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On 8 February 2016, the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA, a vehicle modification trade association) issued a press release regarding proposed EPA regulations regarding the conversion of vehicles from on-road use to racing purposes: 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. 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, said SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting. 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. ... The EPA indicated that the regulation would prohibit conversion of vehicles into racecars and make the sale of certain emissions-related parts for use on converted vehicles illegal. The release caused concern among racing enthusiasts, specifically due to its assertion that the EPA sought to prohibit conversion of vehicles originally designed for on-road use into racecars. A 9 February 2016 Fox News article reported on SEMA's press release and vaguely clarified that the proposed EPA regulations in question pertained specifically to emissions standards: A Fansided article held that the EPA tried to pull a fast one on enthusiasts by sneaking in a proposed regulation that would ban you from building a racecar from a street car, maintaining a somewhat conflicting viewpoint: It was difficult to ascertain whether the proposed regulations would prohibit all racing conversions or simply extend emissions standards to competition vehicles no longer used as road cars. The 629-page long document [PDF] was part of a larger proposal in which road car to race car conversions constituted a minute portion of the larger regulatory focus on vehicle emissions. A portion of page 391 of the document addressed the impetus to regulate non-road vehicles with respect to emissions: On 9 February 2016, EPA spokeswoman Laura Allen released a statement in response to SEMA's release which maintained that the proposed regulation(s) clarified (but didn't alter) current laws pertaining to emissions standards and racecars: Allen released an additional statement to Road & Track further clarifying the EPA's July 2015 proposals, of which that web site emphasized the portion reproduced below: In short, the EPA maintained that no change to existing law was proposed in the July 2015 document which had prompted SEMA's February 2016 press release. The only difference, the agency said, was clarification of the scope of standing laws. In subsequent statements, the EPA reoterated that their concern lay largely with modified vehicles on public roads and the sale of aftermarket devices that inhibit emission control systems. SEMA's press release hyperbolically described the EPA's focus as expressly prohibiting all conversions from street cars to race cars. The EPA later said their focus was more specifically [on] aftermarket manufacturers who sell devices that defeat emission control systems on vehicles used on public roads. While stricter enforcement of emissions standards on racecars might prove burdensome to racing enthusiasts, it wasn't the absolute crackdown it was made out to be. Finally, the regulations would not be retroactive, nor would they go into effect until 2018. On 11 February 2016, a SEMA representative e-mailed us a statement regarding the EPA-related controversy. SEMA maintained that the wording of the EPA's proposed changes made road to racecar conversions functionally illegal, irrespective of whether the EPA intended to enforce said proposed changes. Moreover, SEMA reiterated opposition to the EPA's assertion extant provisions of the Clean Air Act extended to racing vehicles:
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