of vehicles that could help lower the cost of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) to make them more affordable to consumers.” Ford claims that the research vehicle can achieve up to 120 mpg when driven on surface streets.  

According to www.popularmechanics.com, Nissan released a prototype of its first in-house designed hybrid, which will debut as a 2010 Infiniti product. The prototype follows the two-mode approach of the Volt, but will possess a longer EV-only range and a maximum speed of 75 mph on pure electric power.

Popular Mechanics also states that Toyota will deliver a plug-in hybrid Prius in spring 2009. The new Prius will operate on a lithium-ion battery pack, causing speculation that this vehicle will offer fuel efficiency similar to the Volt. According to www.autobloggreen.com, the updated Prius will get 62 mph in all-electric mode. 

For additional SEMA research, click here.

Daimler’s much anticipated U.S. introduction of the Smart brand has been a homerun. Early waiting lists, buyer deposits, a bicoastal tour and social gestures have helped the small car wedge itself into the consciousness of mainstream consumers. Touted as a fuel-sipping urban vehicle, the Smart Fortwo and its variants has been a worldwide icon for minimalism and efficiency. Over 900,000 Smart cars have been sold in 37 countries, with the majority being the Fortwo and Fortwo Cabriolet.

Sales for the current model are currently outpacing the previous generation. In the United States, the car has been available since January, with total sales through August accounting for 16,378 units. Not only does this volume represent more than double what Daimler originally expected, but the supplies continue to be a limiting factor. Waiting lists in some areas stretch well past a year. 

However, the relevancy of commuter cars does not always translate to specialty-equipment sales. The case for the Smart might be unique, given its hype and immediate status. According to Daimler, buyers of the car are not as frugal as one would expect. Affluent enthusiasts are the majority of their clientele, noting that their exposure to the car was implanted by travels abroad, mainly in Europe.

Despite the low base price, only 5% of consumers opted for the $11,590 model. Instead, the popular sellers are the more elaborate $16,590 configurations. As the novelty begins to fade and competitive models enter the marketplace, the possibility for specialty-equipment sales could supplement the individualist mentality of these icons. Customized Fortwos have begun to appear on enthusiast websites and at consumer shows. For manufacturers, this represents a fresh canvass for enthusiasts in the United States and a global model they might consider.

For more specialty-equipment market research, please visit www.sema.org/research. 

The past few months have been especially troublesome for the automotive industry. With only a few exceptions, vehicle manufacturers were facing steep declines in sales. August sales, on the other hand, have provided some good news. Midsize and large-pickup sales have rebounded from a dip, posting generous increases over the previous month.

Many analysts, and even GM’s Mark LaNeve, attribute the shift to dropping fuel prices. LaNeve, vice president of sales for GM North America, told Automotive News, “With the recent moderation of fuel prices, we're seeing some relaxation of pent-up demand in pickups and utilities.”

For midsize trucks, the Toyota Tacoma and Ford Ranger were leading sellers. Nissan’s Frontier and Honda’s Ridgeline also made considerable jumps. On the fullsize side, the Chevrolet Silverado returned total sales of 55,765 units. Not only was this the leading pickup but also the No. 1 selling vehicle in total sales, ahead of the Toyota Camry.

LaNeve followed with, "We're not indicating or pretending in any way that the truck market is snapping back. I think we saw the bottom and are going to start scratching our way up to numbers that are improving."

With the light-duty pickup segment representing one of the largest vehicle niches in the specialty-equipment industry, these results could provide some breathing room in a struggling economy.

For more specialty-equipment market research, please visit www.sema.org/research.

According to responses from SEMA’s Automotive Lifestyles Survey—an annual poll of enthusiasts and their automotive hobby—vehicle-buying habits have changed from the previous year. Not only has the number of new-car purchases decreased, but the length of ownership has increased. Consumers have kept their cars longer and have delayed purchases. Many people attribute the shift to economic situations regarding fuel prices, credit and mortgage crunches and the general higher cost of living expenses.

As consumers keep their vehicles longer, their demand for specialty equipment parts on used vehicles could increase. For enthusiasts, their persistence in the hobby could help the markets for modifications of used and older vehicles, as the costs of ownership is typically less than for newer models.

As with the maintained popularity of musclecars from the ’60s, the volume of used vehicles from the late ’90s and early 2000s could keep their interest higher than brand-new vehicles if they are retained due to decreased spending. Consequently, modifications and services on these vehicles may continue to have a healthy market presence.

For more specialty-equipment market research, please visit www.sema.org/research.