Joel Ayres has a reputation. A shrewd businessman and salesman, he has had a successful aftermarket career for more than 40 years. But his reputation is not hard-as-nails or barbarous. Joel Ayres is known for being one of the nicest guys in the industry.

You may not know very much about inductee Gary Ronald Hooker, which is a bit remarkable, given that Hooker Headers is one of the aftermarket industry’s most iconic names.

Hooker’s story began in Sioux City, Iowa, but the family moved to Pomona, California, when he was about five years old. His father was a lay minister, so Hooker grew up in a very religious household. Because the family was poor, he didn’t have much to play with, but a neighbor usually had a copy of Hot Rod or Popular Mechanics on hand, so he was very interested in cars from the earliest age.

Chip Foose isn’t writing his autobiography (yet), but if he were, the first line might read, “My career is an extension of my father’s.” That’s because the earliest memories this well-regarded designer and acclaimed builder of custom vehicles has are, of course, car-related.

Douglas Sam Foose was born in Santa Barbara, California, and had “huge cheeks.” That made his mom instantly begin calling him Chipper or Chip, like a chipmunk; it wasn’t until day four that “Douglas” appeared on his birth certificate.

Passion: If a person can be described in a single word, it would be hard to find one more apt for Barry Meguiar, president and third-generation leader of the car care products company that bears his family name.

Of all the members of the automotive specialty-equipment industry who have influenced the growth of SEMA since the turn of the millennium, few have left a greater impression, and done so with more dedication, than outgoing SEMA Board Chairman Doug Evans. From his work on behalf of the SEMA Action Network to the SEMA Businesswomen’s Network and the SEMA Launch Pad, to name only a few, there’s scarcely been an initiative within SEMA during the past two decades that Evans hasn’t worked to promote.

“I was only doing my job.” That’s how 2017 Hall of Fame inductee GiGi Carleton described her 50-plus years of working for Petersen Publishing Company and, more recently, the Margie and Robert E. Petersen Foundation.

Dedicated Mentor and Association Ambassador

A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Chris Thomson’s first introduction to racing was at age nine, when he began to hang around a speed shop owned by a schoolmate’s parents, Everett and Thelma Goosic. From his home, Thomson could hear when they’d fire up a car. He’d jump on his bike and pedal over as fast as he could to watch the tuning. The first time he was invited to join the Goosics at a race, he was hooked, and the same family gave Thomson his first job as a teenager, working in their warehouse at Arizona Performance Equipment.

Establishing Race-Winning Standards

By Tony Thacker, Courtesy of American Hot Rod Foundation

There is a good reason Ed Pink is known as The Old Master: The man’s command over automotive engineering is legendary and in a league of its own. Engines and high performance have been in his blood right from the start. He didn’t have his first car 24 hours before he had the engine out and apart.

Tenacious Leader and Enthusiastic Advocate

Donnie Eatherly’s career path hasn’t always taken him in a straight line, but each experience shaped the second-generation co-owner and president of P&E Distributors in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. His father, J.D. Eatherly, founded the company in the mid 1950s, first as a retail operation and then later expanding into distribution. Today, it’s one of the longest-running speed and truck-accessory shops in the region.

A passionate enthusiast who grew up helping her dad rebuild cars, Moore is among the industry’s most active volunteers and leaders. She has chaired countless SEMA councils and committees and spearheaded numerous special projects that have helped to advance the industry. In 2012, Moore was instrumental in guiding an all-female Mustang build that received national coverage on the CBS Evening News, as well as local news coverage, a feature in Times Square, and an award for Best PR on a Shoestring Budget from PR Daily.