GRAND-AM Road Racing, American Le Mans Series Announce Historic Merger
Plans for a landmark merger of GRAND-AM Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) were unveiled Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway. Under terms of the merger, the following entities will combine with GRAND-AM: the American Le Mans Series; the International Motor Sports Association, which sanctions ALMS events; the Road Atlanta race track
Marketing During Tough Economic Times
These are any campaigns where you reach potential customers while they are outside of their homes and workplaces. Little league games, charity drives, local fairs, etc., are all good examples. So do this … Each Monday put 10 business cards in your pocket, and make sure you pass them all out, off premise, by the
CV Products Hires Industry Veteran Scott Highland
Over the past 20-plus years, Highland has held positions with JE Pistons, Xceldyne Technologies and CV Products. He was most recently the director of off-Road and sportbike markets for the Motorsport Aftermarket Group (MAG), concurrently serving as the general manager of UTV aftermarket supplier DragonFire. “Scott’s experience in marketing and most recent role in developing
Protecting Your Shop’s Reputation: Be Wary Of Threats To Your Brand Name
Unfortunately, protecting your brand has become more of a challenge in the Internet age. Complaints that were once handled in person and in private are often shared online, potentially alienating new customers and making it difficult for shop owners to resolve issues. Even worse, because of the anonymous nature of the Internet, some shop owners
To Succeed in Business Reality, You
How are your business dreams looking today? I’m not hearing about many dreams. Maybe some nightmares, but few dreams. To be truthful, we need to look at the good signs. For one, business is picking up. There seems to be a positive attitude in many places. But how many more years like 2011 can you
Differentiate Your Business From Your Competition and You Can Dominate Your Market
For the rest of us, competition from businesses that supply similar products and services is part of our daily business lives. The more popular the product or service, the more competition there is. Sometimes this is geographically dictated; where I live in the desert southwest, there are literally hundreds of swimming pool builders and air
Handling Angry Customers
That’s also when, just like you and I, they’ll begin to feel either stupid or foolish, and their emotions of fear and anger will begin to take over. These emotions, designed to protect us, are so powerful that they have the ability to override our logic as well as our better judgment. Simply put, emotions
AAEQ Manufacturers and Recyclers Changes Name to A&A Midwest
The company’s cores, recycling and auto wrecking divisions will utilize the new corporate name and be respectively known as A&A Midwest Cores, A&A Midwest Recycling and A&A Midwest Auto Wrecking. The company’s two divisions for engine parts and transmission parts will continue as EngineQuest (EQ) and TransmissionQuest (TQ). "My father and uncle started the
2011 IMIS To Include Exhibitor-Hosted Tech and Business Seminars
The International Motorsports Industry Show (IMIS) Industry Seminar Series is designed with the attendee in mind to give concise but concentrated information each day. Show?attendees are encouraged to build a schedule that is designed around their needs and interests. IMIS Industry Seminars are hosted by show exhibitors and divided into categories that easily allow attendees
Balancing And The Bottom Line
Balancing, once considered to be important in this industry only to performance engine builders, has lately become a sought-after service in some segments you may never have considered. Yet good-old-fashioned engine balancing remains an important profit center in many machine shop operations. If the engine components (pistons, rods and crankshaft) aren’t in balance you’ll experience
HutchBSR Racing Parts and Equipment Assets To Be Sold at Auction
HutchBSR was a major purveyor of automobile and truck racing parts and accessories in the United States. The ownership recently decided to devote their time to other interests and have contracted with Iron Horse Auction Company, Inc. to conduct the auction. The assets included in the auction are $2.5 million dollars plus in new racing
Dynos and Test Stands: Profit Center or Business Black Hole?
Dynamometers allow an engine builder to test, tune and tweak his engines before giving customers the opportunity to do something foolish with them. In a recent poll on Engine Builder’s website, we asked our readers how important a dyno is to their business. According to our (admittedly unscientific) results, 44 percent of Engine Builder readers
Respect Between Shops and Stores Strengthens Both
I have been lucky enough to make sales calls on hundreds of machine shops over the past 30-plus years. Some are still here today and sadly, some are not. In that time I have met a few machine shop owners who were hard working and quite successful. They put in their years, formed an exit
Quality Power Products Names National Sales and Marketing Manager
TroyVelder has joined Quality Power Products as national sales andmarketing manager for its Q-Power belt product group. Quality PowerProducts is a wholesale distributor supplying Q-Power belts and heavyduty diesel crankshafts to the aftermarket. In this new role, Velder will be responsible for the company’sdistributor network strategy, which includes current and new,additional markets and all aspects
Randy Bernard Named CEO of Indy Racing League
Bernard’s hiring was announced recently by Jeffrey Belskus, president and CEO ofthe Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corp., the home of the Indianapolis 500Mile Race and owner of the Indy Racing League. Bernard will begin March1. “Randy is the right person at the right time to head the Indy RacingLeague,” Belskus said. “He brings a superb sports
Selling Vintage Speed Can Help Business Until Business Gets Better
Due to these hard times, fewer customers are looking for your services, and they’re looking to spend as little money as possible. A small shop can survive on low-margin jobs for only so long before the overhead simply eats you alive. One alternative plan is to add a line of vintage performance engines that command
Design Engineering, Inc Appoints ProRep Marketing for Representation in New England
ProRep Marketing, established in 1975 and headquarted in Enfield, CT, is a full service sales agency specializing in the high performance automotive market. Tom Miller, Design Engineering VP of Sales & Marketing commented, “ProRep Marketing has represented our company in eastern Canada and upstate New York for a number of years with proven professionalism, dedication
Performance Warehouse Association Expands 2010 Annual Conference
Due to economic, legislative and technology issues, the globalautomotive aftermarket will experience more change in the next 10 yearsthan it has in the past 50. Already, the landscape of the distributionchannel has shifted dramatically. In an effort to fulfill its missionstatement, and to be inclusive of all companies in the business ofwholesale distribution of performance,
SEMA, Ohio Businesses Meet for Education, Networking, Drag Racing
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) continues its important strategic direction to increase its outreach to members. In the past few years, the association has placed itself where SEMA members gather to hear what they have to say about their businesses and to learn how the association can make a difference, especially now, during a
Virtual Aftermarket eForum to Highlight Social Media, Product Data Management, eCommerce and Supply Collaboration
Jay Yanko, director, global data synchronization, Edgenet, will kick off the presentations at 10 a.m. with Multi-Enterprise Data Management in the Auto Aftermarket. He will illustrate that in today’s economy, businesses cannot afford to miss opportunities to use product information to drive down costs, strengthen customer relations and sell more. Yanko’s presentation will be followed