Brian was a very dedicated Chairman of the Board,” said Van Woodell of Weathers Auto Supply. “It was like it was his full-time job.”

Woodell’s description of Appelgate is not uncommon. The current president of B&M served as SEMA’s Chairman of the Board from 1997-1999. During that time, talks for the SEMA Technology Transfer Program began, the association’s international outreach expanded, the association’s in-house market research department was created, plans for the SEMA consumer awareness program were initiated, member services grew and the council structure was cultivated.

Appelgate was also the motivating force behind the creation of the Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council (MPMC) and lobbied for the SEMA/Truck Cap & Accessory Alliance (TCAA) merger.

Outside of his Chairman of the Board position, Appelgate actively participated on the Market Study Committee for more than 10 years, chaired countless SEMA committees (Investment, Market Study, National Management, Long Range Planning and more) and sat on dozens of SEMA task forces.

“Brian was very generous of his time and sharing of information,” said Hedman Manufacturing’s Charlie Van Cleve, who was chair-elect under Appelgate. “I can’t think of anybody who has worked harder for the association—or the industry—than Brian.”

“He definitely put in the hours and had the heart to focus on the industry as a whole,” said Wade Kawasaki of Racing Sports Akimoto. Kawasaki met Appelgate about 20 years ago and served as a board member under Appelgate. “Both in business and on the board, it’s been phenomenal working with Brian. I have never met a less self-serving board member or chairman.”

“I don’t think there was a chairman before or since Brian who spent as much time doing the job as he did,” said Ron Coleman of Competition Cams. Coleman served as Chairman of the Board prior to Appelgate and the two worked together very closely.

“After my term, Brian took SEMA to a higher high,” said Coleman. “He followed through on a lot of initiatives, and he introduced a lot of his own initiatives. He carried the ball and made a lot of progress.”

Although his contributions to the association and the industry are many, he is most proud of the Technology Transfer Program. Appelgate encouraged the association to meet with Jacques Nasser of Ford Motor Co., where they introduced the idea of developing a cooperative program between the OEM and the aftermarket. As many know, Ford was the first to introduce a technology sharing program with SEMA members. Since then, General Motors, Chrysler and Toyota, with its Scion brand, have introduced similar programs.

Despite his accomplishments and contributions, Appelgate is honored and surprised to be inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame.

“Being in the SEMA Hall of Fame is a huge honor,” said Appelgate. “But to get there, you can’t do it by yourself. You can come up with ideas, but the truth is that you need people to advance those ideas and execute them. The SEMA staff and board did an exceptional job at making those ideas come to fruition.”

Joe gained a reputation throughout the NHRA as the “winningest driver in drag racing history,” an achievement that resulted from tenacity and determination. The 1984 Gatornationals was a pivotal weekend: Joe became the first Top Fuel driver to break the 260-mph mark, and his 262.39-mph win kicked off a streak that resulted in his first championship season. He also became the first NHRA driver to break through the 280-mph mark three years later. The 1984 championship became the first of five he would win before retiring after the 2000 season. Joe is one of the NHRA’s Top 50 Drivers.

He has also functioned as president of his wholesale and distribution business, Keystone Automotive.

Muldoon Engineering's Don Alderson's relationship with SEMA dates to 1960, when his company Milodon Engineering was one of the 13 originating member companies of the Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association, the first SEMA.

Known for his technical expertise, Alderson and his company focused on internal engine components. His Milodon girdle—used to strengthen the bottom-end of competition engines—was one of his most innovative products.

Today Alderson owns and operates Muldoon Engineering based in Rosamond, Calif. Throughout the years Alderson has been a strong supporter of SEMA and its programs, serving on the Board of Directors and as a member of many committees.

Although Bob operated his own rep agency, the Airheart name is well known in the brake industry, notably for industrial and high-speed applications. Trains, buses and race cars have all been stopped by Airheart, a company owned and operated by Bob until it was sold. PWA awarded Bob its Person of the Year Award in 1980 for his outstanding contributions to the warehouse distributors and in appreciation of his conscientious dedication as an individual member of the specialty equipment industry. Bob has also worked for Hurst as well as Cragar as a National Sales Manager.

Matteo Agosta was born in Trapani, Sicily, Italy, before moving to a location in the United States that was a foreshadowing of his future: Detroit.

“As a kid, I was always interested in cars,” Agosta said. “You couldn’t help it, being in Detroit.”

He recalled that his paper route took him past a Jaguar dealership, “and I looked lovingly at the XKE.” As a teen, he made going to auto dealerships on October 1 a regular routine in order to see the new lines of cars. “But my dad was always a Packard lover, so up to 1961, we had only Packards.”

Agosta eventually bought a Fiat 850 Coupe as his first car, and since there was always something going wrong with it, he had to learn to do the repairs himself.

“I had wanted a 180-horsepower ’65 Corvair I saw for sale, but my dad had recently passed away, and my brother thought he had inherited Dad’s role, so he told me to get the Fiat,” Agosta said. “I called it my Fred Flintstone car, because in three short years, it had developed huge rust holes in the floorboard.”

By the way, the paper route was Agosta’s idea of a way to get out of working at his dad’s cement construction company over summer vacations, but that plan didn’t work out too well. He ended up doing both jobs. “But getting up and going to work taught me responsibility and also built up my character,” Agosta said. “I never had a summer vacation, but I’m glad for the lessons he taught me.”

In high school, Agosta took college-prep courses, “and was teetering between business or becoming a doctor.” But in senior year, they had career day at Wayne State University School of Medicine. “A roomful of cadavers changed my mind, and I didn’t want to be a doctor anymore, so I switched to business administration and marketing.”

As he was transferring to the University of Detroit—“I still didn’t know what exactly I was going to end up doing”—he met Carolyn, who would later become his wife. “When you meet a woman that you think you can have a future with, you start studying,“ Agosta joked.

At the time, Carolyn’s father, Lynn H. Steele, had a tool and die shop and was also making rubber parts for classic cars. When he went off to places such as Hershey and Carlisle for car shows, Agosta began going along to help. The rubber parts became a more successful business venture than tool and die, so Steele moved from Farmington, Michigan, to Denver, North Carolina, to open Steele Rubber Products.

Because the company was in a rural area, Steele had trouble finding employees. He also needed someone to help with marketing and running the business. Agosta and Carolyn were married by this time, and Matt was working for Hertz Truck Leasing as a rental salesman and agency manager. Steele invited him to come to North Carolina, and he stepped up to the challenge, despite being slightly nervous.

“I had done some business management, but Lynn also needed help in the tool room and I’d never done that,” he said. “On the first day, he had me operating a milling machine and making molds.”

In the years to come, Steele taught Agosta tooling and mold-making techniques, and he also attended school at night to pursue an industrial mechanical engineering curriculum.

Before long, Agosta was managing production and customer service as well as handling marketing for swap meets and car shows, and the business began adding more employees. Today, Agosta is the president/CEO of Steele Rubber Products and has been since 1985. His youngest child, Danny, is the new-product R&D manager, and his oldest, Joanna, is currently vice president but is transitioning to president, “which will make it the third generation working in the business.”

Agosta attended his first SEMA Show around 1991. At the time, the restoration industry was dealing with trademark licensing issues with General Motors and its licensing group.

“A lot of us venders knew each other and were wondering what we were going to do,” Agosta said. “I remember having a meeting with several other companies about it. Jim Wirth, who was part of our group and a member of SEMA, met with Chuck Blum, then the president of the association. From that meeting, the Automotive Restoration Market Organization [ARMO] was born, bringing restoration companies together to address issues. Another rising battle was the proposed ‘clunker bills’— crushing old cars for pollution credits. It was David fighting Goliath for our survival. SEMA helped even the playing field.”

Agosta became an active SEMA member at the forefront of legislative issues, and he opened dialogs with the auto makers and developed educational opportunities for SEMA members. He also volunteered his time as a board member, chairman of the SEMA ARMO council, and a founding member of the SEMA Political Action Committee and President’s Club, as well as participating in task forces and chairing a variety of committees.

“One of the most satisfactory projects was the two years in which we presented the National Educational Conference,” he said. “We had some real superstars that were presenting business seminars.”

Agosta has received both the Chairman’s Award and the Person of the Year Award from ARMO, and also the SEMA Ambassador award.

“The thing I like about SEMA is that it has brought my main competitors into the group, and we have gotten to know each other,” Agosta said. “Though we furiously compete, we have become friends and respect each other. When it’s an industry issue, we all come together.”

Throughout the years, he has encouraged his own managers to get involved in SEMA and other associations. Agosta has volunteered outside of SEMA as well, including in the Knights of Columbus, as a speaker at marriage-encounter weekends with Carolyn, and on the board of for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Additionally, he has worked with the surrounding county schools and chambers on mentoring and intern programs.

“I enjoy being involved,” Agosta said. “One of my passions is getting small companies to work together, even if we are competitors, to avoid being rolled over by big government or destroyed by the difficulties of keeping up with massive changes in technology and how we do business. I firmly believe that the entire industry does better when we work together reasonably. And when it comes to SEMA, I know that when I take on a project with other people in the industry, I’ll be working with great people and have fun doing it.”

Which is why he was “blown away” to be named to the SEMA Hall of Fame.

“I always see myself as a worker bee, but I can’t think of any one thing I did that was enough to put me in the same company as many of the others whom I look up to in the Hall of Fame,” Agosta explained. “It’s a matter of, I got involved, whether at the board level, educational, legislative or whatever I thought was worthwhile to do. I did it because it was the right thing to do.”