from The Gazette Virginian - The year 2010 will go down in the record books with nearly $200 million in new investments announced here, and one group in Halifax County is looking forward to the New Year and reflecting on the outgoing one.

Staff of the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and specifically IDA Executive Director Mike Sexton are upbeat when reflecting on 2010 and even more upbeat on 2011.

TMI AutoTech, Inc. (‘TMI’), located at VIRginia International Raceway in Halifax County, announced in August that it has recently acquired all North American manufacturing, distribution, sales & service rights for HoodXpress from Litens Automotive Group (Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada) & Tendeco Sales Inc. (London, Ohio).

HoodXpress (www.hoodxpress.com) is a uniquely designed automatic engine hood lift mechanism for Class 8 trucks.  Comprised of a standardized HD base power unit + application specific installation kits, HoodXpress is custom engineered for each model of vehicle for which availability currently exists.  TMI is now undertaking a program to expand the range of HoodXpress Class 8 applications, on a priority basis.

Car and Driver Magazine has published a feature article "America's Best Road Courses - An insider's guide to our favorite racing circuits," and Halifax County's own VIRginia International Raceway is on the list! An excerpt from the article reads:

"WHY WE LOVE IT:

Hey Race Fans! 

Take note of VIR's 2010 Season Spectator Schedule and mark your calendars now!

From being around VIR's Managing Partner, Connie Nyholm, I would have never guessed that prior to coming to VIR she had never even stepped foot on a racetrack, but that's one of the interesting tidbits I learned from reading an article about her on VirginiaBusiness.com.

Last week I was privileged to visit VIR and tour the new luxury villas (awesome is all I can say!), the VIPER facility (bearing witness to Mike Sexton's near-death skills at virtual racing), and Peter Krauss' Driver Development Studio in the industrial park (I want his car!).  There are some really exciting things going on out there that most area residents probably aren't aware of, so if you get a chance to attend a race at or take a tour of VIR, please try to go - I think you'll be amazed that all of this is in Halifax County!  And don't forget to read the Virginia Business article about Connie. 
image from CarolinaBreeze.com