plus 4, Steven Cole Smith AUTOMOTIVE - Orlando Sentinel

Steven Cole Smith AUTOMOTIVE - Orlando Sentinel
Automotive Dealers Learn How to Leverage Google's Secrets to Achieve ... - KTVZ.com
Kansas City Automotive Examiner - Examiner
J.D. Power and Associates - SmartBrief
Students show off creativity at new center - Oakland Press

Steven Cole Smith AUTOMOTIVE - Orlando Sentinel

Posted: 31 Oct 2009 08:32 PM PDT

Steven Cole Smith AUTOMOTIVE

9:13 p.m. EDT, October 31, 2009

Who knew? If hiring an Indian medicine man was all it took to banish evil spirits from Talladega Superspeedway, certainly the management would not have waited 40 years. But last Thursday, a balding, pony-tailed Creek medicine man named Robert Thrower set up his folding card table on the starting line of the track, arranged some prayer rocks, crumbled up some herbs and called upon various almighty powers, including Jesus, to "let this talk of a curse be no more."

The fact that Jesus was consulted surprised some in attendance, but if you are calling upon almighty powers, you might as well cover the waterfront. All this despite a posting on Talladega's own Facebook page from a man who claims to have known Robert Thrower for 25 years, "and he's as much an Indian as I am a Martian."

But surely someone at the track checked the medicine man's resume.

You know the story of the Talladega curse: A hundred years ago the resident Indians were banished from the property by the federal government, and upon departing, they cursed the entire valley. That curse supposedly transferred to the track, including the troublesome opening day in 1969 when almost all the big-name drivers formed a quasi-union and walked off the job, because neither Goodyear nor Firestone had a tire that could stand up to the speeds and general roughness of the new, laid-on-a-budget pavement.

Plenty of things have happened at Talladega since that would give even a logical person pause.

Years ago, TV broadcaster Dick Berggren, then editor of Speedway Illustrated magazine, dispatched me to Talladega to cover not the race, but the lore. I spent several days poking around the town and graveyards and libraries and talking to elderly men in rocking chairs, but unfortunately for the story and my resulting paycheck, I really wasn't able to find much.

That said, do I think there is something -- well, not right with Talladega? Yes. And in a moment, I'll tell you about a personal experience, which involved a fatality there you never heard about.

In fact, there are a lot of things about Talladega you probably never heard about. Regarding many, you know about the big, overriding event, but so often there was some little twist, some little ancillary story. Think of it as the Talladega Factor.

Such as? In that 1969 race, one of the few big-name drivers who did compete was Tiny Lund, driving a car that was actually owned by "Big" Bill France, the NASCAR founder. He finished ninth. Lund was back at Talladega in 1975. He had not raced in more than two years. On lap seven, his car spun. It was hit by the car of Terry Link. Lund was killed. That's the story you likely know.

The Talladega Factor: Link was injured and unconscious. His car ended up against the inside retaining wall and caught on fire. But there weren't many safety workers on the scene, and the few that were headed to Lund's car. Link was sitting in his car, which was burning, and there was no one to help him. Two spectators leaped over the wall and began working to free Link.

A track worker also jumped over the fence, but rather than try to help Link, he picked up a big stick and began beating the two men, telling them to get back behind the wall.

"He hit me on the shoulder and the back of the head, so I took that stick out of his hand and threw it over next to the dirt bank," David Garmany told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after they tracked him down at his home in Lakeland in 2003.

Garmany burned his hands and rode to the infield care center in the same ambulance as Lund. Link, from Daytona Beach, survived, but his NASCAR career was over.

Want more? Gene Lovell, crew chief for driver Grant Adcox, died of a heart attack while working on Adcox's car prior to that race. And Adcox was killed in the season finale at Atlanta in 1989, the first NASCAR race I covered as a jounalist.

More? Lund was killed at the second Talladega race of the season in August, 1975. At the first race in April, Richard Petty's car caught fire on lap 141. He pulled to the pits and Petty's 20-year-old brother-in-law, Randy Owens, tried to put the fire out with a hose attached to a pressurized water tank. The tank exploded, and Owens was thrown 30 feet into the air and killed. A crewman for Benny Parsons was injured by a flying piece of metal from the tank.

Two years earlier, the two 1973 Talladega races were no less tragic, no less strange. The first race in May saw a massive 21-car wreck. The most seriously injured: Wendell Scott, the pioneer black driver. It essentially ended his career. Scott was supposed to race in that 1969 Talladega debut race, but someone had sabotaged his car, not the first nor last time that happened. Fourth-place finisher Clarence Lovell was killed a few days later in a highway crash as he headed home to San Antonio.

In the August race, former NASCAR rookie of the year Larry Smith was killed in a rather benign lap 14 crash. He died from head injuries. His helmet was not cracked, but reportedly he had removed the helmet lining before the race because it was uncomfortable.

On lap 90, Bobby Isaac, the most famous driver who chose to compete in that 1969 race, radioed his car owner Bud Moore that voices in his head told him to quit. He pulled his front-running Ford, which had qualified fourth in the 50-car field, to the pits and got out of the car. Four years later Isaac died when he suffered a heart attack on pit road at a race in North Carolina. He was 45.

There are so many more things that happened at Talladega, but so many more things to which Talladega is an important footnote.

You know, of course, Davey Allison died at the track in June of 1993, when he backed his landing helicopter into an infield fence. Allison was flying in to watch the son of family friend Neil Bonnet practice. Bonnet helped pull Allison from the helicopter. Nine months later, Bonnet was killed at Daytona International Speedway.

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Automotive Dealers Learn How to Leverage Google's Secrets to Achieve ... - KTVZ.com

Posted: 31 Oct 2009 06:24 PM PDT

FirstLook Executive Applies Google Relevance Model to Automotive Internet Business

CHICAGO, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Optimizing relevance for consumers has been the key to success for Google and now executives at FirstLook, the pioneer in automotive retail performance solutions, are illustrating how this model can be the key to success for automotive dealers in their online vehicle advertising. As a featured speaker during the Digital Dealer Conference and Expo in Nashville, Tenn., Pat Ryan Jr., FirstLook's Founder and CEO, will reveal to dealers how the Google Relevance Model can be applied to online vehicle advertising using Consumer Optimization techniques.

"People use Google because it helps them find what they are looking for - in short, Google optimizes consumer relevance," says Ryan. "Yet, despite Google's virtually unparalleled success, few online advertisers, especially online vehicle advertisers, leverage Google's powerful, yet simple secret in managing their own internet business. With Consumer Optimization, dealers will be positioned to create a new power shift - the shift away from irrelevance."

Consumer Optimization techniques focus on the features, qualities and benefits that set one dealer's vehicles apart from others. Similar to Search Engine Optimization, which optimizes a web page so it ranks higher, Consumer Optimization techniques allow pre-owned automotive dealers to optimize their online vehicle ads to rank higher with consumers and be more likely chosen over their competitors.

In addition to Ryan, senior vice president and general manager for FirstLook's Elite Operations Division, David Nelson, will present "The New Four Square" during the Digital Dealer Conference. Nelson will discuss the fundamental shift that has taken place in pre-owned vehicle sales - from a confrontational negotiation bases solely on price to a win-win negotiation based on consumer values, or M.A.R.K. factors: Mission, Affordability, Risk and Key Differentiators.

More than 45 exhibitors and 500 attendees are expected for this year's Digital Dealer Conference to be held November 1 - 3 in Nashville, Tennessee.

FirstLook's 360 degree Market Navigation Tools allow dealers to tap market data, and execute pre-owned operations best practices. For more information contact FirstLook at 800-730-5665.

About FirstLook

FirstLook, by INCISENT Technologies, is the pioneer in Automotive Retail Performance Solutions and the #1 fastest-growing automotive related company in the United States, according to the Inc Magazine's prestigious 2008 INC 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. FirstLook provides industry-leading tools to manage Pre-Owned Operations, Internet Marketing and Retail Performance Training & Best Practices. FirstLook technology is in over 1,600 automotive franchises throughout the United States. FirstLook helps dealers Drive More Traffic from the Internet, Close More Customers More Profitably, Close More Appraisals and Stock More of the "Right Cars" for their lot through cutting edge technology solutions as well as industry leading training and consulting services. For more information, visit www.firstlooksolutions.com or call (800) 730-5665.

SOURCE FirstLook

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Kansas City Automotive Examiner - Examiner

Posted: 31 Oct 2009 04:08 PM PDT

Craig Hover served as promoter of I-70 Speedway, and worked at Heartland Park Topeka and Lakeside Speedway. Craig has been an ISCA judge, an editor for several automotive publications, and an analyst for The Automobile Red Book. Contact Craig at craig@championdirect.com.

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J.D. Power and Associates - SmartBrief

Posted: 31 Oct 2009 10:20 PM PDT

J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Social Media Networking Reaches More Prospects Than Online Search Engines or Portals According to Recent Snapshot of New-Vehicle Buyer Online Activity [Press Release]
PRNewswire | 16 days 11 hours 59 minutes ago
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Social media networking Web sites, such as Facebook, have greater reach among new-vehicle prospects than online search engines or portals--such as Google and Yahoo, according to the opening presentation at the 2009 J.D. Power and Associates Automotive Internet Roundtable. The conference is currently being held at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa in Las Vegas, Nev., through Friday, Oct.16. The opening presentation included results from auto buyer clickstre...

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Students show off creativity at new center - Oakland Press

Posted: 31 Oct 2009 10:27 PM PDT

By DIANA DILLABER MURRAY
Of The Oakland Press

Students can express their creativity through state-of-the-art technology at the new center at Baker College of Auburn Hills.

The 30,000-square-foot building that Ticona once operated and Volkswagen later used for storage has been turned into a center where students learn animation, interior design, digital computer-aided design, digital media and automotive technology and design. The Baker College System Corporate Services office also is located at one end of the building.

Leading a visitors' tour Tuesday, Baker President Jeff Love pointed to examples of students' work on display in the building Baker purchased two years ago. It sits in the back of the college's main building off University, just west of Opdyke.

"I've been receiving thank you notes from students," Love said.

"The key to all of our programs is our advisory boards of people in the industry and program directors hired by Baker. The college's technology center advisory board made up of 15 experts told us: 'Here's what you need and what you need to do.' "

Ken Juzswik, who retired from Oakland Schools, is the director of the automotive technology program. He ran all of the automotive programs in the intermediate district's technology centers and other county school districts.

Jacqueline Tessmer is the program director for digital media design, which includes marketing and all graphic arts, including video.

Kristy Hartman and Rifath Hoque, both 21 and second-year graphics design students who have hopes of jobs in advertising, are among the students that are excited about the new technology available to them.

On Tuesday, they boasted about the new Mac computers they were using for their graphics design project in the lab.

"In the industry, we have to use Macs," said Hartman of Utica. "And I like it because they are in a separate place where other people can't use them.

"They are a lot more compatible for graphic design than the PCs we were using," Hartman said.

"They are faster and the others would freeze up a lot," said Hoque, because they were not made to do the type of projects graphic design students are assigned to prepare for future real-world work. "We got new scanners, too."

Students in the program have used their skills to develop brochures and video to promote the program. All the banners in the student center were designed by students. During Black History Month, students in digital media design did a display based on the theme of momentous events in the Civil Rights movement.

"They depicted it graphically. It was wonderful to see," Love said. "They used still and video photography, drawings and computer-aided design."

Further down the hall are showcases with samples of the work students have done in the process of creating computer animation — from a pencil sketch to the final product — which is used for games, cartoons and digitally animated movies.

The automotive lab, which boasts 11 bays, eight lifts and state-of-the-art technology equipment, takes up the largest portion of the building —15,000 square feet — and "has received high praise from the industry," Love said.

A showcase filled with bright-colored automotive models made and painted by students and Juzswik is located just outside the bay areas.

The automotive program covers most technical areas of an automobile, such as engines, transmissions, brakes, suspension and electrical, Love said.

Interior design students participated in the Clarkston Designer Showcase Homes project over the summer to help raise money for SCAMP, a summer camp for students with disabilities.

Baker students did the interior design for four rooms in the large historic home that is located among several around a Mill Pond along M-15 in Clarkston. They were assigned two bathrooms, a bedroom and a sun room. Interior design professionals designed the other rooms.

The students first created story boards on which they placed samples of the materials and color scheme they planned to use along with a sketch of the proposed finished project. Story boards are presented to the owner for approval before any work is done, Love said.

The students' story boards and photos of their finished projects are on display in a showcase.

Love went to the pre-meeting and after the interiors were completed, to the final reveal.

"I don't think I am easily impressed, but I thought, 'Wow!' This is amazing,'" he said.