Fifteen race carburetor businesses from around the country were represented in the inaugural Carb Shootout organized by BLP Racing Products, and held in its Orlando, Florida, facility just prior to the opening of the PRI Trade Show. By all the accounts we've heard, it was good fun with highly respeced race carburetor experts participating. We understand plans are already in the works to do it again in 2012.

There were two ‘shootouts’ utilizing the BLP Revolution inertia dyno by Excelleration. Chad Mullins, of Mullins Race Engines, provided the 430ci small block race engine, while Steve Schmidt, Steve Schmidt Racing, provided the 618ci big block race engine.

Mark Whitener won the small block competition, while AED Performance, Richmond, Virginia, was runner-up. AED Performance won the Out Of The Box award.

AED Performance then went on to win the big block competition, with Braswell coming in as the runner up. The winner of the Out Of The Box award was AED Performance.

The winner of the 2.130 max throttle bore class shootout was Advanced Product Designs, Genoa, Ohio.

Excellent photos of the event are available at http://blpcarbshootout.com.

Each challenge was based on the quickest acceleration throughout the total rpm range measured on the Revolution Inertia engine dyno. To make sure of a level playing field, performance automotive author and seminar presenter David Vizard served the challenge steward. Representatives of Revolution Dyno were brought in to run the event.


Here's the artwork announcing the Carb Shootout at the BLP Corral.


Here's a photo of the Carb Shootout. Click here for more photos.

The Christmas and New Year’s holidays are now over and it is now the end of the first week in January. Like everyone in the racing industry, I also look to a number of indicators to gauge what is happening and predict how current events will affect the coming season in terms of business opportunities.

Indicator number one for me is the feedback we are receiving about the 24th annual PERFORMANCE RACING INDUSTRY Trade Show. Even though it has been more than a month since thousands of racing businesses came to Orlando to do business, we are still receiving amazing messages from both exhibitors and attendees about the happenings on the show floor those three days. The fact that exhibitors did a substantial amount business, combined with the rate the Exhibit Option Renewal Forms that are coming in, substantiates the industry is positive about 2012.

Next on the list of indicators that I watch closely is the number of advertisers and advertising pages that were reserved for the January and February issues of PRI Magazine and we have excellent news here, too. Both the January and February issues for 2012 featured substantially more advertisers than we had in 2011, which is another indicator of “strength” for the industry. Our PRI Magazine subscribers read the magazine from cover to cover. The advertising is also closely reviewed because these advertisements bring new product offerings as well as gross margin and profit opportunities to the racing retailer, car builder, engine builder and fabricator.

There are a number of other “indicators” that I carefully watch, and I am very pleased to see that the “first of the year” race events are doing extremely well. The 14th annual Rumble in Fort Wayne, which took place at the end of December, drew strong car counts in all the divisions that included midgets, karts, outlaw modified winged midgets, quarter midgets, and non-winged mini-sprints. Then on Friday and Saturday nights, the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was packed with eager race fans who enjoyed good, old-fashioned wheel-to-wheel racing as their hero Tony Stewart won both midget main events.

At press time, we are now just a week away from Emmett Hahn and Lanny Edwards’ 26th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals that will again feature an amazing midget car count well above 260 entries. Midget fans from all around the world jam the QuikTrip Center for five straight nights to watch their heroes put on a wild and crazy show on the tight dirt oval. We all should look to how Emmett, Lanny and their energized crew operate this race event. EVERYTHING goes off like clockwork, and the fans enjoy the frantic racing action that never stops from the wave of the green flag to the checkered flag. I have never seen anything like the Chili Bowl event where Emmett and crew manage the 200-plus competitors so there is never any down time; cars are staged; heats and mains are run; and all of this happens so the packed house is “entertained” from the very beginning to the last lap of the A-main on Saturday night.

The end of January was also the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, and then NASCAR will begin early season testing at Daytona. So far the winter has not been too harsh and I hope this trend continues. Then, April will arrive and the weekly grassroots racing shows across the country will begin.

We all have lots to look forward to for the coming season!

In my position here at PRI (Jeff Swoboda is a PRI sales and marketing manager), I am fortunate to have contact with a wide variety of motorsports related businesses, large and small, in all sectors of the industry. I'd like to report that while racing did not escape the downturn in the economy, the racing industry is definitely fighting back and getting results.

At our most recent PRI Trade Show in Orlando, I witnessed several companies that had implemented programs to keep motorsports sales charting in the right direction.

The first place I saw this occurring was at the Red Bull Kart Fight at PRI, Powered by Rotax--a high profile, high energy, highly entertaining event that saw some of the top karting talent on the globe (10 World Karting Championships were represented on the grid) squaring off with drivers from IndyCar, NASCAR, the X-Games, Grand-Am, and the ALMS.

If you looked a little closer though, you’d notice that the event’s title sponsor Red Bull had implemented an Amateur Division at the event.  This division had 20 amateur drivers from indoor and outdoor recreational karting tracks across the southeastern U.S. that had won the right to compete at this high profile event, that would be nationally televised, in front of the jam-packed grandstands filled with motorsports industry personnel, and alongside some of the top names in North American motorsports like A.J. Allmendinger, Alex Tagliani, and Cole Whitt (Mr. Whitt in fact provided personalized coaching for these Amateur drivers).  These drivers were flown to Orlando, provided top-rate accommodations, and given the chance to attend the world’s largest and most diverse motorsports industry trade show as well.  I would dare to venture that more than a handful of them utilized the experience to make plans, contacts, and purchases, for a more serious racing effort in 2012.  Now compare that to the ‘Fast Time’ contest that you are used to seeing at your local karting center.  Hats off to our friends at Red Bull for helping us to provide this captive audience of motorsports consumers with a first-rate experience to advance their ambitions in racing.

It didn’t stop there however.  Rotax, the presenting sponsor of the event and engine supplier for the race, had just completed their 2011 racing season where they sent 11 American drivers of all ages to compete at the Rotax World Finals in Abu Dhabi, against some of the best karting talent worldwide.  The opportunity to cap off your karting success with a trip to Abu Dhabi to compete against some of world’s best, and the fact that ELEVEN drivers would be afforded this chance, is a  prize structure that would have been unthinkable a generation ago when drivers were scrapping for a few hundred dollars of prize money and a trophy.  Give credit to Rotax for providing such a great experience to so many young drivers worldwide and a payoff for all the money they spend racing all year.

It didn’t stop there though, the event’s associate sponsor, Mazda, was on-site with a decked out and pyro-fitted Mazda3 pace car.  Their involvement wasn’t all for show and fun however, as Jim Jordan and John Doonan from Mazda were quick to point out.  Their support of karting is part of a complete motorsports ladder where a driver can advance up from karting through to IndyLights with a scholarship program that ensures that if you keep winning, you will keep advancing.  How many drivers have we heard of lately that have won championships at the developmental level only to be rewarded with the need to find several hundred thousand more dollars in sponsorship to keep progressing?

With the Mazda system, the champions always advance there are many IndyCar and sports car drivers that wouldn’t be driving race cars for a living now without it.   The Mazda group even held a seminar at the show on Friday morning to help educate young drivers from across all of racing in the complex and quirky world of motorsports, marketing, and sponsorship. It was packed.  Thank you Mazda!

Of course, those are all programs that relate to drivers, and providing more opportunities for people to drive, or advance their driving career.  But all of us in the industry know that for every one person in the driver’s seat, there are another 10 to 20 behind the scenes designing cars, working on chassis, building engines, distributing parts, and managing racing events.  This is where there seems to be real concern in that today’s youth are not being groomed to fill these vital roles.

Enter the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge event.   An annual series of competitions managed by Jim and Rodney Bingham’s Winner’s Circle organization that awarded $2,035,000 in scholarships from Ohio Technical College, the University of Northwestern Ohio, and the School of Automotive Machinists this year to high school students nationwide .  The HROT group held exhibition engine building competitions for two days at the PRI Show where show attendees were able to witness young, passionate, and sharply presented students displaying their talents on a platform that allows them to:
1.    Advance to the Finals event held each year at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas
2.    Receive a slice of the over $2 million in scholarship funds mentioned above
3.    Network at two of the world’s largest industry trade shows with network personnel that can help advance their career and provide valuable mentoring.

Others in the industry have taken notice too.  The HROT high school teams that competed at PRI enjoyed sponsorship support from ARP, Comp Cams, Edelbrock, Moroso, Motive Gear,  Painless, and Royal Purple.  In an era of rising post-secondary tuition levels and high unemployment rates, this platform is a true game-changer in many young people’s lives.

So while the times are changing in the motorsports industry, there are strong, forward-thinking organizations that are stepping up to the plate to help not only sales of their specific product in their segment, but also the industry and its next generation as a whole.  From all of us at PRI, we would just like to say Thank You!

We're happy to report that the Engine Charity Sweepstakes fundraiser at the PRI Trade Show set a new record of $31,590. The money goes to the Victory Junction Gang Camp, a race-themed camp for children with chronic illnesses, started by Kyle and Pattie Petty in honor of their son, Adam.

“I am excited to announce that the grand total of donations for the 2011 PRI/Sunnen Charity Engine Sweepstakes is $31,590.00, making it by far the most we have ever collected,” said Bob Davis, of Sunnen, organizers of the Sweepstakes.

At the 2011 PRI Trade Show, tickets could be purchased in the Machinery Row section of the Show for a chance to win a race engine built by Reher-Morrison. David Reher was there to draw the winning ticket on Saturday afternoon at the Show.

The winning ticket, picked by David Reher, belonged to Jim Hughes from Hughes Performance in Phoenix, Arizona.

“It’s a Dart block, a short deck 9.8” big block, 4.625” bore, 4.375” stroke, Manley rods, Ross pistons, Edelbrock manifold. It makes 1200 horsepower and 860 ft-lbs torque and is worth $26,500,” explained Johnny Claridge of Reher-Morrison.

Other companies that donated parts for the engine include Akerly & Childs, ARP, ATI, BHJ, Billet Fabrication, Bruce Lowrie GMC, Cometic, CV Products, Erson, Fel Pro, Full Bore, Gary Williams, Isky, JE Pistons, Jesel, Lokar, Mallory, Manton, Midwest Engineering, Milodon, Moroso, Mr. Gasket, MSD, NGK, O’Reilly’s, PAC Springs, Pioneer, Pro Filer, RMRE, Star Machine, T&D Machine, Trend Performance, Total Seal, US Seal, VP Fuels and XRP.

“The response for this was just incredible. The minute we were on board, people were calling us who we don’t even do business with wanting to be involved, and we were luckily able to involve several companies,” Claridge explained.

David Reher, left, stands in front of the Reher-Morrison race engine raffled off as part of the Engine Charity Sweepstakes at the PRI Trade Show. Jim Hughes, right, of Hughes Performance, was the lucky winner.


You can tell by the crowd surrounding the Engine Charity Sweepstakes booth in Machinery Row that this popular event was heading to a record amount of fundraising for the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

We gained additional insights recently on the use of a spec tire in a racing series when we visited with Jim Scarborough, customer development manager for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, and Gustavo Menezes, who will be competing in the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear again in 2012.

The occasion was a small gathering of journalists for lunch at the Goodyear North American Airship Operations in Gardena, California. If you’ve ever been driving south of Los Angeles on the 405 freeway right around where it intersects with the 110 freeway, and glimpsed the Goodyear blimp tethered to a mast, that’s where we met. It was the idea of Dean Case, communications officers for MAZDASPEED Motorsports. A one-hour ride in the blimp was also on the schedule, but Santa Ana wind conditions prevented the trip.

In addition to providing a measure of affordability to racers, there is an immense pressure on the tire manufacturer to supply a tire that is reliable in performance. If there are wide variations the performance of individual tires, then it can destroy the concept of a level playing field.

“It’s very important to have them really consistent,” said Menezes.

In turn, the spec tire can expand the importance of tire management for the driver.

As Menezes said, regarding his first season in Star Mazda in 2011, “I finally learned how to manage the Goodyear tires the whole race.” Menezes will be driving for Team Pelfrey in 2012, a team that scored four wins and captured 13 podium finishes en route to the team title in its first season of Star Mazda Championship action. “I learned a lot. At the beginning of the year, I’d drive through the tires in 15 minutes.”

Scarborough said Goodyear looks upon its racing activities as “ a proving ground.” He said, “The engineers are on the ground, collecting data.” And racing is a key part of Goodyear’s marketing strategy.

Keep an eye on the 17-year-old Menezes. He’s raced karts and formula cars in Europe, because he wanted to experience the “steep learning curve” that would provide. He was happy to report that in the 2009 racing season, after struggling for two years, “We were really solid.”

Make no mistake about his plans for the Star Mazda series in 2012. “I’m going all out for the win.” The Star Mazda Championship series is part of the Road To Indy.

We asked Menezes where an up-and-coming young driver goes today to keep up with the latest news in his racing world, and he mentioned www.eformulacarnews.com and www.junioropenwheeltalent.com, as well as Racer magazine.

Taken from the Publisher's Page in January 2012:

I just arrived back to Laguna Beach after spending a week in Orlando, Florida, along with 38,000 racing industry members, for the 24th Annual PERFORMANCE RACING INDUSTRY Trade Show. First, I must thank each and every one of the 1037 exhibitors that brought their products to the Trade Show and built magnificent displays that showcased these products to the thousands upon thousands of attendee “buyers” who came from 72 countries. The exhibitors are the “magnet” that draws the attendees and the magnetic attraction of this year’s Show was outstanding. In fact, we had a slight increase of exhibitors from the 2010 Trade Show and we were pleased that 138 companies that were either new to PRI or companies that stopped exhibiting at PRI due to the economy but returned in 2011. I thank each and every exhibitor for being a part of this important worldwide industry event with your combined efforts to bring the latest technology in racing that was the primary attraction for ALL the attendees who came to see, touch and “buy” your products.

Along with the “magnetic power” of the 1037 exhibitors, another element occurred that played a key role in the development of the attendee traffic that was strong all three days. Our Registration Manager Nicole Harless worked extra hard this year to develop an Attendee Pre-Registration Program that was second to none. As a result of Nicole’s hard work and the effort of her Registration Team, many new attendees came to the PRI Trade Show for the first time. We had an increase in new buyer attendees domestically as well as internationally and most of them were able to use our new online registration service.

The Race Industry Week events that were held on Monday through Wednesday prior to the opening of the Trade Show all featured excellent attendance. The AETC event was again packed with engine builders for the three-day conference. The new addition to Race Industry Week was the Professional Motorsport Circuit Operators Convention, which brought over 100 race track owners and operators to their conference. Then the International Council of Motorsport Sciences showcased the worldwide medical talent for a well-attended two-day event.

The doors to the Orange County Convention Center opened early on Thursday morning as literally thousands of exhibitors and attendees lined up to get a good seat at our Grand Opening Breakfast. In fact, we had a packed house where 3500 people enjoyed a good, old-fashioned hot breakfast and a dynamic program that included the replication of the popular SPEED TV Wind Tunnel show “live” on stage. Dave Despain and his co-hosts Robin Miller and Kenny Schrader did a great job entertaining the audience with their interviews of a number of guests. At the conclusion of the Breakfast, Dave said, “The Show is open,” and the Grand Opening Breakfast crowd rushed to the Show floor to start the process of walking up and down the aisles to meet with the exhibitors.

One event at the PRI Trade Show that drew a standing-room-only crowd was the 5th annual RED BULL KART FIGHT at PRI, Powered by ROTAX. The grandstands were packed and there were folks standing two deep around the fencing to watch 30 karter class drivers and 18 All Stars put on a wild, wheel-to-wheel kart race that will be televised by FOX Sports Net on January 2 and 9. Visit our website at www.performanceracing.com for more details and to see all the happenings that surrounded the 24th Annual PRI Trade Show.

Now, I want to personally thank each and every one of our PRI team members who dedicated their time, effort and energy for 365 days so the racing industry could experience and enjoy a truly spectacular event. THANK YOU, PRI TEAM!!! We have already begun planning for the 25th Annual PRI Trade Show, so we look forward to seeing everyone again November 29–December 1, 2012, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We at PRI are very proud of what took place at the Red Bull Kart Fight at PRI Powered by Rotax. We wanted to present karting to members of the racing industry who may have never experienced a kart race packed with talented drivers, and we wanted to present exhibitors and attendees with a great evening's entertainment for Thursday night. We wanted to deliver a big dose of racing action, but we wanted to clock it in by 8:30 p.m., recognizing that everybody had a big work day on Friday at the PRI Trade Show.

We had a ton of help from all the sponsors, kart suppliers, teams, drivers, the WKA, the IKF, eKartingNews.com, the Convention Center, Masters Entertainment, and others. It was a pretty amazing night of racing.

Red Bull just completed its online video of the event, and we'd like to share it. Click here to watch it.

Fireworks? Check.
Great announcer? Check. (Rob Howden)
Packed grandstands? Check.
Nose-to-tail racing action? Check.
Lively opening ceremonies starting promptly at 6:15? Check.
All racing completed in 2 hours 15 minutes? Check.
Podium hoopla? Check.

Great fun!

The PRI Trade Show has evolved into a key business event globally for the worldwide racing marketplace. “This is the fourth time in the last five years we’ve been here,” said Ben Bartlett, of the Australian AAAA.  “We have 21 Australian companies exhibiting here and it has surpassed our expectations.  We do shows all around the world, but no other motorsports shows here in the U.S. – just PRI.”

"We’re an international company – and this is how we set up our distributorships with our partners in Australia by developing relationships with people here. Our overseas customers that we’re seeing here are a lot of engine builders and a lot of formula guys.  The face-time here at the PRI Show is second to none," said Ryan White, CV Products.

Ashley Garrett, of U.S. Legends Cars International, added, “The Show has been great for us.  We love this show because it has a good international flair to it. Our growth overseas has been phenomenal for us and we can attribute most of that to the PRI Show. The international buyers don’t buy four cars, they might buy 40 cars.  In fact, we have a buyer here from Australia looking to buy 10 Bandoleros today.”

"We see a fair amount of our international customers here every year and that gives us the opportunity to have a face-to-face with them.  It’s very important," said Mark Kostrzewa, Motor State Distributing.

Another PRI exhibitor may be bringing more to the U.S. in 2013 than racing products as the Brazilian Formula Truck Series was exhibiting one of the series’ truck tractors on-site in preparation for its debut.

The Motorsport Industry Association (MIA), the British racing trade group, exhibited in the PRI Trade Show, and also organized a reception Thursday night for international visitors to the PRI Trade Show.

A record number of countries--72--were represented in the attendance at this year's PRI Trade Show, announced Francisque Savinien, director of global sales and marketing for PRI.

Juliana Schmode, South American business development manager for PRI, said, "Once again Latin America was very well represented with a strong contingent of buyers coming from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and much more not to mention a very nice exhibit of Argentinean companies."

Arianna Maugeri, European & Middle Eastern business development manager for PRI, said, "PRI is definitely the place to be for the global motorsport industry, as we registered buyers all the way from the Middle East to Japan, Canada to New Zealand, South Africa to Europe. Plus, buyers from emerging markets such as Russia and Eastern Europe came to Orlando to shop and buy the latest advances in racing technology."

Over the years, the week of the PRI Trade Show has evolved into a much broader event than just a trade show as major conferences chose to co-locate with the world's largest gathering of racing professionals.

It's become known as Race Industry Week, and the 2011 edition offered something for everyone in the motorsports industry, as well as the latest advances in racing technology on display by over 1,000 companies at the PRI Trade Show.

No less than six major events ran in conjunction with the Show beginning on Monday the week of the Show:
    •Advanced Engineering Technology Conference (AETC)
    •Claude Rouelle’s Optimum G Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Seminar
    •Professional Motorsports Circuit Owners and Operators Convention
    •International Council of Motorsport Sciences (ICMS) Annual Congress
    •PRI Industry Roundtable
    •EFI University Training Course on EFI in Racing Applications

All were well attended. Altogether, the week of the PRI Trade Show features over 35 conferences, seminars, social gathering and other events.

“It’s been extremely positive," said Brian Reese, of the AETC. "Every year continues to get stronger with the promotion of PRI. Our attendance is up from last year.  Engine technology is universal.  We have attendees from the professional engine builder to the grassroots builders to racers and speed shops and manufacturer engineers.  All types of racing, circle track to drag racers to marine and motorcycles.  It’s a great interaction with the PRI Show.  It adds value for everyone involved.  The PRI Show is on the radar for everybody and it helps us promote the event.”

Hundreds of race engine builders arrive in Orlando to attend the Advanced Engineering Technology Conference. It is one of the oldest and most respected race engine conferences. Click here for a list of speakers.

Gill Campbell, CEO of Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca, attended the Circuit Owners Convention. “I see the Promoters Convention as a huge tool.  I find it very useful.  Getting together with your peers in the industry, there’s no other training ground you have as a promoter.  You only learn from what other people do, so this is a tremendous showcase for new ideas," she said.

Dan McKeever, Director of Operations, Miller Motorsports Park, said,  “We live in our own little world at race tracks, so it’s good to get some other perspectives.  Even if it’s an oval track or drag racing track, we still face the same problems in trying to bring fans in to watch racing.  In a market that’s down, we’re always looking for new ways to promote ourselves.  We have a bunch of our partners that are here that we meet with, as well as being able to meet with the sanctioning bodies. This whole thing is beautiful for us.  We’ll have probably 8-10 people attend here in total.  We sell racing gear and look to sell more mechanical stuff through our race shop.”

Sam Gee, who organized the Professional Motorsports Circuit Owners & Operators Convention, said, "The convention is a pretty neat idea where we've tried to put together some expertise with all sorts of motorsports facilities.  Finding audiences, finding new revenue streams and owning and operating effectively...We have over 100 people most of whom have a job title of CEO, they’re the decision-makers." Attendees came from throughout the US, as well as Singapore, Europe, Sweden Norway, the UK, Argentina and Chile.

Speaking about his Vehicle Dynamics Seminar, OptimumG's Claude Rouelle said, "Our seminar is going well, we have a terrific mix of people here.  We have people from the automotive industry, from the tire industry, from race teams and all the way to Formula Student.  It’s a nice combination of theory and practice, experience and wisdom and a hunger for knowledge.  This is a great coupling with the PRI Show.  We discuss so many things in the seminar, that our attendees can then take it directly to the Show floor and ask the product specialists and have a better idea of what questions to ask."

Jon Potter, executive director of the ICMS, said the event scored very high marks with attending motorsports safety professionals, including surgeons, race sanction safety executives, race track emergency personnel and more. "The 2011 Congress was extremely successful.  After tabulation, we rated 3.78 out of 4 in meeting our objectives.  That will keep you on the dean's list!" he exclaimed. "The ICMS-PRI marriage is a huge success. Our people really enjoyed the Show and being able to attend both."

Attendees at the ICMS Congress came from 10 countries. The ICMS is the most prestigious organization worldwide in the field of motorsports safety. Click here to download a Word document of the curriculum for the 2011 Congress.

"The 2011 ICMS meeting was very successful," said Hugh Scully, MD. "The timing of this year's ICMS meeting, overlapping with the commencement of the PRI Trade Show, was certainly better for us than last year, and allowed and encouraged our attendees to visit the great PRI Trade Show."

A panelist on this year's Industry Roundtable, SPEED race reporter Robin Miller said, "The good thing about the Roundtable is the people you’re talking to get it. They’re all racers.  They all understand the history of racing and they have a lot of good questions.  You get all of these people from different walks of racing and it’s amazing how similar their thoughts are on a lot of issues that the industry faces today.”

Substantial buying in all categories throughout the exhibit hall at the 24th Annual PRI Trade Show served as testament to the quality of buyers attracted each year to the epicenter of new racing technology.

Here's what the Industry is saying. We'll start with exhibitors, then follow with buyers.

Exhibitors:

Jeff Clark, of Roush-Yates Engines: “Opening day was fantastic. We had a great turnout with people in our booth.  The racers are asking very good questions on the engines and on the parts.  We’ve definitely been able to grow our business from this.  The whole Roush-Yates initiative is branching out to drag racing, late-model, sprints, off-road truck, dirt late-models, dirt modifieds.  We’re engine builders and there are racers here at every grassroots level and we have an engine for those racers.”

Jason Cobb, Impact by Mastercraft Safety: “It’s been a fantastic show.  The foot traffic has been phenomenal and the energy is really up.   People are buying and it seems like they want to take stuff right off the shelf – unfortunately, we don’t have the stock for that, but people want to get the product today.  Impact’s been part of the industry for years.  It’s absolutely imperative that we’re here at the PRI Show.”

Mark  Kostrzewa, Motor State Distributing:  “PRI is a great show. Our customers vary from drag racing to circle track, not just domestically but world-wide and PRI really gives us exposure to an international clientele.  We see a fair amount of our international customers here every year and that gives us the opportunity to have a face-to-face with them.  It’s very important.  I don’t even know how to measure it.  That exposure is just immense, it’s so valuable to have a face-to-face with customers. They appreciate that opportunity and it’s what really builds a strong business relationship.”

Dale Aldo, Mopar Motorsports Marketing Manager:  “We’ve been very, very busy.  We haven’t even had an opportunity to walk the show because we’ve been too busy.”

Andy Anderson, Trend Performance/Diamond Pistons:  “It’s going really well for us so far.  We had a good crowd on Thursday and then they came in Friday and it was really busy again.  We do a lot of NHRA work, especially in the Pro Stocks, but we really provide product for a number of series.  I’ve been coming to PRI for about 20 years now.  We’re really happy with what the show is doing for us this year.” 

Ryan White CV Products:  “It’s been a great show.  We’re getting a lot of good feedback and seeing lot of customers that we don’t normally get to see on a personal level – and a lot of international customers that you may not get a chance to see anywhere else.  It’s been busy.  It’s been real steady, but not covered up – so you get real good quality time.  We’re coming out with a lot of our new dirt chassis stuff.  The dirt market has really taken off.  In the last six years, it just seems to continue to grow at a real steady rate.  We’ve identified it as a target market.  The dirt side of display is really doing well here.  We’re an international company – and this is how we set up our distributorships with our partners in Australia by developing relationships with people here. Our overseas customers that we’re seeing here are a lot of engine builders and a lot of formula guys.  The face-time here at the PRI Show is second to none.  We’ve been coming here for more than 20 years and we’re here for good.”

Jeff Fortune, American Drag Racing League: “We feel we need to be here.  A lot of our racers and almost all of our sponsors are here.  It’s a good chance to see everybody. Our season ends in October and doesn’t start back up until March, so this gives us a chance to implement rules and a lot of things happen in the industry and it gives a chance to get in front of people and talk about them.  

Drew Patey, SafetyKleen: “We saw on the first morning that we can sell parts washers without even having them on the floor.  But the PRI Show is designed to showcase your entire company and this is the first time we’ve chosen to showcase everything we do.  Not only the awareness of our parts cleaning, but also that we’re in the oil collection business  - and when, you bring a 4,000-gallon oil truck and park it right in the middle of the PRI Show, there’s no doubt that people know we’re in the oil business.  We only do two shows a year, the PRI Show here and the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.  It’s a given that we’ll be at PRI.”

Rich Mersereau, Steele Performance Parts:  “The show’s been pretty good.  We sell  sprint car, midgets and mini sprint chassis, parts and related components.  We’re here to get our name out, meet the customers and educate them about what Steele Performance does.”  

Ben Bartlett, Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association: “This is the fourth time in the last 5 years we’ve been here.  We’ve got 21 Australian companies.  Aussies love motorsports, love to drive hard and make their cars go faster and we’ve got some Australian companies here that do that very, very well.  We represent all elements of motorsports covered here.  The show is going very well.  It reaches all of our expections.  We do shows all around the world, but no other motorsports shows here in the U.S. – just PRI.”

Rich Schnippel, inTech Trailers: "This may have been one of the most successful PRI Trade Shows I have ever been a part of, and I've been coming to this show for over 10 years. Our booth had extremely steady traffic the entire show. We booked more sales at the Show than any previous year."


Attendees:

Ed Pink, Ed Pink Racing Engines:  “We’re here at the PRI Show because most every jobber and company we do business with is here and we’re here to check out the new technology. There’s a lot of people we know that are here and we’ve seen a lot of new vendors here.  It’s an excellent show.”

Brett Thompson, Thompson Motorsports: “It’s been a good show and it’s very personable.  We’re here for a number of reasons.  We run in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, but we’re also a dealer.  I’ve been able to meet with a lot of our customers.  It’s very important to see people face-to-face and get down to business.”

Dan McKeever, Director of Operations, Miller Motorsports Park:  “We come to PRI every year for a variety of reasons.  This whole thing is beautiful for us.  We have a bunch of our partners that are here that we meet with, as well as being able to meet with the sanctioning bodies.  We’ll have probably 8-10 people attend here in total.  We also sell racing gear and we’re looking to expand on the mechanical side through our race shop.”

Clayton Triggs, Swift Engineering: "It’s great to be at PRI.  We’re expanding our equipment and we now have 60,000 square feet to fill with autoclaves and lathes and expand our equipment extensively and we’re happy with what we’ve found.  The only downside is that my feet hurt because there’s so much to see here.”

Tim Wilkerson, NHRA Funny Car: “I come to the PRI Trade Show every year. I’m here to learn anything new that’s happening in the industry, to meet with my vendors, as well as some of my sponsors, and just to see people that I know.  The new products are more interesting to me than anything.  I like to walk around and see what the other racing series do as well, and some of the technology they use."