Ask the Experts: Media Goals At The PRI ShowPerformance Racing Industry

Drew Hardin

November 1, 2022

Ask the Experts: Media Goals At The PRI Show

Bobby Bennett of CompetitionPlus.com (not pictured) spoke for many in the media when he called his role at the PRI Trade Show “a conduit for those who can’t come to the Show. We basically walk the Show, get the news, and report back to those who can’t make it.”

Like many attendees, members of the motorsports press are looking for new racing-related products and trends in Indianapolis. But there are other items on their agenda, too—some of which may surprise you.

Exhibitors, buyers, distributors, and racers tell us they like doing business at the annual PRI Trade Show (this year taking place December 8–10) because so much of the racing industry gathers under one roof for those three days. It’s a target-rich environment for face-to-face meetings about new products, problem-solving, and ways to improve business—or lap times—for the coming year.

Members of the racing media come to the Show for many of the same reasons. “We cover the PRI Show because it represents an authentic and genuine marketplace for the latest motorsport products,” said Tim Rutledge of PASMAG’s Tuning365, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. “We’re always searching for, not just products, but for stories behind those products.”

Bobby Bennett of CompetitionPlus.com in Spartanburg, South Carolina, said, “We are a conduit for those who can’t come to the Show. We basically walk the Show, get the news, and report back to those who can’t make it. Along the way, we learn the trends of the manufacturers and what their new products are. It’s a two-fold thing: It educates us on what we need to prepare to report on, and it also serves the person out in a remote part of country that can’t get to the Show. We are their eyes and ears.”

For Andreanna Ditton of RacingJunk.com in North Adams, Massachusetts, new racing products are just part of what draws her team to the PRI Show. “Over the last five to six years, the PRI Show has really become a place where racing performance news is announced. So it isn’t just what is coming out in the industry, it’s what kind of news is coming out for race teams, vehicle builds, individual racers, owners, crew people. What is happening in that part of the world?”

RacingJunk’s mission at the PRI Trade Show is different from many media outlets, she added. “RacingJunk is part of a community of classified sites that’s focused on racing performance.” So for years, RacingJunk used its PRI Show booth for T-shirt giveaways, poster and calendar signings, and other activities to promote its classified business. About 10 years ago, the site launched a content platform to further support the race community by providing a forum of sorts for them to stay up-to-date on the race industry. “There are many different components as to why we go that are slightly different from other members of the press,” Ditton added. “When I’m there, I’m supporting our marketing and business development initiatives, as well as representing the media for our sites. But all of it is in support of the grassroots racer and their interests.”

Media members at the PRI Show are looking for things that will excite their audience, whether that’s the latest in technology, breaking news about a series or driver, or a specific new part that will help them go faster or spend more wisely on their race car.

Karl Fredrickson of Speedway Illustrated in Epping, New Hampshire, is a PRI Show veteran, having attended since the early 1990s. His takeaway over all those years is that “it’s vital to show up, vital to have a booth, vital to walk the halls, be there a little early, stay a little late, and attend gatherings and social visits. You never know when you’re going to stumble across something. You never know when you’ll meet someone who turns into a story for the magazine or reveals a product that can help someone go faster, be safer, or spend smarter, which is what Speedway Illustrated is all about.”

What catches the attention of these reporters as they walk the Show? “There are two things,” Fredrickson said. “Familiar faces and strangers. The single most important thing I can do for my job at Speedway Illustrated, whether I’m at a race track or at the PRI Show, is walk up to someone I don’t know and say, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ That’s where the conversation starts. I can ask people I know at the Show how their season was, what’s been going on. Or if I see somebody who I don’t know, I can discover a new product.”

RacingJunk.com is part of a community of classified websites, so its mission at the PRI Show isn’t just as a member of the media, explained our company source. “When I’m there, I’m supporting our marketing and business development initiatives, as well as representing the media for our sites. But all of it is in support of the grassroots racer and their interests.”

For Bennett, “the first thing that draws my attention is the established brands. I always go to them to see their newest thing, so they can educate me on why this is the greatest, newest thing. Then I’ll see some new companies that really appeal to me, or I’ll see something that intrigues me, or something from a company that’s famous in drag racing.”

“I look for things that are going to excite the audience,” said Ditton. “If there’s a cool build there, or a cool car, we focus on it. What resonates with my audience is anything that’s going to affect the team, so I’m looking for news about somebody joining a new team, leaving a team, driving a different kind of vehicle, going into a different series, a new series being announced, or new technology being announced.”

“I love to stand in a booth and listen to product specialists discuss something with Racer XYZ about what their concern is, what challenges they have experienced at the track,” Rutledge said. “Then you see these conversations taking place where they’re actually solving problems in real time combining their technical expertise and the new products on display.”

“I’ve been coming to the PRI Show for 23 years, and in that time you build up a lot of relationships,” Bennett said. “One of the biggest assets of the PRI Show is the number of relationships that Show allows someone to build. If you’re in this business, I don’t know how you could skip this Show. When we come to PRI, it’s game on. Most of the time we are running from the moment the door opens.”