Taking Brakes
Hi Friends!
First off, on this Memorial Day, we say thank you to all those who served and we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice during that service. You are not forgotten and we are forever grateful.
I think it’s no secret to anybody how crowded and claustrophobic life can be sometimes. Especially, when we’re working within the confines of a niche hobby like collector cars or within the parameters of something like a small business. Things that are designed to make the world feel smaller and more connected can easily weigh down and clutter up your day to day and sometimes things that have traditionally been important to you change and no longer serve you. I think there’s real value in being able to recognize this and then proceed accordingly.
For the first time since I have been in this industry, I have decided not to renew my membership to SEMA. This was not an easy decision. SEMA has always been something that I have held in extremely high regard, as I’ve always looked at it as an organization that’s doing critical work, representing everyone and hoping to provide and expand business opportunities across this industry and this hobby. Additionally, the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas is one of those things that people who aren’t in this industry ask me about and are genuinely shocked and impressed when I tell them I’ve been eight times. For people coming in or people that aren’t in this space 24/7, there’s no other event in this country that likely carries this same esteem and with the same degree of mainstream recognition. It’s simply a bucket list experience for anybody who loves cars and attending multiple times definitely feels like a badge of honor.
I’ve been involved with the organization quite a bit over the years too. I ran for ARMO Council a few times earlier on in my career, at one time or another, I’ve used almost every resource they have as far as data and research is concerned and when their political operatives have reached out (especially regarding issues that have required action locally here in Arizona), I have always answered and always acted.
Recently however, something has really changed with SEMA. The frequency of communication has decreased noticeably, basic maintenance and the way that the organizations presents itself seems to have hit a wall and let’s be honest, the show itself seems less and less relevant and important every year (keynote speaker Tim Tebow? Come on guys….). Even basic little components like their job board always seem to be broken and I never get notifications or correspondence on anything located there anymore either.
This said, I do want to point out that I am aware of their objectives involving things like motorsports and fighting EV mandates, but that’s seemingly all I ever get from them now. It doesn’t seem like they have the ability to focus on anything else. Plus, they were noticeably silent on the tariff situation. While I do understand that it may make sense for them to want to see parts manufacturing return to the United States, I would think that currently, the overwhelming majority of their membership needs imported materials, at minimum in order to keep their operations moving and to stay in business. I wasn’t looking for them to necessarily pick a side here, I was just looking for some kind of communication that they were actively involved in the conversation, that they were working on at least something and that they had some kind of plan to make it work. Instead, I got crickets.
Unfortunately, the organization just seems like it’s kind of running out of gas and I’m not really sure what to make of it. I felt for the last couple of years that they’ve stopped representing me and I see little evidence that they are still interested in supporting classic and collector cars overall. At this point, I have no clients interested in vendor space at the show, most of the people that I deal with who I have routinely met with there, no longer have the desire to attend and last year, for the first time (pandemic notwithstanding – although we did go to the downsized event with masks required that they held) we did not attend either.
I’ve seen internet influencers lately make mention that the reason that they don’t have interest in it anymore is because of the cars. I don’t really blame the cars for this. They’ve always been semi-horrible monstrosities, but the fact of the matter is you can’t look at them as realistic, operable transportation. What they are is a demonstration of every single service and every single product that somebody can possibly offer all jammed into a 10×20 space. They are showcase pieces. They are not cars and they should not really be judged that way. The cars are not the issue. I think leadership and culture are and it’s been this way for the last couple of election cycles that they’ve had. I’m not sure what they need to do to fix this, but unfortunately, it’s no longer worth the investment for me to be involved at this point.
I’m hoping they figure out how to turn it around. If they do, I’ll be back, but until then…….
That’s it for this week……
Darin Roberge
