Fellow HRIA Members,
The year 2024 is in the rear-view mirror, and those still standing should take a bow! It pays to look back at the year and results of the HRIA plan.
The pillars that HRIA is built on are Community, Education, Communication, and Membership. There were gains in all four areas of our strategic plan in 2024 led by your select committee members. These folks are volunteering their time, expertise, and in many cases money to support our incredible hot rod industry.
If you see Jeff Grantmeyer, Danny Agosta, Mark Bowler, Kevin Oeste, Karl Schulman, Joe Kubiak, Amy Fitzgerald, Shelby Robison, David Page, Lana Chrisman, Don Young, or Chris Holmstrom in your travels this year – thank them for their efforts. We are also not perfect and open to hearing the input/feedback you have to make our value better!
Community:
We held several networking events throughout the year and had well over 1,000 attendees in aggregate. The year started with Back to the 50’s, NSRA Nationals, Triple Crown, and culminated with the standing room only HRIA Reception at SEMA. It was clear for all to see the hot rod industry is alive and thriving. These events allow all of us to connect, enjoy a cold beverage, and talk! We will have a new calendar of events for 2025 so stay tuned. If you couldn’t attend any of these events in 2024, we strongly encourage you to attend at least one in 2025.
Education:
The Education Task Force, led by Karl Schulman, started the year with Fuel for Thought Panel Discussions facilitated by Amy Fitzgerald, and focused on providing small business leaders with key input on securing insurance for their business. We had representatives from Alliance and Trent Campbell share expertise with our membership.
The second Fuel for Thought panel was on financial planning for the small business owner. Experts from 5th Third Bank and One Digital brought their expertise to the community. Both events were very well received and will be available for review by member companies soon on our new YouTube channel.
In 2024, we provided seminars for over 1,100 people. We are looking for companies or shops that wish to put on an education days seminar to reach out to Karl and let him know (karl@garretsrodshop.com).
Communications:
The Communications Task Force led by Kevin Oeste is trying a myriad of channels to reach our current and future membership of HRIA. We don’t want to flood email inboxes, so we are using direct member outreach by having select committee members contact members directly. We are using our social media channels to communicate up and coming events, key member news, and news impacting our industry. We are using SEMA marketing channels to report on our activities.
We launched Hammer Down – the HRIA industry podcast and reached over a thousand listeners to date, with over 57% of those listening to at least 75% of the podcast. None of these methods individually reach 100%; it is our intention that the aggregate approach reaches every one of you. How can we do better? We are open to your input.
2024 SEMA Show Recap:
At the SEMA Show we had over 70 applications for the ten HRIA Feature Vehicle locations. The ten selected received the tremendous attention they deserved with over 16,000 people coming through the HRIA/ARMO feature vehicle booth.
Hot Rod Industry Alliance member builders were well represented in the Battle of the Builders with Noah and Creative Car Studio’s ‘68 Charger taking home the grand prize. For the first time in Battle of the Builder History, one builder/shop had two builds in the final 12 in a single class - Congratulations to member Bobby Schumacher, Vintage Fabrication for the ‘71 Camaro and ‘34 Ford pickup California Kid Express.
Hot Rod Alley traffic was strong all week. The HRIA Builders panel was a packed room listening to the priceless discussion between Chip Foose, Jonathan Goolsby, Jesse Greening, and Dave Kindig, moderated by Rick Love. This is a must attend every year and 2024 was no exception. The room was packed, with standing room only. We had over 450 hot rodders attend the HRIA Reception on Wednesday evening. Thank you all for taking the time to join us for a great evening celebrating our great industry.
John McLeod was enshrined in the HRIA Hall of Fame, Advanced Plating received Manufacturer of the Year, and Bobby Alloway received Person of the Year honors for his efforts bringing Triple Crown of Hot Rodding to life. Tyler Nelson, Revision Rods & Rides received the GoodGuy’s Trendsetter Award, and Pete and Jake’s received the NSRA Street Rodding Industry Appreciation Award. Congratulations to long-time member Steve Cook of Steve Cook Creations for taking home the coveted Slonaker award at the 2024 Grand National Roadster Show.
There were 66 registered builds for the Hot Rod Industry Alliance Design and Engineering and Evolution of Hot Rodding awards for 2024. Each registered build was judged and the Top 15 were selected for the finals. Thank you to Jonathan Goolsby, Bobby Alloway, and Jim and Mike Ring for judging for the awards. Congratulations to Classic Car Studio, winner of the Design and Engineering Award with their ‘68 Dodge Charger, and Dutchboys Hot Rods, winner of the Evolution of Hot Rodding Award with their ‘87 Grand National.
Design & Innovation Award Winner
Evolution of Hot Rodding Award Winner
Future Projects:
The HRIA Select Committee is working on several projects for 2025. We are looking for members to participate in these task forces. Please raise your hand to any select committee member and get involved and help us make a difference – let me highlight a few of the task forces:
1. Education Task Force led by Karl Schulman (karl@garretsrodshop.com)
- Fuel for Thought Discussions
- Education Days – GoodGuys Columbus, Ohio, July 2025.
- Education Days – NSRA Nationals Louisville, Kentucky, August 2025
2. Communications Task Force led by Kevin Oeste (kevin@v8tv.net)
- Hammer Down HRIA Industry Podcast: If you have an important place in hot rod history, we would love to discuss joining one of our podcasts in 2025.
- Social media is a buzz with information – stay connected to all HRIA activities through #SEMAHRIA
3. Membership led by Jeff Grantmeyer (jeff@borgeson.com)
- Membership outreach continued at SEMA as select committee members met with prospective members in Hot Rod Alley. We request all hot rod parts manufacturers, builders, and media companies to join HRIA. It is a small investment. Let Jeff, me, or any select committee member know if you have any questions.
4. SEMA Legislative Updates Impacting Hot Rodders Across America
- Click on SEMA ACTION NETWORK to access. We can’t let our guard down or become complacent just because the National election is over. In fact, we have to be more vigilant at the local and state level. Government overreach is going to continue, and we are prepared to fight the fight. You are our eyes and ears, especially at the local and state levels of government. If you see or hear something – say something!
With best regards,
Tim McCarthy – HRIA Chair, SEMA Treasurer, and Member of the SEMA Board of Directors
Founder/CEO - HushMat & ZyCoat