Vic Edelbrock Jr, one of the guiding lights of the aftermarket, past president and board member of the Specialty Equipment Manufacturing Association (SEMA), and scion of the Edelbrock Company for nearly 60 years, has passed away. Born into racing royalty as the son of Vic Edelbrock Sr., one of the founders of hot rodding and the aftermarket for speed equipment, he could have taken any path, but he was bitten by hot rodding and performance just like his dad.
After the passing of Sr. in late 1962, Vic Jr. took the reins of Edelbrock at 26 years old. Through his finely tuned business, marketing and sales abilities, and with a solid team of hot rodders versed on making cars go fast, he built his father’s company to over $100 million in annual sales throughout the 2000s. When it looked like the aftermarket was dying in the early 1970s with the environmental restrictions and pollution control components killing performance, Vic Jr. started marketing his induction systems as improving clean air and also performance. He built his own testing dyno to measure carbon emissions to prove his claims. Suddenly performance was recognized as helping to both clean the environment but also make for a more efficient running engine.
Soon the smog-chocked engines available from Detroit were improved in every way with Edelbrock aftermarket components, launching the second coming of the performance industry. With his oversight of SEMA as president from 1971 to 1974 and then remaining on its board of directors for decades, he helped to guide the aftermarket with the same insight and marketing savvy he used to catapult the Edelbrock Company to new riches.
Our thoughts are with the Edelbrock family in this difficult time.
A version of this story originally appeared on the Hot Rod Network. For more content like this, click here.
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