Amsoil has announced its partnership with Popular Hot Rodding Magazine for the 2010 Engine Masters Challenge. The engine building competition selects the most prestigious engine builders from around the globe to participate in building the most powerful engine. Contingency payouts will be awarded to 1st-6th place finishers, and the grand champion will receive $5,000 in cash and Amsoil products. Slated for October 4-8 at the University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima, entries are being accepted at Popular Hot Rodding Magazine until February 15.
Matrix System Automotive Finishes has been selected by Discovery Channel’s “Motor City Motors” as one of the suppliers for the show’s season debut. The first episode aired December 28. “Motor City Motors” features brothers and founders of Detroit Brothers Custom Cycles, Jamie and Dave Kaye. Together they are on a mission to turn average vehicles into outrageous, never-before-seen contraptions, which include “The Gasser,” “The Asphalter” and “The Cornstalker,” to name a few. Each week the show gives the guys five days to work their magic and produce a masterpiece while under fierce time constraints. In the end, each local builder receives $5,000 worth of tools to take home for completing the project.
Ohio Technical College (OTC), Cleveland has donated $125,000 in scholarships to high school students who participated in the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge National Championship during the 2009 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. “OTC is thrilled to have an opportunity to be a part of this event and we congratulate all four teams for reaching the finals,” Tom King, OTC director of enrollment management, said. The student mechanics were permitted to use only hand tools during the timed competition. Team Fel-Pro from Joliet Central High School (Joliet, Ill.) took First place in “The Showdown at SEMA” championship, taking only 44:22 to disassemble and reassemble a Chevy 350 engine; Second place was Team MSD from Elkhart Area Career Center (Elkhart, Ind.); Team Hedman Hedders, from Loara High School (Anaheim, Calif.) won third place; and Team Edelbrock from Van Buren Tech Center (Lauren, Mich.), was Fourth.
The Power Tool Institute (PTI) now offers downloadable PDFs of its major publications on its revised Web site at www.powertoolinstitute.com. Safety is Specific, available in both English and Spanish, is PTI’s compilation of rules and safe practices for power tools. A Teacher’s Reference Guide to Power Tool Safety is PTI’s 24-page brochure featuring lesson plans, student activities, quizzes, support materials, and references to additional information on each power tool category in Safety is Specific. All publications are available in hard copy and may be ordered at no charge on the PTI site.
Purolator Filters NA LLC has received the Gold Quality Award at the Toyota Parts & Accessories Supplier Conference held recently in Torrance, Calif. Given by the Toyota Supplier Committee, the award recognizes outstanding performance by a supplier in the areas of product quality, operational quality, and product support. The award was received by Hanno Hoehn, vice president, Filtration, for Mann+Hummel, USA Inc. Presenting the award were Jane Beseda, group vice president and general manager of Toyota Motor Customer Services Division and Dave Camden, vice president of Dealer Operations for Toyota.
Northwood University recognized William “Bill” Grote III, chairman and CEO of Grote Industries, as one of six nationally known business men and women at its 30th Annual Outstanding Business Leader (OBL) Awards Ceremony. The event was held Jan. 23 at The Breakers, Palm Beach, Fla.
Delmar, part of Cengage Learning and a provider of learning solutions for ongoing career development and education, and the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) has announced that Harlan Wawrzyniak has been named the Cengage Learning/ASE Master Automobile Technician of the Year. Delmar sponsors the national award which recognizes the automotive technician who earns the highest composite score on the ASE certification exams. Delmar awarded Wawrzyniak a cash prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to the ASE’s annual Board of Directors’ Industry Awards Dinner for achieving such notable scores on his ASE exams. Wawrzyniak has been an automotive technician for 40 years and is the owner of Harlan’s Auto Repair in Silver Lake, Minn.
James Erdahl has received the PPG/ASE Master Refinish Technician of the Year Award at ASE’s annual Board of Directors Industry Awards Dinner held in New Orleans, La. The presentation to Erdahl was made by Bill Troyer, PPG Automotive Refinish, manager of training. The award is an annual tribute to the PPG collision center technician receiving the highest score on the ASE Painting and Refinish test. Erdahl has been a refinish technician for 27 years and is employed by the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) in Wahpeton, N.D., where he has been an associate professor for 12 years and is currently the chairman of the Auto Body Department.
Audatex, a Solera Co., has contributed $10,000 to the I-CAR Education Foundation. The contribution will go toward the I-CAR Education Foundation’s Collision Repair Education Campaign (CREC) fund which allows the Foundation to provide annual grants and scholarships to support schools, instructors, and students in collision education.
The Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR) has announced that William (Bill) Stage has been appointed to the newly created position of director of Marketing & Distribution. Stage will report to John Edelen, president and chief executive officer of I-CAR.
Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC recently named Arnfred Kulenkampff chief financial officer and vice president of Finance and IT. Kulenkampff will have overall strategic and functional leadership responsibility for the IT and finance teams, including financial plans and policies; accounting practices; long-range forecasting; investments and lending relationships; and preparation for financial reports.
Penray has announced that Erica Bryant has been promoted to lead customer service representative. Bryant’s primary responsibilities include handling all orders for the heavy-duty, automotive, coolant inhibitor, and private label divisions. She reports to Chris McKenzie, director of Marketing.
I-CAR, ASE, I-CAR Education Foundation, NATEF, and Celette have announced that Edward Phillips, manager of Desert Rose Collision in Tulsa, Okla., has won an Elektron Multispot MI-100 welder donated by Elektron Inc. at NACE. The drawing was co-sponsored by Celette, I-CAR, ASE, I-CAR Education Foundation, and NATEF. Celette Inc. and Elektron, Inc. are owned and operated by The Equinox Group.
The O'Reilly Auto Parts AutoRama presented by Super Start Batteries will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Feb. 19-21, in Dallas. The milestone auto show will feature a salute to the past five decades, as well as a stellar lineup of custom cars, motorcycles, racecars, tuners, trucks, and family entertainment at Dallas Market Hall. The O'Reilly Auto Parts AutoRama is sanctioned by the International Show Car Association (ISCA) and is part of the Summit Racing Show Car Series. The feature car lineup is highlighted by the Drag City USA exhibit presented by Reed Speed, where some of the most storied dragster's in NHRA history will be on display. Dragsters on display include Connie Kalitta's 1967 "Bounty Hunter," Don Prudhomme's 1970 "Wynn's Winder," and "Swamp Rat III," "Swamp Rat IV" and "Swamp Rat VIII" driven by Don Garlits in the 1960s. One of last year's most popular displays, the Motorama exhibit presented by Ol' Skool Rodz, will be back and will feature even more of the area's best traditional rodz.
Showpower 2010 taking place at the Nashville Convention Center on March 18-20 will include seminars from two nationally known business-management experts who will discuss “must” procedures to help shop operators survive during turbulent times. Terry Greenhut of Service Sales Concepts covers proactive outside selling. Greenhut will explain how shops have to go after wholesale and commercial accounts as if their life depends on it – because it does. He will provide detailed selling techniques that prove how persistence pays off. Tom Langer, president and general manager of The Langer Group Ltd. and TLG Research Inc., delves into the subject of a fair return for the shop owner. In this hands-on course, Langer will show shop operators how to profit from sales specials and how to treat and charge customers fairly – all while putting money in the bank. He will also discuss the advantages of various information and repair software programs.
