The Reynolds and Reynolds Company announced that Chris Walsh, formerly the executive vice president of sales and marketing, has been named president of Reynolds and Reynolds, and that Willie Daughters, the executive vice president of operations, has been named chief operating officer. Both promotions are effective immediately. Walsh succeeds Tommy Barras, who will continue serving as company chairman and chief executive officer.

“Chris is a proven leader who has delivered consistently excellent results throughout his career,” said Barras. “He keeps one eye on the future of our industry and understands the challenges and the opportunities facing automotive retailing today.

“His passion for helping our customers succeed, as well as his knowledge and expertise in various areas of the company, will help drive our growth.”

Walsh has been with Reynolds for more than 35 years, holding various leadership roles in business development, operations, quality control, sales, marketing, and support.

“Moving forward, we will be more focused than ever on expanding our footprint in retail automotive, making it easier to do business with us, and helping our customers achieve new levels of profitability,” said Walsh. “Reynolds is uniquely positioned to help dealers. That means equipping them to retail anywhere, without sacrificing anything.”

Daughters has been with the company for more than 30 years. Previous leadership roles have included working directly with automotive manufacturers (OEMs), directing the Canadian and European support organizations, overseeing product quality assurance and testing, and leading the technical assistance teams.

The world’s largest traveling car show, HOT ROD Power Tour Driven by Continental Tire, will return Monday, June 13 through Friday, June 17.

Additionally, HOT ROD Drag Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, the fastest streetcar competition in America, is back beginning Sept. 18 through Sept. 23. The two events combined boast upward of 6,000 participating vehicles.

HOT ROD Power Tour ’22 Schedule:

• Kickoff / Day 1: Monday, June 13 - Memphis International Raceway, Millington, Tenn.
• Day 2: Tuesday, June 14 - Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn.
• Day 3: Wednesday, June 15 - Hoover Met Complex, Hoover, Ala.
• Day 4: Thursday, June 16 - Pensacola Fairgrounds, Pensacola, Fla.
• Day 5: Friday, June 17 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Ga.’

Registration, Tech Day, and Test ’n’ Tune: Sunday, Sept. 18 - Memphis International RacewayMotorTrend also announced a return to four classic tracks for the 18^th annual HOT ROD Drag Week, when the “Fastest Streetcar in America” will be crowned beginning Sept. 18 through Sept. 23. The event puts competitors to a grueling test over five days of drag racing, requiring racers to drive their vehicles on a specified route from city to city, upward of 1,000 miles, while securing the quickest possible elapsed time across the five days. During the competition, drivers provide photographic evidence to prove they have adhered to the prescribed route. Some of the nation’s top racers participate annually, including past champions Tom Bailey and Dave Schroeder.

• Racing Day 1: Sept. 19 - Memphis International Raceway, Millington, Tenn.
• Racing Day 2: Sept. 20 - World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill.
• Racing Day 3: Sept. 21 - Beech Bend Raceway, Bowling Green, Ky.
• Racing Day 4: Sept. 22 - Alabama International Dragway, Steele, Ala.
• Racing Day 5: Sept. 23 - Memphis International Raceway

The Detroit Auto Dealers Association announced the 2022 North American International Auto Show will return to downtown Detroit. The historic auto show will return to Huntington Place (formerly TCF and Cobo centers) in Detroit Sept. 14-25.

The show was canceled the past two years because of the pandemic,

The show will host Media-Tech Days Sept. 14-15, Charity Preview Sept. 16 and will be open to the public Sept. 17-25. In addition to the show at Huntington Place, there will be additional city-wide events taking place throughout downtown Detroit. The show will highlight a wide range of vehicles, the technology enabling global mobility and electrification race and Michigan’s position as a mobility and technology incubator.

“We are proud to return to downtown Detroit and to work with Mayor Duggan and the city of Detroit again,” said Rod Alberts, executive director, DADA. “Capitalizing on everything we’ve learned over the past two and a half years, we are uniquely positioned to bring a dynamic, engaging, experiential show to Detroit in 2022.”

The 2022 show is designed to embrace and grow underserved communities through broadened benefits to charities and will provide free, outdoor activities during the show.

More information and details about the show will follow in the coming weeks.

General Motors and Lockheed Martin are teaming up to develop the next generation of lunar vehicles to transport astronauts on the surface of the Moon. The effort is supporting NASA’s Artemis program, which is sending humans back to the Moon where they will conduct scientific experiments using a variety of rovers.

The agency has challenged companies to develop a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) that will increase astronauts’ range of exploration. The LTV is the first of many types of surface mobility vehicles needed for NASA’s Artemis program.

To support NASA’s mission, the two partners will draw on their engineering, performance and technology legacies to allow astronauts to explore the lunar surface and support discovery in places where humans have never gone before. Lockheed Martin will lead the team by leveraging its more than 50-year history of working with NASA on deep-space human and robotic spacecraft, such as NASA’s Orion exploration-class spaceship for Artemis and numerous Mars and planetary spacecraft.

GM will use some of its autonomous vehicle technology to facilitate safer and more efficient operations on the Moon.

“General Motors made history by applying advanced technologies and engineering to support the Lunar Rover Vehicle that the Apollo 15 astronauts drove on the Moon,” said Alan Wexler, a senior vice president at General Motors.

GM also played a part in the Apollo Moon program, including Apollo 11 and the first human landing in 1969. GM helped develop the original electric Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), including the chassis and wheels for the LRV that was used on Apollo’s 15-17 missions.

Unlike the Apollo rovers that only traveled 4.7 mi (7.6 km) from the landing site, the next-generation lunar vehicles are being designed to traverse significantly farther distances to the Moon’s south pole, where it is cold and dark with more rugged terrain.