SCT and Bully Dog, manufacturers in automotive calibration solutions for muscle cars, trucks, powersport applications and big rigs, introduced their new parent company, Derive Systems, at SEMA. Derive Systems was created from the merger of SCT and Bully Dog earlier this year. Since the merger, Derive Systems has combined knowledge and resources from the two complimentary brands to build a software platform with the best of the collective calibration technology. The SCT and Bully Dog brands will continue to be used in the market, with the added benefit that both brands are now able to leverage the power of Derive to offer customers tuning solutions with the greatest number of features across the widest range of vehicles.
 


“We established Derive Systems to combine the market leading technologies and resources of the SCT and Bully Dog brands in order to offer our customers an unparalleled software solution to improve vehicle performance and the overall driving experience,” said Marissa Muller, VP of Marketing at Derive Systems. “With Derive Systems now in place and the integration between SCT and Bully Dog complete, customers will quickly see the benefits.”
 


SEMA will be the debut of these benefits. At the show, the following products will be highlighted:  

1. The first and only cloud-based tune delivery system will be introduced. This solution will enable custom tunes to be sent via the cloud and effortlessly installed on an SCT/Bully Dog Wi-Fi enabled programmer.

2. For customers who customize their vehicle and want more than a pre-loaded tune, the Bully Dog GT will now offer custom tuning capabilities.

3. On-the-fly calibration capabilities will be added to SCT’s Livewire TS, making it possible to switch power levels while driving.

“Throughout the integration, we focused on understanding our customers’ needs and discovering how our combined companies can best serve customers by putting their needs first. In addition to a newly-enhanced customer service department, we are also excited to begin introducing a number of new products and offerings at SEMA that are a result of our customer-first approach. We are committed to making it easier and faster for our customers to derive greater power, torque, fuel economy, and control from their vehicles,” added Muller.
 
SCT and Bully Dog are showcasing products and demoing the software at their three booths at SEMA, booth 21333, 37028 and outside at 61140.

WC Vision announced that it has added an additional race weekend to its 2015 schedule. The series' GT and GTA classes will return to race as part of the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, May 29-31, 2015. The event will feature two GT/GTA races.
 
"We had been working with the DGP staff for several months to sort through some issues that were important to the series," said Scott Bove, WC Vision, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We released what was to be the final schedule a few weeks back. The response from our fans, teams, drivers and marketing partners has been overwhelming in support of us continuing the negotiations with the track. Those discussions were rekindled, and over the past two weeks we have mutually agreed to add the DGP to our schedule."

Bove also noted that the purse for the event will be a record for the GT class with more marketing details surrounding the event to be made in the coming weeks.
 
Additionally, as part of a forthcoming announcement of a new series TV partner, the Sunday PWC race at Detroit will be featured with a live 90-minute TV broadcast.
 
With the addition of the Detroit weekend, GT and GTA classes will now compete in a total of 20 races. One additional TC/TCA/TCB race weekend is still to be announced.
 
2015 Pirelli World Challenge Schedule

March 6-8 — Circuit of The Americas**
March 27-29 — St. Petersburg*
April 17-19 — Long Beach* (GT/GT-Cup Only) 
April 24-26 — Barber Motorsports Park* 
May 15-17 — Canadian Tire Motorsport Park** 
May 29-31 — Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix* 
June 26-28 — Road America** 
July 31-Aug. 2 — Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course* 
Aug. 21-23 — Miller Motorsports Park** 
Aug. 28-30 — Sonoma Raceway* 
Sept. 11-13 — Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca**
 
*Events with IndyCar
**Pirelli WC Headline Events

VP Racing Fuels announced an agreement with Cecil County Dragway extending its long-standing Official Fuel partnership through 2017. An NHRA sanctioned dragway, Cecil County conducted its first race in April 1963 and has been the host to many past and present high profile racers and events including the Yellow Bullet Nationals and the NHRA Division 1 sportsman event.
 
“Jim Halsey’s been racing forever and does a great job at Cecil County. He packs the pits and stands and sells a great deal of VP fuels for us,” said Jim Kelly, VP’s Eastern Regional Manager for Race Fuel Sales. “We love Jimmy and his racers and we look forward to working with them for many years to come.”
 
“We are very excited about extending our agreement with VP Racing Fuels,” said Jim Halsey, Owner of Cecil County Dragway. “We are proud to be associated with such a great organization and are happy to be able to provide our customers with the great products that VP Racing Fuels offers.”
 
The complete line of VP Racing Fuels products, including ethanol-free VP Small Engine Fuels for outdoor power equipment, are available at the dragway year round. For more information, contact Cecil County Dragway at 410-287-5486 or owner@cecilcountydragway.com.
 

As a fellow entrepreneur and businessperson, I’ve spent most of my adult life building my own company and brand name. I learned early on the value of name recognition and what it meant to have a successful and marketable name to sell.

Beginning circa 1978, Haro Bikes, the company that grew out of my passion as a BMX rider and artist, blossomed over the years into one of the most successful brands in the BMX market. I learned very quickly that coming up with innovative BMX products was just the beginning. You had to create a strong brand name and image while backing it up with smart and consistent marketing coupled with the best riders in the sport, which helped to build my brand’s equity and value in the marketplace.

I share this story because Haro Bikes was my own personal case study on brand and image development. It taught me the importance of building a strong and marketable name and how this would help Haro Bikes to gain and win customers that purchased and believed in my products.

After the sale of Haro Bikes in 1993, I started Harodesign, a design and marketing agency that specialized in the action and power sports arenas. I took the real-life marketing lessons I’d learned over the years from my bike business and used them to help guide me in developing marketing ideas for my clients’ needs.

This real-world knowledge gave me the opportunity to work with many of the great brands in action and motor sports—brands like Penske, Laguna Seca Raceway, Daytona Speedway, Red Bull, Nike, Oakley and many more that came to trust Harodesign in building their brands.

Know Your Competition
The product or service you provide to your customers is the essence of your business, and through these innovative ideas your customers gain confidence in your brand name. With this earned confidence, your brand’s marketability increases—and with it, so should sales and your business’s value.

Whether you’re a small or large enterprise, how you position your brand in business should be addressed strategically. For example, examine the business landscape of your market, familiarize yourself with their pricing, know your competitors and how they position and market their products. Arming yourself with this information will help you to develop your strategy and enable you to make smarter marketing decisions. This information will also let you see your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and how you should navigate and position your products or services in your campaign.

Cut the Clutter
In our busy, media-saturated world, we are constantly bombarded with advertising and marketing messages. Every time we look online, read a magazine, watch TV or check in on our social media, we are subject to hundreds of advertising messages daily. And because of this excess of information, consumers will sometimes tune out the noise, and your marketing efforts then fail to deliver their message.

Brands today need to cut through this information clutter to get noticed, and if you keep your visual message simple and direct—with your logo marks clean and legible—it will help you to cut through this media clutter.

Less is More
Too many times you’ll see advertising and sales literature that is overly wordy or visually cluttered. So much, in fact, that it is difficult to decipher what the actual message is, what the product does, or what the company is selling! I call this graphic pollution!

For myself, I subscribe to a “less is more” approach when developing marketing tools for my customers. I find that with a less cluttered approach, the message can breathe and work more effectively within a cluttered media space. It allows your marketing to hit harder and to be more direct, so that its message is not lost in a cloud of copy, complex graphics or competing advertisements.

Trackside has similar challenges. Now that you’re sponsoring that local or national hotshot to rock your logo on their driving suit and car’s quarter panel, you need to make sure it gets noticed. While it’s cool brand association with the driver, if you can’t read what the logo says or it gets lost in the clutter of all the other brands on their race suit, you might be wasting valuable marketing dollars.

Keep it Simple
When thinking of designing a logo for your business, keep it simple, clean and easy to read. Making it unique in order to differentiate your mark from the others is important, but always make sure it reads clearly. Make sure your design works on several different types of media and holds up well in various applications. It’s important to know how it works before you spend hard dollars to develop and trademark your logo.

When I developed my own logo, I looked for inspiration from global brands like Nike, Starbucks, Oakley and Apple—brands that I aspired for my brand to be like. I looked both within and outside the markets to give me new ideas and a fresh perspective to see what works in other unrelated industries.
Gathering these examples will provide ideas and give you a direction to build from for your new brand mark. Again, aim to keep your new trademark simple and hard-edged and not too trendy, as you’ll want the design to be timeless and not get dated.

These are just a few ideas I wanted to share, and hopefully you’ll find these helpful as you build and develop your brand image. It’s a process, for sure, but with time your brand’s equity will increase from your innovative ideas, hard work and smart marketing efforts.

All the best to you!

Attended by hundreds of drag racers, sponsors and industry heavyweights, the 2014 NMRA and NMCA Awards Ceremonies will be held at the upcoming Performance Racing Industry Trade Show at the Indiana Convention Center’s Sagamore Ballrooms 1-3 on Friday, December 12.

At each ceremony, custom Nitto Tire Diamond Tree championships rings and special trophies will be handed out to a wide range of deserving racers, sponsors and crew members.

Hosted by TV personality Bret Kepner, each ceremony will feature the top 10 championship presentations and specialty awards to racers and crew who were nominated and elected by their peers, along with action videos, slide shows and more.

The National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) ceremony will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., beginning with a 30-minute cocktail reception at 5 p.m. This ceremony is the culmination of an exciting year of drag racing for the 2014 NMCA Flowmaster series season. Aerospace Components will once again sponsor the coveted championship trophies.

The National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) event kicks off with a hosted cocktail hour from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., courtesy of the series sponsor, Keystone Automotive. The awards ceremony will begin immediately following the cocktail hour, and will run until 10:30 p.m.

The NMRA and NMCA award ceremonies are open to the public, and admission is free. However, guests are asked to RSVP for reserved seating. RSVP before November 17 to Stephanie Yuhas at syuhas@promediapub.com or call 714/444-2426, ext. 118.

Appropriate dress is requested (no jeans, T-shirts, shorts, etc.) with beer, wine and soft drinks available throughout the evening at several no-host bars.

In addition, NMRA/NMCA staff will be available throughout the 2014 PRI Trade Show at ProMedia’s booth #412. 

IRG Sports + Entertainment (IRG) announced that it has closed on the transaction to acquire Cordova Dragway Park, and has assumed control of the facility's operations, effective immediately. The motorsports venue has been renamed Cordova International Raceway (CIR), joining sister tracks Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Florida; Memphis International Raceway in Millington, Tennessee; and Southwestern International Raceway in Tucson, Arizona.
  


IRG has named Bobbi Jo Cox as the new General Manager for CIR. Cox has 16 years of experience at the facility, serving in many roles over that period. She will take over the day to day operations from Scott and Laura Gardner, as they both have transitioned to new roles within the IRG family of companies.
 
Located in Cordova, Illinois, on 190 acres, CIR is a 1/4-mile Championship Drag Strip with a Compulink Timing System, on-site camping and Musco stadium lighting. IRG had disclosed in October, as part of a major financing deal with TPG Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX), that CIR will soon receive capital improvements including new Compulink fiber optic timing and LED scoreboards, additional grandstands, and the resurfacing of the Drag Strip. CIR will remain an IHRA Member Track, and it will host the IHRA's Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series on May 29-30, 2015.
 
"Cordova International Raceway is well known for its popular World Series of Drag Racing which celebrated its 61st year in August 2014. We are pleased to have such a highly regarded and successful venue as part of our family of race tracks," noted IRG CEO Jason Rittenberry, CFE.
 


As IRG takes over the day-to-day management of CIR, previous co-owner and Vice President & General Manager of Cordova Dragway Park, Laura Gardner, has been named as the Corporate Director of Human Resources and Training for all of the IRG companies including CIR. After a successful career in the banking industry, Laura and her husband Scott operated Cordova Dragway Park for 19 years. Last year, Scott was named the President of the International Hot Rod Association. In her new role with IRG, Laura will be responsible for human resources and training across all companies in the IRG portfolio. She will report directly to the Chief Financial Officer of IRG, Peter A. Evanofski, and will work out of the Norwalk, Ohio offices. Laura assumes her new role with IRG immediately.
 
"I am excited to have Laura join us at the corporate level of IRG. She will be an integral member of our corporate management team," stated Rittenberry. "She will be a tremendous asset to us in recruiting top notch staff to our company owned tracks and improve the onboarding process of new employees."
 
For more information on CIR, visit www.RaceCIR.com.

Andretti Autosport has sustained another major loss during this IndyCar off-season.

On the heels of losing driver James Hinchcliffe to Schmidt Peterson Motorsports earlier this fall, news has now come out that Andretti’s director of racing operations, Kyle Moyer, is leaving to go to Team Penske.

In addition to his director duties, Moyer also served as race strategist for Marco Andretti and the No. 25 Snapple Honda.

He had been with the Andretti camp since the 1990s when it was known as Team Green, and during his tenure with the team, Moyer helped them win multiple series championships and Indianapolis 500 victories.

Team owner Michael Andretti said they were “disappointed” to hear of Moyer’s decision but wished him the best.

“Kyle’s decision to branch out in his career has provided us an opportunity to evaluate our needs and restructure in a manner that best fits our ever growing and evolving team,” Andretti added. “In the interim, while we are actively considering candidates to fill the position, our team’s work continues in the hands of our very capable team managers and crew.

“We are looking forward to a competitive and successful 2015 and beyond.”

Obviously, Moyer’s addition is a big gain for Team Penske, which will be expanding to four cars on the IndyCar front next season with newcomer Simon Pagenaud joining Verizon IndyCar Series champion Will Power, Helio Castroneves, and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Pirelli World Challenge and WC Vision President and CEO Scott Bove today announced two key staff moves. WC Vision has hired Julie Bentley as Director of Partnership Relations while Greg Gill has been promoted to Vice President General Manager.
 
The announcement comes on the heels of a successful 25th Anniversary season in 2014. Over the year, Pirelli World Challenge grew its business in all areas, introducing the GT3 platform in its GT class, developing its social media while delivering record setting TV broadcast results.
 
"After the completion of 2014, our 25th season, WC Vision is proud of our accomplishments. Greg had a lead role in helping the business achieve its goals in growing and developing the Pirelli World Challenge brand," Bove said. "In preparation of his new role, Greg has been working on our 2015 schedule process and developing partnership programs over the last year and is tasked with implementing those programs in 2015. WC Vision will continue to add staff as needed, with one eye on our goal of being nimble and quick to react to the ever changing market landscape."
 
Gill stated: "It's great to be part of this Series. We have seen widespread growth in our business and that success is a testament to the WC Vision team as well as the energy and passion of our drivers, teams, partners, and fans."
 
With Gill's new position he will continue to oversee the marketing and communication efforts of the business.
 
Joining the WC Vision team on November 10th, Bentley will be Director of Partnership Relations. Bentley has experience working for race teams, California Speedway and has spent the past 13 years with the American Le Mans Series and IMSA. She brings a wealth of knowledge about motorsports in general and specifically sports car racing to the series and is well suited for this role working closely with the series partners.
 
Gill commented: "Julie has spent her career in motorsports. Her passion for quality and service are well known and we look forward to her joining our team."
 
Bentley noted: "I am excited to be joining the WC Vision family and Pirelli World Challenge. I look forward to meeting the Series' sponsor partners and teams as well as renewing longstanding friendships. As I told Greg this morning, let's get to work. The season kicks off in 120 days!"
 
The Pirelli World Challenge is one of North America's top production car-based racing championships. Divided into the GT (GT, GTA and GT Cup), GTS and Touring Car (Touring Car, Touring Car A and Touring Car B-Spec) categories, each race features thrilling standing starts, adrenaline filled door-to-door action and world-class drivers.
 
The Pirelli World Challenge features cars from the world's most popular manufacturers—race-prepped versions of the cars driven on the streets. Sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing, the series races at North America's premier road and temporary street courses.

After twelve years with its original logo, Motovicity Distribution, an automotive performance aftermarket distributor decided it was time for a redesign of its logo.

The new logo needed to offer a timeless look that could both adapt and evolve with the company, while invariably appealing to the active lifestyle of its customers.

To capture the look Motovicity was after, famed freestyle BMX rider and designer, Bob Haro of Harodesign, was selected for the task. Since 1993, Harodesign has helped such organizations as RedBull and Nike’s Olympic Cycling Team establish their image with youthful design elements inspired from its rich history in action sports, powersports and motor racing.

“Having grown into the industry’s leading Sport Compact distributor, we wanted a new look that could grow with the company without abandoning our grassroots heritage; Bob was able to design a logo that accomplished that,” said Motovicity’s Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Brian Lounsberry.

The new logo uniquely identifies Motovicity while appealing to a market that is both progressive and youthful in nature. Customers of Motovicity are typically engaged in an active lifestyle that involves high horsepower and high performance motor sports. Now, with the addition of a brand mark, Motovicity’s new logo is suitable for a variety of applications like print and digital advertising, as well as other mediums including vehicle graphics, apparel and event series.

Fifteen race-car drivers and motorsports professionals have been voted into the Road Racing Drivers Club in 2014. The group includes 10 Regular Members from the open-wheel and sports-car racing ranks, three Associate Members and two Honorary Members. The current roster of RRDC members now numbers 460. Voting was held among all current RRDC members.
 
"This year's lineup of new Regular Members includes professional racing champions past and present, amateur racing champions, and drivers with stellar racing credentials," said RRDC president Bobby Rahal. "And, of course, each driver has demonstrated his or her outstanding conduct on and off the track, a quality the RRDC members take into consideration when voting in new members.

"The new Associate and Honorary Members are pillars of the racing community who have contributed to the success of motorsports around the world," added Rahal.

"We are honored that each new member has enthusiastically accepted membership in the RRDC. We look forward to working with them as the RRDC continues to pursue its goals of recognizing and mentoring aspiring race-car drivers through a variety of programs."
 
While Regular RRDC members are race-car drivers who have competed successfully at the championship level, Associate Membership includes drivers who have participated successfully in major professional events or in lesser and/or historic events, as well as those who have significant ties to racing, such as in the corporate, sponsorship, mentoring, patronage and promotion arenas.
 
Honorary Members are distinguished senior international motorsports champions, team owners and others who have demonstrated a life-long commitment in support of racing through active volunteerism, officiating and/or promotion of the sport generally.
 
In alphabetical order, here are the new Regular Members:

GEOFF BRABHAM
Four-time IMSA GTP champion (''88-'91); '81 Can-Am champion; '93 LeMans 24-hour winner; runner-up in Australian Super Touring Championship in '95 and '97. Son of Jack Brabham. Ten Indy 500 starts, with best placing a fourth in '83.

HOWDEN GANLEY
Engineer, mechanic and race-car driver worldwide since '60. Worked in Can-Am Series; placed third as driver in European F3 championship and second in European F5000 in '70. Awarded Von Trips Memorial Trophy; founded TIGA Racing Cars in '76.

SIMON GREGG
Son of Peter Gregg; 2012 Trans-Am champion; 2012 SCCA Southeast GT-1 division champion.

GERARD LARROUSSE
Multiple French rally champion; NSU, Renault, Porsche works driver in '60s; winner of Tour de Course, Sebring and Nurburgring 1000 in '69; LeMans 24-hour winner in '73, '74 and '78. Owner, Larrousse F1 '87-'94. President, LeMans Club des Pilotes since '09.

KATHERINE LEGGE
Versatile racer, with three wins and five podiums in '05 Formula Atlantic Championship, finishing third in points; five top-10s in Champ Car World Series in '06; Audi factory driver in DTM '08-'09. Also competed in Formula Renault, Daytona 24-hour, Indy 500. Drove Delta Wing in ALMS and IMSA in '13-'14, with six podiums in '13.

LAWRENCE LOSHAK
Three-time SCCA National E Production champion '05-'07; SCCA Bronze Medal in D Sports Racer Nationals in '09 and championship in '10; in '13 won SCCA F1000 and H Production National championships, and Triple Crown and RRDC Mark Donohue Awards.

JOCHEN MASS
European Touring Car Champion in '72; 107 F1 starts in '73-'83, including Spanish GP win; winner of 24 Hours of Spa, and RAC TT Silverstone in '72. Porsche driver for many years, scoring 32 World Sports Car Championship wins from '82-'95. Won LeMans 24-hour for Mercedes in '89; '86 Sebring 12-hour winner with Bobby Rahal.

JIM PACE
Overall Daytona 24-hour and Sebring 12-Hour winner in '96; '94 GTU series champion; longtime Skip Barber Racing School instructor and vintage car tester/setup guru and racer.

MATT PLUMB
Skip Barber Formula Dodge Champion in '97; 14 wins in IMSA Continental Tire Championship. His Rum Bum Racing team, with him as lead driver, won Team Championship in '12 and '13; won Driver's Championship in '13.

DENNY WILSON
RRDC Mark Donohue Award winner in '80; 10 SCCA divisional titles and multiple lap records; was SCCA Chief Instructor and raced in IMSA and NASCAR. Now runs Lotus Super 7 in vintage racing.

Here, alphabetically, are the new Associate Members:

CONNIE GOUDINOFF DOWNING
Free-lance motorsports photo-journalist for over 20 years; racing program manager for Kelly Services, sponsor of IMSA Kelly American Challenge Series '77-'82; p.r. rep for Grand Prix of Canada; author of "Mazda Motorsports 20 Victorious Years in America."

FRANK HONSOWETZ
Nissan's National Manager of Motorsports '90-'01, in charge of U.S. racing programs for IMSA, SCCA, HDRA/SCORE, Stadium Off-Road Racing and IRL. After 27 years with Nissan, is now President and General Manager at Ed Pink Racing Engines; For nearly 40 years has built and raced cars in SCCA and IMSA and SCCA NASPORT.

DAVID KLYM
An amateur racer early on, is best known as mechanic and chief mechanic/crew chief on a number of major teams, including Charlie Hayes Racing, Dan Gurney All-American Racing; also worked for Wally Dallenbach, Fred Carrillo. Indy Mechanic of the Year in '77; started FabCar Engineering in '77; built Super Vees, Can-Am cars, Porsche 935s, 944s, 962s, among others. Designed and built first Daytona Prototypes for Grand-Am.

And, here are the new Honorary Members:

MILES COLLIER
Founder of Revs Institute for Automotive Research, which includes the Collier Collection of more than 100 important historic cars and bicycles. Competed in SCCA New England Region in E-Production in the '60s and '70s; first recipient of SVRA Driver of the Year '84. Has Fine Arts degree from Yale and MBA from Columbia University.

ADRIAN NEWEY
Designed three world championship F1 cars (Williams, McLaren and Red Bull). His designs have won two CART titles, 10 F1 World Constructors' titles and 10 F1 Driver's World Championships in past 26 years.