Donna Imrie Foulger began working at SEMA as a young college student. With a very small staff, she and then CEO Eric Grant, spent countless hours creating a solidly recognized organization. He through marketing efforts; she through endeavors as membership liaison. SEMA went through its initial growing pains with a small staff wearing many hats. Soon, however, the association began unprecedented growth in prestige within the industry, as evidenced by growth of the SEMA Show, membership rolls, and legislative successes.

Leo served many companies in the specialty aftermarket—Hurst, Amco and others—but it was his dedicated service to SEMA and the industry that will be remembered. It was Leo who, as president of SEMA, spearheaded the unprecedented growth of the annual SEMA Show, including pushing to have it moved from Anaheim, California, to Las Vegas. Leo held a seat on the SEMA Board of Directors, and proposed the creation of the SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund. He was named SEMA Person of the Year in 1994.

Best known as the founder of the So-Cal Speed Shop in Los Angeles—one of the first of its kind—Alex was also instrumental in the beginning of the SEMA Show; as an editor and publisher of Hot Rod Industry News, he helped organize the High Performance & Custom Equipment Trade Show, held at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in January 1967. Over time, SEMA became increasingly involved with the management of the show and eventually took it over. Alex was also the editor of Car Craft magazine.

John Bartlett founded the Grant Piston Ring Company and pioneered the development of rings built to the highest standards for applications in auto racing. The Grant emblem is synonymous with major racing, a frequent image at the annual Indy 500 race. Grant was a founding member of SEMA, and John, an attorney, drafted the bylaws for the Association to represent performance parts for the automotive aftermarket—and "SEMA was born.”

Sandy became famous for his line of performance exhaust systems that included dual kits for both flatheads and OHV engines of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His love of racing inspired him to build and maintain a drag strip, Carlsbad Raceway, in Carlsbad, California. But Sandy began racing much sooner—in 1938, he hit the dry lakes; his roadster was one of the first 100 cars to nail a land speed of more than 100 mph. He was also a founding board member of the Western Timing Association.

Harvey was an accomplished engineer when he embarked on the design and development of improved camshafts for performance engines. Crane Cams, which he launched in 1953, became identified with on-track victories, although most of the company’s performance cams were sold for street use. Harvey and Crane were also behind the first roller-tip, needle-bearing fulcrum gold anodized rocker arms for stud-mounted cylinder heads, and the super port-flow cylinder heads are the first fully ported, ready-to-install racing cylinder heads available.

Jack operated a successful warehouse for many years, making performance parts and accessories readily available for aficionados on the East Coast. He avidly supported SEMA and other trade groups, such as PWA. In fact, he was part of the initial group that met in a hotel room to discuss the concept of organizing warehouse distributors, or what later became PWA, for which he served as its first president. And in winning the 2008 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series March Meet, Jack set a new ET record with 5.56.

Cloyce always maintained a low profile, but anyone who ever raced at the popular Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, California, knew “Pappy” Hart as the track manager. He’d remained active in drag racing for many years after retiring from Lions, serving as one of the team members on the NHRA Safety Safari—a tribute to his spirited stamina. You could say he invented drag racing as it is today. He organized the first commercial drag race on June 19, 1950, on a runway at the Orange County Airport in California.

Robert “Rob” Petersen started Hot Rod magazine in 1948 with $400.  The Petersen empire grew to become the largest and most successful publishing enterprise in the west.  Hot Rod, Motor Trend and dozens of other Petersen titles packed the racks of newsstands throughout the U.S.  At their peak, Petersen magazines reached nearly 80 million readers a month.

In the 1950s, new cars were sold with automatic transmissions. But the “slush shift” “trannies” had to be modified. Bob designed transmission kits so automatics could handle the hopped-up engines in hot rods and street-driven modified cars. The company he founded, B&M, flourishes today as a supplier of street rod gear, superchargers and shifters. Throughout the 1960s, B&M earned a reputation as the premier racing automatic transmission company. In 1961, the Hydro Stick became the only patented four-speed automatic racing transmission in history.