Filler for eNews

Business owners, installers, restylers and wheel and tire specialists looking to gain a quality advantage in the marketplace are encouraged to register now for the upcoming SEMA Installer Certification exams.

The SEMA certification program includes five exams which will be offered on Thursday, May 13, at more than 700 test centers in the United States and Canada. Testing begins at 7:00 p.m. local time.

The five exams include: Z1/Electric Sunroofs; Z2/Truck Accessories & Body Exterior Components; Z3/Leather Interiors; Z4/Roof Treatments; Z5/Custom Wheel and Tire. The registration deadline is Friday, March 21, 2008.

To register, follow the links located below for the appropriate registration forms. For more information, visit www.sema.org/certification, or e-mail Beverly Rosen at beverlyr@sema.org.

Installer Certification Quick Links

• Facts About the Accessory Certification Exams (Z1–Z4)
• Z1–Z4 Spring 2008 Test Preparation Guide & Registration Booklet
• Z1–Z4 Registration Form Only
• Member Directory of Certified Accessory Specialists (Z1–Z4)
• Certified Installer Insignia & Chevron Uniform Patches (Z1–Z4) order form
• Facts About the Custom Wheel & Tire Certification (Z5) Exam
• Z5 Spring 2008 Test Preparation Guide & Registration Booklet
• Z5 Registration Form Only
• Member Directory of Certified Custom Wheel & Tire Specialists (Z5)

Providing customers with reasons to buy from you is one of the biggest challenges in sales. The pros know the tactics needed to establish credibility and how to deliver on high expectations, while maintaining profitable relationships with customers. "Dale Carnegie's How to Sell Like a Pro! Part 1" will teach you what the pros know and provide you with techniques that can be put to use immediately.

Dale Carnegie's How to Sell Like a Pro! Part 1

When: Thursday, March 20

Speaker: Richard Bonar, Dale Carnegie

What You'll Learn 

• Communicate value from the buyer's perspective
• Use the same sales structure the pros use
• Make any prospect want to buy from you
• Establish credibility quickly and easily
• Take control of conversations while keeping prospects engaged

For more information, visit www.sema.org/webinar.

SEMA's Webinar Program
The SEMA webinar program brings the world-class business seminars featured during the SEMA Show Education Week right to your desktop. Different business-building sessions are constantly being 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 previously conducted SEMA webinars are available to download anytime by clicking here. To view upcoming presentations that you can attend via the telephone and Internet, click here.

For additional information on the SEMA Webinar program, contact Pat Talaska-Benson at patt@sema.org.

SEMA manufacturing members are invited to preview and gather measurements of Ford's 2009 E-Series and F Super Duty trucks. The Measuring Session is scheduled for Tuesday, April 8, at the Ford Conference and Event Center in Dearborn, Michigan. The limit is two persons per company.

Upon confirmation, maps and hotel information will be e-mailed to attendees. Please click here for registration. (If your browser does not link directly, copy and paste the following URL into your browser's address bar):

www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/topics/E_F-Series_Measuring_Session_Form.html.

The event will be separated into a morning and an afternoon session. The agenda (subject to change) is:

Morning Session

• 8:00 a.m.–9:15 a.m.: Classroom-style introduction and discussion with question-and-answer session 
• 9:15 a.m.–9:30 a.m.: Break (beverages served) 
• 9:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.: Measuring Session in the garage area

• 1:00 p.m.–2:15 p.m.: Classroom-style introduction and discussion with question-and-answer session
• 2:15 p.m.–2:30 p.m.:Break (beverages served)
• 2:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m.: Measuring Session in the garage area

The worst-kept secret this side of the Nissan GT-R, the new Camaro is spotted once again by Brenda Priddy and Co. photographers, this time winter-testing in Europe. Priddy didn't offer any info on this particular mule, but then again, what's to offer? It's black. It's buff. It's bitchin'. GM, bring it.

A version of SEMA-model legislation to create a state motor-vehicle definition for replica vehicles, and allow these vehicles to meet only the equipment and emissions standards in effect for the model year and vehicle being replicated, was approved by the Idaho House of Representatives.

The bill next moves to the Senate Transportation committee for consideration. The bill defines a replica vehicle as a “vehicle made to replicate any passenger car or truck previously manufactured, using metal, fiberglass or other materials. Replica vehicles must look like the original vehicle being replicated, but may use a more modern drive train.”

For more information, click here. For details, contact Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org.

SEMA-model legislation that would create a vehicle registration classification for street rods and custom vehicles and provide for special license plates for these vehicles was approved by the Michigan House of Representatives by an overwhelming 107–1 bipartisan vote. The bill must now be considered by the Michigan Senate Transportation Committee.

H.B. 5467 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. The bill allows kit cars and replica vehicles to be assigned a certificate of title bearing the same model-year designation that the body of the vehicle most closely resembles.

For more information, click here. For details, contact Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org.

The Tennessee State Senate has approved a version of SEMA-model legislation to create a vehicle registration and titling classification for custom vehicles. The House version of the bill is still currently pending in the House Transportation Committee and needs to be considered quickly in order to move for final approval.

Both bills define a custom-built car as a vehicle built for private use and is not constructed by a licensed manufacturer or remanufacturer. 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 it most closely resembles.

For more information, click here. For details, contact Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org.

Twelve years ago, American open-wheel racing splintered into two camps: the existing Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series, founded on road course racing, and the upstart, oval-focused Indy Racing League (IRL). Drivers and teams chose one or the other, and with NASCAR’s by-then dominance of American motorsports, fewer and fewer fans found it hard to care about open-wheel racing.

Three investors later bought the bankrupt CART, renaming it Champ Car, and both series enjoyed some bright moments. IRL enjoyed a national surge thanks to Danica Patrick’s charisma, and Champ Car introduced the world to Sebastian Bourdais, a four-time champion now driving in Formula 1. 

But sponsor dollars and TV time were spread thin, the fan base was scattered and dwindling, and both sides began whispering about reconciliation in 2006. Now that it’s happened, we asked some SEMA members for their reaction.

“Overall, Bridgestone Firestone Motorsports is quite pleased for the sport,” said Al Speyer, Executive Director Bridgestone Firestone Motorsports. BFM has provided spec tires for both series since 2000. “We are looking for a unified American open-wheel racing series to maximize fan interest, as well as bring in additional teams, drivers and sponsors, all of which will contribute to the health and growth of that series. We are eager to work with everyone involved in the transition and look forward to an even more promising future.”

K&N supplied air filters to every car in the 2007 Indy 500 and looks forward to supporting an expanded competitor field. “We think it’s great, great for open-wheel racing,” said K&N VP of Communications Tim Martin. “This makes it very clear what the premier open wheel racing series is, and we’ve got a great group of teams with great history in the largest sporting event in the world.”

Comp Performance Group Director of R&D Paul “Scooter” Brothers has followed the history of the rift. “There was a big ego battle a number of years ago on the Indy 500 [about whether] the Indy 500 makes drivers or the drivers make the Indy 500. And the Indy 500 won out.”

“It was unfortunate that it split up, but I think they both learned how to get a little stronger,” Brothers continues. “I think they’re gonna be stronger as a result and the larger races, the Long Beach Grand Prix, the Indy 500, are just gonna be knock-down events.

Whether the reunification will have much impact on specialty-equipment businesses remains to be seen. Brothers thinks any impact will be more residual than direct.

“If you unify the spectators, the fans, and get any more interest in the fan base, that's a positive for everybody. If you get 100 more people that watch a race on TV, then you got a chance of hooking somebody to go buy something for their own car.”

CANCELLED: Few were surprised when the Grand Prix of Houston, scheduled April 25–27 was officially canceled. The event was on the Champ Car World Series schedule but was not picked up when Champ Car was dissolved into the Indy Racing League. Promoters of the street race around Reliant Park hope the event will return in 2009 with an IRL sanction. The cancellation also leaves the American Le Mans Series with one less race this season.

RETIRING: Jim Aust, president and CEO of Toyota Racing Development USA, will retire at the end of June. During more than 10 years at his post, Aust has led Toyota’s transition first into U.S. open-wheel racing and then into NASCAR.

HIRED: Max Papis has signed to drive the Rubicon Race Team entry in the 92nd Indianapolis 500. The team is owned by Jim Freudenberg and Jason Priestley, and the cars will be prepared by Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

REPLACED: Former open-wheel racer A.J. Allmendinger has been replaced in the No. 84 Team Red Bull Toyota by Mike Skinner for this weekend’s Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Allmendinger qualified for only 17 of 36 races last season and has missed all three events this year. Allmendinger could return to the seat later this season.

BACK ON TRACK: The legendary Terre Haute (Indianapolis) Action Track has gotten new life thanks to rookie promoters Brian Dorsett, Davey Hamilton and Mike King, who will offer an abbreviated six-event schedule at the Western Indiana half-mile oval this year.

ON HER OWN: Indy car racer Sarah Fisher has formed her own Indy Racing League team and will race a limited schedule, including the Indianapolis 500 this season.

POWER RANKINGS: With his second-consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory Carl Edwards jumped to the top of the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings, which 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.