As president and COO for Hedman Manufacturing in Whittier, California, Ron Funfar embodies the kind of success story that parents tell their children when seeking to provide positive motivation. He attended Catholic grammar and high schools and took a couple of college classes, but the bulk of his education and his accomplishments in the specialty-equipment industry came through his own hard work and willingness to devote himself to a sometimes strenuous but always worthwhile career. Funfar has been with Hedman for 33 years (as of 2007) and has been a major part of the company’s growth and accomplishments.

Funfar was introduced to the Hedman Hedders company in 1968 while serving in the California Army National Guard with Ken Hedman, whose father Bob owned the company. In 1974, Hedman had a position open for a warehouse manager, and Funfar landed the job. Funfar knew virtually nothing about the exhaust business, since he had been working in the beverage industry after the service, but he had been a self-described car nut since his early years, so he was at least familiar with what the company manufactured and sold.

Funfar gradually worked his way through the ranks, developing his operations and organizational skills, learning the sales side of the business and understanding how the distribution network functioned. When Bob Vandergriff purchased Hedman Manufacturing in 1978, he encouraged the company’s employees to become active in industry organizations as well as within Hedman itself. Over the next few decades, the company acquired other businesses, including J.R. Headers, Trans-Dapt Performance and, most recently, Hamburger’s Performance Products, and Funfar followed Vandergriff’s advice to become active in all facets of the business and the industry.

“The experience I gained working with PWA and its membership helped me tremendously,” Funfar said. “We also spent a lot of time at the SEMA offices in the early days when I chaired the Technical Committee. The people I was surrounded with were tremendous. Jim McFarland, Russ Deane, Bob Burch and Bob Keller worked so hard with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and its section 27156, which eventually allowed exhaust manufacturers to receive California emissions exemptions without having to go through the rigorous Federal Test Procedure. There I was, surrounded by these industry giants with so much knowledge and passion. I couldn’t soak it up fast enough.”

In addition to his work on a variety of SEMA committees—often as chairman— Funfar was elected to the SEMA Board of Directors in 1987 and served three consecutive two-year terms until 1992. He also served as SEMA’s secretary/treasurer and was a focus group leader for the National Management Conferences, which (as of 2007) was revived and revised as the National Education Conference. His work with Bob Keller of Turbonetics Inc. in researching the possibility of SEMA having its own emissions facility fostered a relationship with the American Automobile Association (AAA), and he worked with Rick Rollins to found the World Motorsports Society, which eventually opened the door to the foundation of today’s Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council.

Additionally, Funfar was a major supporter of segmenting the SEMA Show—grouping similar or related exhibits and companies into centralized locations to allow buyers better and quicker access to pertinent businesses, and he made Hedman one of the first manufacturers to field dual displays in Racer’s Row, as well as in the traditional Racing & Performance section of the Show. On another front, he was instrumental in reformatting the association’s early print publication into the in-house trade magazine now titled SEMA News.

On the personal side, (in 2007) Funfar commemorated his 10th wedding anniversary with wife Laura, who is the executive secretary and office manager at Hedman and will soon celebrate 20 years with the company. His daughter Nicole, 32, who will be married in July, and his 28-year-old son Erik, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, are both college graduates who are well settled into their own careers. But Funfar’s extended family at Hedman also claims a strong hold on his heart.

“Fortunately for me, most all of my mentors are also good friends,” he said. “Jim McFarland, Dick Van Cleve and the late George Bozanic gave me tremendous guidance through the years. More recently, Rick Rollins has been a tremendous asset in helping me with some of the challenges our company has faced. Rick and I served on the SEMA Board together and were each other’s wingman for many years. There are so many others, such as Bob McJannett, Van Woodell, Bob Keller, Jeep Worthan, Bob Cook, Don Smith and Mike Rao. I could go on and on.

“Working for both the Hedman family and Bob Vandergriff gave me tremendous confidence because both allowed me to do my job with few restrictions. The fact that I have been allowed to run these companies for so many years has taught me that hard work, good business ethics, uncompromised scruples and integrity and doing the right thing definitely have their rewards. Because of Bob Vandergriff’s belief in this industry and his willingness to allow us to be so active within it, we have received several personal-achievement honors. We have tried so many things over the years that have been revolutionary to the industry, and we have been rewarded time and again with numerous new-product awards and two PWA Manufacturer of the Year awards. When we receive these awards, we sometimes forget that we wouldn’t be able to help our industry if it weren’t for the hard-working people back at the shop. They are all a big part of these honors.

“I’ve had 33 years in this industry with a great company. I have a terrific wife who is always 100% behind me. I have great children who are well on their way to successful careers, and I have the best friends a person could have.

Honesty and integrity. When those words are repeatedly applied to one man by respected contemporaries, they develop deep significance. To those who know him best, Bob Cook is the essence of honesty and integrity.

Cook grew up in west Georgia and moved to Atlanta when he was eight years old. His parents had already parted company by that time, and his mother was raising four children on her own. Cook was fortunate to find a mentor and surrogate father in his older brother, who shared his fondness for cars and racing.

“I’d always liked cars,” Cook recalled, “and when my brother got out of the Navy, he came home with a primered ’51 Mercury that we took to the drag races. Of course, a Flathead Ford engine with a two-barrel carburetor was not very fast, but it got us started. My job at the time was to take the street tires off and put the slicks on. I was the pit crew.”

His brother also provided some discipline, such as the time Cook wanted to quit school when he was 16 in order to get a job and buy his own car. His brother threatened physical mayhem, and Cook kept at the books.

After graduating from high school, Cook studied to become an attorney at John Marshall Law School in Atlanta. He attended classes at night, working during the day.

“I had some excellent professors who were practicing attorneys in the city of Atlanta,” he said, “and I learned an awful lot from them about legal, political and business perspectives. I got out of law school 41 years ago and have used what I learned ever since in legal issues, such as payments and contracts. But during the course of the five years that I was in school, I figured out a lot about the real world. I went to law school with the intention of getting into politics at some point, but I’m now glad that I missed that opportunity.”

Instead, Cook parlayed his day jobs and his passion for cars into one of the most honored careers in the automotive specialty-equipment industry. He began as a delivery boy for a NAPA store called Redman Auto Parts—the only independent NAPA store in Atlanta. He moved from deliveries to stock clerking and eventually to the counter. When two of his fellow countermen left Redman to open their own parts store down the street, they lured him away. From there, he went to work at a warehouse that dealt primarily with small-engine ignitions and carburetion. The carburetion link was further strengthened when he went to work for Holley Carburetor. The Holley factory team also represented the Edelbrock line, and Cook joined several of the crew in breaking away to form a national rep firm called Performance Marketers Inc. in 1974.

With a few years of the rep experience under his belt, Cook started his own agency in June of 1979—which, it turned out, was not the most auspicious time to be going into a field based on automobiles without much money.

“Gas prices had gone over $1 a gallon that month,” he said. “We just hit the equivalent of that in April of this year, which gives you a feeling of how tough it was then. The economy was very sour and didn’t really start coming back until the mid-’80s.”

In those first years, Bob Cook Sales struggled to stay afloat, paying its bills but unable to afford much else. A few key people provided Cook with opportunities that helped his fledgling company survive. Vic Edelbrock and Bob Vandergriff were Cook’s first two clients.

“They were an excellent base to start with,” Cook said. “I was one guy, on my own, with no money. Bob Vandergriff was especially helpful with a creative commission structure that provided a tiny bit of income to help me pay the expenses of being on the road.”

The perseverance eventually paid off. As his company grew from just himself to a two-man and finally a 14-rep business, Cook began to give back by helping to foster the industry. When he wasn’t on the road or working at his own company, he devoted himself to SEMA projects. His résumé of services includes three consecutive terms on the SEMA Board of Directors, as well as the chairmanships of the WD of the Year Committee, Rep Committee and Dues Review Committee. He also served on the Long Range Planning Committee, the New Products Judging Committee and the Person of the Year Committee. Bob Cook Sales has been honored five times with the SEMA Rep of the Year award in three different decades, and Cook has himself been a finalist for the PWA Person of the Year award nine times. He has also continuously and unselfishly given of his time and his company’s sponsorships to SEMA and PWA events and functions over the years.

Among his finer accomplishments, Bob Cook is the father of two sons, Robby, 33, and Jeffrey, 13 (as of 2008).
 

Joseph “Corky” Coker delights in seeing people happy. He is passionate about his family, friends and businesses. He is energetic and ambitious, compassionate and caring. And he was born to be in the automotive specialty-equipment industry.

His father Harold opened the Coker Tire Company in 1958, and Coker remembers sweeping floors and cleaning wide whitewalls as his earliest jobs. But even though he was nicknamed after a character in the old “Gasoline Alley” comic strip, he was not enthralled about working at a tire company. In addition to the time spent at his father’s business, Coker grew up among livestock on the family farm. He liked the animals more than the rubber and planned to become a veterinarian until a too-carefree attitude at Middle Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga put an end to that plan. As he recalled it: “I made all Bs in college—banjos, beer and babes—so I was not quite the student it took to become a vet.”

Instead, he discovered that he actually enjoyed working at the tire store when he retuned there and split his time between the business and school in Chattanooga. When he ultimately went full-time, his father directed him to take on the small antique-tire niche, which was then less than 5% of the company.

“I suddenly realized that selling hot-rod and Model A tires to these guys made them very happy,” he said. “They smiled when they did business with me because they got to play with their toys. I really got my head into it and started developing some ideas and goals of my own.”

Over the years, Coker put those ideas into practice and began to add to the goals. The antique-tire segment of the business now encompasses 95% of Coker Tire’s earnings, and the company ships tires throughout the United States and to 32 other countries. Coker acquired vintage molds from around the world to build stock, contracting with both domestic and foreign manufacturers to produce the company’s inventory. He negotiated licensing agreements and distributorship deals for vintage tires with producers, such as BFGoodrich, Firestone, Michelin and U.S. Royal, and he developed a separate division to sell accessories and automobile collectibles and memorabilia.

Coker’s personal auto collection includes more than 50 cars and 50 antique motorcycles, and he takes part annually in The Great Race, which is an antique touring event that runs from coast to coast. In 1998, Coker acquired Honest Charley, one of America’s first speed shops, which was started in 1948 by Honest Charley Card, himself a SEMA Hall of Fame member. Honest Charley celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

As he worked to grow his businesses, Coker also devoted time to building the whole industry through his efforts with SEMA. He was one of the founders of the Automotive Restoration Market Organization, which named Coker Tire its Manufacturer of the Year in 1997 and inducted Coker into its Hall of Fame the following year. He served numerous terms on the SEMA Board of Directors and became the association’s chairman in 2003.

During the course of his involvement with the association, Coker helped establish the SEMA Political Action Committee, guided the group toward an investment strategy that improved SEMA’s financial resources to ensure future security and also encouraged the development of better relationships with auto dealers that led to the development of the ProPledge warranty program.

Though faith and charity are hallmarks of his character, Coker’s humanitarian and community involvements are less well-known. He is a recipient of the Silver Beaver award from the Boy Scouts of America, that organization’s highest volunteer honor, and he has continually been active in his local Chamber of Commerce. In addition, he was selected as Tennessee’s Person of the Year by the Small Business Administration in 1996. He has made charitable visits to the Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf in Granville, Jamaica, and he serves on the board of directors for Chosen Children Ministries, a Christ-centered ministry to orphanages, with a focus on Nicaragua.

“Doing right means something,” he said. “I became a Christian in my early 20s, and the Lord has guided me. Having a grandmother who prayed for me every day has been part of the reason for my success. She passed away a few years ago, and somebody asked me, ‘What are you going to do now that your grandmother isn’t praying for you any more?’ I said, ‘That’s not the case. She’s whispering in His ear now.’”

Family has always been at the core of Coker’s life, both personally and in business. He points to his father and his grandfather as the major figures who guided him. He has been married to Theresa Coker for 30 years (as of 2008). His daughter Casey joined the family business two years ago, and his son Cameron graduated from college and went to work for Apple Computers a year ago. His brother spent a number of years in the business and then started his own company, Newstalgia Wheel, and his sister is involved in education in Franklin, Tennessee.

Coker’s passion for his family and the industry is obvious, but he also holds an abiding love for his country.

“When we have the opportunity to be out in a convertible or a hot rod and see America, they always give us a thumbs-up and say that they love what we do,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I cherish that? It’s absolutely the best part of what I do.”

Since its inception, SEMA has sought to help its members understand and work within the legislative and political arenas, both locally and in Washington, D.C. There has been no greater supporter in those efforts than Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. An enthusiast himself, Campbell represented the state of Colorado in the United States House of Representatives from 1987–1993 and in the U.S. Senate from 1993–2005. During those terms, he not only raised the automotive specialty-equipment industry’s visibility and worked to protect its businesses and employees, but also helped found the Congressional Automotive Performance and Motorsports Caucus, serving as its first chairman.

Campbell grew up in Northern-Central California, where his love of cars and motorcycles began. He was raised in the foothills of Auburn above Sacramento in the days when George Barris and his brother were just starting to design custom cars.

“We had a hot-rod club called the Foothill Roadsters when I was in high school,” Campbell said. “My first car was a ’36 Ford—a little sedan that I put drop shackles on and did some tinkering with. I’ve been around cars and bikes my whole life. I often joke that a ’50s California kid can never have enough power or chrome. That goes with growing up out there.”

Campbell served with the U.S. Air Force in Korea from 1951–1954. At the conclusion of his military service, he attended California State University at San Jose, receiving a B.A. and performing graduate work in education. He also attended Meiji University in Tokyo and was a highly accomplished athlete, captaining the U.S. judo team at the 1964 Olympic games in Japan.

The multifaceted former senator said that he always had at least a couple of careers going throughout his life. He is a jewelry designer, rancher and trainer of champion quarter horses. He taught college courses for several years while at the same time working nights as a policeman. After retiring from elected office in 2004, he joined the Washington, D.C. law office of Holland & Knight as an adviser on Indian issues, and he remains one of 44 chiefs of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. While in Congress, Campbell held the position of Deputy Majority Whip and served on a wide variety of Senate committees, including Appropriations; Energy and Natural Resources; Veterans’ Affairs; Environment and Public Works; and Agriculture. He chaired the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs—the first American Indian in history to do so—and was the only American Indian serving in the Senate when he left public office.

Campbell said that his entry into politics was almost accidental. He hadn’t planned to run for anything until some party officials talked him into vying for a seat in the state legislature. He served two terms there and was then convinced to run for Congress. When Colorado’s senior senator retired, Campbell won that seat and served two terms. Finally, after 22 years in government, he decided that he wanted to spend time with his family.

But it is his work on issues of vital importance to the automotive world in general and the specialty-equipment industry in particular that have earned Campbell a place in the SEMA Hall of Fame.

“Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell was the highest elected official who steadfastly supported the specialty-equipment industry and remained ready, willing and able to help SEMA whenever and wherever he could,” said Mitch Williams, former chairman of the SEMA Board of Directors.

“In just one of his most visible efforts, Senator Campbell’s amendment to eliminate funding for scrappage programs from the Energy Policy Act of 2002 was passed by unanimous consent. Had this gone the other way, it could have severely impacted the collector-car industry.”

Campbell said that killing what was called the “salvage bill” was one of his most satisfying accomplishments.

“A senator introduced a bill that would’ve given a cash rebate to anybody who junked their older cars,” Campbell recalled. “It was done under the guise of fuel conservation, but it meant that you could be paid to junk an old VW that got 35 miles to the gallon and buy a new Cadillac that got 10. How in the world could that be fuel conservation? It also would have been the death knell for collectors, restorers and hot-rod people. An awful lot of older cars would’ve been melted down, and those old cars aren’t coming back.”

Campbell often advised SEMA on critical issues and helped create more effective strategies and arguments that supported the association’s issues.

“We knew that we had a good friend in the Senate who understood and cared about our industry and whom we could always count on,” said Williams. “It is an important statement about how far we have come as an industry to honor such a highly accomplished former United States senator. But, more importantly, it is a very appropriate thank you to Senator Campbell for a lifetime of support for our industry.”

Senator Campbell has been married to his wife Linda for 41 years. His son Colin embraced his father’s love of cars, recently buying a new Aston Martin, and his daughter Shanan followed her father’s lead into the art world, owning an art gallery and art consulting service. The whole family remains in Colorado.

Not many of us can say that we’ve received a life-changing job offer in midair, but Van Woodell can. But let’s back up a bit. Born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, Woodell tinkered with cars before discovering that four-wheeling in the mountains was his real thrill. He bought a ’71 Toyota Land Cruiser and joined a four-wheel-drive club in Durham. To pay for his hobby, he worked in the service department of a local Jeep dealership. “By now, I had been bit,” he recalled, and he went to work in 1974 for a start-up called Tar Heel 4WD Center, where he really became involved in learning parts, selling parts and developing expertise in off-roading.

Unfortunately, the difficult economy of the time caused Tar Heel 4WD Center to close its doors in 1979, leaving Woodell to take odd jobs, such as tuning cars, brake jobs and “…anything I could do to earn some money,” he said. “I had a baby on the way, so I was in a panic.” As it turned out, several of the reps who called on Woodell at Tar Heel 4WD Center also called on his future employer, Dudley Weathers, who was based in Tupelo, Mississippi, where the original Weathers Auto Supply was located.

Weathers flew Woodell to Petersburg, Virginia, for a talk and on the flight back to Durham, made a job offer to open a store in Petersburg. Since Woodell’s wife, Carol, was due to give birth, she stayed behind in Durham while he set-up shop—and living quarters—in the new Weathers warehouse.

Weathers gave Woodell an opportunity to buy 10% of the Virginia store, and the two then opened another warehouse in Charlotte, North Carolina. Over the next couple of years, Woodell bought another 10%, then another 10%. By 1989, he bought the balance of the Petersburg store.

Sam Compton of Rep South Productions had called on Woodell as a customer and recalled looking for a buyer who was “…not reckless, but one that had vision, understanding of the customer and the courage to be a pioneer.”
      “Van met all of these attributes,” he said. “You left Virginia feeling good and inspired to follow his image.”

Steve Starr of PSKB, who met Woodell early in his career as a manufacturer’s rep, recalled his affinity for others. “I feel he loves the industry mainly because of the people he has contact with and his passion for the automotive aftermarket,” Starr said. “He is definitely a people person.”

Woodell had attended SEMA Shows as a member with Tar Heel 4WD Center, but when he joined the association with Weathers, he had a new perspective.

“I figured, if I’m going to be in something or involved in something, I want to learn about it,” he said. “But at that point, I had no earthly idea how to become involved with SEMA.”

Enter Bob Cook of Bob Cook Sales, who told Woodell: “I’ll get you involved.” Cook was an independent rep during Woodell’s Tar Heel 4WD Center days and explained that Woodell and he hit it off right away. “He was very open to new-product presentation, friendly and understood the business,” Cook said. So when it came to SEMA involvement, Cook told him, “Don’t complain about issues unless you are willing to work toward changing them.”

That is what Woodell did, serving three consecutive two-year terms on the SEMA Board of Directors from 1997–2003. He was elected to the Board again in 2007 and 2009. He served on the nominating committee for the Board of Directors and has served on a variety of other SEMA committees and task forces. He held a seat on the PWA Board of Directors and is a past president of PWA. He has also been honored with the Vanguard Award by SEMA’s Young Executives Network (YEN) and was selected for the Light Truck Accessory Alliance (LTAA) Hall of Fame.

Compton might just sum up this SEMA Hall of Fame inductee perfectly with, “Everyone should have a Van Woodell in their life.

Born in Danville, Pennsylvania, and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Chuck Schwartz studied at Ohio State before entering the U.S. Army, where he served in military intelligence. A move to California landed him a job at a seat cover and muffler shop in San Diego—The Big Wheel—where he began by installing dual exhausts and mufflers and was then promoted to salesman and played a key role in the company’s expansion. When an opportunity to buy a leased automotive department in a discount house presented itself, it was done under the name Western Big Wheel, and Schwartz played an instrumental role in the corporation, which owned as many as 165 leased departments at the organization’s peak and became the first mass merchandiser in the United States to offer speed equipment.

Schwartz also sponsored race cars at the local tracks where the corporation had stores, and the fleet even included a championship car. That led to California Racing Specialists, which built engines and chassis for super stock cars. Then came another venture—K-Bar S—which coincided with the growing appeal of off-road racing. K-Bar S focused on building pre-runners, but the company started selling parts before long as well. Schwartz and his crew even built and raced a Ford Bronco in the very first Baja 1000.

The next move was to start two companies—Pioneer 4-Wheel Drive Center and Pioneer Van Conversions—and Schwartz also was involved with the formation of the Off Road Equipment Association (OREA) with the likes of Pete Condos, Bill Stroppe and Thurston Warn as a response to concerns about the closure of land to off-road use. Schwartz participated with the team that produced the OREA Shows and produced the final OREA Show just prior to the acquisition of OREA by SEMA. And then he began to ponder a permanent career change: show business.

Prior to venturing down that new path, Schwartz sold his retail business and became a manufacturer’s rep for about three years. And then it happened: He launched the Auto Internacional trade show in 1980, which focused on parts and accessories for imports. In 1982, SEMA acquired that show. Schwartz became producer of the SEMA Show, and, “It’s been a great ride ever since!” he said. Ron Funfar of Hedman Hedders/Trans-Dapt, who has known Schwartz for nearly 30 years, described him as “…a force in attempting to make SEMA a better-known association from one side of the country to the other.”

Schwartz now produces the SEMA Show and other events through his company, ConvExx. “But Chuck’s impact on SEMA is far greater than his role at ConvExx and as a vendor,” explained Chris Thomson, national sales manager of AIRAID Filter Company. “He’s been an active participant in the actual growth of SEMA, participating in it long before the major successes of the SEMA Show.”

Schwartz is a charter member of the SEMA Political Action Committee (PAC) and was elected chairman of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) management in 1999. He served on that organization’s board of directors for seven years, received the IAEE Pinnacle Award and is an Auto International Association Hall of Fame winner, among the many honors he has accrued since becoming a trade show producer in 1976. He has also been an active volunteer in his community and continues to offer mentoring programs.

As of this year (2010), it's Schwartz’s 29th anniversary as SEMA Show producer, a job that involves drawing the floorplan, selling floor space, getting exhibitors prepared for the Show and “…having the knowledge of where manufacturers are going, what they’re doing, what’s changing in the marketplace. I watch all that and talk to as many exhibitors as possible and learn so that we know what’s going on in the marketplace,” he said.

And it’s clear that there’s no business like show business. “Chuck gets enormous satisfaction out of seeing others succeed,” said B.J. Leanse, Big Country Truck Accessories/Go Rhino! Products North America sales manager. “He sees change and creates solutions and meets every challenge with excellence as the only acceptable goal.

“If you have an idea and a plan, share it. Who knows, maybe you will start something cool.” That’s been the motto of John Towle, whose stellar career in the performance aftermarket has spanned five decades.

In 1964, Towle walked in to the hotbed of performance – the Edelbrock Equipment Co. in Los Angeles – and stayed for 27 years. His first job: sweeping floors and cleaning restrooms. Towle quickly moved up to the fast-paced shipping department at Edelbrock. “I remember helping Vic Edelbrock Jr. unload a full trailer of 3-barrel Holley carburetors on the sidewalk in front of the building on Jefferson. Vic and I shipped 1,000 of them to our customers, all in the same day.”

Towle worked in several departments at Edelbrock (a charter member of SEMA), learning all aspects of the performance business, from manufacturing to sales to distribution. Hard work and dedication paid off as Towle became the company’s vice president of sales in 1982. Under Towle’s leadership, Edelbrock’s annual sales grew and the company captured three Performance Warehouse Association (PWA) Manufacturer of the Year awards (1984, ’89 and ’90).  

During his early days at Edelbrock, Towle – not surprisingly – was bitten by the drag racing bug. He had the opportunity to go to the drags and help Ed “The Master” Pink with his Top Fuel dragster. “I was mostly changing oil and packing the parachute, but it was a great time and a lot of fun for a very young kid.”

In the mid-’70s, Towle campaigned a B/Econorail dragster. After much success at the local strips, legendary Lions and Orange County International Raceway (OCIR), John felt Econorails deserved their own NHRA class. He had a plan and decided to share it. Towle sat on the lawn at OCIR and wrote down some simple rules for A & B Econorails and sent them to NHRA. He also suggested blown alcohol cars should have their own class. NHRA agreed, and this is where the Pro Comp class started, and the Econorails became Competition Eliminator cars.

Towle had many successful years of drag racing, but it was his dedicated work at Edelbrock, SEMA and the PWA which helped the performance industry. He was elected to the SEMA Board of Directors in 1993 and served a two-year term.

In 1990, Towle received the PWA’s Person of the Year award. “It’s a prestigious honor and very rewarding.”

Towle retired from Edelbrock in 1991 and in 1992 became the PWA’s executive director. Under his guidance, the PWA has continued to grow, especially its annual Industry Conference.

Go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and you’ll find the Economaki Press Conference Room. At the New Jersey Motorsports Park, you’ll find The Chris Economaki Media Center. And each year on the day of the Daytona 500, thousands celebrate Chris Economaki Day.

Having served as a motorsports commentator, pit road reporter, and journalist for more than 70 years, Economaki is described as the founding father of the American motorsports media. Many credit him for bringing auto racing to the media forefront. Those not familiar with his name are likely to instantly recognize his voice and the face with the horn-rimmed glasses.

Throughout his career, he never veered away from National Speed Sport News, the weekly newsletter that he bought and began publishing in 1950 when he was just 20 years old. Referred by some as “the Bible of Motorsports” and by others as “America’s Weekly Motorsports Authority,” National Speed Sport News reports on races throughout the country, regardless of the series or the track. The publication ceased printing in March 2011, but, with Economaki still intimately involved with the publication and contributing on a daily basis, its online news will continue to be read religiously be race fans everywhere.

Pinpointing a single reason as to why Art Chrisman is being inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame is difficult. For many, it’s unlikely that a reason is even needed.

Chrisman played such a key role in the hot rod movement that his contributions are well known by most enthusiasts. His story is so significant that it’s resulted in The Chrisman Legacy: Always Faster, a 224-page book that chronicles the lives of the Chrismans and their undisputable contribution to the world of motorsports. Working at his father’s Southern California auto shop in the 1950s, Art knew or raced against many of the big-name legends: Ed Iskenderian, Vic Edelbrock, Wally Parks, Pete Petersen, Mickey Thompson, CJ Hart, Lou Baney and many others. Among Chrisman’s many accomplishments is that he was the first drag racer to exceed 140 and 180 mph. He was also the first to make a pass in NHRA’s first national event in 1955.

As of 2011, the legacy continued. Art and his son Mike were still working side-by-side at their shop, C.A.R.S (Chrisman Auto Rod Shop), allowing Chrisman to serve as a mentor and an inspiration to today’s, and tomorrow’s, hot rodder.