Christmas for Diesel fans in your home!

With the Holidays quickly approaching we all need to keep in perspective what is important and that is spending time with family. You still have your health, loved ones and close friends by your side. . .  and oh yea, your diesel truck!

You know last year when I was in LA one of the manufacturers made a smart comment to me about what do you Midwestern people do live in your trucks? I told him no, we don't have to because our homes don't cost $2 million dollars for a 900 square foot home. We live comfortable in modest homes and we enjoy our hobby, which is diesel trucks.

That's right we have money left over (sometimes) to do what we have fun passing our time which is DIESEL Motorsports.

It doesn't always have to be a big present for Christmas, most of us would appreciate a nice photo of our truck in a nice frame to hang up in our man cave or office.

Apparel from our favorite suppliers or manufacturers, or gift certificates for future upgrades or repairs would be appreciated.

This time of the year we are all thinking of winter and prepping the truck for cold weather. Anything for the winterizing of our truck is a easy purchase even at Flying Js.

Just remember what we are thankful for the year and who is around us this Holiday season!

What's next for 2013? DIESEL Motorsports

The usual events that have been long standing will continue their usual time and locations.
DIESEL Motorsports have some new venues and remakes of older shows with some new activities at the shows. Working on some new locations that seem worthy.

Should have the details by middle of January for all events and affiliate shows.

We stand by our strong standing in the Midwestern states since a ton of rural trucks are among our fan base. Missouri to the edge of New York is the strong concentration of diesel trucks used in the workplace and rural lifestyle.

I don't see that changing even with the recent EPA rulings and crack downs on the tuning industry, most of the trucks in this area are older and does not fall under the effected vehicles. Most of the diesel shops in this area are rural and off of the radar from CARB and most of the states have relaxed emission standards.

Why does the breadbasket have relaxed standards, because those trucks are used for work and jobs which are hard to find in the rural countryside.  Also fewer people and open spaces makes for a less concern about emissions over working for a living.

I do see some slowdowns for the diesel shops who do not do maintenance work to supplement their performance work. The larger shops will be fine with their usual work along with older truck upgrades. Prices for older trucks will continue to rise while newer trucks will fall.

Why buy new when your mileage is considerably higher with older trucks (non-DPF), making those older trucks with lower miles (less than 150,000) worth a premium price.

Always looking for ways to expand our affiliate programs through series and unique events with a good following. The same groups DIESEL Motorsports supported last year will be back along with new areas and people.

We have continued to grow besides reports from haters and wannabes, more fans and competitors have shown up every year at the events. It's the lifestyle of families and the younger crowd that makes the events fun to attend.

Looking forward to 2013!

Where to go next . . . past DPF deletes . . . diesel shops?

For one over 90% of the sled pulling trucks in competition are older than 2007, that leaves a lot of product to sell to sled pulling diesel truck competitors.

Over 80% of the drag racing competitors are using older than 2007 trucks, still a lot of performance products to be sold to older trucks.

Most of the classes are trailered trucks, only one street class in drags and pulling are now licensed street trucks. This leaves a lot of trucks available for competition parts and tuning.

Maintenance on the trailering trucks and fan's trucks will still be the work load of local diesel shops. If you have not sought out local utility and municipalities for their diesel maintenance work then you may want to make an effort to do so in the near future.

Expand your hard parts inventory to include engine parts that will make a difference in performance, there are a lot of extra heavy duty engine parts that are now being manufactured that will add to the HP of a customer's truck.

Take a look at the accessory market and what can be added to a truck to make it last longer and look better longer.  Products such as seat covers, fender flares, spray bed liners, window tints, steps, toolboxes, etc.

Be willing to change with the market and diversify, survival will be key for many of our diesel shop friends in the near future. If you need help feel free to contact me about some of the options and I can put you in contact with companies that can help you.

It's not where you can go next, it's about how hard do you want to work to succeed!

What is a blog and why do I do this?

I started this blog a little over a year ago to report my personal view of what's going on in the diesel marketplace. My views and experience come from being in the automotive aftermarket for over 25 years as an agency, marketing consultant and owner of a sanctioning body for diesel motor sports.

I actually had someone accuse me of ranting on this blog with no authority or credentials. I believe I already stated it is a personal blog written by myself and my background is plainly listed on the front page. I try to state how I personally see the marketplace and remain objective in how I see what is going on while I am traveling during the shows.

My suggestion would be to those that state this, they do not have to read it and do they believe everything they read on the Internet as the gospel truth. If they do then many people on the Internet have a bridge they would like to sell them!

While doing the shows and trade shows we see and hear many things that are going on in the business world. I report those items and reviews of our sponsor's products because many of our diesel shop owners and fans cannot go to all of the shows in all parts of the country.

I report what I am told and see, and many times experience. I thoroughly enjoy the people in this sport including the competitors and the fans. Many of the sponsors I call friends because we have seen the business go up and down and people come and go during the years.

When business gets involved then things tend to get obtuse within our marketplace, people always trying to remain on top and feathers get ruffled. If you notice I don't have much left on top and it has all sunk to the bottom, ;), they used to call that success!

I will continue to write occasionally and report what is going on and when i see no one is reading my blogs then I will stop. So far that has not been a problem and even when I don't write for a while people tend to pull up the old posts to read.

To me, that is how exciting DIESEL Motorsports has become and I would like to think Gene and I have had a part in that process.

Yes, I will keep on writing!

PRI and the drag race . . . DIESEL Motorsports!

PRI was a little off this year under new ownership and with a different atmosphere since it was already announced they are closing the Orlando location and moving back to Indy!

PRI has always been the other trade show that is not governed by the big one in Vegas, but no more. One company now owns all of the trade shows. How does this help DIESEL Motorsports?

A lot really, the mainstream manufacturers who have now gotten into DIESEL Motorsports has many different options to display their wares. The diesel industry will attend our shows to display their products. The diesel industry manufacturers now have a real fear of the larger trade shows (EPA), and I don't blame them after what happened the last month.

Yes we needed to clean our business up in appearance for legal reasons but not shut manufacturers down costing people their jobs when so many need them right now. A real tragedy for our country, but then again I just watched a special last night about how our country's regulations and Union pricing has run all movie productions to Canada. Is the auto industry going to follow this path?

One thing I know about our diesel industry is they are independent thinkers and doers, we will find a way to keep our rural roots and the sport alive.

This was portrayed at our Drag Race this last weekend in Lakeland, Florida! A great crowd of local diesel enthusiasts (young and old) along with many from the PRI show racing their rental cars (all fully insured). It was a blast with lots of participants on both sides and a fun crowd watching the entertainment. They can not take this away from us! The fun and excitement many felt by attending the drag race.

There were many different diesel manufacturers and WDs at the PRI show that did not come out to the show, it was a long way, almost 30 minutes from the show (:-(). Those who I spotted there and that showed up to support the sport were Flo-Pro Exhaust, Lil Power Shop, Champion Oil, Vulcan Performance, Borg Warner, Garrett Turbos, Diesel Specialists, Southern Diesel Performance, Black's Diesel, Rudy's Diesel, Central Florida Diesel Performance and a lot of diesel truck competitors/fans.

I think I wrote just a few days ago about "United we stand, divided we fall", guess most people missed reading that post.

They don't know what they missed and how much the Floridians want DIESEL Motorsports to come back to their state. I heard them loud and clear! What about you?