PRI Trade Show exhibitor Lincoln Electric Holdings has announced the promotion of David Nangle to Executive Vice President of Lincoln Electric Holdings. This is in addition to his role as President of The Harris Products Group segment. 
 
“Dave’s strong leadership has been invaluable in advancing Harris towards commercial and operational excellence,” said Christopher Mapes, Lincoln Electric’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.  “[This] announcement recognizes Dave’s successful track record and the value he has created for all of our stakeholders.”
 
Nangle joined Lincoln Electric in 1979 and held numerous sales management positions with increasing responsibility. In 1999, he was appointed president of the company’s Harris Calorific subsidiary, and in 2003 was appointed president of the company’s retail subsidiary, WCTA LLC. He was also elected president of J.W. Harris Co. in 2005.

Nangle holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Roanoke College and an MBA from California State University, Fresno.

For more information, visit lincolnelectric.com.

Bridgestone Americas has announced leadership changes within the marketing organization for the company’s consumer tire business and Bridgestone Retail Operations (BSRO) following the announcement that Phil Pacsi, vice president, sports and events marketing and training, will retire after 36 years with the company, effective Sept. 30.

Amber Holm, current vice president, consumer brand marketing, U.S. and Canada, BATO, will assume the role of vice president, marketing, consumer and customer engagement, U.S. and Canada, BATO. In this redefined position, Holm will lead engagement activities for the company’s sports and entertainment partnership platforms, which include the NFL, NHL, Verizon IndyCar Series, PGA TOUR, the company’s Worldwide Olympic Partnership and country music. In addition, she will oversee dealer training and education for the consumer tire business.

Jeffrey Lack will assume the role of vice president, marketing, consumer tire, U.S. and Canada, BATO. In this role, Lack will lead strategic marketing efforts for the company’s consumer tire business in North America, and implement brand-building and digital engagement programs that drive traffic to customers’ stores.

Dave Nientimp has accepted the role of vice president, marketing and merchandising, BSRO, succeeding Lack. Since joining BSRO in 2016, he has played a key role in developing and delivering brand and advertising strategies for the Firestone and Tires Plus retail brands. In his new role, Nientimp will be responsible for overall marketing strategy at the company’s more than 2,200 retail locations. This will include brand-building programs, digital initiatives and tire and service merchandising.

For more, visit bridgestoneamericas.com

2014 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards championship team Mason Mitchell Motorsports (MMM) will cease operations effective immediately, the team announced today (July 30).

The team captured the drivers and owners championship with the series in their first season of competition during the 2014 season. Overall they made 123 starts in the series with 32 different drivers during their five-year span racing with the circuit.

“I would like to thank all of our fans, sponsors, drivers, past and present employees for your support and hard work over the years,” owner Mason Mitchell stated. “We accomplished a lot in one of the most well-known national touring series in the country. I appreciate all of the friendships over the last five years. This isn't a goodbye, more so a see you later.”

The team earned their first victory in just their tenth series start at the Chicagoland Speedway in 2014 with Mason Mitchell behind the wheel. They earned seven victories in total, three with Mason Mitchell, two with Justin Haley, one with Austin Wayne Self and one victory with Gus Dean.

Along with capturing victories, the team earned six pole positions, the 2014 and 2015 S&S Volvo Laps Completed award, Fast Track Award in 2014, General Tire Superspeedway Challenge in 2014, and the R.E. Lightning Challenge in 2014.

The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) has announced that it will bring the vintage racing series to Lime Rock Park for the first time ever. The Trans Am Series Presented By Pirelli will also join SVRA over the 2019 Memorial Day Weekend.

“Racing at Lime Rock Park during Memorial Day Weekend is a tradition,” said Skip Barber, Lime Rock Park President. “We look forward to carrying on that tradition in 2019 with classic sports car racing.”

Both SVRA and Trans Am will offer a full Memorial Day holiday weekend of activities, including practice and qualifying on Friday, May 24, and racing on Saturday, May 25, and Monday, May 27. The track will present the 10th annual Sunday Royals Car Show, which will include both Trans Am and SVRA race cars as well as the second annual Farm-To-Table picnic, on Sunday, May 26.

“At long last, our SVRA racers, spectators, and sponsors will finally get a chance to experience this historic venue. I am thrilled to see this event come together and have the chance to work with Skip Barber,” said Tony Parella, SVRA president and CEO. “Memorial Day weekend is a huge celebration of motorsports worldwide, and being able to be a part of it at one of the most significant American road courses is another statement about the growth of our sport and raising its profile.”

BorgWarner announced that Deborah McWhinney and Paul Mascarenas have been named to its board of directors.

McWhinney is the former Division CEO of Global Enterprise Payments, Citigroup Inc., a financial services firms. In this role, McWhinney was responsible for developing and implementing new mobile and online services around the globe for some of the world’s largest corporations and governments. Prior to this role, McWhinney spent six years as president of Charles Schwab Corp.’s division that serves financial advisers and was a member of the Schwab Bank board of directors.

Mascarenas is the former chief technical officer of Ford Motor Co. In that role, he led Ford’s worldwide research organization, overseeing the development and implementation of the company’s technology strategy and plans. He is currently a venture partner with Fontinalis Partners LLP and serves on the boards of the United States Steel Corp., ON Semiconductor Corp. and Spartan Motors Inc.

In addition he holds an honorary doctorate degree from Chongqing University and in 2015, was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to the automotive industry.

Past Super DIRT Week Champion Kenny Tremont Jr., storied western Pennsylvania driver Brian Swartzlander and legendary driver Bob Rossell were permanently enshrined within the hallowed walls of the DIRT Museum and Hall of Fame.

The DIRT Museum and Hall of Fame also recognizes the outstanding men and women who work behind the scenes. Gary Spaid, Linda Cosco, Gene DeWitt, and Maynard Troyer all received lifetime achievement awards from the Hall of Fame.

Tremont Jr. has 108 career wins including two this year, one at Lebanon Valley Speedway and other at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Tremont was so dominant in the past at Lebanon Valley Speedway that fans began turning in their season tickets because they knew he would win every week.

Swartzlander captured many track championships and wins including one Super DIRTcar Series win at Sportsman’s Speedway in Pennsylvania in 1998. Swartzlander has fifteen track championships including seven at his current home track of Lernerville Speedway. He and his team are chasing 100 wins at Lernerville Speedway and leads all drivers there in wins.

Rossell was a true pioneer of auto racing. His career as a driver and car-builder put him in a league of his own. With a beat-up Chevy and an engine from the junkyard, Rossell began racing in 1958. With those meager beginnings, Rossell propelled himself to the top of the pile with huge wins, such a Syracuse Qualifier at East Windsor Speedway in 1972 as well as a 200-lap NASCAR victory at Old Dominion. Rossell was also a staple of the All-Star Racing League. His car-building skills are not to be ignored either and many consider him one of the best.

For more information, including short biographies of the lifetime achievement award recipients and photos from the event, visit the Super DIRTcar Series website here.

Toro Rosso’s James Key will join the McLaren in the newly-created role of technical director, as reported by Formula 1.

A McLaren spokesperson confirmed to Formula1.com that Key would become part of the team. However, it remains unclear when he will begin work. Toro Rosso has declined to comment.

Key has two decades of experience in F1, having begun his career at Jordan in 1998. He remained with the team as it became Midland, Spyker and Force India, rising to the role of technical director. He joined Sauber in 2010, before moving to Toro Rosso two years later.

Meanwhile, Matt Morris has left his role as McLaren's engineering director, though this is not connected to Key’s impending arrival.

The McLaren team is undergoing significant changes behind the scenes, with Eric Boullier leaving his role as racing director earlier this month as part of a leadership shakeup. Former Indycar champion Gil de Ferran, who had been working at the team as an advisor, is now sporting director, with Andrea Stella appointed performance director.

McLaren is currently seventh in the constructors’ championship on 48 points, 262 adrift of leaders Mercedes and 28 clear of Toro Rosso. The British team has not won a race since the Brazilian Grand Prix season finale in 2012. Since 2014, the team has managed two podiums, while their last constructors’ championship was two decades ago in 1998.

Keystone Automotive Operations Inc., one of the leading distributors and marketers of aftermarket automotive products and services, has added Racing Power Co. (RPC) to its speed and performance line card category.

Since 1995, RPC has developed an extensive line of OE-grade, high-performance aftermarket products for classic American muscle cars. The company’s catalog touts more than 5,000 unique parts in a wide range of styles, from trim and accessories to intakes, cylinder heads, valve covers, headers, fuel pumps, steering and suspension components.

RPC’s product line covers all facets as it applies to the building, restoring or just maintaining a hot rod. The company also added that it keeps an eye on the latest trends and emerging technology, as it related to developing new products.

“RPC has a great reputation, with a vast offering of quality engine accessories, brackets and fasteners that will only add to the ever-growing selection of speed parts Keystone offers its customers,” Keystone Category Manager Joe Rutledge said.

Hurco Manufacturing Limited's (Hurco Ltd.) Takumi USA will showcase 3D-Hybrid’s Metal 3D Printing Tool, said to be one of the largest and fastest metal 3D printers with full in-process machining capability, at IMTS 2018.

The demonstration will focus on producing large, high-precision parts found in the tooling, mold and die industries.

Production metal 3D printed parts require post machining to be joined to mating parts. 3D-Hybrid is said to be focused on evolving and advancing directed energy deposition technologies as 3D tools for the CNC environment. The company offers three metal AM technologies for CNC machines: Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing, Laser Metal Deposition and Cold Spray.

Features of 3D-Hybrid’s Metal 3D Printing Tool, according to a company release, include:
•    Single setup and in-process machining
•    Simplified management structure and reduced learning curve
•    Greatly reduced barrier to entry for Metal AM
•    Repair and Salvage Applications
•    Just-in-time Manufacturing, feeding wire to near net shape production
•    Reduced material costs on large parts
•    Multi-Material parts

Former Ferrari chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne has passed away at the age of 66 following complications from shoulder surgery.

Fiat/Chrysler Automotive officials had just confirmed a succession plan for the company on Saturday, with Mike Manley becoming CEO of FCA, John Elkann elevated to Ferrari chairman and Louis C. Camilleri named as CEO of Ferrari.

“All of us at Ferrari feel privileged to have worked alongside a courageous leader like Sergio Marchionne, a man of enormous humanity and intelligence,” Ferrari officials said in a statement. “In this moment of sadness, we join with his family in remembering him with immense affection.”

Marchionne was born in Italy in 1952 but moved to Canada with his family at age 13 and completed his education there, earning a degree in philosophy and later completing accountancy qualifications, an MBA and a law degree.

He became chairman of Ferrari in September of 2014, replacing the outgoing Luca di Montezemolo, and kept a close involvement with the marque’s Formula One team.

Under his leadership, Ferrari returned to the forefront of the F1 championship fight over the last three years, capturing 12 grand prix victories over the last three and a half seasons and ranking second in the constructor’s championship in both 2015 and 2017.

Outside of motorsports, Marchionne helped broker the merger deal between Fiat and Chrysler which was hailed by many to have saved both companies.

Marchionne is survived by longtime partner Manuela Battezzato, his estranged wife Orlandina, and two sons, Allessio Giacomo and Jonathan Tyler.

(Photo courtesy of Ferrari, SPEEDSPORT).