Some of the products, booths, and participants of this year’s PRI Show that caught our attention
If there is one take-home lesson from every PRI Trade Show, it’s to expect the unexpected. Or, if you’re like me, one of these years you’ll be ready to heed the advice of the experts like Bill Wood of Wilwood Brakes and Brent Anderson of JOES Racing Products to wear comfortable shoes. My final step count for the show was 57,976. Ouch.
In the midst of those steps were the discoveries of new products and innovations and the forging of new relationships in the industry. PRI truly is the Super Bowl of off-season events in the racing industry. As the show began to wind down, we decided to find some of the people in the industry who have been to the show a time or two and get their take on the 2016 version. We then deliberated for a day or two to determine the highlights of the show.
First, here is what the experts had to say:
Chris Dilbeck – PFC
What are your thoughts on this year’s show?
(The Show) is really reflective of our 2016 season. We kicked off some new products for our short track market for dirt and asphalt. From the time they opened the doors at 9 A.M. on Thursday until now it’s been non-stop traffic. Everyone on our staff has been wide open and helping everyone the best they could. I haven’t even eaten lunch this week. It’s been wide open and it’s been great.
What does it mean to have a place like PRI to debut new products?
The best part is that we have a really good strategy here the way we set up our V3 rotor with the ZR94 caliper. We have it set up so that we can let customers assemble and disassemble it so they can see how easy it is to put it together and take it apart. That gains a lot of popularity and you can see the word spread. You have a lot of guys come back three or four times to have their buddies look at it and see how cool it is and how nice and well it works. A new product unveil at PRI is always huge.
What types of interactions do you have at the Show?
It’s a ton of one-on-one time. It’s kind of one of those deals to where you wish you had a show that was five or six days long so you could spend more time with each customer. The biggest goal is to make sure they have your contact information, and you have theirs so you can continue that line of communication especially with the technical support we provide our customers. It’s very crucial to make sure we have the correct contact information.
What should you expect when you come to PRI?
There are thousands of short track racers from across the country. We have everyone from our Indy Car programs to our dirt Late Model programs that come to PRI. It’s just a good way to put a face with someone you’ve been helping all year long. If you can get to PRI and put a face with the name, it makes things a lot easier.
Brent Anderson – JOES Racing Products
What are your thoughts on this year’s show?
It’s been great so far. We come all the way out from Washington State and we’re happy to be out here to showcase all of our new parts and Junior Sprint frames, our Microsprint, and this Super Late Model frame from Lefthander that has all of our JOES parts on it. All of the cars are pretty eye-catching.
What does it mean to have a place like PRI to debut new products?
We started this Microsprint last year. We sold about 25 cars. To have the cars here, they definitely grab your attention. I think the quality of the cars and the parts that we make for them speaks for itself. We’re just happy to have everyone stop by. We have a bigger booth this year. Last year we figured out that we outgrew our booth size, so we figured we needed to step it up.
What types of interactions do you have at the Show?
A lot of racers come by. They either give us input on our parts and things they’d like to see, or just some great feedback. Also we have a lot of great dealers from around the country and around the world.
You have to take advantage of the times you can have everyone under one roof – the manufacturers, the racers, the race fans, and all of our dealers. We get to catch up with everyone and we have to take advantage when everyone is in one spot. Obviously Indianapolis is a great place, a place that was built on racing. It’s a great time and great event.
What should you expect when you come to PRI?
For one thing bring comfy shoes. Introduce yourself to a lot of people if you’re a racer. Introduce yourself to a lot of product manufacturers and a lot of the dealers and try to put a name to the face when you’re working with them down the road.
Chas Howe – Howe Racing Enterprises
What does it mean to have a place like PRI to debut new products?
I don’t think you’ll find a higher concentration of racers anywhere in the county. You get a really diverse group here, but you can usually find the customers that are looking for what you make. This is the place that you save up to debut your parts at.
Do you produce products specifically to display at PRI?
Every racing product is just a problem solver. We go to the races all summer to find out what the problems are. Then we go back to the shop and design the things that can solve those problems. We never really sit down and say, “What are we going to make that’s new?” We say, “What problem are people having that we can fix?” That ends up in a new product.
That can happen at any time – whenever the problem presents itself. Most of that is during the race season, and it depends on what time we start, but we always try to get it done by the time the show is here. If we don’t think it’s ready, if we think it needs more testing, we’ll wait until the next year.
What types of interactions do you have at the Show?
Sometimes it’s an awkward situation because you get a mix of customers from different parts of your business that all show up at the same time. So it’s like one big open office. Everyone is really good about it, and they’re patient. Often if they can’t catch you the first try they come back later.
What should you expect when you come to PRI?
You have to really know what you’re here for. There are exhibitors here from all forms of racing and if you try to see all of them you’re going to miss the ones you want to see. You should have a checklist of the top ones you really want to see and leave some time to just wander around and discover something new.
Bill Wood – Wilwood Engineering
What are your thoughts on this year’s show?
It’s been crowded. There are a lot of people here, some new exhibitors – but more than anything else – the place has just been jammed. I think this is going to be the largest attendance they’ve ever had at the show. We’re pretty happy about that.
What does it mean to have a place like PRI to debut new products?
You need a show. It gives you a chance to see everyone that you don’t see all year and gauge what’s going on. One of the things that amazes me is the resiliency of the racing industry. It just keeps growing. We’ve had some ups and downs – eight years ago during the great recession things got sticky for a while – but we’re doing great. The industry is doing great. This show is where it needs to be, in Indianapolis. We get a lot of attendance from all across the county, so it’s really good for us.
Do you produce products specifically to display at PRI?
Often times it gives us a goal. I don’t like to start displaying a product until I’m actually ready to ship it and sell it to people, so this gives us a finish line to work toward. And we do that every year.
The Highlights
As for the products and booths themselves – there was plenty to take in. We had to think long and hard about some of the ways that companies set themselves apart. Listed below are five categories with three companies listed in each. The company or product is listed in alphabetical order. Here are some of the highlights of the show for us.
*Note: This is just our opinion. There were a lot of great products and booths, but we just don’t have enough space to list them all!*
Most Innovative Products
AFCO – Frame replacement kit. Our own Bob Bolles called this one a “game-changer.” It is a direct replacement for the stock GM clips that are going obsolete.
Coleman Air Spring and Bump – How about this for changes on the fly? Change the canister and you have a brand new spring or bump rate.
MSD 6CT Ignition – A tech inspector’s dream. The massive LED display and programming allows the inspector to see the highest RPM achieved on chipped motors.
Most Eye-Catching Booths
Bilstein – New shocks, very cool. Sweet-looking Modified, also very cool. Blue lighting, super cool. Hard to pass on this booth.
JOES – If the Junior Sprint and Microsprints didn’t hook you, the bright yellow Lefthander Chassis packed with JOES Products was sure to catch your eye.
Wehrs Machine – IMCA National Champion Jordan Grabouski’s ride was proudly displayed on the lift at the show. You could take a look at every part and piece under the car, as well as all of the other billet trickery in the booth.
Booths Where You Could Spend the Most Time
Jones Racing Products – If you love motors, you probably spent a lot of time in the Jones Racing Products booth. The perimeter of their booth was lined with power plants from across the sport. There were plenty of attendees ogling the motors throughout the show.
Miller Welders – First off, Miller Welders attracts a lot of attention in machinery row. Secondly, they have a team in place to educate anyone who has questions on their products or how to use them. Thirdly, they were hosting seminars in the booth. There was plenty to see!
Mittler Brothers – Much like Wehrs, it’s cool to see a car integrated into a booth display. Mittler Bros also hit it out of the park with Mike Harrison’s Mod as the centerpiece amidst all of their machinery and tools.
Busiest Booths
FiveStar Race Car Bodies – This is traditionally a hard one to get to, even though they have a ton of knowledgeable staff ready to help. With the addition of the Camaro Pro Stock this year, FiveStar saw even more traffic. Our advice is to get to this one early at the 2017 PRI Show.
Penske – Everyone loves shock technology. They also loved the beautiful Longhorn Chassis Dirt Late Model that was on display in the booth. If you wanted a picture of this machine, you needed to check in very early, or wait around until very late. Many attendees had their eyeballs fixed on this racer.
All Star Performance Products – Dennis Erb’s Late Model made for a nice centerpiece… and it didn’t hurt to have the Dream trophy on hand either. All Star provides many different products, and product lines, so it wasn’t too surprising to see the booth full of many different types of racers.
Neatest Attractions
American Racer – One picture, two words: Super Modified. Enough said.
AR Bodies – Is there a more popular Dirt Late Model racer than Bobby Pierce right now? Maybe not. We loved seeing his car in the AR Bodies booth.
Sweet Manufacturing – Ever heard of a guy by the name of Mark Martin? How about Larry Shaw? The Shaw Chassis Mark Martin edition was on display in the booth throughout the show. Martin even stopped by to sign some autographs with Shaw on Thursday. If you caught them at the right time, you also ran into IMCA Super Nationals winner Ricky Thornton, Jr.
Sources:
AFCO
(800) 632-2320
www.afcodynapro.com
All Star Performance Products
(269) 463-8000
www.allstarperformanceproducts.com
American Racer
www.americanraceronline.com
AR Bodies
(888) 245-1468
www.arbodies.com
Coleman
(800) 221-1851
www.colemanracing.com
Five Star Race Car Bodies
(262) 877-2171
www.fivestarbodies.com
Howe Racing Enterprises
(989) 435-7080
www.howeracing.com
JOES Racing Products
(425) 267-9199
www.joesracing.com
Jones Racing Products
(610) 847-2028
www.jonesracingproducts.com
Miller Welders
(920) 734-9821
www.millerwelds.com
Mittler Brothers Machine and Tool
(800) 467-2464
www.mittlerbros.com
MSD/Holley
(888) 258-3835
www.msdperformance.com
Penske Shocks
(610) 375-6180
www.penskeshocks.com
Performance Friction (PFC) Brakes
(800) 521-8874
www.performancefriction.com
Sweet Manufacturing
(269) 344-2086
www.sweetmfg.biz
Wilwood Engineering
(805) 388-1188
www.wilwood.com
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