AMN Drivetime

In this episode of DriveTime, Danny Huffaker discusses the Carlyle Tools Reimagined campaign and the brand’s bold new direction. He is the SVP of Product & Marketing at NAPA Auto Parts. He talks about how the Carlyle Tool brand is being “reimagined.”

“The Carlyle Tool program has been around for a while, but we realized that it was time to really innovate and disrupt the market with this, for lots of reasons,” Huffaker said.

In this episode of DriveTime, David Stewart, VP Sales and Marketing, Wells Vehicle Electronics, talks about the company's new branding initiative, and how he plans to re-introduce Wells to the aftermarket.

Reintroducing a Legacy Brand
Stewart said his passion has been to bring the Wells Vehicle Electronics brand to the forefront for technicians and distributors. Some of younger generation may not be familiar with the legacy of the 122-year-old company, he noted. This legacy is what will drive the company forward for years to come, he added.

Driving Brand Awareness Through People
“I think the biggest selling proposition is that you have the right people. We have an amazing team. The sales team is out there driving that, getting in front of the customers, the technicians, bringing that brand awareness back out there.”

Building a Stronger Sales Force
One of Stewart’s goals when he joined Wells two years ago was to deliver professional-grade products and superior service to customers. The first step was to understand and identify the team that was already in place, and then grow and expand it to a much stronger salesforce. The focus was on the team to make sure they had the right assets in the field to go out and drive that relationship with their customers, Stewart said.

To hear more about Stewart’s initiatives, be sure to watch the video above.

Episode Overview:
• Wells Vehicle Electronics’ new branding initiative (3:40).
• Delivering professional-grade products and superior service to customers at every level (5:56).
• Most opportunity for Wells’ products with emerging technologies (7:01).
• Outlook for Wells and the aftermarket this year (10:26).
• Lightning Round (12:50).

In this episode of DriveTime, Jason Rainey, VP of Auto Care, NAPA Auto Parts, discusses the recent NAPA NOW event and the NAPA Auto Care Center program. He also explains what it takes to become a NAPA Gold-Certified shop.

Rainey described the NAPA NOW event as an educational experience. “So, the thing that I really have liked about this event is it’s truly something you just have to experience. I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire career,” Rainey said. Attendees spend time engaging directly with NAPA’s products, learning about features and benefits. These features and benefits, Rainey added, “truly makes NAPA a differentiated distributor.”

Hands-On Learning and Business Development Opportunities
Attendees also focus on the business side of running their shops. They attend Master classes that cover topics like company culture and succession planning. Attendees meet with the NAPA Auto Care Advisory Council to learn how it supports them. They also observe the council’s ongoing work and interact with NAPA vendor partners. Attendees receive full access to these vendor partners throughout the event.

How NAPA Gold-Certified Shops Set the Standard
The NAPA Auto Care Advisory Council created the Gold-Certified Program to recognize top-performing shops. These shops commit to growth, excellence, and a high-quality customer experience. There will be more than 800 NAPA Gold-Certified shops by the end of 2025, Rainey said. The program defines 10 criteria, and each one connects directly to a specific business benefit. These standards form the foundation of what defines NAPA Gold-Certified Shops.

To hear more about Rainey’s initiatives, be sure to watch the video above.

Episode Overview:
• Rainey’s career and how he got his start at NAPA (1:24)
• Goals and overview of the NAPA NOW event (8:24)
• NAPA Auto Care Center profile (12:38)
• Criteria to become NAPA Gold-Certified shop (13:23)
• NAPA Apprenticeship Program details (19:03)
• Lightning Round (26:16).

In this episode of DriveTime, Randy Breaux, Group President, GPC North America, discusses the four key tenets necesssary for business success and high-performance team building. They are vision, strategy, structure and culture.

“With regard to our vision, we created a new vision and that was to be the trusted provider of automotive parts and solutions. And that remains the vision. And it’s very simple,” said Breaux, pointing to a key word ‘trust.’ “That’s very important in our business because we are in a relationship business in this automotive aftermarket,” he explained.

Trust and Relationships at the Core

Breaux also talked about his belief in how relationships come first and success follows as it relates success. He pointed to NAPA’s 100th anniversary milestone this year. The relationships that matter most are those you have with your employees, customers, stakeholders, and supplier partners, said Breaux. NAPA, he added, has had a 50-plus-year relationship with some of its supplier partners.

High-Performance Team Building

Building a high-performance team that gives 100% effort and is void of complacency is also one of Breaux’s strategies. “What you find is, the best companies have what I call ‘A’ players on the team. And ‘A’ players are players that just are not going to be satisfied with status quo," he said.

Breaux’s winning formula includes stacking his team with ‘A’ players. “When we can do that and they have a clear understanding of what the strategy and the vision are, then you just turn ‘em loose and they go tear it up,” Breaux said. “And, that’s what we try to do. And for me, that’s the winning formula.”

To learn more about Breaux's insights and strategies, be sure to watch the video above.

Episode Overview:
• Four key tenets that are essential for a successful business (2:32).
• Relationships come first, and success follows, and how that relates to NAPA’s 100th anniversary milestone this year (4:01).
• Building a high-performance team that gives 100% effort every day (5:47).
• Having a customer-first mindset that drives value and builds lasting partnerships (7:36).
• Focus on B2B growth supporting professional repair shops and fleet managers (9:36).
• Lightning Round (10:37).

In this episode of DriveTime, Pete Proimos, founder of the Filotimo Foundation, discusses his former aftermarket career at AP Emissions Technologies and the next facet of his life that supports cystic fibrosis.

After Pete finished college, briefly attended law school and quickly realized that career wasn’t for him, his father Vange advised him to work in the company’s distribution center. Pete worked his way up through the ranks, spending a year and a half working through every single department, and eventually landed in sales where he held various roles.

Pete then took his tools and war chest and moved it to another phase of his life, when he founded the Filotimo Foundation for cystic fibrosis support. Pete shares that he was born with cystic fibrosis, which is a genetically inherited disease. He describes the issues of living with cystic fibrosis, medical advancements that have increased life expectancy, and how his foundation was formed to help and support a patient set of 40,000 adults in the U.S. who are living longer with cystic fibrosis, and who now have to figure out how they’re going to survive as adults in society.

The Filotimo Foundation is hosting a gala fundraising event on May 16, 2025, to help create awareness of and support for the disease. The event will raise money for both hardship support and fertility support for cystic fibrosis patients. Every dollar raised is a dollar that goes straight toward those patients, Pete said, such that $2,000 can get one cystic fibrosis patient full hardship support for an entire year.

To learn more about Pete and his foundation, be sure to watch the video above.

To donate, log onto: https://filotimofoundation.org/donate/

Episode Overview:
• Pete describes how he got his start in the automotive aftermarket and provides an overview of his former role at AP Emissions (1:14)
• Pete shares his personal story and how it fostered the creation of a foundation, the Filotimo Foundation, in support of cystic fibrosis (6:48)
• The purpose of the Filotimo Foundation (12:58)
• Details about the upcoming Gala event, and how the industry can support the Foundation (17:10)
• Lightning Round (21:12).

In this episode of DriveTime, Matt Fowler, Chairman of the Young Auto Care Network (YANG) and Account Executive at Ubisense, discusses his background in digital assets and then delves into his sales role at Ubisense, which uncovers hidden process data via its tracking technology to boost company productivity.

Fowler says the most interesting, coolest thing about the aftermarket is that it is a very familial type of space. “It is the only industry I’ve worked in… the only space where everyone really is just trying to work well and work together to make everything better.”

Fowler became chair of YANG in July, 2024, which now numbers over 1,600 active members. He describes his role and vision for the organization which involves working with council members to grow these key YANG pillars: networking events, digital engagements, education, sponsorships and scholarships. He also discusses the group’s main programming events: Connect Week, May 12-15, in Phoenix; Fall Leadership Days and the Legislative Summit, Sept. 17-19, in Washington DC; and the AAPEX Show, Nov. 4-6, in Vegas.

To learn more about Matt and his roles at YANG and Ubisense, be sure to watch the video above.

Episode Overview:
• Matt’s role at Ubisense (1:21)
• The most interesting thing he’s learned about the aftermarket (3:07)
• Matt’s role as YANG chair and his vision for the organization (5:05)
• YANG’s goals for 2025, with highlights of key events that are in the works (7:48)
• Lightning Round (11:13).

In this episode of DriveTime, Brad Beckham, CEO of O’Reilly Auto Parts, discusses how he got into the business at 17 years old, sweeping floors and putting up stock in an O’Reilly Auto Parts store in Oklahoma. It was 1996 and, at that time, O’Reilly had less than 200 stores. Over time working in that store, he became a parts specialist and still remembers the 16 feet of paper catalog racks on the front counter. He held every position in the store for the next couple of years, from counterperson to night manager to assistant store manager. It was at this first store that he fell in love with the business.

Preserving a Culture That Started in 1957 
Beckham delves into the O’Reilly culture, which he says is “the most critical factor in the company’s historic and future success.” The team began formally documenting the company culture in 1998, even though the culture started in 1957, the year O'Reilly was founded. “It was important to clearly define and preserve the simple, foundational principles that got us here,” explains Beckham. “If we ever lose this family culture, as we become a public company and we acquire other companies, if we start to dilute the culture that has really built our business, we’re not going to be the same company.”

Promoting from Within and Valuing the Front Line 
The O’Reilly culture prioritizes teamwork, enthusiasm, hard work, excellent customer service, modesty and “promote from within” opportunities. What a lot of people don’t realize, Beckham says, is that all 650 district managers came from inside O’Reilly. “Every one of those district managers came from running a successful O’Reilly store,” he explains. All 75 regional managers, as well, also came from inside the O’Reilly organization. 

Beckham also points to the 93,000 O’Reilly Auto Parts team members, the far majority of whom – 70,000 – are in the stores on the firing line in front of its customers. “They have the most important job in our company,” says Beckham. 

To hear Beckham’s full aftermarket story, be sure to watch the video above. 

 DriveTime Episode Overview:

-Beckham’s aftermarket career and how he landed at O’Reilly Auto Parts (1:16). 
-The value of a dedicated team at the company’s more than 6,300 store locations and 31 distribution centers (23:30). 
-The O’Reilly Auto Parts company culture (27:54). 
-The value of supplier partnerships, especially in today’s competitive market environment (31:52).
-Outlook for O’Reilly and the aftermarket this year (36:02).
-How the famous O’Reilly jingle, Oh, Oh, Oh, O’Reilly….Auto Parts, came to be and other ways O’Reilly is keeping the brand fresh, engaging and top of mind. (41:53).
-Lightning Round (44:30).

In this episode of DriveTime, as the VISION conference kicked off in Chicago, Bill Long, president and CEO of MEMA, The Vehicle Suppliers Association, and Paul McCarthy, president of MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers, addressed supplier sentiment about the current state of the aftermarket, describing it as a mix of urgency and cautious optimism. Industry leaders agree there’s never been a more critical time for suppliers to come together, given the wide range of challenges: tariffs, shifting sourcing strategies, profitability pressures, the REPAIR Act, consolidation, and talent and technology concerns. VISION’s mission to clarify what success looks like now — and in the future — has never been more relevant.

Resilience and Opportunity
Despite these challenges, there is strong resilience and opportunity in the aftermarket, stressed Long and McCarthy. While 2024 wasn’t a standout sales year, midterm indicators — vehicle age, miles driven and VIO — remain solid. Technology, especially ADAS, is emerging as a key growth area. New research shared at VISION signals that innovation may soon deliver real gains in efficiency and margin. As near-term disruption continues and long-term strategies evolve, suppliers are relying on collaboration and insight to move forward.

REPAIR Act Automotive Impact: Supplier Sentiment and Industry Outlook

The REPAIR Act (H.R. 1566) is considered essential for the industry’s future, Long and McCarthy stressed. Introduced by Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL-02), this bipartisan bill protects consumer choice, fair market competition and property rights — especially as telematics and over-the-air updates create new barriers. Long and McCarthy emphasized the urgency of passing the bill within this Congressional session — the next 20 months — and underscore that victory will come from continued grassroots action and engagement at the local level.

To hear more details about Long’s and McCarthy’s aftermarket perspective, make sure to watch the video above.

Episode Overview:
• Supplier sentiment about the current state of the automotive aftermarket (1:10)
• Legislative issues and the impact to supplier member businesses (6:02)
• Current state of affairs of REPAIR Act legislation (12:36)
• Goals of the MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers Training Council (19:25)
• Aftermarket Outlook 2025…what did MEMA get right and what did MEMA get wrong? (21:54)
• Lightning Round (32:37).

In this episode of DriveTime, Russ Stebbins, VP and GM, North American Aftermarket at PHINIA, talks about the company’s vision to lead the transformation toward a sustainable, carbon-free future in the automotive aftermarket. The company has historically focused on internal combustion engine (ICE) solutions. It is now actively advancing new initiatives to support the industry’s shift toward sustainability, Stebbins explained. Additionally, PHINIA is focusing on AI training for technicians.

From OE Expertise to Aftermarket Agility PHINIA bases its approach on a philosophy of OE expertise and aftermarket agility. “We don’t shy away from the fact that we’re an OE company; rather we embrace it and take that to the aftermarket with the speed that’s needed for our aftermarket channel partners,” Stebbins said.

PHINIA is focused on delivering the right parts at the right time, supported by relevant training and information for its channel partners down to the technician.  Multilingual Support in 2025 PHINIA sees future growth in Canada, Mexico and Central America.

In 2025, it will launch websites for French Canadian and Mexican Spanish-speaking audiences. Additionally, innovation remains a priority, especially through the integration of AI, explained Stebbins.  Driving Global Innovation Through AI Training for Technicians PHINIA is launching global AI-driven training programs. These will let the company create content in one language and translate it easily for global technician education.

 To hear more about PHINIA’s initiatives, be sure to watch the video above.

 Episode Overview: • Stebbins’ career and how he landed at PHINIA (1:10);
• PHINIA’s vision and value proposition to customers across the North American aftermarket (3:22);
• How PHINIA is strengthening customer relationships (6:56);
• Details about how PHINIA is leveraging emerging technologies to become a more recognized and trusted name in the aftermarket (13:36);
• Insights into the Delphi Training Academy (19:14);
• Lightning Round (22:29).

In this episode of DriveTime, JC Washbish discusses the familiarity of the Washbish name, the esteemed aftermarket heritage that goes along with it and how he got started in the industry.

JC comes from a long lineage in the automotive aftermarket, proudly being the fourth generation involved in the business. His career in the automotive aftermarket began at NGK Spark Plugs, where he managed distribution in the Caribbean, before joining the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance. He was promoted to President of the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance on January 1, 2024, and then named both President and CEO in January 2025.

JC said the outlook for 2025 is hopeful. “We are in a really good position as a country to do more, to do better. You can feel the energy that’s out there. Car count is up, miles driven are up – all hopeful for our business, and the economy should be in a better position. I’m pretty excited to see what 2025 brings,” he said.

JC is focused on strategic growth while ensuring the team’s continued success, while sticking to this piece of advice from his uncle, Doug Washbish: "Work Hard, Be Nice."

To learn more about JC and the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance’s initiatives, be sure to watch the video above.

Episode Overview:

• JC describes the esteemed heritage of the familiar Washbish family name, beginning with his great-grandfather who started the business (1:06)

• JC talks about his first aftermarket job, and walks through his aftermarket career (4:13)

• JC describes how he got hired at the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance and what it’s like working with his father, John Washbish, who he said cares deeply about the industry. “My father has done a great job as an icon in the industry. He gets it. He lives the industry,” JC said. (5:05)

• JC was promoted to President of the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance on Jan. 1, 2024, and named President and CEO in January, 2025. He walks through year one and describes what year two looks like (12:38)

• The value of the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance Channel Partner awards program as it relates to importance of partnerships in our business (18:25)

• Details about the Automotive Parts Services Group (APSG) meeting in April 2025, that the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance is planning (22:14)

• The company’s advocacy efforts as it relates to the Right to Repair initiative (24:50)

• Outlook for the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance and the aftermarket in 2025 (32:10)

• Lightning Round (34:23).