A look at some of the country’s in-demand motorsports products and services by region and racing segment.

Motorsports retailers and service providers are constantly tracking the latest parts and trends to give their customers a competitive edge. For the latest on which products and services are moving the retail needle, we present the following sales snapshot from shops across the US. 

Martino Motorsports

Youngstown, Ohio

Martino Motorsports is a racing team that sells and uses a variety of components and products as part of its operation. Approximately 85% of its customers are in racing, with 15% having a street focus. 

The popular, fast-moving products it uses and sells come from companies that include Lucas Oil Products, K&N Filters, NGK Spark Plugs, XS Power Batteries, Mickey Thompson Tires, Strange Engineering, Sonnax Performance, and ProCharger. The company has used and sold a majority of these brands for 30-plus years. Its customers are drawn to these products not only by reputation, but they can see the proven quality of the products in Martino’s dragster on every race day. 

As a racing team, Martino Motorsports is unlike traditional retail operations. It has always sold products trackside but is in the process of shifting focus from direct retail sales to installation and tuning for both street and strip. The company is also electing to promote the associates of its race program, allowing customers the option to purchase direct from the manufacturer if not from Martino.

According to Ryan Martino, the company’s marketing strategy is, “driven by the classic motto, win on Sunday, sell on Monday. Our on-track efforts with our race program undoubtedly ‘drive’ sales for us and the aforementioned associates throughout the year.”

When not racing, its sales message is driven by a strong social media presence. Martino explained, “Social media marketing has allowed us the opportunity to show how products are used, how they are installed, and what they look like during pre- and post-maintenance. Social media has further allowed us to answer any questions relating to the products/services that keep Martino Motorsports in the fast lane to success. Our social media sources have a daily global reach.”

Jeff’s Tuning and Performance

Ocala, Florida

Jeff’s Tuning and Performance is a shop that sells parts revolving around the high-tech dyno tuning services it performs. Approximately 20% of its customers are racers, while everybody else, as owner Jeff Joachim said, “just wants a fast daily driver.” The company has customers come from all over the Southeast US to get their cars tuned, and many of these serious racers compete at nearby Gainesville Raceway.

Many of the customers of Jeff’s Tuning and Performance buy supercharger kits and tuning kits, all of which can be installed in-house.

Fast-moving items in this realm are superchargers from Whipple, ProCharger, and East Coast Supercharging. For tuning, fast movers are SCT devices and custom tuning packages as well as HP Tuners MPVI interfaces. For engine builds, Jeff’s sells plenty of Clevite bearings and many Summit-branded components. 

Customers are drawn to Jeff’s because the company bundles complete supercharger packages that leave room for future horsepower growth, and all the components provide a very tangible gain in dollar per horsepower. 

The company has developed a solid reputation and is deservedly proud of it. Part of that reputation comes from working with these components since starting the business almost four years ago. That is why it hasn’t been necessary to market the business much. As Joachim explained, “We really don’t do much marketing. Once I explain it, they really do sell themselves at that point. We’ll show them their car on the dyno before and after, and they can see what they’ve paid for. Proof is in the product. The last thing I want to do is sell a product that doesn’t work.”

G.A.T. Racing

Tucson, Arizona

The shop at G.A.T. Racing provides a blended mixture of retail parts sales and fabrication for its customers. Owner Paul Banghart estimated about 85% of its customer base consists of hardcore racers along with a few street rods. The serious racers who make up its customer base primarily compete in the IMCA series or at the local NASCAR track, Tucson Speedway. 

Three of the best-selling fast movers from G.A.T. Racing are helmet tear-offs for dirt track racing from Racing Optics, Hoosier tires for its circle track customers, and rod ends and heim joints by FK Bearings. These are all common consumable items that wear, break, or bend during the course of dirt track races. Customers like these products because they’ve proven to work well in competition and are known to be of high quality. Due to this proven track record, G.A.T. has been carrying these products for many years, with no current problems keeping them in stock.

G.A.T. does no special marketing to sell these products, relying first and foremost on word-of-mouth testimonials from customers, along with a slight presence on Facebook. Stability also figures into the sales equation, as G.A.T Racing celebrated its 30th anniversary in business last year.