Dynabrade—the Clarence, New York-based manufacturer of portable pneumatic abrasive power tools—has announced the asset purchase of one of its strategic suppliers, Global Abrasive Products (GAP). The abrasives converter company has 50 employees across its locations in Lockport, New York, and Alpharetta, Georgia.
“This further elevates our value proposition of becoming the leader in surface solutions and innovative process improvements for industries around the world. With over 1,000 abrasive power tool configurations, and now an abrasive offering for most any application, Dynabrade is in the unique position to provide greater value to our manufacturing processes and to continue delivering unprecedented cost savings,” Dynabrade President Michael Buffamonti said.
The acquisition marks Dynabrade’s second in two years, following the acquisition of high-tech production shop Manth Manufacturing in 2021.
Little Rock, Arkansas-based Morgan Performance Group’s (MPG) Prototype Celebration—formerly known as GT Celebration—has announced an expansion in 2023 to 14 races across seven doubleheader weekends.
This year’s schedule will bring more track time for its dual classes, Prototype and Prototype Lite. The Prototype division will compete with three types of vehicles: LMP3, PC, and Wolf. The Prototype Lite group will also have three car configurations: Radical, Revolution, and NP01. All cars will compete with an open tire rule.
“We are very excited to expand our Prototype Celebration classes in 2023 to 14 races,” said Rob Morgan, CEO and founder of MPG. “With the variety of machinery in the two Prototype celebration categories and the added track time, we feel the racers and the teams will have a great experience throughout each race weekend.”
“With one Enduro (50 minutes) and one Sprint race (30 minutes) plus five practice rounds (190 minutes) and qualifying session (20 minutes), we’ll have nearly five hours of on-track activity for the Prototype Celebration cars each race weekend. We believe that is one of the strongest schedules for the division in North America.”
The 2023 MPG road racing tour is scheduled to begin at Nevada’s Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club on April 21–23, followed by Georgia’s Road Atlanta on May 11–13; California’s Sonoma Raceway on June 16–18; Tennessee’s FlatRock Motor Club on July 7–9; Virginia International Raceway on Aug. 4–6; Utah Motorsports Campus on Sept. 8–10 and New York’s Watkins Glen International on Oct. 27–29.
In related series news, MPG has announced the promotion of engineer Nick Lester to executive vice president and the appointment of veteran racer Kelly Collins to the position of senior vice president and sporting director.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS)—home to the largest single-day sporting event in the world, the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge—is the first sport facility to achieve organizational certification through the Council for Responsible Sport.
The Indianapolis, Indiana-based racing circuit previously announced, in 2021, the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge was certified a responsible event.
The new standard is based on the recognition of the following core principles: power of sport, resolution of climate change, enablement of social justice, and business of sport. IMS was the first to commit to the new framework, implementing year-round tracking of environmental and social impacts for the more than 300 events hosted at IMS annually.
As part of the new certification, IMS implemented new standards and procedures. This includes the development of a diversity, equity and inclusion plan, along with a public commitment to the measurement and mitigation of environmental impacts. IMS expanded waste diversion efforts beyond the Indianapolis 500 to include events hosted at IMS year-round. Additionally, track officials adopted new procurement policies and protocols, eliminating single-use plastic and Styrofoam in office spaces and prioritizing purchases from women- and minority-owned businesses and businesses with sustainability-related certifications.
“This is a monumental and impactful achievement for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, earned through a comprehensive commitment to innovation and hard work that safeguards our community and leads the way in our sport,” IMS President J. Douglas Boles said. “We learned a lot in 2021 when we received our event certification for the Indy 500. That process helped us get to this moment, where we are now tracking the impact of our events throughout the year and implementing systemic programs that yield results.
“We remain committed to becoming the most sustainable motorsport venue in the world, and we are grateful for the support and enthusiasm shown by our fans as we continue to identify new opportunities to encourage their participation in this journey.”
Beatrice Speedway—the 3/8-mile high-banked dirt track in Beatrice, Nebraska—has announced Tommy Denton has taken over promotional duties for 2023. The facility regularly hosts Friday night Speedway Motors Weekly Racing programs.
Denton—also the promoter of Jeffery County Speedway in Fairbury, Nebraska—is a longtime employee of the facility, first joining in 2003. Prior positions include time as an announcer, corner man, the director of the Beatrice Speedway Hall of Fame, and more.
Beatrice will open its 2023 season with the Spring Nationals special event on March 9–11. Regular racing opens Friday, May 5, and continues throughout Championship Night on Friday, August 25. Weekly racing will feature Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods, and Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts.
Special events include the Sprint Car Special on September 29 featuring Race Saver 305 Sprint Cars and Nebraska 360 Sprint Cars. In addition, the Octoberfest event on October 12–14, will feature Modifieds, Sport Mods, stock cars, Hobby stocks, and compacts, with more information set to be announced at a later date.
Off-Road Warehouse (ORW)—the off-road retailer and installer with eight locations across the US and headquarters in San Diego, California—has announced a grand opening event for its ninth and newest location in Sparks near Reno, Nevada.
The 14,000-sq.-ft. ORW Reno location will officially open with a special event on Saturday, February 18, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plans include tours of its new showroom, raffle giveaways, vehicle displays, vendor booths, family-friendly games, plus the chance to enter to win $5,000 ORW credit. The first 100 customers will also receive a free t-shirt.
BD Motorsports Media LLC has reached an agreement with the Cathell family to promote special events at Delaware International Speedway in Delmar, Delaware, for the 2023 season. The schedule will work hand-in-hand with neighboring Georgetown Speedway in Georgetown, Delaware.
“We appreciate the Cathell family offering the opportunity to promote events at Delaware International Speedway in 2023,” Brett Deyo of BD Motorsports Media LLC said. “We’ve put together a schedule between Georgetown and Delaware International that gives Delaware racers approximately 20 races in their home state.”
Delaware International will join Georgetown as a member of the NASCAR Roots Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series for both the Modified and Crate 602 Sportsman divisions.
The season opens with an $8,500-to-win Jake Marine Memorial Season Opener featuring Modifieds, Vintage stock cars, and more on Friday, March 31.
Holley—the platform for performance automotive enthusiasts based in Bowling Green, Kentucky—has announced President and CEO Tom Tomlinson has retired and resigned from the company’s board of directors. He has served as the president and CEO of Holley since 2009.
Michelle Gloeckler, a current director, will serve as interim president and CEO while the board conducts a search to identify a permanent chief executive, a company release stated.
Additionally, Matthew Rubel, Holley’s current chairman of the board, has been appointed executive chairman of the board. He is expected to serve in this role until a permanent CEO is selected.
Meanwhile, Graham Clempson, an observer on the board since Holley’s business combination with Empower, has been appointed to serve as a member of the board, effective immediately.
Buyers can bank on a prodigious supply of new parts and solutions designed to drive sales—and podium finishes—in 2023 and beyond.
Demand for “late-model stuff,” including newer Ford and LS platform products, as well as lighter-weight billet parts, and even kits for big-wheel drag cars is expected to intensify in the coming year.
Motorsports parts resellers and service providers, as well as race teams and racers themselves, leveraged the recent PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis to uncover solutions that could provide a competitive edge in 2023, whether through added strength and durability, increased performance, weight savings, or a clever new approach to a common obstacle.
Manufacturers’ Assessments
Exhibitors like The Edelbrock Group noted new market forces shaping today’s buying tendencies, but cited one in particular: “The big trend we’ve started to see as we exit the pandemic is that there’s still a lot of demand for Ford FE and early Chrysler product—the C’s and D’s,” said Bryan Barlow, Canadian sales manager for the Olive Branch, Mississippi-based manufacturer. “During the height of it all, everyone focused on getting their orders out on A and B movers. Along the way a lot of C and D movers got depleted or discontinued. So we’re starting to see a big push right now as everyone’s getting caught up.”
Somewhat surprisingly, Edelbrock’s new VRS carb continues to resonate with racers following its introduction last year, Barlow added. “About June we started to ship it, and we’re already overwhelmed with orders,” he said. “With the market shifting so greatly toward EFI, we were a little nervous on the introduction of a new carburetor, but carburetor sales have been through the roof.”
Carburetor sales have been “through the roof,” despite the market shift to EFI, said a carburetor manufacturer’s rep. His company has been “overwhelmed with orders.”
For the team at Valencia, California-based Air Flow Research and Scat Enterprises, flat-plane crankshafts that deliver “the sound and performance of the Ferraris and Lamborghinis” are expected to remain atop racers’ wish lists in 2023, according to Danny Cerny. However, “for strength and a lot of the drag racing and performance sports, it’s the billet crankshafts,” he noted. “While manufacturing and producing the billets, we are also expanding a lot of our lightweight forgings that hold up to the industry’s punishing demands.”
Cerny also predicted that, somewhat ironically, the push for vehicle electrification could bode well for his segment. “People are going to want to rebuild a lot of the modern vehicles because the mileage is going to be coming around,” he explained, “and they’re not going to want to upgrade or go into an electric vehicle. So for us, it creates a whole new avenue in providing crankshafts, pistons, cylinder heads, and connecting rods.”
Machinery Row remains among the PRI Trade Show’s top attractions for many buyers who are seeking to enhance productivity as well as build quality. “Every time I turn around, I’m finding something that I need and want,” said one fabricator.
From the viewpoint of Lakeville, Minnesota-based manufacturer QA1, buyers are eyeing rear suspensions for such classic trucks as the 1973–1979 Ford F-150, as well as full-handling kits for 1971–1976 Impalas/Caprices that are popular among Donk racers and other big-wheel enthusiasts.
Along with products designed for older vehicles, QA1 also is utilizing advanced technologies and materials to meet customer demand. “They’re looking at new things like our carbon fiber driveshafts,” said Steve Smith. “There are still some folks out there who just can’t believe that a carbon fiber driveshaft can actually be stronger, lighter, and safer than any other driveshaft there is. They’re intrigued by things with innovation in the parts.”
Based in Glendale, Arizona, Pro EFI noted its wiring harnesses for the Ford Coyote engine as a top attention-getter; at King Engine Bearings, meantime, much of the focus was on the company’s first-to-market Can-Am race bearings, which were displayed at PRI in a Brian Crower specially crafted Can-Am engine block.
Hands-on demonstrations of machinery and tools is an important part of the PRI Show experience, said a source. “It’s more impressive to see it live than on paper. Seeing it in working mode tells us if it’s something we really need.”
New and often unexpected business opportunities were found everywhere, in fact, as Edward Cooper, president of Nu-Ice Age, a dry-ice blasting operation in Jackson, Michigan, discovered via Miles Ahead. Based in Carmel, Indiana, Miles Ahead brings turnkey open wheel electric kart racing competitions to fundraising and company team-building events. And that presented Cooper with a potentially new application for his product.
“When [blasted] dry ice hits, there’s no water in it,” Cooper explained. “Tiny explosions take place that lift dirt off walls or off a vehicle. They’re perfectly cleaned off, without hurting the finish.”
This waterless technology could be an ideal solution for cleaning e-karts and their specialized components, he surmised. “It’s cold and takes the dirt down to the ground. You just sweep it up and you’re done,” he said. “We’ve been doing this, but we also race cars, so this is kind of what we’re looking to as a next step.”
Breakthroughs for Buyers
So, how are buyers themselves approaching the 2023 season?
Indianapolis-based racer Nick Taylor was among those eyeing the aforementioned QA1 setup for big-wheel vehicles. Although he doesn’t race Donks or big-wheel cars, “I do no-prep racing and we like long-travel suspensions,” he said. “So I’m trying to gauge how this [product] could work out for what we do, not just the application they’ve produced it for.”
Fellow attendee Ryne Moonshower, with Moon’s Fabrication in Fort Wayne, Indiana, agreed. “There’s crossover between a lot of different sports here,” he added. “New products for circle track may also be useful in another area like drag racing, and you would never know that unless you came to PRI. There were some circle track twin-tube shocks that really piqued our interest, even though we do drag racing and a lot of backtrack stuff.”
Experts say the market for racing apparel, helmets, and safety gear is expected to continue expanding through at least 2026, due in part to the broadening appeal of motorsports, especially among younger demographics.
For numerous buyers, Machinery Row ranks among the Show’s top attractions—Daniel Adams, with CT Race Worx in Monroe, North Carolina, was on a mission there. A welder and fabricator specializing in side-by-sides and powersports vehicles, he was looking for new and upcoming welders, CNC tube benders, and air-driven and cordless power tools.
“Those are big things in our industry now, and every time I turn around [here], I’m finding something that I need and want,” he said. A seven-year veteran of the PRI Trade Show, Adams noted that Machinery Row consistently proves valuable to his business. “We’re able to increase production times and also the quality of our end products because we’re able to find the tools and equipment that help us produce better product in the end,” he said.
Tony Hatfield, owner of Modco Racing Engines in Joplin, Missouri, was in the market for CNC machines, and he found several by Howard, Pennsylvania-based Centroid that merited closer examination. Hatfield, who’s considering updating his equipment for cylinder heads and other engine-building tasks, noted improved efficiencies of the industry’s latest tooling; he was able to visualize the possibilities thanks to “hands-on” demonstrations provided by Centroid and others on Machinery Row.
“It’s more impressive to see it live than on paper,” he noted. “Seeing it in working mode tells us if it’s something we really need for where we want to be at. We get an idea of what’s new out there [and] make sure we’re not missing anything. The whole drive is to move forward.”
First-time PRI attendee Robert Bierman, a fabricator with AJ Performance Machine in Sycamore, Illinois, pondered how several of the “cool tools” he discovered could improve his workflow. “We build all kinds of street cars, race cars, turbo kits and performance items—we do blowers, installs, tuning, and dyno,” he told us. “There’s a lot of good stuff here, especially the grinders and a couple of the welders.”
With motorsports broadening its appeal, especially among younger demographics, experts say the market for racing apparel, helmets, and safety gear is expected to continue expanding through at least 2026. Of course, comfort, lighter weight, and fire protection remain key factors for buyers, with manufacturers jockeying to differentiate themselves in the areas of quality, regulatory compliance, aesthetics, and innovation.
Attending the PRI Show “is about connecting with all the motorsports industry people, a lot of whom I’ve been talking to on the phone and now am putting a face to the name,” said an attendee. “It’s great to connect with all the other companies in this industry.”
Pete Hunsinger of Chase Hunsinger Racing in Mansfield, Ohio, was among the many smaller buyers seeking new apparel and safety gear. A racer who started in go-karts nearly three decades ago, he and his 14-year-old son are planning a move into 410 sprint cars this year. “We’re going from a traditional go-kart jacket to a full-sized driving suit for him, obviously, for safety reasons,” said Hunsinger. “We’re hitting some of the safety equipment booths around here, see what we like, what feels comfortable for him, and what they can do for us with our sponsors.”
Not far away, Will Wattanwongkiri, owner of Chino, California-based WRTeknica, was examining helmets and other safety equipment by Scala Gear. Wattanwongkiri’s performance motorsports-oriented shop also fields TeamWWR, which has raced in NASA Super Touring, SRO GT4 World Challenge, and various other series.
“We resell, distribute, car build, support, transport—we’re a one-stop shop for customers with high-performance cars,” he said. “They can just drop the car off and forget about it. And, if there’s something they need that we don’t do, we refer it to our partners. We’re here to work with everybody.”
Wattanwongkiri touted the materials, fit, and quality of the helmets and gear he saw from Scala and others. “We’re here to buy helmets,” he said. “We’re also here to buy suspension parts and brake parts, wheels—just all kinds of things. Our business is focused on vehicle dynamics. So, anything that makes the car handle better, that’s what we do. We build a lot of race and track cars, and we’re focused on meeting all these vendors here.”
Like scores of other buyers flooding the aisles, Wattanwongkiri found it difficult to single out any one aspect of the Show—or product trend—that especially caught his eye. The floor was simply filled with so many innovations across so many categories, making them impossible to list. However, he did agree with other attendees we spoke with that the relationships forged at the Show stood out.
“Coming to PRI, for me, is about connecting with all the motorsports industry people, a lot of whom I’ve been talking to on the phone and now am putting a face to the name,” he explained. “Motorsports is such a focused, niche market, and it’s great to connect with all the other companies in this industry.
“There are also a lot of old industry friends who we just don’t get to see often,” he added. “I go racing around the country and I see them here and there, but this is the kind of place that just brings everyone together. I’m meeting other people through my current connections and then also introducing new connections to them—it’s a really good networking opportunity.”
Street Car Takeover—the premier national street car drag racing event—has announced the addition of Chris Baker as its new director of the Show Car Takeover.
Street Car Takeover features drag racing and roll racing with 15 events across the US annually. With the announcement, Street Car Takeover has also unveiled a new Car Show that will take place at each event in 2023. Baker is a longtime industry professional, with over 13 years as creative director at JEGS and as co-founder and founder of several well-known events, like the Tri-Five Nationals in Bowling Green, Kentucky; F-Body Nationals in Memphis, Tennessee; and the C10 Nationals in Ft. Worth, Texas, Nashville, Tennesse, and Salt Lake City, Utah. Baker also heads CK Truck Magazine, founded in 2020.
The 10th anniversary Street Car Takeover season opens February 24–25 in Bradenton, Florida.
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has launched an application process to identify prospective teams seeking to participate at a competitive level in the FIA Formula One World Championship.
“For the first time ever, as part of the selection conditions, we are requesting that candidates set out how they would meet the FIA’s sustainability benchmarks and how they would make a positive societal impact through sport,” said FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem. “The process is a logical extension of the positive acceptance of the FIA’s 2026 F1 Power Unit Regulations from engine manufacturers, which has attracted Audi to Formula 1 and created interest among other potential entrants.”
For the first time ever, candidates are required to address how they would manage the sustainability challenge and how it plans to achieve a net-zero CO2 impact by 2030. In addition, prospective F1 teams would also need to illustrate how they intend to achieve a positive societal impact through participation in the sport.
For more information, visit the FIA announcement here.
In related news, FIA has confirmed that six manufacturers have registered as Power Unit Suppliers for the 2026–2030 seasons of the FIA Formula One World Championship onwards, including:
Alpine Racing
Audi
Ferrari S.p.A.
Honda Racing Corporation
Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains Ltd.
Red Bull Ford
The six registrants will participate in the FIA Formula One World Championship seasons 2026–2030 under the technical regulations approved by the FIA Formula 1 Commission and World Motor Sport Council in August of this year.
MEMBERSHIP LOGIN
