Nominations being taken for Modern Tire Dealer’s
Tire Dealer of the Year award
Award is most prestigious honor a tire dealer can receive

AKRON, OHIO (February 29, 2008) - Modern Tire Dealer (MTD) magazine, the tire industry’s leading publication, is now accepting nominations for its 2008 Tire Dealer of the Year award.

The Tire Dealer of the Year Award is the most prestigious honor that an independent tire dealer can receive.

Each year, one dealer is chosen from a pool of approximately than 26,000 eligible independent tire dealers throughout North America. Dealers are evaluated in five key categories: business success, marketing skill, management skill, industry knowledge and community involvement.

The MTD Tire Dealer of the Year Award was established in 1993, making it the longest-running independent tire dealer award in the tire industry. Past MTD Tire Dealer of the Year Award winner have included tire industry giants like Les Schwab, founder of Les Schwab Tire Centers, the secondlargest independent tire store chain in the United States, and Paul Zurcher, founder of Best-One Tire Service Inc., one of the North America’s largest tire distribution networks, as well as smaller dealers like Barry Steinberg, president of Direct Tire & Auto Service in Watertown, Mass., and Tony Troilo, former owner of Rosson & Troilo Motor Co. in Brandy Station, Va. The contest is open to independent tire dealers of any size. A list of all previous winners, plus articles written about them, can be found on MTD’s Web site, www.moderntiredealer.com.

“But there’s more to the Tire Dealer of the Year award than honoring the best tire dealer in North America,” says MTD Editor Bob Ulrich.
The Dealer of the Year program has enabled MTD – in conjunction with many tire manufacturers and other companies that support the program – to donate more than $120,000 to a wide variety of charities.

Money has been used to assist handicapped children, build a cancer
treatment center and support other worthy causes.

To nominate a candidate for this year’s Tire Dealer of the Year award, log onto www.moderntiredealer.com, or pick up a copy of Modern Tire Dealer and fill out the nomination form.

The 2008 Tire Dealer of the Year will be announced in the September 2008 issue of Modern Tire Dealer, which also will include a feature-length article about the recipient. Each year, when the Tire Dealer of the Year award winner is announced, Modern Tire Dealer directly donates $1,000 to a charity or charities selected by the winner. Additional money from the award’s sponsors also is donated to the winner’sdesignated charity or charities.

In print since 1919, Modern Tire Dealer is the longest-running publication written exclusively for independent tire dealers. Over the years, Modern Tire Dealer has won numerous honors for editorial excellence, including 15 medals from the International Automotive Media Association.

Modern Tire Dealer is owned by Bobit Business Media, a Torrance, Calif.-base media solutions company that specializes in business-to-business print publications, Web sites and industry conferences.