PRI’s inaugural industry report reveals sales trends, product demand, and the real business-oriented effects from the pandemic.

Sales of track-use only parts for motorsports accounted for $8.04 billion in 2023, according to the inaugural State of the Racing Market Report by PRI, which is available free to PRI Business and Individual members. Other highlights in the report: Just over three-quarters of racing businesses see racing as stable or on the rise, more than half of racing businesses see the industry as steady, and two-thirds of race teams plan to run more than 10 races this year.
The report was generated by the PRI Market Research Team, led by Gavin Knapp. Starting in the fall of 2023, the team compiled approximately 500 responses from PRI members and non-members, seeking factors that most affect motorsports businesses. The types of businesses polled included manufacturers, racing retailers, engine builders, tuners, fabricators, race tracks, race series, and sanctioning bodies.
This report was designed to help readers identify:
• Key industry trends and business metrics that companies can use for benchmarking purposes.
• Estimates on how sales have changed over the last year.
• Information on how the racing industry buys and sells parts for racing vehicles.
• Industry trends and outlook, as well as insights into the racing industry’s recovery and supply chain challenges.
Commenting on this report, PRI President Michael Good said, “I was glad to see the overall trend is continuing to improve post-COVID-19. All the groups represented (manufacturers, resellers, engine builders, and race tracks/associations) expressed positive momentum. For example, 68% of tracks expect to run as many, or more, races in 2024 than in a typical year. Viewership is up as well—an average of 4.92 million viewers for the 2023 Indy 500, up 2% versus the 2022 Indy 500. And although it’s not in this report due to timing, the 2024 Indy 500 had an average of 5.34 million viewers.”
“We all know that there has been a lot of uncertainty with the economy, with recovery from COVID, and so on, so it is really nice to see racing businesses are remaining generally positive on where racing is in return from the lockdowns, the current state of motorsports, and where we are going looking forward,” observed Knapp.
“This PRI Racing Market report is a great tool to help businesses understand the sentiments and trends in the market and benchmark their own results against them,” Knapp continued. “Companies can look at what results others in their market are seeing and compare how they are doing. The report helps businesses to understand what companies across the racing eco-system are feeling, so a parts manufacturer can see how retailers or race tracks are doing. The report can also help businesses identify new markets or expansion targets and evaluate those opportunities.
“It’s not always easy to find data on the racing market, so we at PRI needed to fill that void to help our members’ businesses,” Knapp added. “Each year, we will refine the PRI State of the Racing Market report to provide the best info we can to help the community prosper.”
The following are some of the highlights of key findings found in the 64-page report. To view the entire report, which is available free to PRI Business and Individual members as a membership benefit, visit performanceracing.com/membership, log in, and then click on “My Benefits.” Let’s dig into some of the findings.

Sales Growth

“As stated in the report, overall sales were largely positive or remaining stable for those selling racing parts over the last year,” observed Good. “Despite some slowing growth compared to previous years, most businesses are expecting an increase in sales for their business in the next year. I believe this optimism is validated by what we are seeing and is an accurate perspective of the current landscape.”
Mike Dicely of Hyper Racing Products in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, supported this observation, noting his company’s sales stayed the same in 2022 and 2023, but so far 2024 sales are up, which he expects to continue the rest of the year.

Hyper Racing’s market is focused on 600cc sprint cars, and Dicely said, “The 600cc sprints continue to grow across the US, and we are the largest player in that market. As the class grows, so does Hyper Racing.
“For the industry as a whole, it seems things are cooling off after the boom COVID created,” he continued. “But the good news is I don’t see any recoil. The strong economy, and the desire for people to create experiences over consumption, have really helped motorsports. We are thankful!”
Sales at Leary Racing Products in Denver, Colorado, increased slightly in 2023, according to Mike Leary, mostly from the less expensive racing divisions, which brought increased participation. He is hopeful 2024 sales will continue an upward trajectory, and he is developing a new company website to increase market presence. However, Leary did admit, “I feel the market will decrease due to the loss of race tracks around the country, with no new tracks being built in the near future.”

Racing Segments

Drag racing was noted as having the most participation from the businesses that participated in the survey, at 47%, and from support organizations such as sanctioning bodies, tracks, and associations, at 56%. Other popular forms of motorsports include street/strip, road course racing, vintage, oval dirt, and oval paved.
As an interesting note, oval tracks make up the majority of race tracks in the US. National Speedway Directory reported 610 dirt oval tracks and 205 paved ovals in 2019, while 268 drag strips were counted that year of the total 1,546 race tracks.

Parts Sales

The report found that 2020 was difficult for race tracks, while businesses that make and sell racing parts saw demand for their products hold surprisingly strong as racers and teams continued to make purchases and work on their vehicles anticipating racing’s return.
As tracks reopened and races resumed in 2021 and 2022, companies saw continued strong sales growth to cater to pent-up demand. The overall environment changed in 2023, with some seeing a downturn amidst recession and inflation concerns.
Some manufacturers felt a negative impact—including just over one-third that reported sales in fall of 2023 decreased compared to 12 months prior—but many companies, particularly resellers and race tracks, continued to see improvement, at 47% and 54%, respectively.
The majority of parts sales in the racing market were classified under the following categories: engine, intake/fuel/exhaust, suspension/brakes/steering/chassis parts, drivetrain, and engine electrical and ignition.

According to the report, numerous businesses were seeing a shift down from their previous upticks in 2022. Most businesses still expected their sales of racing parts to end up similar or higher in 2023, although a growing number expected weaker sales. More manufacturers and resellers were likely to expect their racing parts sales to finish lower compared to 2022, while businesses that customize products expected their sales to remain similar.
Leary Racing Products sells a large number of shocks due to the company’s customization services. Fiberglass sales increased in 2023 because Leary believes “customers had repaired their bodies for the last couple years, and even though body pricing increased, they decided they couldn’t wait and repair anymore.” He also cited a strong US Legend car count and parts for those cars as a significant portion of the company’s sales.
In the 600cc sprint car market, Dicely cited front and rear axle components as top sellers, as well as steering and pedal assemblies. “Wheels and tires are always up there, too,” he added. “One product that really caught on is our Jacobs Jacker for the midgets. It seems like every car has one on now. This product allows the driver to adjust the rear roll center height as he races. This helps them chase the track as conditions change throughout the race. We have had this product for five years, but only started selling in quantity in 2023.”

Car Counts

While many race tracks and racing organizations feel the industry is still recovering, the report found that they are significantly more optimistic about the near-term and longer-term outlook for racing than other business types. In particular, tracks are more likely to feel that track days, viewership, and the sport’s popularity with younger audiences are on the rise.

However, many track operators believe much is needed to get back to greater grandstand occupancy compared to pre-pandemic levels.
“We have seen a slow but steady increase in our car counts at virtually every race year-to-date, 2023 to 2024,” reported Charles Krall of ARCA, Temperance, Michigan. “At Daytona [in February 2024], we had 10 more entries than 2023, and even at Mid-Ohio [in June 2024], which has been on the low side since the pandemic, we had six more entries than we did last year. For some races, we have been up one or two, or even flat from last year, but the general trend since 2020 has been upwards.
“While we are pleased to see the growth from 2021 to 2024, we are not at all satisfied,” he continued. “We’re still working hard every day to create those relationships that will result in additional cars in the garage area and additional drivers on the track. While you could say we have returned to normal after the pandemic, there’s a new normal for a lot of it. For some teams that means fewer people coming to the track. For us, as a sanctioning body, it means streamlining processes and learning to do things with fewer people onsite. I am not sure we can say we’re back to pre-pandemic levels of normal, but perhaps we’ve found our new normal.”

Employees

Racing businesses maintained steady staff levels in 2023 and expected the same in 2024. A small segment noted that they expected to decrease their staff, with most planning to maintain or increase staff in the near future.
“Our staffing at the track since 2021 has stayed very close to pre-pandemic levels, but we have definitely learned to do things in a more streamlined manner,” said Krall. “Some of that is due to advances in technology coming out of the pandemic. We were forced to learn to do things in a different way just to be able to race, and it turns out we learned things that helped bring us into that new normal.”
“I would say the toughest thing for us as well as the businesses we work with is finding employees that fit what we are looking for at a rate we can afford,” said Dicely of Hyper Racing. “The amount that we need to pay employees to keep them and to get new ones has gone up more than 25% in those two years. Whether that is from inflation or just the labor market being in short supply, I am not sure.
“For 2023, our labor force remained the same. For 2024, we have already had to increase our staff count by 7%. I expect that to level out at 10% through 2025,” he added.

Work Still Needed

Our report observed that many racing business owners believe there’s still work to do before the industry is back to pre-pandemic levels, though most believe the racing industry remains steady. While the COVID lockdowns may be in the past, the recovery has brought additional unexpected challenges with supply chain challenges, increasing inflation, and overall economic uncertainty. Prospects are certainly better than they were mid-2020, but some businesses are looking for additional improvement.
“The supply chain issues for Hyper Racing in 2023 have drastically improved since mid-2020,” reported Dicely. “There are only a very small amount of items that are now affected by supply chain issues. I would say for us it is back to pre-COVID levels.”
“Inflation has affected all things in the world, but it seems to have had more effect on the racing market, because it is perceived as more a luxury/hobby item, not a necessity,” added Leary. “The supply chain is better than it was in 2021/2022 but still has a ways to go to get back to pre-pandemic levels, especially with things like tires.”
To stay on top of these trends, PRI will make its State of the Racing Market Report a high priority to members. “While the 2024 version is the first iteration in the series, the PRI State of the Racing Market Report will be an annual benefit for the industry that we release in the first quarter of each year,” said Knapp.
“PRI will continue to evolve and innovate to bring vital information to the industry,” said Good. “For those outside of the industry, I would encourage you to not only take a look at the data but take in a racing event with your family and friends. It’s a tremendous industry centered on family and looking out for one another while pursuing speed, excitement, and safety, all at the same time.
“The motorsports industry is a vibrant, innovative industry that is continually changing and advancing,” added Good. “It will continue to be an industry of opportunity for the next generation to engage in, disrupt, and continue to advance.”