Jon Apogee:
CLASS OF 1973
Laguna Beach High SchoolClass of 1973
Laguna beach, CA
Jon's Story
Jon Apogée (aka John Crorkin) was born in Scotland, but grew up in what he refers to as "the other Motor City," Indianapolis, Indiana. His early interest in cars took on new meaning after watching the 1963 Indianapolis 500 race on TV when fellow countryman, Jim Clark, nearly won. After convincing his dad to take him to the race in 1964, Jon was hooked and used his paper route money to buy the best seats he could afford for each race over the next five years - he has been involved in various aspects of the auto industry ever since. In 1969, Jon's family moved to Southern California and settled in Laguna Beach where he graduated from high school. When his parents were transferred to Washington, D.C., Jon opted to stay in Southern California and enter into a self-supported college career.
Apogée's work career includes running the Weber Carburetor division for Redline - the U.S. distributor, and Motorsports Manager for Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America. As Motorsports Manager, he guided the company into racing in the U.S. and led Mitsubishi to become the first manufacturer to win the coveted "Class 7" (Mini Pick-up Truck) championship in both the HDRA (High Desert Racing Association) and SCORE (Southern California Off Road Enterprises) Championships. In the same year, he set up a Pro Rally press car program that put select journalists in a Production Class Mitsubishi as either the driver or the navigator at SCCA Pro Rallies. This plan enabled the writers to record their experiences first hand and became a tremendous success for Mitsubishi with articles appearing in "Road & Track," "Car and Driver," "Motor Trend" and "USA Today." This is when Jon first realized the power of marketing as he was spending half his motorsports budget, and his time, on advertising. "It doesn't do any good to win races if you don't tell anyone about it." As a result Jon migrated into the advertising field.
Mitsubishi eventually put a hold on its racing programs in the U.S., and Jon opted to help his former Mitsubishi boss, now at Hyundai, set-up and launch that company in the U.S. It was while Jon was completing his consulting work at Hyundai that he was wooed to Firestone Tire and Rubber where he would lead the "training" team that would reintroduce High Performance Tires to Firestone's company-owned stores and franchises. This "Tire Pro" program incorporated Pirelli and Yokohama into the Firestone mix and Jon's team created and utilized the "Firehawk Endurance" racing series to get Firestone back on the racing track and performance minded customers back into the Firestone showrooms.
After two years of flying around the country for Firestone - nearly 241 days a year - Jon longed to be home more than just Saturdays at his home in Corona. He approached a local Advertising Agency that had just been awarded the Toyo Tire advertising account, and showed them he was just what they needed to direct a team that would take Toyo Tires, USA, to the next level of branding and consumer awareness. It was at this time that Jon started to produce videos for marketing purposes.
After nearly eight years of working for corporate advertising departments and the advertising agencies contracted to them, and as a direct result of "Black Monday," October 19, 1987, when stock markets around the world 'crashed' - Jon found himself unemployed for the first time in his life. Undaunted, Apogée took his automotive experience to a new venue, the outdoors industry. Jon went to work for Yakima Racks and headed up the Southern California sales efforts, but quickly helped the company reinvent their roof top cargo box program and guide them to manufacturing for the Automotive OEM Manufacturers - a position they still enjoy to this day. Jon once again challenged himself and partnered with another one of his former bosses from Mitsubishi to launch a new start-up company, Sport Carriers, Inc., a roof rack company designed from the onset to become a supplier to the De...Expand for more
troit Automobile Manufacturers (OEMs).
While at Sport Carriers, Inc. (SCI), now an ongoing success and up for sale, Jon had a fateful meeting with yet another former boss - this time from the Firestone days. Jon was recruited to give his "thumbprint" on a developing project and was soon directing a new TV program called "Outdoorsman Trucking News," which led to a second series that he produced, and directed called "GEAR". During the "GEAR" run, Jon hired long time associate Mike Vieira to re-write the show and help make the "selling" style show become more entertaining and sellable to a larger audience. Both Jon and Mike appeared on camera from time to time in the "GEAR" series, which evolved into an opportunity to produce a TV show that was much more consumer oriented: a type of light truck and SUV show, focusing on day-to-day and long term information that was both needed and wanted by prospective vehicle buyers. Capitalizing on their collective automotive backgrounds and their experience on "GEAR", Jon and Mike created a "Siskel & Ebert" type TV show that reviewed trucks instead of movies. A show they produced, wrote and starred in called "Sport Truck Connection." The series was sponsored by Jon's former client - Toyo Tires, USA and enjoyed a very successful run on SpeedVision and as a nationally syndicated cable TV show.
Networking with key executives in the Automotive Industry - and in particular the now former Vice President of Marketing for Toyo Tires who had recently accepted a position as the Vice President of Marketing for SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) - Jon was recruited to become the Director of Marketing for SEMA. This was an opportunity to produce all the marketing for one of the biggest and best known trade shows in the automotive arena and the eleventh largest trade show in the world ¿ the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. This also afforded Jon the opportunity to produce virtually all the outreach and marketing material SEMA, as the industry¿s trade organization, produced for the automotive after-market.
After several years at the helm of SEMA's Marketing Department, Jon was offered a Vice Presidency and Partnership with a small, privately owned, advertising agency. Unfortunately, shortly after taking the position, the owner became ill and passed away. The company's assets were sold and the agency closed its doors. With supporters from nearly two decade¿s worth of clients he had cultured relationships with, Jon decided to open his own agency specializing in advertising and marketing - Marketing Matters, Inc.
Apogée serves as a Board Member of the International MotorSports Alliance, Cal State University San Bernardino, the Department of Business and Public Administration and is a Chair on the Marketing and Planning Committee. Jon has also been asked on several occasions to speak to the AMA (American Marketing Association) students at California State University, Fullerton. He continues to be active with SEMA and is an advisor to several SEMA Member Companies and a member of SEMA's PRO Council.
On a personal note, Jon remains an ardent fan of racing, particularly the Formula car series such as Formula One and the IRL (Indy Racing League,) with continued interest in NASCAR and the NHRA. Jon is able to combine business with pleasure by having clients involved in motorsports and packaging sponsorship programs for several racing series, their teams and their drivers.
Jon is an accomplished pistol shooter, an NRA certified Pistol Instructor and Home Protection Instructor. Additionally, he often competes in both IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) and IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) competitions.
Apogée lives in Corona with his wife Kathy and their Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier "Indy" whom they show at local AKC dog shows. The couple's newly engaged daughter Megan will graduate with her Master's in Kinesiology from Kansas State University this May.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Photos
