Earlier this summer, K&N Engineering purchased the Airaid company, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

Airaid was founded in 1997 with the introduction of its Airaid Intakes brand of air intake systems. Initially developed for light trucks and sport utility vehicles, the first Airaid kits combined an open-element cotton gauze filter with an intake tube to produce an innovative, easy-to-install intake kit designed to increase airflow, horsepower and torque while improving overall engine performance.

Within five years, sales proved that Airaid’s blend of technology and state-of-the-art materials were just what the performance parts market was missing, according to K&N. Airaid Premium Filters were introduced in November 2002, securing the brand’s place in air management for both gasoline and diesel power plants. Airaid’s product base now includes a wide variety of Airaid Intake Systems, PowerAid Throttle Body Spacers and OEM replacement filters.

VP Racing Fuels introduced Greenfield, Massachusetts-based Sandri Energy as its newest retail branding partner. With operations in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, Sandri is expected to accelerate the expansion of the VP Racing Fuels brand in the Northeast.  
 
While Sandri currently supports 115 retail locations, it plans to leverage the VP Racing Fuels brand as it seeks to expand its business through the acquisition of wholesale supply at new stations. 

“VP’s program offers significant benefits to station owners, in effect offering the benefits of a major brand without the cost,” said Tyler Van Epps, Director of Motor Fuels for Sandri Energy.
 
“First, you get a clean, professional, known brand with the flexibility of purchasing unbranded gas. Second, VP’s ancillary products offer new revenue streams not available anywhere else. Third, we anticipate significant savings from VP’s low credit card network and processing fees. On top of all that, the back-end support VP provides for station openings and other activities is a real bonus,” he explained.
 
“The revenue potential from the wide variety of VP-branded products is substantial,” Van Epps added. “From VP’s race fuels to VP Madditive performance chemicals and VP Small Engine Fuels for outdoor power equipment, these stations will become a destination for everyone from performance enthusiasts with a street rod to anyone with a lawnmower or weed whacker.  We have stations near drag strips, dirt tracks and other race facilities that will be natural outlets for 5-gallon pails of VP’s off-road race fuel blends, although a nice aspect of VP’s program is its flexibility, which allows the product mix to vary according to the demographics in a station’s area.”
 
“We’re thrilled to bring Sandri on board as a retail branding partner and appreciate the ‘energy’ they’ll bring to VP’s program,” said Alan Cerwick, President of VP Racing Fuels. “They clearly understand the changes under way in our industry and the solutions VP brings to the table to stay ahead of them.  We look forward to growing together in the Northeast.”

Hoosier Racing Tire has announced its continued partnership with the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) to be the exclusive tire supplier through 2020.

“Hoosier Racing Tire is pleased to continue our relationship with IMCA,” stated Oval Track Dirt Product Manager Shanon Rush. “It seems like yesterday we were testing our first IMCA tires in Boone, Iowa, in 2005 and now we are entering our 10th year partnering with this great organiza­ion. Hoosier is proud to provide durable, repeatable and safe race tire products in support of IMCA, their drivers and their affiliated race tracks and series.”

“Hoosier is the largest racing tire manufacturer in the world and along with that status comes quality assurances they are able to put in place to fit our goals of what a spec tire is and what a spec tire rule accomplishes,” IMCA President Brett Root said. “There isn’t another tire manufac­urer that can provide the quality and service for this organization or our drivers.”

Hoosier Racing Tire manufactures and distributes the IMCA-stamped G60-15 tire for the Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified, IMCA Sunoco Stock Car and Karl Performance Northern SportMod divisions; the IMCA-branded Chain Link tire for Late Models; the Hoosier RaceSaver tire for IMCA Eagle Motorsports Sprint Cars; and the IMCA-stamped 500 tire for Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMods.

Hoosier contrib­utes to national point funds for each of those divisions and gives contingency awards at the IMCA Speed­way Motors Super Nation­als fueled by Casey’s.

Sebring International Raceway announced that Tres Stephenson has announced that the 2016 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida will be his last as President and General Manager of the facility.

“We are grateful to Tres for his many years of dedicated service to Sebring International Raceway,” said International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) President Scott Atherton. IMSA owns and operates the facility. “The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida and the track in general experienced a period of tremendous growth and development during his tenure. We appreciate that Tres will be with us through next year’s race and wish him well in his future endeavors.”

“It has been a rewarding 30 years for me here at the raceway, with a lot of successes and accomplishments along the way,” said Stephenson. “I cherish the many people I have worked with and I’m certainly proud of all we’ve been able to achieve over the past three decades.”

IMSA has begun an immediate search for a replacement.

Calico Coatings recently hired a new General Manager, new Chief Financial Officer and is looking to expand into Texas.

“As a native of Texas and a lifelong racer, I live by the motto, ‘Go big or go home,’" said Calico Coatings president, Tracy Trotter.

Russ Salerno is Calico’s new General Manager. Salerno comes to Calico Coatings with a diverse background as an accomplished business consultant with more than 20 years of experience in organizational leadership and execution performance. In 1997 Salerno co-founded ExecuSource, an employee leasing company located in Charlotte, NC. Shortly thereafter, he embarked on a new adventure in NASCAR serving as the Pit Crew Coach/Coordinator for Dale Jarrett and the #88 UPS Racing Team.

In 2006 Salerno’s teambuilding, leadership and coaching experience continued when he took on a consulting role as a Process Design Consultant for Bank of America. With his Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Black Belt, Green Belt and Lean certifications, Salerno has served as a consultant in sales performance, business process execution, change management, process design & innovation, strategic & financial planning, risk management & mitigation, personnel management and human resources.

“I’m honored to be here at Calico,” said Salerno. “I’ve known Tracy for many years and we’ve often discussed the work I do and how it could positively impact Calico. The timing was finally right and I’m excited about the opportunity to serve as a part of the Calico Coatings team.”

“We are expanding into new markets and looking to acquire other companies. One of the reasons we hired Russ was to help us with our future growth,” said Trotter. “We are excited to have Russ on our team and look forward to his contributions in helping us take the Calico organization to a new level.”

Ambrose Kalmbach is Calico’s new CFO. Kalmbach has spent the past 14 years serving as a split-time CFO for numerous companies in the Charlotte, NC, area helping them manage their growth and finding creative solutions to their financial, managerial and strategic challenges.

Kalmbach’s other accomplishments include creating, marketing and selling a community bank's cash management services to its small business customers. He was a team leader in the development of an automated, small business lending software system for First Union.  

“Ambrose is already making a significant impact on how we manage the financial side of our business,” said Trotter. “He understands how that empowers our company mission.”

Kalmbach stated, “I am proud and excited to serve as Calico's CFO. The company is uniquely positioned to provide coating solutions for a wide variety of applications.”

Since moving their operations to a new 20,000 sq. ft. location on Balsom Ridge Road in Denver, NC, Calico is now exploring opportunities to open a second facility in Trotter’s home state of Texas.

"We want to be more accessible to our growing oil & gas and firearms customer base in the Texas region,” said Trotter. “Plus, with the close ties I have in Texas business community, I’ve always wanted Calico to have a presence in the state.”

WELD has awarded a $1000 prize to Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) student Noah Geiger for his directional on-spoke wheel design. Geiger captured the top prize in the first annual WELD KCAI Performance Design Challenge contest, which was open to students enrolled in the virtual sculpture design program at KCAI. The contest was conducted in conjunction with the KCAI Art of the Car Concours event held at the school campus in Kansas City, Missouri, of which WELD is a sponsor.

Geiger, a native of Rapid City, South Dakota, is studying sculpture at KCAI and will be a junior in the fall. Geiger designed his wheel to be coated in black except for the exterior face, which is polished.

“My design follows the ideas of fractals and an understanding of the rotation around a single point in relation to the drive of forward progression,” said Geiger. “Being that this is a directional wheel there are two sets of opposing wheels that work together.”

The partnership between WELD and KCAI was in conjunction with the college’s Sponsored Studio program where students are given actual projects to complete on behalf of area businesses. The students who participated in the contest had the opportunity to visit WELD’s Kansas City manufacturing facility to learn about recent developments in computer aided design (CAD) and finite element analysis (FEA) modeling before beginning their designs. Geiger’s wheel was produced by WELD, with slight modifications to accommodate its manufacturing standards. The wheel was unveiled for the first time at this year’s Art of the Car Concours.

The Art of the Car Concours is a benefit for the KCAI scholarship fund. The Concours features more than 200 vintage, classic, and special interest vehicles, including cars, trucks, race cars, motorcycles, and pedal cars. Additional information may be found at www.artofthecarconcours.com.

“We congratulate Noah on his innovative wheel design," said Norm Young, president and CEO, WELD. "We are proud to be involved with educational endeavors like this that support the arts and the education of young people who we hope will someday join our industry."

All WELD wheels are engineered, produced, and tested at WELD’s facilities in Kansas City using only aircraft grade aluminum alloys and state-of-the-art manufacturing processes.

Devin Hart, a seasoned executive with more than 20 years of experience in the automotive aftermarket, has joined The Marx Group as the firm’s new president and co-CEO. In addition, Hart will become executive vice president of Marx Group Advisors.

Tom Marx, founder, president and CEO of The Marx Group since its inception has been named co-CEO, and chairman. He will continue as CEO of Marx Group Advisors.

“The addition of Devin to our team fulfills a conscious effort of mine to focus on client and company strategy and be more removed from the day-to-day operations of our two companies,” said Marx. “Devin is someone I have known for many years as a client. We have worked closely together on numerous projects and as such, he is someone I have the utmost trust in to lead the company and deliver the positive results we seek.”

Marx continued, “One of the criteria for hiring someone for this role was to bring in a leader who has the same passion and enthusiasm for the auto care industry, performance, and heavy duty markets as I and my staff do. As Devin familiarizes himself with our business, this will free me up to spend more time doing what I enjoy best—developing strategies for our clients.”

Most recently Hart served as president and general manager of CADNA Rubber Company, owned by Continental AG/ContiTech. Hart led the sale of CADNA, an aftermarket supplier for replacement belts, hoses and hose accessories, and metal components, to Continental in 2014. He served the subsequent three quarters in an interim executive leadership position for Continental to facilitate the smooth transfer of management to the new owners. Hart was a major shareholder and board member at CADNA. He served as its president and CEO from 2009 to 2014, helping complete a turnaround of the company and its eventual sale.

In addition, he served in various key management roles for more than 14 years with Federal-Mogul Corporation.

“I have a strong appreciation for Tom and the talented team of individuals he’s put together at The Marx Group. They are respected as a premier marketing communications agency within the auto care industry,” said Hart. “I look forward to the challenge and opportunity to continue and accelerate the company’s growth path that Tom and his team have established.

“Having been part of many M&A deals over the years, I am thrilled to help advance the work of Marx Group Advisors as we connect buyers and sellers with the many options available to them,” concluded Hart.

For 20 years, Hart served as an officer in the United States Navy and Naval Air Reserve, retiring in 2003 as a Commander. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State University and an MBA in finance from Auburn University.

Hastings Manufacturing Company, a 100-year global piston ring manufacturer, announces the appointment of Dan Qualls as its new Vice President Business Development.
 
Dan Qualls has accepted the position of Vice President of Business Development, reporting to Jeff Guenther, Senior VP Sales & Marketing. Qualls comes to Hastings with over 20 years of multiple sales and marketing industry experience, including 13 years previously at Hastings, where he managed and grew the company in numerous areas. 

He also worked for and managed sales efforts for Total Seal Piston Ring Company, Silvolite/United Engine Piston Company, and most recently King Engine Bearings, Inc.
 
In his new role with Hastings, Qualls will provide full sales and marketing management of Hastings Piston Rings for North America, Australia, and the Caribbean.

Tom Kenny, a 33-year tire industry veteran, has taken over for Dan Guiney as Yokohama Tire Corporation's (YTC) director of technical service. Guiney recently retired after 43 years in the tire business, the last 13 with Yokohama.

“I’ve truly enjoyed my time working with everyone at Yokohama,” said Guiney. “But I do look forward to a long retirement with my dear wife Kay and hope to continue to help others every day as they have helped me all through my wonderful career.”

During his time at YTC, Guiney held leadership assignments in all aspects of customer technical support. He also served as chairman of the RMA Tire Policy Committee, and represented Yokohama on the Tire and Rim Board of Trustees and the Tire Society. These responsibilities will be passed on to Kenny.

“I’m eager to represent Yokohama within industry organizations,” said Kenny, “and will work diligently to maintain YTC’s stellar reputation for top-quality and safety in all of our tires.”

Kenny, who has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio Northern University, previously worked for companies such as Cooper, Continental and Hankook, where he was vice president of R&D. His responsibilities at Yokohama include technical engineering and service support for all products. 

VP Racing Fuels announced that Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Desert Fuels is the newest distributor to partner with VP in its retail branding program. With operations in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Texas, Colorado and Michigan, Desert Fuels services more than 60 retail sites including 11 that it owns and operates, of which six are to be converted to the VP Racing Fuels brand during the program’s initial phase.
 
A key factor that drew Desert to VP’s program was the brand’s ability to reach new markets, according to Jay Kennedy, Vice President of Asset Management for Desert Fuels. “In evaluating brands that could help us achieve our objectives, it was clear they can all capture traditional commuters and soccer moms, but only VP reaches the race fans and performance enthusiasts that we’ve never successfully reached before.  Albuquerque in particular has a strong racing community with the influence of the Unser family, the Unser Museum and lots of racing at local tracks.
 
“Unlike other brands, VP also brings additional profit centers to the table with its additives, specialty fuels, race fuels and branded apparel," he continued. "We look forward to trialing the Fuel Cube program to gauge the demand for five-gallon pails and determine the proper mix of off-road fuel blends for different demographics. The racing segment was new to most of us here and we’re still learning things, like what’s a ‘Funny Car’, for example. But based on reports from other VP partners, we’re confident it will be a critical factor in our success.”
 
“Desert Fuels is a well-respected and innovative distributor and we’re happy to partner with them in our retail branding program,” said Alan Cerwick, President of VP Racing Fuels. “Their understanding of the industry, their enthusiasm for the program and willingness to think outside the box with us is very much appreciated. We’re looking forward to working together to reshape the branded retail landscape in the Southwest.”

More information about VP Racing Fuels’ retail branding program is available at vpracingfuels.com/branding.