NGK Spark Plug Co., LTD. has announced the appointment of Michael Schwab to key executive positions within the company.

Beginning April 1, Schwab will serve as the corporate officer of NGK Spark Plug Co., LTD. (Japan), the regional president of Pan-America and Australia (PAMA Region), and as the president and CEO of NGK SPARK PLUGS (U.S.A.), Inc.

Schwab will replace Yoshitaka Narita, who will return to the Nagoya, Japan-based global headquarters, and will oversee the Regional Headquarters Governance division.

“It has been a tremendous honor to serve as the CEO of NGK SPARK PLUGS in the USA since 2016, and I am incredibly proud of everything our team has accomplished together in the least 3 years,” Narita said. “We’ve made sustainable improvements to our operations and meaningful progress toward our top company goals and priorities, including manufacturing, supply chain, operations and more importantly the establishment of the foundation for PAMA Regional Headquarters.”

Schwab has spent his entire career in the automotive industry and has served as the senior vice president for NGK since 2012. Additionally, he has been an active member of the Global Management Team, a supplier of automotive parts and technical ceramics worldwide, since 2013.

For more information, visit the NGK SPARK PLUGS, (U.S.A), Inc website.

In 2017, Keystone Automotive Operations launched Parts Via, an innovative sales network that linked organic site traffic at its brand partner’s websites to local brick and mortar business via a “Buy Now” button. The profits from the online transactions are shared among participating supplier partners and dealers while the free, ship-to-store delivery option served as a catalyst for driving consumer traffic to the local business.

The new program stimulated add-on sales, installation revenue and service opportunities.

Today, Keystone announced that it would officially launch Phase II of Parts Via during its annual BIG Show March 8-9, 2019, at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas. The new phase includes program enhancements that expand e-commerce reach through a consumer-facing website and marketplace store. Also, Parts Via members will be part of a new customer Parts Via loyalty program.

The new loyalty program employs a tiered approach to participation that is designed to make getting involved “easy and scalable for future growth regardless of a business’s size, focus or markets served.” As a Parts Via network dealer’s participation and engagement with Keystone grows, so do the benefits of being in the Parts Via Loyalty Program.

“We wanted to build a program that put our partners in the best competitive position to capture the sale regardless of where and when a consumer chooses to buy something, whether it is in a store or online,” Keystone President Bill Rogers said.

Keystone will preview its new consumer website during the BIG Show as part of the Phase II rollout. The site will complement the “Buy Now” functionality on partner sites and have the added benefit of hosting all the Parts Via partner products in one location. The new site will also include a robust parts look-up tool, fresh content and ship-to-store/ship-to-home options.

For more information, visit the Keystone Automotive Operations website or the Parts Via website.

For the first time, the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series Fueled By Sunoco will venture to Florida in 2020.

Series director Brett Deyo of BD Motorsports Media LLC and Wendell Durrance, the promoter of All-Tech Raceway in Lake City, Florida, have reached an agreement for both the STSS big-block/small-block modifieds and STSS Crate 602 Sportsman divisions to compete at the half-mile oval next February.

Three consecutive nights of racing will follow one night of open practice, February 5-8, 2020, at All-Tech.

“This is a huge step forward for the Short Track Super Series brand,” Deyo said. “All eyes are on Florida in February. We’re looking forward to showcasing the Short Track Super Series exciting style of racing, its competitors and marketing partners next February.”


“The modifieds will now have the opportunity to compete for purses comparable to the national super late model and 410 sprint car series,” Deyo said.

Two local divisions—tentatively the C Class Late Models and Thunder Stocks—will complete the shows.

For more information, including the 2019 series schedule, visit the Short Track Super Series website.

Mentor, Ohio-based Race Winning Brands, Inc. has acquired the assets of CV4, which will become a part of its Wiseco Performance Products division, the high-performance piston and engine component manufacturer under Race Winning Brands’ banner of companies.

CV4 supplies thermal management products such as high-temperature precision-fit silicone radiator hose kits, high-pressure radiator caps, fuel tank heat shields, and components to race teams and powersports enthusiasts worldwide.

“CV4 is an excellent fit for the Wiseco product line and we’re proud to make their products available to our customers,” Wiseco Director of Powersports Scott Highland said. “CV4’s quality and performance [have] made them the top choice for professional teams and weekend racers, the same group we aim to serve every day at Wiseco.”

For more information, visit the Race Winning Brands website or the Wiseco Performance Products website.

The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving’s executive team has reportedly secured a 30-day extension from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Arizona. The news comes as the team continues negotiations with prospective buyers of the high-performance driving school.

The school filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in October of last year, and since then, many of its sponsors, students and key employees have supported the business, which has been conducting a full schedule of classes at a Chandler, Arizona track. Bondurant also hosted the Mazda Road to Indy Shoot-Out in early December.

The school also celebrated its 51st anniversary in mid-February, making it one of the longest continuously running racing instruction schools in North America, according to The Shop.

For more information, visit the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving website.

Badlands Motor Speedway, the dirt track in Brandon, South Dakota, is for sale again.

PRI previously reported at the beginning of the year that racing promoter Steve Rubin had agreed to purchase the facility from current owner Chuck Brennan. Rubin had requested 30 to 60 days to arrange for financing, but the deal expired March 1.

Brennan has put the historic track up for sale for $9.45 million with a few financing options available. Now, Brennan is unsure if the track will get sold or be demolished, according to KSFY News.

Brennan originally purchased the track in 2015, changed the name from Huset’s Speedway to Badlands, and completed upgrades to the facility.

For more information, visit the Badlands Motor Speedway website.

The Mercedes EQ Formula E Team has pulled the covers off a “teaser car,” the Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 01, ahead of the team's entry into Formula E at the end of 2019.

After announcing that Mercedes-Benz would be committing to Formula E as a full factory team in 2017, the German marque has been quietly working behind the scenes with affiliate team HWA Racelab, which joined the Championship ahead of the fifth season.

Joining alongside fellow Stutgartt marque Porsche, the 2019/20 season will be the first time BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Porsche have faced each other on the race track. 

“Formula E is going to be a completely new playing field for us,”  Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Toto Wolff said. “But we are looking forward to the challenge of demonstrating the performance of our intelligent battery-electric drives in motorsport and of giving a positive boost to the EQ brand.”

When Mercedes lines up as a full factory outfit later this year, the marque will be the only team to compete in both Formula E and Formula One.

For more information, visit the ABB FIA Formula E website.

Honda Performance Development has announced the appointment of Ted Klaus to the position of president, effective April 1.

Klaus, who is currently the vice president of Honda R&D Americas, will succeed Art St. Cyr, who completes a seven-year tenure as president.

“While I’m pleased to go out on a ‘high note’ with last year’s run of 11 race wins and manufacturers’ championship, I will miss the daily contact with everyone in the paddock and garage area, St. Cyr said.

Klaus holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He joined Honda at the company’s Ohio R&D Center in 1990. After contributing to several company projects, Klaus was named Division Director of Complete Vehicle Performance for Honda R&D Americas in 2010 before later taking on his current responsibilities as vice president of Honda R&D Americas in 2017.

For more information, visit the HPD website.

Dana Incorporated announced the company had completed the acquisition of the Drive Systems segment of the Oerlikon Group, including the Graziano and Fairfield brands.

The recent acquisition expands the company’s capabilities in electrification and further optimizes its manufacturing presence in key growth markets.

The Drive Systems business serves a global roster of original equipment manufacturers with a portfolio of high-tech products that can be found in a wide range of applications for operating machinery and equipment.

Along with adding four research and development (R&D) facilities to Dana’s network of technology centers and 12 facilities to the company’s overall manufacturing footprint, the acquisition creates several opportunities for growth, including:
    • Extending Dana’s current technology portfolio, especially in the area of high-precision helical gears for the light- and commercial vehicle markets, as well as planetary hub drives for wheeled and tracked vehicles in the off-highway market;
    • Growing Dana’s electronic controls capability for transmissions and drivelines through the acquisition of VOCIS, a wholly owned business of Oerlikon Drive Systems, and further expanding its motors technologies through Ashwoods Electric Motors;
    • Increasing Dana’s product offerings that support vehicle electrification in each of Dana’s end markets – light vehicle, commercial vehicle, and off-highway;
    • Optimizing Dana’s global manufacturing presence to be closer to customers in key growth markets such as China and India, as well as the United States.

For more information, visit the Dana Inc. website.

Marion County Raceway owners Katie Lotsberg and Kevin Jewer have signed a multi-year sanctioning agreement with the International Hot Rod Ass’n (IHRA).

The track, located in La Rue, Ohio, will become a part of the IHRA Summit SuperSeries program, the largest and national championship in bracket racing.

“We love IHRA. My fiancée, Kevin, and I have been drag racing for over 20 years,” Lotsberg said. “Many of the tracks we’ve raced at are IHRA and we wanted this track sanctioned by IHRA.”

The 39-acre property’s history dates back to 1969 when brother Bill and Tom Guthery opened the first motocross facility. The first drag race was later held in 1971 and over the next several years, Marion County attracted many of the big names of the sport including Don Garlits, Don Prudhomme and Shirley Muldowney.

The track can accommodate 450 race cars and upwards of 4,000 spectators. Racing is carried out on both the eighth-mile and quarter-mile depending on the class and program. It features a 2,600-foot-long shutdown area, the longest in the state of Ohio.

For more information, visit the Marion County Raceway website.