SEMA said new proposals by the Fed would ban the time old practice of converting street cars in road racers.
A new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal would also ban the sale of certain products for converting cars, prompting SEMA to issue an announcement this week opposing the EPA regulations.
The ban on race car conversions was buried in the EPA’s proposed “Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles—Phase 2.”
SEMA said, “The regulation would impact all vehicle types, including the sports cars, sedans and hatch-backs commonly converted strictly for use at the track. While the Clean Air Act prohibits certain modifications to motor vehicles, it is clear that vehicles built or modified for racing, and not used on the streets, are not the ‘motor vehicles’ that Congress intended to regulate.”
SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting said, “This proposed regulation represents overreaching by the agency, runs contrary to the law and defies decades of racing activity where EPA has acknowledged and allowed conversion of vehicles. “Congress did not intend the original Clean Air Act to extend to vehicles modified for racing and has re-enforced that intent on more than one occasion.”
SEMA submitted comments in opposition to the regulation and met with the EPA to confirm the agency’s intentions. SEMA will seek congressional support and judicial intervention as necessary, it said.
The EPA has indicated it expects to publish final regulations by July 2016.
Source: SEMA
