It was an unforgettable evening for the aftermarket industry’s top vendors this past weekend in Miami, Florida. Dressed in their finest black-tie attire, vendors from across the country gathered in Miami, Florida, on Friday, Jan. 27 for National Performance Warehouse’s (NPW) 10th annual Million Dollar Vendor Award Reception and Dinner. NPW is a member of both the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance, as well as AAM Group.
On Friday afternoon, prior to the evening’s festivities, guests were invited to visit and tour the all-new 200,000-square-foot NPW Miami headquarters facility, which includes a state-of-the-art conveyor system and automated sorting system.
On Friday evening, NPW hosted its annual event on the 40th floor of the EAST Miami Hotel in Brickell, Miami. While there, guests listened to a live pianist and had a beautiful view of the Miami skyline and Biscayne Bay as they were treated to cocktails and hors d’oeuvres before a filet and lobster tail dinner, followed up with bananas foster for dessert and the evening’s award presentations.
It was an unforgettable evening for the aftermarket industry’s top vendors this past weekend in Miami, Florida. Dressed in their finest black-tie attire, vendors from across the country gathered in Miami, Florida, on Friday, Jan. 27 for National Performance Warehouse’s (NPW) 10th annual Million Dollar Vendor Award Reception and Dinner. NPW is a member of both the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance, as well as AAM Group.
On Friday afternoon, prior to the evening’s festivities, guests were invited to visit and tour the all-new 200,000-square-foot NPW Miami headquarters facility, which includes a state-of-the-art conveyor system and automated sorting system.
On Friday evening, NPW hosted its annual event on the 40th floor of the EAST Miami Hotel in Brickell, Miami. While there, guests listened to a live pianist and had a beautiful view of the Miami skyline and Biscayne Bay as they were treated to cocktails and hors d’oeuvres before a filet and lobster tail dinner, followed up with bananas foster for dessert and the evening’s award presentations.
Founder Larry Pacey and his son, newly named CEO of NPW, Chris Pacey, kicked off the night’s presentations with a history of NPW’s growth over the years. The two noted that the company started off with just nine Million Dollar vendors in 2012.
“We went from nine to the group we have now. As NPW continues to grow, we keep bringing more and more members to the group and we look forward to growing this number for years to come,” said Chris.
The two also noted how they were among the first members to join the Alliance heavy-duty program. “We’re very happy with the Alliance and their HD program,” said Larry. “We are strong supporters of our buying groups. We would not be the company we are today at NPW without the support of the Alliance, of the AAM group, and the support you guys have given those groups,” Chris added.
This year’s keynote speaker was Jim Goulet from investment banking company Raymond James, who gave an informative speech on where he sees the automotive aftermarket heading in 2023. Notably during his presentation, Goulet mentions how the automotive aftermarket is a resilient industry.
“The automotive aftermarket is very defensive in nature. If you need a part, you’re going to pay for it, it doesn’t matter the cost,” said Goulet. “If less people are buying cars today, they’re driving their cars longer, those parts are now important to them.”
“When you look at the innovation of different cars that we see, the average life expectancy or average car on the road today is 12.2 years old, that’s a great thing for your market. It’s grown every year since 2017,” Goulet added.
Following the keynote speaker’s presentation, the award presentations began. As each name was announced, the cheers grew louder from the guests throughout the evening.
NPW recognized individual vendors at the $5 million and $15 million levels, in addition to the $1 million club.
This year, there were 35 million-dollar vendors awarded for their business with NPW.
Standard Motor Products, Gates, Melling and Edelbrock Corporation were among the $5 million group.
“On behalf of all of our employees at Gates, thanks to the NPW team, we’ve been partners for seven years. $5 million Club the last few years, [and] the partnership just keeps getting better and better,” said Colby Florea, senior director of sales of Gates.
New to the $15 million vendors club this year was Dorman Products. “On behalf of the entire Dorman family, we want to thank the NPW family. It’s a pleasure to have such a relationship with you guys,” said Kevin Olsen, CEO of Dorman.
The No. 1 vendor of the evening, surpassing well over $15 million, was DRiV. “Something I’d like to say to everyone in the room, congratulations, as you heard from Raymond James tonight, we’re in the greatest industry in the world and it’s very resilient. We got good places to go together,” said Jeff Koviak, said Jeff Koviak, vice president of sales, North America aftermarket, DRiV.
To close out the evening, Larry Sills, chairman of Standard Motor Products, sang New York, New York by Frank Sinatra to the guests and the guests began to cheer and sing along with him.
The complete list of 2022 Million-Dollar Vendors:
(bold indicates a vendor’s inaugural year)
- APW
- ATP/PIONEER
- BBB/Remy
- Bosch
- Cardone
- Cific Heads
- Cloyes Gear
- Deka
- Dorman Products ($15 million club)
- DRiV(Over $15 million club)
- Dura-Go
- Edelbrock Group ($5 million club)
- Edelmann
- Energy Suspension
- EPG Products
- First Brands
- Gates ($5 million club)
- Hastings Piston Rings
- Highline Warren
- MAHLE
- Melling ($5 million club)
- Motive Gear
- NGK
- Redhorse
- SBI
- Standard Motor Products ($5 million club)
- Topline Products
- Trakmotive
- Truck Hero
- TYC
- UEM Pistons
- US Motorworks
- Valvoline
- WAI
- WIX
The celebrations did not conclude after Friday’s dinner, as events continued Saturday evening with the FAST Expo Customer Awards. Doc Love, TV personality from Street Outlaws, attended the evening’s events and said a few words to the guests.
“If it gets a kid’s head out of a PlayStation, out of trying to be a professional gamer for life, and gets him interested in a car, with four wheels, three wheels, two wheels, it doesn’t matter, if it gets him out there doing something with his hands, spending money in this industry, keeping this industry going, it’s a win-win for everybody,” said Love.
Following Love’s speech, Chris and Larry Pacey presented FAST Expo Customer Awards for traditional and performance segments in platinum, gold, silver, and bronze levels.
Complete list of Customer Award winners:
| Name | Level | Segment |
| National Sunshine Auto Parts | Platinum | Traditional |
| Race Fitting Solution | Platinum | Performance |
| Kam Auto Parts | Gold | Traditional |
| Cloud Auto Parts | Gold | Traditional |
| Speed & Truck World | Gold | Performance |
| Powersource Motorsports | Gold | Performance |
| Westside Auto Parts | Silver | Traditional |
| New Jersey Auto Parts | Silver | Traditional |
| Bullfrog Performance | Silver | Performance |
| Speed Fanatix | Silver | Performance |
| Cabrera Auto Parts | Bronze | Traditional |
| Marlin Auto Parts | Bronze | Traditional |
| United Speed World | Bronze | Performance |
| American Motorsports | Bronze | Performance |
| CANADA | ||
| Wizzo Performance | Gold | Performance |
| Para Performance | Silver | Performance |
| Misener Motorsports | Bronze | Performance |
| ERI Group | Partner Award |
The exciting weekend of events continued through Sunday, when an estimated 2,500 people attended the NPW FAST Expo trade show. The trade show featured more than 150 exhibitors, several giveaways and a car show. Giveaways included TVs, door prizes and a grand-prize Royal Caribbean cruise.
Click here to view a photo gallery from the weekend events.
