Evasive Motorsports Builds e-Commerce Through Event Participation

What does it mean to be brick-and-mortar in the modern aftermarket business scene? Does it mean having a shop with a traditional storefront filled with inventory and displays to attract walk-in clients? Or does it mean a building stocked with inventory, with items often previewed or even ordered online, with a simple reception counter for a cadre of customers who come through the door to pick up and install those items? And what about having a full-service shop for building and tuning cars, complete with two-post lifts, fabrication facilities and a dynamometer?

Annual Summit and Gala Mark Association’s 50th Year

As the specialty-equipment industry’s premier trade association, SEMA relies on elected volunteers to serve on its Board of Directors and in positions of council leadership. Representing every segment of the automotive aftermarket, these industry professionals are dedicated to the advancement of marketing, regulatory and business standards and practices that promote industry growth for all. In short, they are on the front lines identifying challenges and opportunities facing the industry and crafting policies and programs to address them. To support and recognize their efforts, SEMA holds a series of intensive Leadership Days events each year, with this year’s gathering held principally at the Sheraton Fairplex Conference Center in Pomona, California, July 24–25.

SEMA was recently honored with the Presidential Export Award —or “E” Award—from U.S. Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank in Washington, D.C. The President’s “E” Award was created by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

“E” Awards were presented to a total of 57 recipients this year. Criteria for the award is based upon four years of successive export growth and case studies that demonstrate valuable support to exporters resulting in increased exports for the member company’s clients.

In the early ’60s, Motor Trend magazine sponsored a 500-mile Stock Car race on the twisting Southern California road course at Riverside, drawing top racing talent from a number of sanctioning bodies, including NASCAR, USAC and the SCCA. That’s why Robert E. Petersen (left), the publishing company’s founder, is handing Dan Gurney a check for winning the second annual MT 500, held in January 1964. The young lady sharing the photo op is 21-year-old TV actress Linda Evans.

Motor Trend’s coverage of the race kicked off by proclaiming, “Stock Car road racing shows every promise of becoming the Number One favorite of American racing fans. Considering the importance of passenger cars in everyday American life, this is the way it should be.” Unlike racing on oval tracks, where “brute horsepower is the deciding factor,” a road course “is much more demanding, because it puts equal emphasis on all the various systems of the automobile. Also, driver skill and nerve are important factors.”

ModBargains.com Delivers Data, Product and More

A generation ago, mail-order entrepreneurs transformed the specialty-equipment industry by leveraging enthusiast print media to inform and market to the masses. Today, a new generation of pioneers is doing it again—this time through the Internet and social media. ModBargains.com is a case in point.

Located in La Habra, California, the company was co-founded in 2004 by CEO Mike Brown, then 19, and President Ron Hay, then 24. Their original business plan called for a sort of online clearinghouse of special automotive parts promotions and deals similar to those offered by tech-industry bargain sites. But the venture quickly morphed into something much bigger—and better.

SEMA has a long history of monitoring federal and state legislative topics that are of interest to the automotive industry as well as the association’s member companies and their customers. One key topic of current concern is the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)—a law that requires annual increases in the amount of ethanol to be added to gasoline. The SEMA Action Network (SAN) recently helped organize antique-car owners and motorcyclists from all over the country to participate in a “Fuel for Thought” rally on Capitol Hill in opposition to the RFS.

This issue is important to automotive enthusiasts because ethanol’s chemical properties pose a risk to older cars and motorcycles. Ethanol absorbs water, which can lead to metal corrosion. It can also dissolve certain rubbers and plastics. Most older vehicles and many motorcycles are not constructed with ethanol-compatible materials.

SEMA members need to know…

The “Affordable Care Act” continues to sow confusion for many SEMA members. To follow is a concise summary of the law’s key provisions and timetables for implementation.