Take A Kid To A Car Show

I’m fortunate to get a behind-the-scenes view of the automotive industry, and people always ask me, “What’s the next big thing?” in the car world. The motive behind the questions often involve developing new products to take advantage of the latest trends, but it usually causes me to think further down the road. The reality is that the key demographic of our industry will go through a harsh cycle in the next decade or so. Who will be our next class of car guys and girls? It will ultimately be our responsibility to usher them into the hobby, otherwise the pool of car enthusiasts will steadily shrink as the years go by. That’s why I’m passionate about introducing kids to this awesome hobby.

I am blessed to have grown up in the muscle car era, and my father had a Shell station in Los Angeles, so you can imagine the types of cars that came rumbling up to the pump. Do you remember the days of full-service gas stations? I was the kid who came out and pumped the gas, cleaned the windows and checked the oil, so I got to look under the hoods of those big block Camaros, Ram Air GTO’s, Hemi-powered Mopars, and more Mustangs than you can imagine. I learned a lot in those days, and it inspired me to learn more, and eventually work professionally in the automotive industry.

Today’s youth doesn’t have the opportunity to get involved quite like I did, but there are ways we can change that. One way to encourage young guys and girls to enjoy our hobby is to start them young. Toy cars are a great place to start, but you can also influence them with fun car videos or racing video games if they won’t step away from their phone or tablet. If they continue to show an interest, spend some time with them and build a model car. Building something with your hands is a pretty cool accomplishment for a kid, and I’d be willing to bet you’d enjoy it too.

Without a doubt, the best way to get kids fired up about cars is to take them to a car show and answer ALL of their questions. Yes, it takes effort to maintain a kid when they might be hot, hungry, tired, bored, etc. but make it an adventure and they’ll love it. Ice cream always helps. This would also be a good time to introduce some car show manners, help them understand why the owners might not want a kid touching them.

One of my tasks as the SEMA Chairman of the Board is to meet with our Board of Directors on a regular basis. We talk about emerging trends, and of course, incentivizing the youth to take part in our hobby. From a business perspective, a shrinking customer base is not a good thing, but we’re constantly working toward getting young folks involved. You may have heard of the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow engine building competition. This organization has done a great job of encouraging youth to get involved, and it has helped keep vocational classes going in high schools and community colleges. SEMA is a big supporter of the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow and other organizations who are working hard to bring automotive-related programs into school systems. For the young enthusiasts who become a member of SEMA, we offer a Young Executives Network to help them work together to advance the industry.

All of this is to say that we (current car enthusiasts) must involve youth in our hobby to keep it moving in the right direction. We all had some type of influence to get us started in the automotive world. My father was a huge influence for me, but it was really the guys pulling up to the station in jacked up muscle cars that fueled the fire. The real point is that someone, somewhere is influencing a child that you care about, and in today’s world, those influences may not be good. Wouldn’t it feel good to be the person who sparked a car obsession? It’s up to you to make it happen.