After more than 14 years in a variety of executive roles across the company, Speedway Motorsports’ Chief Racing Development Officer Don Hawk will step away to open a personal sports management firm.

Hawk joined Speedway Motorsports in 2007 and was named the company’s vice president of business affairs in 2012. He was promoted to his current role of Chief Racing Development Officer in 2018. Hawk received Speedway Motorsports’ prestigious O. Bruton Smith Award, the company’s highest individual honor, in 2012.

“I’ll forever cherish the relationships I have with Bruton, Marcus and the Speedway Motorsports team,” Hawk said. “And I’m forever grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to work alongside them to grow the entire motorsports industry.”

For more information, visit speedwaymotorsports.com.

Hot Shot’s Secret was recently honored as Manufacturer of the Year by the National Tractor Pullers Association (NTPA). The award was presented to Josh Steinmetz, Lubrication Specialties Inc. E-commerce Manager during NTPA's 50th Awards Banquet. The annual banquet recognizes the people and organizations who give support to tractor and truck pulling, including competitors, families, crew members, promoters, and sponsors.

Hot Shot’s Secret became a sponsor of NTPA truck and tractor pulling in 2020, under a three-year partnership that designates Hot Shot’s Secret as the official Fuel Additive of the NTPA.

“Now, by earning the Manufacturer of the Year award from our association, the secret is out—Hot Shot’s Secret is proving to be an important component to the equation to increase and add reliable power. We appreciate their involvement with the NTPA and are excited to see what else is formulated to help our sport,” said Gregg Randall, NTPA Executive Director.

For more information, visit hotshotsecret.com.

GRIDLIFE has announced plans for a new festival event to be hosted at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut on August 19–20.

The event, called Circuit Legends, will celebrate the motorsports culture of the mid-1980s to mid-2000s with vehicles that represent “The Golden Age of touring car racing.” The event will not feature musical acts as typical of GRIDLIFE events.

HPDE, TrackBattle Time Attack, GRIDLIFE Touring Cup (GLTC), and a special Legends session are all scheduled.

“Rather than musical talent we are going to look to the automotive heroes as our headliners in hopes of bringing a legendary group of 80s-90s-00s racing vehicles together for this inaugural event,” said Chris Stewart, GRIDLIFE Founder and Experience Director.

“We’ve been working to deliver the best experience that we can possibly create for our guests, and debuting Circuit Legends at Lime Rock Park is a truly exciting addition to our 2022 schedule,” said Dicky Riegel, Lime Rock Park President and CEO.

The announcement took place during the 2021 PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis. More details will be released in the coming months. For more information, visit www.grid.life.

It’s often said that you should never mix business with pleasure. For Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, who is a lifelong racing fan, that’s easier said than done, especially when the 2021 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show is taking place right around the corner from the State Capitol. After a one-year absence due to the pandemic, Gov. Holcomb was eager to personally welcome aisles and aisles of motorsports businesses and tens of thousands of guests back to Indianapolis.

During his tour of the 2021 PRI Show, Governor Holcomb saw firsthand what makes the world’s premier gathering of motorsports professionals, including the latest products, technology, and innovations from the racing industry. Of the over 900 exhibitors onsite at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium, 94 hail from the Hoosier state, including the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), Bell Helmets, Lucas Oil, Impact Racing, Royal Purple Synthetic, PWR Advanced Cooling Technologies, and Hoosier Tire, all of whom the Governor was able to visit during his tour.

While at the PRI Show, Gov. Holcomb also doubled down on his support for racing by stopping by PRI HQ and signing up for a Champion PRI Membership.

Gov. Holcomb was first elected Governor in 2016 and was reelected in 2020. Prior, he served as a senior advisor to both Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) and Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN). Gov. Holcomb is also a veteran of the United States Navy. PRI is proud to have the support of the elected official. 

For more information, visit performanceracing.com/membership.

Following three days of competition at the 2021 PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis, the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow (HROT) has announced its 2021 National Champion team as the high school squad E3 Spark Plugs from Burton Center for Arts & Technology in Virginia.

“It was good to be back, and [we] appreciate all the support of SEMA, Performance Racing Industry (PRI), our sponsors, volunteers, schools, teachers, and parents who make this possible. We will be back in 2022 and are looking forward to it,” an HROT representative said.

The E3 Spark Plugs team was led by instructor Chris Overfelt and finished with an average time of 20 minutes and 51 seconds. Second place went to the Forsyth Central High School team sponsored by SCAT, which came in with a time of 22 minutes and 2 seconds. Third place went to the Moroso team from C.D. Hylton High School, who finished with a perfect engine build with a time of 22 minutes and 23 seconds.

The timed engine building competition sees teams of high school students disassemble and reassemble a small-block Chevrolet engine in less than 33 minutes (including penalties). Winning teams receive scholarship opportunities to various technical schools.

For a video of the awards ceremony, visit the Facebook Live recap here. For more information, visit hotroddersoftomorrow.com.

Auto Club Dragway, the 1/4-mile drag strip in Fontana, California, has permanently closed. The below announcement was made by officials from Auto Club Speedway, the 2-mile oval track also in Fontana, California.

“After careful consideration on the best direction forward for Auto Club Speedway, the difficult decision has been made to permanently close Auto Club Dragway. 

“We thank all of the competitors, fans and corporate partners who made so many wonderful memories at Auto Club Dragway through the years, and we look forward to making new ones as we embark on our 25th Anniversary Season at the 2-mile oval in 2022.”

It was previously announced in April that the drag strip would remained closed for the 2021 season “due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.” The track was first built in 2001 outside of the backstretch of Auto Club Speedway. 

For more information, visit autoclubdragway.com or autoclubspeedway.com. 

MAHLE Motorsport has announced the addition of three new employees to the company’s staff headquarters in Fletcher, North Carolina. The three positions fulfill roles in sales technical support and engineering design. Sales administrator Adam Beddingfield has been hired along with engineers Brian Fair and George Wright. All three employees report to MAHLE Motorsport Product Manager Eric Grilliot.

Beddingfield joins a team of in-house PowerPak product experts and sales representatives and will provide technical product support including answering questions about the PowerPak shelf stock products, PowerPak Plus, custom-designed pistons, and more.

Motorsports Applications Engineer Fair is a recent graduate from Tennessee Tech University (Cookeville, Tennessee), while Wright is a recent graduate from Minnesota State University (Mankato, Minnesota). Both will work in the development of custom performance race pistons and provide input on the design and specification needed to accomplish project goals, utilize CMM and 3D scanning equipment for final design, and ensure quality control.

“Even during the pandemic, we have experienced an uptick in sales and with that a need to expand our technical sales support and engineering department. We are so fortunate to have been able to locate and hire three people that are excited to work with MAHLE Motorsport, are race enthusiasts, and who are incredibly talented in their respective fields,” Grilliot said.

For more information, visit mahlemotorsports.com.

World Racing Group (WRG) CEO Brian Carter has announced the addition of the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series and Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car Series.

The company behind the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars, World of Outlaws Late Models, Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds, DIRTcar Racing, and more made the announcement during the 2021 PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis. 

“There’s no denying how spectacular Midget and Non-Wing Sprint Car racing is, and we want to bring it to more people. Working in conjunction with POWRi and USAC to the extent possible and combining World Racing Group’s already established resources will allow us to expand the sport and provide more entertainment for our fans,” Carter said. 

Each Series will feature a 10 to 15 race schedule with a combined point fund approaching $100,000. Long-term goals center around increasing fan interaction and engagement and building brand awareness for the sport of non-wing racing, according to WRG. 

Added to the annual DIRTcar Nationals, the Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Cars will debut at Volusia Speedway Park on February 14–15, in Barberville, Florida. In addition, the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets will be added to the Ironman 55 at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on August 5–6 in Pevely, Missouri. Additional events will be announced at a later date.

The newly created Series will be guided by Casey Shuman, a veteran sprint and midget racer who continues to serve his fourth year as the World of Outlaws Late Model Series Director.

For more information, visit xtremeoutlawseries.com. 

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) has unveiled its 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge ticket design with a presentation during the 2021 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show on Thursday during the PRI Happy Hour event in Lucas Oil Stadium.

The ticket honors four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, who was on-hand during the presentation along with PRI President Dr. Jamie Meyer, IMS President Doug Boles, and IMS Creative Director Mandy Walsh. The tickets were provided by the IMS Ticket Office and longtime “500” fan Matt Converset of Decatur, Indiana.

Castroneves, who won this year’s race driving the pink-and-black No. 06 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing, got his first look at the design of IMS Art Director Mandy Walsh.

The artistic shot taken by IMS Photo Operations Manager Chris Owens shows Castroneves with the symbols of his record-tying “500” victory: Four fingers raised, the traditional winner’s wreath, the Borg-Warner Trophy, and a portion of his winning car in the background. In his previous images, Castroneves is raising the ceremonial bottle of milk in victory lane.

“Every time you (see the ticket), it brings you memories that we did something remarkable,” Castroneves said.

Tickets featuring the historic image will be mailed soon to fans in all 50 states and countries worldwide as IMS prepares to welcome a full capacity of fans “Back Home Again” next May.

For more information, visit indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

The PRI Trade Show has teamed up with the Indiana Pacers to provide discounted entry to upcoming basketball games. To purchase tickets, visit pacersgroups.com/pri and use the promo code: PRI2021.

Important information:

• Ticket processing fee added at the time of purchase. Tickets are limited and subject to availability. 
• All seat location and purchases are processed instantly.
• Access your tickets directly from the Pacers App or on your mobile device at pacers.com/myaccount.

Questions? Contact Pacers customer service at 317-917-2827 (Option 2) or email tickets@pacers.com.