NASCAR Angels Back On Track for Third Season, Adds Hallmark Channel to Broadcast Schedule
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), Magic Dust Entertainment and Litton Entertainment, have announced that “NASCAR Angels,” the reality program that fixes the cars and trucks of deserving individuals across the country, has secured a third season of production. New for Season Three, “NASCAR Angels” will be broadcast on Hallmark Channel, in addition to the program’s nationwide lineup of 200 locally syndicated television stations. Goodyear Gemini, the show’s presenting sponsor for the past two seasons, has renewed its commitment to the program providing the help of its automotive technicians and products to perform amazing repairs on vehicles for the deserving families chosen to be highlighted on the show.
Tales from the Track: Dave Caracci Takes Us Behind the Scenes at Sebring
Dave Caracci, retired VP from Robert Bosch, has returned to his first love – racing. In this multi-part series, Caracci takes us behind the scenes on the road with Prime Time Racing, where he serves as Logistics Engineer. Stay tuned for more notes from Caracci’s race team travel journal.
Cummins Sales and Earnings Surge on Strong Global Demand Across All Business Segments
Cummins Inc. has reported significantly higher revenues, net income and Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) for the first quarter of 2008. All four business segments reported double-digit percentage sales increases during the quarter, with earnings growing at an even faster pace than sales. Sales of $3.47 billion were 23 percent higher than $2.82 billion in the first quarter 2007, due to a 25 percent increase in both the company’s engine and components segments, a 44 percent increase in the distribution business and a 17 percent rise in power generation sales.
Auto Pride Speaker: Language is the Culprit in Lost Sales Opportunities
Mac McGovern believes the key for suppliers to sell more parts to repair shops comes down to language. It’s both about how countermen refer to technicians and how repair shops approach their business. “The parts industry’s responsibility is to teach the repair shops how to approach the customers,” said McGovern, who owned his own repair shop for 30 years. He’s now director of training for KYB America. He spoke during Saturday morning’s keynote address, titled “Parts people are from Venus, Installers are from Mars,” at Auto Pride’s annual meeting at the JW Marriott resort in Orlando, Fla.
The Top Ten News Stories of 2007
For the fourth year in a row, the editorial staffs of aftermarketNews and Counterman magazine have selected what they determined to be the most significant events to impact the automotive aftermarket in the past year. News stories are presented in chronological order.
Northwood University to Honor Seven Aftermarket Professionals
Northwood University will honor seven automotive aftermarket leaders with its annual Automotive Aftermarket Education Award on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. The awards will be presented during a luncheon at the annual Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo Show (AAPEX). Northwood’s Automotive Aftermarket Education Award recognizes leaders for their contributions to the educational process in the automotive aftermarket field. The award was created to insure that these individuals receive national recognition for their efforts to improve education inside and outside the industry.
R. L. Polk & Co’s Ask the Industry Takes a Sneak Peek at the
For the first time ever, this year’s AAPEX show will feature a new "Green Zone," which will showcase environmentally friendly automotive products. The automotive aftermarket and truck fleet markets are fully embracing the reality that they must become more environmentally conscious and have recently begun promoting a wide variety of innovative ‘green’ initiatives — from eco-friendly bedliners to complete corporate environmental initiatives. In honor of the new “Green Zone” at AAPEX, we asked a few aftermarket companies to tell us what new products, technology, or maintenance procedures their companies launched this year to help motorists be more environmentally conscious.
GAAS 2007 Kicks Off in Chicago, Keynoter William Strauss Talks about U.S. Economic Outlook
The 12th annual Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS) kicked off today in Chicago. Framed around the theme of “Survival in a Changing Aftermarket,” a new technology was introduced this year at the day-and-a-half event. New to the symposium program this year is an interactive voting tool that allowed the more than 400 attendees an opportunity to chime in on industry issues throughout the program. GAAS keynote speaker William Strauss, senior economist and economic advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, gave GAAS attendees his outlook on the U.S. economy.
R. L. Polk & Co.’s Ask the Industry Looks at the Environmental Benefits of Remanufacturing
Last month in our bi-weekly Ask the Industry column we looked at the various ways automotive companies work to reduce their overall impact on the environment. With Earth Day just around the corner, we focus on one segment of the industry that has become known as the ‘ultimate form of recycling’ – remanufacturing.
OBITUARY: Robert Petersen, Founder of Hot Rod, Motor Trend Magazines and Benefactor of the Petersen Automotive Museum Passes On at 80
Robert Petersen, an entrepreneur who single-handedly created the largest special-interest publishing company in America, was instrumental in the evolution of the hot-rodding culture, and who, with his wife Margie, realized his dream of establishing an educational museum to pay tribute to the automobile, died on Friday, March 23, at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, CA, after a short but valiant battle with neuroendocrine cancer. He was 80.