Another SEMA Show, another appearance by Bob Katz, owner of Nu-Tread Tire & Auto in East Boston, Mass.
Since the former National Tire Dealers and Retreaders Association merged its convention and trade show with the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in 1997, Katz has ventured to Las Vegas, Nev., to be in on the action.
Why is he going for the 16th conesecutive year, weather permitting? Attending the show is no gamble. (At press time, Hurricane Sandy may have prevented Katz from flying to Las Vegas.)
"I go for various reasons," he says. "New products, new tire lines, meeting old friends to reminisce about the business, the seminars and training. It's like being a kid in a candy store."
When tire dealers gather, Katz seems to be in the middle of it. As owner of his own independent tire dealership for nearly three decades, he regularly attended the old NTDRA shows. Then he became a director for a few years of the organization's successor, the Tire Industry Association.
He remains a director of the New England Tire Service Association.
The 2012 SEMA Show, the Automative Aftermarket Products Exposition (AAPEX) and Global Tire Expo-powered by TIA are part of Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week, which is held Oct. 30 through Nov. 2. The SEMA Show and Global Tire Expo are housed in the Las Vegas Convention Center. AAPEX is held at the Sands Convention Center.
"I encourage everybody to go," says Katz.
