SAN ANTONIO, Texas — During its annual winter meeting held Dec. 8 in Boca Raton, Fla., the shareholders of Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance Inc. (Alliance), marketing under the names Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper, presented their annual vendor award for Outstanding Promotion.

The 2009 award recognizes a group effort by six vendors that joined forces to create a Team Texas sweepstakes event. Recipients that were recognized were East Penn Mfg., Exide Technologies, Gates Rubber, Monroe, Standard Motor Products and Valvoline.

“It’s nice to know that these vendors were able to come together for the good of our members and customers and create such an exciting promotion. I don’t ever recall such an undertaking before and it makes me proud to have these vendors as part of our team,” said Steve Marks, senior vice president marketing and advertising for Auto Value/ Bumper to Bumper.

Each vendor created their own spin on the sweepstakes either promoting education on their products to parts store employees or offering purchase promotions for customers. Twenty-three expense paid trips to a Team Texas Driving Experience were awarded to eligible participants. The trip consisted of 30 laps around the Texas Motor Speedway in a 650 horsepower NASCAR race car, Sept. 14-15.

“This was a win-win for everyone,” said Garey Lange, director, Program Distribution for Standard Motor Products. “When this idea started we wanted to bring Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper a good program to offer their employees and customers. It kept building until we had more and more vendors involved and a larger sweepstakes with more prizes. We were all very happy to be a part of this event and are grateful for the acknowledgement that the Alliance group gave with the Outstanding Promotion award.”