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2021 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee

 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee - Carl Schiefer

Carl Schiefer

Schiefer Media

As the son of the first SEMA Hall of Fame recipient Paul Schiefer, Carl Schiefer built a legacy of his own by founding one of the first marketing agencies dedicated to automotive brands. Schiefer Media was created in 1985 as an enthusiast media agency with an original focus on automotive aftermarket and related enthusiast categories. With an impressive list of clients, including Edelbrock, Mother’s, Bilstein, and Royal Purple, Schiefer Media was instrumental in bringing motorsports brands to the mainstream public. He initiated advertising for automotive brands on television – a practice that may seem standard today, but was unusual at the time and significantly expanded market reach to a nationwide audience. Perhaps what sets Carl apart from other marketers is his passion for the industry; Carl raced Top Gas and Top Fuel dragsters amongst the greats, including Don Garlits, Tommy Ivo, and the Smothers Brothers. Although retired from Schiefer Media, the agency continues to operate as SCS, with Carl’s son James as CEO.

2021 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee

 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee - Bob  Moore

Bob Moore

Bob Moore & Partners

Bob Moore appropriately authored a monthly column in Aftermarket Business magazine entitled “Ahead of the Curve.” As electronic catalogs evolved and the internet began to dominate the way consumers researched and purchased products in the early 2000s, Moore was a pioneer in establishing standards for product data in the automotive aftermarket. As a SEMA Board member and the co-founder and chairman of the SEMA Business Technology Committee (which has evolved to what is now the SEMA Data Co-op), Moore was instrumental in the adoption of standardized data for the specialty-equipment industry. He spent years scrutinizing the industry to determine the important facets of product information that consumers look for in order to help businesses sell more products, resulting in the first industry initiative to standardize and centralize product data into a single-source data pool. Moore was awarded the 2010 SEMA Chairman’s Service Award from then-Chairman of the Board Rick Rollins, who noted, “We are fortunate to have someone with his leadership and determination driving some of our industry’s most critical initiatives.”

2021 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee

 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee - Rick Love

Rick Love

Vintage Air Inc.

While freelancing as a writer/photographer for Rodder’s Digest magazine in 1982, Rick Love created a home workshop and leaned on his electronics degree to do wiring and air conditioning installations for other hot rodders. It was this A/C work that caught the attention of SEMA Hall of Famer and founder of Vintage Air Jack Chisenhall. Chisenhall asked Love to assist the company at rodding events, and continued to promote him over the years to his current position of president, in charge of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the entire company. Despite his busy schedule at Vintage Air, Love never wavers to volunteer his time, expertise, and energy to helping the industry. As a true car guy, he advocates for the industry. Having served multiple terms as chairman of the SEMA Hot Rod Industry Alliance (HRIA), Love is an ambassador for SEMA and constantly recruits and encourages businesses to get involved.

2021 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee

 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee - Jessi Combs

Jessi Combs

Jessi Combs Foundation

Jessi Combs built an accomplished career in the automotive industry as the host of several television programs, founder of a variety of businesses, and an accomplished fabricator and racecar driver. With an infectious passion and youthful enthusiasm for the industry, Combs served as a host for many SEMA events, including the SEMA Installation & Gala and the SEMA Awards Banquet at the SEMA Show. As a lead in the historic 2012 SEMA Businesswomen’s Network (SBN) All-Female Ford Mustang Build, Combs served as a role-model for women in the industry and continued to inspire women through the launch of The Real Deal, a collaboration with fellow SBN member Theresa Contreras designed to inspire confidence, break stereotypes, and motivate other women to pursue their passions. In 2019, Combs set a land speed record for women, 522.783 mph, on a dry lake bed in Oregon – a feat that resulted in an accident that led to her untimely death at the age of 39.

 

 

2022 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee

 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee - Gene Winfield

Gene Winfield

Winfield's Custom Shop

Robert Eugene “Gene” Winfield is an American automotive customizer and fabricator who has been involved in the industry for over 70 years. He started building hot rods in the backyard of his mother’s house in the 1940s, and came to national prominence in 1959 with a stunning quad-headlight take on a 1956 Mercury two-door hardtop immortalized as the Jade Idol. Besides fashioning his own unique brand of customs, Winfield became famous for inventing the fade paint job. Winfield also played a key role in promoting custom car modifications to the general public by supplying modified cars for movies and TV shows, including a vehicle in the iconic 1982 film Blade Runner. No fewer than three Winfield creations have won the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award, which is the Best Picture Oscar of the hot-rod world. Revered as "The King Of Kustoms", Winfield was featured in the first DVD in a series called The Kings Of Kustoms - a documentary highlighting car customizers.

2022 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee

 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee - Jack  Roush

Jack Roush

Roush Enterprises

For more than 40 years, Jack Roush has been committed to winning on and off the race track. Early in his career, he founded Roush & Gapp -- a race team he formed with Wayne Gapp that won multiple championships in NHRA, IHRA, and AHRA Pro Stock drag racing. Later, he established Jack Roush Performance Engineering and began supplying racing engines and components for drag, oval-track, and hill-climb cars as well as for offshore power boat contenders. In 1984, Roush was commissioned by the Ford Motor Co. to develop cars and engines for the SCCA Trans-Am and IMSA Camel GT racing series. Roush further expanded his Roush Racing operations in 1988, before establishing Roush Fenway Racing in 2007. The team has claimed two NASCAR Cup Championships, four NASCAR Xfinity championships, and one NASCAR Truck Series title. Roush also made major safety contributions to stock car racing, including the development of roof flaps to prevent rollovers. In addition to his racing successes, Roush is founder and chairman of Roush Enterprises, a global supplier of product development services, including design, engineering, prototyping, testing, and manufacturing; he oversees Roush Performance Products, a supplier of aftermarket performance parts; and he manages Roush CleanTech, a manufacturer of alternative fuel systems.

2022 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee

 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee - Walker Evans

Walker Evans

Walker Evans Racing

Walker Evans began off-road racing in 1969 and became the first off-road racer to win the Baja 1000 as a driver of a full-sized truck in 1979. Over the course of his career, he has won more than 150 off-road desert and short course races, including championships in the Baja 500, Baja 1000, Fireworks 250, Mint 400, and Parker 400. Beyond racing, Evans is a pioneer in the off-road market, having collaborated closely with automakers such as Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge; worked with major tire manufacturers and suppliers; developed purpose-built products to meet off-road racers’ needs; and paved the way for new opportunities and growth. In 2004, Evans joined SEMA as a delegate on a visit to China to develop new business opportunities and partnerships for the industry. Evans is a role model who inspires young members to deal with emerging technologies and intense legislation, and promotes innovation and creativity in sustaining SEMA, as well as the racing and high-performance industries.

History

A Look Into the History of the Association’s Highest and Most Esteemed Honor

 

As the aftermarket industry began to grow, so did the need to recognize the pioneers who contributed to it and to the formation of the association. Created in 1969, it is the most prestigious award presented to an individual by the association. It is designed to honor outstanding persons in the industry who have enhanced the stature of, or significantly contributed to, the industry and/or association's growth.

The SEMA Hall of Fame award recognizes people who have given to the industry over a long period of time. In fact, one of the criteria for the SEMA Hall of Fame award is that the candidate must have been "involved in the industry and/or association for a minimum of 10 years."

In any given year, it’s not unusual for three or four people to earn induction into the Hall of Fame. New inductees into the SEMA Hall of Fame are announced at the annual SEMA Installation Banquet, a prominent social event that attracts the who’s who of the industry.

Later in the year, the individuals honored with Hall of Fame commendation are recognized at the SEMA Awards Banquet during the annual SEMA Show. The custom-designed trophy is regarded as one of the most admired and sought after in the automotive aftermarket.

In honor of the Hall’s first inductee, subsequent inductees received the Paul Schiefer "Old Timer's Memorial Award,” named for the man – one of SEMA’s original founding members - known for pioneering safer flywheels and clutch assemblies for racing. The "old timer's" reference alluded to a board directive that the award honor founders of the industry.

In 1986, the award came to be known simply as the SEMA Hall of Fame. Though the name changed, the original intent did not. To this day, the award continues to honor and pay tribute to the leaders and legends that helped make the automotive specialty equipment market an industry worth in excess of $50.9 billion annually.

And while the SEMA Hall of Fame was originally intended for only one individual a year, it quickly became clear that a number of individuals deserved credit for contributing to the growth of the industry. Singling out just one person a year painted an inaccurate picture of how the industry arrived at its present course.

SEMA Hall of Fame Inductee Archive

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The First Inductee

Paul Schiefer did what many men did after serving in the Navy during World War II. He resumed his hobby of working on cars. He began experimenting on his flathead Ford V8-powered "T" and eventually produced the first ribbed-type, lightweight, cast-aluminum flywheel that would not warp or distort under severe load. As horsepower increased, so too did the danger of flywheels exploding into dangerous shrapnel.Schiefer developed a process that provided the ultimate in coefficient of friction and wear resistance, and went on to develop the first bonded-bronze clutch facing and a new aluminum flywheel called the "Albro." During the 1960's, Schiefer guided his company to become the largest specialty drivetrain-component manufacturing company in the world.

1969 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee - Paul Schiefer

1969 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee
Paul Schiefer

Schiefer Equipment Co.

A speed equipment industry pioneer, Paul developed the earliest flywheels and clutches for all-out racing and high performance. He owned and operated Schiefer Manufacturing Company; it became the largest manufacturer of specialty drivetrain components in the world.

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Events

The SEMA Installation Banquet is an annual celebration, the industry's highest social affair, intended to honor industry leaders, and the current, incoming and outgoing individuals who serve on the SEMA Board of Directors. It is also the first time that their peers recognize the select few from the industry who have achieved Hall of Fame honors. The SEMA Installation Banquet is a combination of industry reunion, fine-dining experience, and an opportunity to honor the dedicated and hard-working individuals whose talents and devotion have made the specialty and performance industry the leader it is today.

2007 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee - Nate  Shelton

2007 SEMA Hall Of Fame Inductee
Nate Shelton

B&M Automotive Group

Not many members of the SEMA Hall of Fame made an early career contact in a city jail while waiting to be exonerated, but that’s how Nate Shelton met Bill Casler of Casler Tire Service, who was not only a friend but also instrumental in Shelton’s future.

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Chris Standifer - SEMA Hall of Fame Liaison

Contact

SEMA Hall of Fame Staff Liaison:
Chris Standifer
1575 S. Valley Vista Drive
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
909-978-6692
chriss@sema.org