Writing about Bill Perry after he lost his battle with leukemia earlier this year, SEMA Chairman Jim Cozzie and SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting paid him one of the greatest compliments you can about another individual: “Simply put, Bill was one of the good guys.”

Everyone who knew and worked with Perry agreed. Joel Rosenthal, vice president of Gantt-Thomas & Associates, considered him a mentor and called it a “true blessing” to have worked with him. John Towle, PWA’s executive director, called Perry an “honest, forthright, compassionate and competitive individual” who was “dedicated to the industry and his family.” Bill Wagner, vice president of sales and marketing for Winfield Consumer Products, said Perry’s wife, Cathy, and his sons, Chris and Michael, “were the typical Southern family, and Bill was the southern gentleman. They couldn’t do enough for you.” And Ron DiVincenzo, general manager of Cap World, summed up what many felt when he called Perry “a great leader and a role model for us all.”

Like many in the automotive aftermarket industry, Perry had an early love for fast cars. He built radio-controlled cars as a kid and raced them at tracks in his hometown of Atlanta. He started working on real cars at age 14, and by the time Cathy met him when they were attending the University of West Georgia, “he had already done all the local dragstrips,” she said.

Perry’s experience as a racer led him to a job at a local speed shop while he attended college. In 1980, he became a manufacturer’s rep with Quality Parts Sales Inc., and he took a major step in his career when he bought the company just five years later and renamed it Bill Perry & Associates (BP&A). In the years to follow, Perry expanded his agency to the point where BP&A now has seven reps covering eight southeastern states.

Perry’s relationship with SEMA pre-dates the forming of BP&A. He joined SEMA in 1977 and became very active within the association. He served on the Board of Directors and was in his third consecutive term when he passed away. He was a member of the Board’s executive committee, and he served on the Manufacturers Rep Council (MRC) select committee for a number of years. Both he and BP&A have earned numerous awards and honors from SEMA, including the MRC Hall of Fame Award in 2008 and SEMA’s Manufacturers’ Representative of the Year award.

Perry’s enthusiasm for high performance never flagged. According to Cathy, he “…always loved cars, and always had a car he was working on, even when he started his business and raised his family.”

In fact, it was that enthusiasm that took Perry’s interactions with his customers to a higher level, said Rosenthal. “He was at his best at interpersonal relationships. When he was standing in a parking lot of a retail store, talking to a product’s end user, he was that enthusiast again. His face would light up when he was talking about that part, and the racer he was talking to just sensed it. That focus on enthusiasm had a great deal of influence on how he ran his business.”

Perry was also very generous with his time, Rosenthal said, no matter how big (or small) the customer was. “A lot of people would push back from having to talk to the ‘little guy’ who might not create a big sale. But even if he was talking to a guy who would just buy one piece, you still sensed Bill’s enthusiasm.”

Perry was a spiritual man, Rosenthal said, so when you were around him, “life lessons and business lessons often intermingled. Even in tough situations you’d see his spirituality play out in how he handled things. He was never ‘in your face.’ He was a gentleman’s gentleman.”

Growing up in Fremont, Michigan, Dick McMullen displayed a keen business sense early on, consistently selling more magazine subscriptions for the school drive than any other student. His trick of the trade? Call on people ahead of time for pre-order sales. But this wise, young salesman was also an auto enthusiast, so when McMullen was 13 and landed a job with the milk delivery man, it wasn’t just the free milk that he counted as a job perk—he also got to drive the truck.

The McMullen family eventually moved to Los Angeles, and he worked in a gas station while attending high school, handling everything from pumping gas to washing windshields. He was so good at his job that his boss gave him a raise, providing McMullen with enough cash to buy a car.

“Cars were always his interest,” explained his wife, Sally. By her count, McMullen owned more than 21 automobiles over his lifetime. In fact, he picked her up in a brand-new Oldsmobile for their first encounter, a blind date in 1954. “I thought, gosh, anybody that likes a nice car must be okay!” she said. But not everyone was thrilled with this love connection. “My mother was horrified to even think I would date a hot rodder.”

After attending college, McMullen enlisted in the Air Force, working in mechanics. Although he was stationed in Germany for nearly four years, boot camp took place in Texas, and that was where he and other car enthusiasts started a club limited to members of the Air Force. Following the service, McMullen and a friend from the Texas days, Dean Brown, launched the first newspaper dedicated to drag racing, Drag News. McMullen was the manager, handling the sales side of the business, which included clients ranging from Howards Racing Cams and Hedman Hedders to Weiand and Isky Racing Cams.

In 1963, McMullen sold Drag News and made the switch from publishing to advertising, joining Ed Elliott’s agency, which represented high-performance clients. The company was later renamed Elliott-McMullen Agency, and “…damn near every company that ever started in this industry went to that agency at one time or another,” said Bob Vandergriff of Vandergriff Motorsports, who was a friend and business associate/partner of McMullen.

It has been said that the idea of SEMA first came under discussion inside the Culver City, California, offices of Elliott-McMullen. “Dick thought the purpose of SEMA should be to unite the manufacturers and to have a united front,” Sally recalled. And McMullen remained dedicated to SEMA’s efforts. Over the years, he was involved in the establishment of the SEMA Memorial Scholarship Foundation and served on many SEMA committees.

After Elliott passed away, McMullen assumed full ownership of the agency and renamed it McMullen Advertising (which later became McMullen Design and Marketing). But one day, explained Sally, Bob Hedman told McMullen that he was thinking of selling his company and said, “If you ever hear of anybody that wants to buy it, let me know.” McMullen and Vandergriff took over Hedman Hedders, selling products worldwide.

Sadly, McMullen passed away in 2005 and will receive the SEMA Hall of Fame award posthumously. McMullen “…loved doing what he did,” said Sally. “He was very low-key, not a high-powered salesman, pushy kind of guy, but very caring.” Vandergriff fondly remembers him as “honest, sincere and extremely creative—a solid personality and trustworthy.”

McMullen’s hobbies were “cars, cars, cars,” according to Sally, and he had a passion for people, the industry, the association and his work. “He always told our kids, ‘Whatever you go into, be sure it’s something you like. Otherwise going to work every day will be a pain,’” she said. “That’s what he did, so his work was his fun.” Vandergriff recalled that what McMullen loved most about his work was “…helping people grow. He’s gone, but he’s still watching.

As long-time editor of one of the most popular and successful automotive magazines, Gray Baskerville’s contribution and influence on the industry are wide spread. But holding the senior editor title at Hot Rod magazine for about 30 years isn’t the reason that he’s being inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame. Rather, it’s the passion and sincerity that transcended from Baskerville’s writing, and his ability to captivate readers that earned him the honor. Like most, if not all, other SEMA Hall of Famers, Baskerville has a deep-seated love for cars that clearly manifests itself in all that he did.

He drove his beloved 1932 Ford roadster on a daily basis, racking up about 250,000 miles on it before he passed away in 2002. Not one to adapt to corporate rules or aspire for the corner office, Baskerville is equally well remembered for wearing flip-flops and shorts in the office, as he is for his ability to captivate readers in ways that no one else could. His writing style was so full of life and excitement, that his text was rarely changed by editors--even when he invented words that did not exist in the dictionary. Even after he retired, Baskerville kept his office and continued to write for both Hot Rod magazine and Rod & Custom.

In a 2012 interview with SEMA News, Carmen Arias, controller at Arias Pistons, talked about her father’s passion for his work. “Great creators, all they do is think,” she said. “Twenty-four hours a day, they’re thinking. It never stops.” She said that Nick Arias Jr. seemed puzzled—and maybe a little insulted—when asked about retirement. “Retire?” he replied.

To the entire Arias family, work is viewed as a privilege. In fact, family Patriarch Nick Arias Sr. attempted retirement in 1968, but he returned to work for his son’s company—Arias Pistons—when it opened in 1969. Nick Sr. was a blacksmith by trade and worked for Southern Pacific Railroad for 45 years. He then went on to run the shipping department at Arias Pistons for almost 20 years. With that kind of hardworking role model, it’s no surprise that Nick Arias Jr. has been so successful—and it’s equally clear why he has never considered retirement.

On the wall at Arias Pistons is a diploma from Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles: ever since the counselors there suggested auto mechanics to him, Nick Arias Jr. has been in love with engines. In addition to his studies in the classroom, Arias Jr. and his neighborhood buddies Joe Pisano and Kenny Bigelow formed a car club while still in high school, the Photons. Named after a particle within the atom, photons travel at the speed of light—especially when driving down Sepulveda Boulevard, South Broadway and Main Street in Los Angeles. At least in part, it was this nighttime ritual that gave birth to what’s now referred to as the automotive specialty-equipment industry. 

After graduation, Arias Jr. joined the 40th California National Guard, shipping out to the Kumsan Valley above Seoul, Korea, where he was assigned to work in the motor pool during the Korean War. Back home, however, fellow Photon club member Kenny Bigelow was attempting to get his name in the record books and was killed at the El Mirage speed trials. 

El Mirage is a dry lakebed and was home to the 100 Mile-an-Hour Club of South Los Angeles, which Arias Jr. had been a member of for several years. In tribute to his friend Bigelow, Arias Jr. purchased the ill-fated ’37 Chevy coupe in a partnership with fellow veteran Bob Toros when he returned from Korea. As a team, the two salvaged the GMC engine from the wreck, transplanted it into another ’37 and ultimately used it to power their way to a championship as Russetta Timing Association’s most successful Class A and B Coupe. The two also advanced the existing record from 136 mph to 148 mph unblown on alcohol, winning the Kenny Bigelow trophy two years in a row. 

With the success of the ’37 Chevy Coupe, Arias Jr. joined the Screwdrivers car club of Culver City, alongside members that included Craig Breedlove, Don Rackeman, Lou Baney and Joe Pisano. During the buildup of the GMC block, Arias Jr. was also offered a job at Wayne Manufacturing, purveyor of high-performance inline six-cylinder engine parts. This proved to be an ideal location, because Frank Venolia was making pistons next door and selling them to Arias Jr.’s boss, Harry Warner. Arias Jr. thereby had the chance to learn everything he could about designing heads and pistons at the same time. 

A few years later, Arias Jr. was introduced to Louis Senter via fellow Screwdriver member Rackeman, who was working next door to Senter’s Ansen Automotive. It was rumored that Ansen’s piston division needed an overhaul, and knowing that there was a huge market potential for that type of performance part, Arias Jr. suggested that Senter sell him the piston business, including the machinery. One month later, Arias Jr. bought out the business from Senter, and he opened Arias Pistons in 1969. 

Arias is a legend not just for his forged pistons, but also for his ’72 Hemi-head conversions for big-block Chevys that were known as “Hemi-Chevys,” as well as his complete 10L engine that dominated tractor pulls and drag boat races, an 8.3L powerplant for Top Fuel and Alcohol drag racing, the Arias four-cylinder for USAC midget circuits, the Arias V6 Hemi, A/R Boss 429, Howard 12-Port GMC…and more. On a personal note (in 2012), he and his wife Carmen celebrated 55 years of marriage with their family, including five children and 13 grandchildren. 

Carroll Shelby once said: “I’ve had more failures than successes in my lifetime, and some of the failures have been more fun than some of the successes.” Nick Arias Jr. has the same philosophy about life. And speaking of Shelby, it’s rumored that Arias Jr. is currently working on a hemispherical  head for the small-block Ford and that it would fit nicely under the hood of one of those old AC roadsters, otherwise known as the Cobra. 

SEMA is grateful to Nick Arias Jr. for his contributions to the specialty-equipment industry. He’s always been a thinker, and we hope he never stops.

Is there a movie, television series or celebrity that George Barris hasn’t customized a car for?
 
That’s the question you have to ask when visiting his shop in North Hollywood, California. Every inch of the place is packed with photos and memorabilia from the countless stars he has known and the Hollywood vehicles he has built for them over the course of his 60-plus-year career. 
 
Remember K.I.T.T. from “Knight Rider?” The General Lee from “Dukes of Hazard?” The “Munsters” coach and the “Beverly Hillbillies” pickup? Those are just a few of his many iconic creations. Oh, and then there’s also one of six Batmobiles he built for the 1960s “Batman” television series still sitting in his showroom. (The first of the group, which Barris customized from a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car, went for $4.62 million at auction earlier this year.)
 
But it’s not his cars that Barris is most proud of; it’s the relationships he’s forged.
 
“I’m a people guy,” he smiled. “People to me are more important.”
 
Indeed, Barris has known—and built cars for—an extensive roster of legendary customers: Clark Gable, James Dean, Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and the entire Rat Pack. The names go on. Given all his achievements, it’s amazing that his high-school principal considered him least likely to succeed.
 
Barris was born in Chicago, but his mother died when he was only three, leading him and his brother to move in with an uncle in Sacramento, California.

“When I went to school, I wanted to do cars,” he recalled, “so I went to Roseville High where they regretfully sent me to the metal class to make drainpipes. I didn’t want to make drainpipes. So I quit. Next I went to San Juan High School. Same thing. I said I wanted to design and make cars. They said, ‘We’ll put you in cooking class.’ I quit. I went and hung around a body shop. They taught me how to weld with an acetylene torch….”

Barris quickly put his shop skills to work, customizing his first car at age 14—a ‘32 Ford with cat’s-eye taillights. He did eventually make his way back to high school for his diploma. Then, after his brother completed military service, the two resettled in Lynwood, California, where Barris opened his first custom shop.

“I got really strong into aftermarket parts, but I not only did car parts; I did toys,” he said, explaining that he designed and constructed model cars for Revell and other toymakers in advance of real-life vehicle debuts. “Then, when I got married, my dear wife, who has since passed away, was very energetic about marketing,” he said, “so I learned how to be a marketing wizard along with creating and designing cars.”

And what’s his favorite all-time innovation?

“I really don’t have one, because each one was a different challenge,” he answered modestly. “And I love challenges.”

Moreover, Barris has always drawn heavily on specialty equipment to meet his challenges. In fact, if he faults today’s customizers for anything, it’s in forgetting their aftermarket roots.

“The custom industry is growing by leaps and bounds,” he said. “Every show I go to is expanding. But we’re losing aftermarket parts—and by that I mean bolt-ons. Most everyone nowadays is chopping tops and so forth. They’re not putting on a bolt-on bumper, a headlight or something like that. They make everything now. The industry and SEMA need to continue to make it easier for the enthusiast not only to home-build but shop-build a vehicle.”

Barris has promoted grassroots customizing with many how-to articles for Motor Trend, Hot Rod, Car Craft and related magazines. And he’s still pushing fresh design trends for new cars, including hybrids. Despite a long list of international accolades, Barris considered induction into the SEMA Hall of Fame a special honor.

“I’ve belonged to a lot of associations, and I’ve gotten a lot of awards from the movie industry, but SEMA is my world,” he said. “I’m a car guy.”

A Pioneer in Performance

(Editor’s note: Shortly after our interview about Fred C. Offenhauser, Bill Smith passed away. His memories remain an invaluable addition to Offenhauser’s life story.)

You might not know that Fred C. Offenhauser had a pet pig named Olive Oil as a child and a poodle named Dolly as an adult. He made Sunday morning breakfast every week for his family. He loved his motor yacht and would cruise to Catalina or along the coast quite often.

What you probably do know about Fred C. Offenhauser is that he founded Offenhauser Equipment Corp., and his company was behind an extremely successful line of intake manifolds. Offenhauser parts became synonymous with performance.

The hardest thing to know about Fred C. Offenhauser is that we lost this industry giant in 1992.

Offenhauser grew up on a ranch in Perris, California, before moving to West Los Angeles around 1935, near his uncle Fred H. Offenhauser’s shop, Offenhauser Engineering. Uncle Fred was already well known in the industry for being the designer of the famous Offenhauser four-cylinder racing engine that dominated Indy starting in the ’30s, yet Offenhauser wasn’t born into an automotive environment per se.

His father wasn’t much of a car enthusiast, but Offenhauser had a natural gift when it came to machining. He ended up working for his Uncle Fred as an apprentice machinist, learning about engine design. He then joined the Navy and became a machinist working on blimps until his discharge in 1946 and his return to his uncle’s shop, where he was poised to take over the business. When circumstances prevented that from happening, Offenhauser instead opened his own place, Offenhauser Equipment Corp., which made hot-rod parts.

Detroit’s Big Three quickly came calling, with Offenhauser making hop-up kits for Chrysler. And when Ford introduced the Y-block in 1954, Fred and his team—his brother Carl, who was shop foreman, and chief engineer Ollie Morris—developed innovative intake manifolds. The team was also developing performance parts for the new Chevy V8.

“In the early years of our industry, Fred was a big contributor,” explained Don Smith of DCS Consulting & Export, who met Offenhauser as a teenager when he was just starting out in the business. “There was also the Big Three in manifolds: Edelbrock, Weiand and Offenhauser.”

But Offenhauser’s ultimate dream was to give the general public high-performance intakes.

“He provided a broad range of improved intake systems, helping thousands of enthusiasts to get more performance out of their average street machines and introducing performance to many who were on a more limited budget, popularizing performance to the masses,” noted Butch Lahmann of TunerWear. “He designed and engineered unique products to that end. In my opinion, he was the epitome of the American entrepreneurial dream.”

But that was before warehouse distributors were born.

“Most of the manufacturers at the time were making hard parts, not accessories,” explained Bill Smith, founder of the Speedway Motors speed shop, which at the time was essentially a start-up. “If you needed a bearing for your front wheel or a brake drum for your rear wheel, there were manufacturers who made them and sold them to established jobbers, who resold them to dealers, and that was how the system worked. Not all hard-parts stores wanted to even deal with accessories.”

Smith attended one of the only automotive shows in the country in the ’50s before SEMA and the SEMA Show existed. But he got to know Offenhauser in a hotel room after that Chicago show. He was there with a few other future industry heavy hitters, including Vic Edelbrock, and these product sellers and original charter SEMA members would later hold meetings back home in California to talk about who they were selling to who owed them money.

“SEMA basically started out as a collection agency,” Bill Smith said, and he joined when the organization invited dealers, jobbers, and warehouse distributors so that a distribution structure could be put into place for the industry.

“Most of the products that Fred innovated and came up with were very hard to manufacture,” Smith explained. “An Offenhauser product was something you could take out of a box and show to a customer and know everything would work right.”

“My dad never talked about being a pioneer,” said Offenhauser’s son Tay.

“I can look back on it now and say, yes, he manufactured and sold performance parts to dealers around the country in the early days. And he was out there doing what pioneers do: He helped lead the way in the development of speed parts for every enthusiast.”

Loyalist and Ambassador for the Industry

“Life doesn’t come with a remote…so get up and change it yourself!”
—Mornings with Menzler

Ask people who knew John Menzler to describe him, and “funny” will probably come up most often. But you’ll also hear “mentor,” “enthusiast” and “giver.” To his daughter, Kristi, the word is “hero.” Sadly, the automotive industry and the SEMA family lost Menzler in October of 2013.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Menzler’s first jobs were mowing lawns and a paper route. He didn’t put those early savings toward a car; rather, the first thing he bought was a necklace for his mom. But once he reached his teen years, he took to vehicles and the faster things in life.

“Anything to do with transportation,” Kristi said. “A wagon, a tricycle—if it moved, and he thought he could make it go faster.”

According to close friend Mitch Frey of Hughes Performance, “John led a colorful life before his involvement in the automotive aftermarket. He would tell me the story of riding his horse to school when the only paved roads were in the downtown Phoenix area. He was a cowboy and won awards for roping. He was also deputy sheriff for a time.”

Menzler’s automotive career launched with a stint pumping gas at a Blakely station, but he transitioned to sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve Control Group, Rifle Specialty, from 1965 to 1967 and received an honorable discharge. By 1974, he was back in the automotive world, this time as a car salesman for a Chevrolet/GMC dealership. In 1978, he launched Inventive Marketing to focus on automotive-related parts, eventually adding Motofeet—a company known for its engine stand—under the same umbrella. Yet his calling seemed to be as a sales representative, working for companies such as Baer Brakes, Centerline Wheels, Dart Engines and Manley Performance.

“He liked people and loved the industry, and that gave him the opportunity to go places, see people, share his knowledge of cars and parts and be a part of the auto industry,” Kristi explained. “And when new things came out, he could share them. He was also able to be a part of ideas with other people on things that would enhance the industry.”

Menzler eventually moved to COMP Performance Group, where he remained employed until his final days.

“I truly believe that being hired by COMP was the turning point,” Frey said. “John had many jobs throughout his career, but his job as ‘ambassador’ was the perfect fit.”

Another perfect fit was SEMA. Kristi explained that Menzler’s late wife Wendy actually encouraged him to join by stating, “You will never be able to understand what this industry is about until you’ve seen what it’s like to give back and participate with a group of people who give back.”

He took to volunteerism immediately.

“John truly believed in SEMA,” Frey said. “When John spoke to a customer or another manufacturer, he always asked ‘Are you a SEMA member?’ If the answer was no, he would tout the advantages of SEMA and, more times than not, he would convince that person to join.”

Added Kristi, “His life changed because of the people in SEMA, and he went forward to change others’ lives.”

That included his passion for the SEMA Cares Pinewood Drag Races.

Dennis Overholser of Painless Performance met Menzler about 15 years ago through SEMA.

“He became a very close friend,” Overholser said. “We did a lot of things together on the education side for both the MPMC and the Hot Rod Industry Alliance councils, including the MPMC media conference. He’s someone who dedicated many years to the organization and many years to the aftermarket.”

Menzler’s honors included National Hot Rod Association Division 4 Person of the Year in 1988, the MPMC Industry Recognition Award in 2000, the SEMA Businesswomen’s Network Mentor of the Year and the MPMC Hall of Fame in 2010, the SEMA Person of the Year in 2011 and, posthumously, the inaugural Dick Dixon Legacy Award from the Hotrod & Restoration Trade Show.

The popular “Mornings with Menzler” inspirational quotes found on his Facebook page will be continued by Kristi, who said she has “thousands” of quotes that her dad put together for people to continue to enjoy.

“He was just one of those kinds of guys. He was one of us,” Overholser said, choking back tears. “I miss his friendship. That’s one of those tough ones.”

A Leader in Good Times and Bad

Born and raised in the area around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jim Cozzie began living out his dreams at a very early age.

“I pretty much knew when I was five or six years old that I was going to do something with cars and performance automobiles, because while everyone else was reading Dr. Seuss, I was reading Hot Rod,” he said.

Cozzie was 15 when his father passed away, so it was his uncle—an engineer for a company that made avionics for airplanes—who fueled his passion.

“One day, a fellow engineer showed up in a ’27 Ford Roadster that had a Cadillac with trips and a LaSalle transmission, and from that day on, that was it,” he said.

Cozzie worked at a service station at night and on the weekends and, as with many back in the day, the owner of the station raced a ’55 Chevy Gasser. Cozzie began attending races and soon became a racer himself.

“When guys were going on dates, I was going to the dragstrip,” Cozzie joked.

In 1978, he tried over-the-road truck driving for several years but felt compelled to work in the automotive industry. He heard about a position as customer service manager at Hurst Performance.

“In those days, Hurst was a magical name in the performance world,” Cozzie said. “I think I took a $6,000 pay cut to go there. My mom thought I was nuts.”

He began there at age 22 in 1979 and stayed 10 years, “drinking it all in, burning my fingers along the way. That’s where I got schooled and really learned about the business end.”

He rose through the ranks to director of marketing for the corporation. While there, he headed every brand at one time or another and developed a racetrack supply division, which involved developing parts exclusively for drag racing, and built a list of client racers. He was also behind the development of the GM 500ci DRCE racing engine and the Hurst Olds Pro Stock team with Oldsmobile in the early ’80s.

Where Cozzie ended up next was the other extreme: vice president of operations for a T-shirt company, Super Press, which was meeting the growing demand for souvenir T-shirts at races. After three successful years, he became restless for the parts business again, so when B&M Racing and Performance Products called, he answered.

His initial regional manager position there evolved 14 years later to vice president of sales and marketing, wherein he grew the business and expanded distribution to include OE suppliers to the Ford GT and distribution programs in Europe, Australia and the Pacific Rim. By 2005, Cozzie was recruited by the performance division of Berkshire Hathaway to resurrect the Zoom Performance Products brand and guide the company through a portfolio-building program, and he became president of the enterprise. His path then turned toward automotive entertainment, first with RTM Productions and now as managing partner of Brenton Productions.

Cozzie became actively involved in SEMA while at B&M, although he’d attended his first show in 1979 and hasn’t missed one since.

“Brian Appelgate asked me to serve on the newly formed Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council [MPMC],” Cozzie said, and he joined the council in 1996. A year later, he became its chairman. Since then, he has served on the International Task Force, the SEMA Executive Committee, the SEMA Political Action Committee, and he chaired the SEMA Show Committee. He also served multiple terms on the SEMA Board of Directors and was its chairman in 2008–2009 during the recession.

“I believe that Jim had the toughest job any SEMA Chairman has ever had in navigating the worst economic times our industry has ever faced,” said Mitch Williams of TrimParts Holding Corp. “SEMA’s existence wasn’t at stake, but certainly SEMA’s future health was. Some of the tough decisions were ones SEMA had never had to make, so there was no precedent—no one to ask. Jim just had to figure out the right course of action largely on his own. I believe that anyone can look good during the good times, but it takes excellent leadership to look good during the tough times, and that is exactly what Jim and Chris Kersting showed.”

Cozzie also became a driving force behind the SEMA Education Institute and the CU-ICAR program with Clemson University. He was inducted into the MPMC Hall of Fame and, in 2004, was named the SEMA Person of the Year for his ongoing commitment.

“Very few people in our industry have given so much to it and have worked as hard to leave it a better industry for generations to come,” said Bob Scheid of McLeod Racing and SERES. “Jim always has his eye toward success.”

At the Forefront of the Future

Nile Cornelison grew up in Creston, Iowa, where his favorite class in high school was metalworking. Like most of us, tinkering on cars came early. His first vehicle was a 1954 Olds, which he was able to buy with money he made as a machinist at NAPA. Those late teen years also gave birth to a voracious appetite for racing cars, and he parlayed his love of the adrenaline rush to racing Top Fuel in the 1960s and 1970s.

Through racing, Nile found himself the person competitors were turning to for tips on how to build performance engines. That led to an engine-building side business outside of his NAPA job. He soon left to start his own speed shop, specializing in machine work for race cars. At that time, tractor-pulling was a fledgling motorsport, and again, Nile became the person competitors turned to. Only now, it was farmers; they wanted hot rod tractors.

The distribution of speed parts, from manufacturer to speed shops, was beginning to formalize. That would be a career-changing observation, and Nile launched National Custom Warehouse around 1970. “NCW was probably one of the first eight to ten warehouse distributors in the U.S. buying parts from manufacturers and selling to other speed shops. That operation ultimately sold parts in 48 states,” Nile explained.

But he also spotted flaws in the system. “Warehouse distributors did a fantastic job of buying and selling the parts, but they did an absolutely lousy job of moving printed catalogs and price sheets to the parts store front counters so the parts could be sold.”

“So my idea was, why not put together all the jobber/customer lists of all my competitors and create a database—although in those days the word ‘database’ hadn’t been born. The concept was a single file that got rid of all the duplications and facilitated the distribution of catalogs and price sheets, wall posters or anything paper and ink, to the 30-some-thousand outlets so we could cut the time from end of the press to the front counter. We took it from taking 6 months to a year to get catalog information out down to a matter of a couple weeks.”

As you might guess, competitors were reluctant to share their customer lists, so Nile sold NCW to start Direct Communications Inc. (DCi) in 1982. DCi became a direct mail clearinghouse for performance and accessory catalogs and price sheets. “He was an early pioneer in trying to get companies to mail new catalogs on a timely basis to the country’s jobbers and dealers. He did a lot in direct mail and that was in the early days of computers”, explained Chuck Blum of Chuck Blum & Associates, who has known Nile since 1981. “Communication was poor, especially in our growing industry. We didn’t yet have the sophistication of hard-parts distributors, who had been in business for years and years. Getting that information down the line was something our guys just weren’t used to.” In 1996, DCi added electronic cataloging data development and distribution services.

“He truly was a pioneer in the beginning of electronic cataloging,” explained Trina Wilson, an account specialist with DCi. “He helped the industry by getting data into the hands of those who needed the information to sell product. Without data, you’re unable to sell the product and accurately get the right part for the vehicle.” According to Nile, today, DCi facilitates $7 billion in performance and accessory parts sales through 60,000+ business outlets throughout the world.

Nile still made time to become an extremely active volunteer within SEMA, serving on the Board of Directors for eight years, during which time he chaired the Educational Services Committee. From that came SEMA Innovations Day, an effort to connect OEMs to the aftermarket for information-sharing, which was also Nile’s brainchild.

The first keynote speaker lined up got other OEMs to stand up and take notice of the SEMA Show: Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca. Nile also led SEMA’s initial entry into market research, introducing the annual SEMA Market Study. And while serving on the SEMA Show Committee in 1981, he created the show-within-a-show format-a display area for new products now known as the popular New Products Showcase.

Among his numerous accolades, Nile was named SEMA Person of the Year in 1982.

As Trina explained, “Without Nile’s vision, there wouldn’t be the same large number of businesses selling specialty parts today and our members wouldn’t have the success in the new internet marketplaces we have today.”

“Is he the guy with the moustache?” If the name Dennis Gage is not instantly familiar to someone, his handlebar moustache certainly is.