LMC Workholding announced the hiring of Todd Johnson as the new Southeast Sales Representative.

Johnson began running a lathe directly after high school and has since transitioned to industrial distribution in inside sales from inside manager, branch manager and eventually field sales.

He’s worked with cutting tools and workholding since early in his career and has been mentored by some of the best cutting tool experts in the in the industry. Johnson’s 20-plus years of experience in the metalworking industry is said to be a great asset to both LMC and the customers of the Southeast region. 

LMC makes all types of workholding with a heavy emphasis currently on rotational workholding and aluminum wheel manufacturing systems.

LMC’s products include standard and special chucks and cylinders up to 7 meters in diameter, manual and hydraulic steady rest systems and integration, face drivers, centers and many other types of standard and super precision chucks, cylinders and fixtures. LMC has global reach and partnerships with additional manufacturing and service in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Italy, Taiwan and China.

For more information, visit www.lmcworkholding.com.

Mahr Federal announced it has changed its name to Mahr Inc., and will immediately begin transitioning to the new company name in all legal, product and promotional uses.

Mahr Inc. is a member of the Mahr Group, the third largest full-line producer of dimensional metrology instruments in the world, with more than 1,900 employees and sales of about $250 million.

"Changing our name to Mahr Inc. is a logical and long-planned step," said Tony Picone, Mahr Inc. president. "As a worldwide manufacturer of dimensional metrology equipment and member of the Mahr Group, this change will provide more consistency and better product and brand recognition across all our markets."

The Mahr Group has over 150 years of experience providing dimensional measurement solutions to fit customer application needs. The company manufactures and markets a wide variety of dimensional metrology equipment, from simple and easy-to-use handheld gages to technically advanced measurement systems for form, contour, surface finish and length.

Mahr Inc. is also well known as a producer of custom-designed gages and a provider of calibration and contract measurement services. Mahr's calibration laboratories are accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 NVLAP Lab Code 200605-0. For more information visit www.mahrexactly.com.

Holley/MSD announced it is a title sponsor of the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow (HROT) program, which pits high school students around the nation against one another in a fun and exciting competition.

Teams must tear down an engine to the bare block (only the camshaft and crankshaft remain) and put it all back together again in a certain amount of time, using nothing but hand tools and teamwork.

The brainchild of Jim Bingham, whose three old-school speed shops in Illinois still thrive in today's online world, its popularity has exploded since the program began in 2008. As teams win and advance, the winning times keep getting shorter. Less than 10 years ago, 44-minute times were required to win the nationals; now a 34-minute time wouldn't even qualify. The current record is an astounding 17:47 by Burton Center #2 from Salem, Virgina.

Students compete to reach the Dual National Championship finals at the SEMA Show and the PRI Show, and it's not just bragging rights that the master mechanics of the future are after—every member of the winning team gets a $10,000 scholarship to one of five schools: the University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH), the School of Automotive Machinists & Technology (SAM Tech), the Ohio Technical College (OTC), the Universal Technical Institute (UTI), or WyoTech.

Second-place students receive $9,500 scholarships, third place gets a $9000 scholarship, and every student that makes the finals gets at least a $5000 scholarship.

"It's amazing what this has turned into," said Bingham, who receives invaluable assistance at competitions all across the country from his son, Rodney. "The kids put a lot of heart and a lot of work into this, and they're exactly what colleges are looking for because they know these kids aren't sitting around, doing nothing in their spare time. They're go-getters."

Each team is sponsored by an aftermarket manufacturer and five teams have backing from the Holley family of brands: Holley, MSD, Hooker, Blackheart and Mr. Gasket.

For more information on the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow program, click here.

The first piece of steel was installed for the new grandstand structure as part of the $178 million Phoenix Raceway Project Powered by DC Solar this week.

The beam featured a special message “Best Wishes from Daytona,” signifying a symbolic passing of the torch from Phoenix Raceway’s partner facility Daytona International Speedway, which also recently completed a significant redevelopment project – DAYTONA Rising.

After arriving onsite as part of a special parade ceremony last week, the beam is the first to be placed in the grandstand addition that will overlook the famous dogleg.

Nearly 2000 tons of steel will be installed by the project’s completion in November 2018.

Fans can learn more about the Phoenix Raceway Project Powered by DC Solar and obtain news, updates and alerts by visiting phoenixraceway.com.

Officials from the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) and World Sporting Consulting (WSC) as the rights holder for TCR today confirmed plans for a Touring Class Racing (TCR) class to begin competing in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge beginning in 2018.

The TCR class will run in addition to the two existing Continental Tire Challenge classes, Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) next season. All TCR cars are front-wheel drive with four or five doors produced by mainstream automotive manufacturers. In the Continental Tire Challenge, TCR cars will come from manufacturers with relevance in the North American market.

Through its partnership with WSC, IMSA will use TCR cars fully homologated by WSC in the new Continental Tire Challenge class. The TCR class is projected to slot in between GS and ST based on its current level of performance.

As the market develops for TCR-spec cars, IMSA has the additional, exclusive right to establish TCR USA and TCR Canada as standalone series. IMSA, in cooperation with WSC, also now holds the right to sublicense the proper use of TCR specifications to other sanctioning bodies in the territory as well. 
 
After just a few years, about 200 races per year now are held with TCR cars in more than 20 racing series around the world. The TCR concept is based on production-based 2.0-liter turbocharged engines with no more than 350 horsepower, using a 6-speed sequential gearbox with paddle shift.

Current TCR manufacturers with a presence in North America include Audi, Ford, Honda, Alfa Romeo, Kia, Subaru and Volkswagen. TCR cars will make their Continental Tire Challenge debut next January at Daytona International Speedway during the three-day Roar Before The Rolex 24 At Daytona, with their first race planned for the day preceding the 2018 Rolex 24.

Next up for the Continental Tire Challenge is the Continental Tire 150 at Watkins Glen International on Saturday, July 1.

VP Racing Fuels, Inc. announced an agreement with London, Ontario-based CANUSA Automotive Warehousing, Inc. to stock VP’s full line of products in CANUSA’s chain of APC Auto Parts Centre stores.

There are 45 APC stores in south and central Ontario, each of which will carry VP Racing Fuels, VP Small Engine Fuels, VP Madditives and VP Motorsport Containers.  

“We’re excited about our new partnership with APC Auto Parts. VP has been well-established in Ontario for many years but APC will complement our existing distribution channels and allow us to reach a new base of customers,” said Tim Hogue, Eastern Regional Manager-Race Fuel Sales for VP Racing Fuels. “This agreement serves to strengthen our relationship with APC, building on our sponsorship of the APC Late Model Series, for which VP is the Official Spec Fuel.”

“We were familiar with VP’s racing fuels and reputation for performance, but the more we talked about VP’s other product lines, the clearer it became that this perfectly complemented our existing business,” said Luke Ramsay, (title) for CANUSA. “Our customer base is already into performance and we’ve had a very positive response to the VP products we’ve brought into inventory.  We anticipate our new partnership with VP will have a significant impact on the growth of our business.”

For more information, www.vpracingfuels.com

NHRA has named Roy T. Abacan as its new Vice President and Chief Financial Officer to oversee the financial and accounting organization as well as certain other functions of the drag racing sanctioning body.

Abacan is an innovative and operations oriented financial executive with wide-ranging management experience in public accounting as well as in media/entertainment and other entrepreneurial and high-growth businesses, according to the NHRA.

Abacan’s career with EY (Ernst & Young) was bridged by forays into hands-on executive management roles in industry.

Abacan—a CPA, who holds a degree in economics with an emphasis in business from University of California, Los Angeles—excels in business planning, strategy development and execution. He is skilled in all facets of financial planning and analysis, complex operational improvement initiatives, and systems evaluation, design, enhancement and implementation.

Abacan will report directly to NHRA president Peter Clifford.

“We’re pleased to welcome Roy to our leadership team, especially now, at this time of growth for NHRA. Roy is a consummate professional whose skill set meshes with our business needs. Roy’s extensive experience in financial and operational management, both as a strategic advisor and business operator, will be extremely impactful as we focus on our future,” said Clifford.

For more information, visit www.nhra.com.

Michael Shank Racing Crew Chief Adam Rovazzini was presented with the Clint Brawner Award during the annual Carb Day festivities at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rovazzini was selected by the Clint Brawner Foundation which recognizes an Indy 500 chief mechanic who "exemplifies the mechanical and scientific creativity, ingenuity, perseverance, dedication, enthusiasm and expertise" of its legendary namesake. Clint Brawner was chief mechanic on winning cars in 51 AAA- and USAC-sanctioned national championship races, and six season champions.

As part of Carb Day, Rovazzini was recognized on the IMS victory podium just below the iconic Pagoda and presented a $5000 check for his contributions to the Michael Shank Racing team's debut Indianapolis 500 effort.

In addition, Rovazzini will have a plaque with his name added to a permanent trophy housed in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.

"Adam's (Rovazzini) experience is very well known and his dedication is well known," said Michael Shank Racing team manager Tim Keene.
Rovazzini spent 13 years working as a mechanic for Chip Ganassi Racing, winning the 2008 Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar championship with driver Scott Dixon. In 2015, he was the crew chief at KVSH for the late Bryan Clauson.

"It is an honor to receive this award from the Clint Brawner Foundation," said Rovazzini, who also serves as crew chief on the No. 86 Acura NSX GT3 as part of Michael Shank Racing's IMSA effort. "It's great to be back here competing in the Indianapolis 500 – this time as part of the Michael Shank Racing organization."

Michael Shank Racing fields the No. 50 Honda Dallara of rookie Jack Harvey with support from Andretti Autosport. The team faced a bit of an uphill climb during the first week of Indianapolis 500 practice when faced with a steering issue and then an engine issue. But the perseverance of the team, led by Rovazzini, saw the effort back out on track in no time.

Harvey qualified 27th for the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 and the Michael Shank Racing team had its most positive day of running during the final practice day on Monday with Harvey completing 124 laps in traffic.

Keystone Automotive Operations, Inc. recently welcomed Northern Radiator, Race Gas and Weego brands to its growing line card.

Northern Radiator, a manufacturer of heating and cooling products with various applications including automotive and racing, has been in business for more than 40 years. The company uses OE-inspired inlet/outlet along with a side-channel system that allows flex under pressure.

Race Gas is a patent-pending combination of chemicals that fall into three primary groups: Fuel Hydrocarbons, Oxygenate and Organometallic Compounds. Each group of compounds is found in typical gasoline. What differentiates Race Gas are the individual chemicals that were chosen from each group to formulate a blend of proven performance.

Weego provides power sources in the form of jump starters and battery packs. Weego products are ultra-compact and lightweight enough to fit in someone’s pocket, built for longevity and durability.

Keystone carries and supports over 800 brands of aftermarket products, and has said it will continue to expand its footprint to meet the ever-growing needs of its customer base. For more information, visit www.keystoneautomotive.com.

TOPP Performance Race Parts (TPRP) announced the hiring of Jeff Fuller for the General Manager position at TPRP. Fuller comes to TPRP with over 20 years of industry experience.

Previous to joining the TPRP team, Fuller was National Sales Manager for two different high-performance racing spring companies. His industry experience includes open wheel cars, late models and drag racing cars.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to work with Joe Gaerte and the TPRP team. I have a lot of confidence in the motors that the shop builds, owning my own Gaerte Engine for the past several years,” said Fuller about joining the TPRP team.

While extremely versed on the sales end of racing, Fuller is also no stranger to being behind the wheel. He has owned race cars for thirty years, including an asphalt sprint car that he currently owns, which is driven by his oldest son, Jason. Fuller has previously raced with the United States Auto Club (USAC), United States Speed Association (USSA), Must See Racing and the Auto Value Super Sprints (AVSS).

For more information on TPRP, visit www.gaerteengines.com.