Whether it was adding new shop equipment or establishing personal connections, attendees at the 2021 PRI Trade Show had varying reasons for taking part, but all left with practical tools and information for the race season ahead.

Attendees from around the world flock to Indianapolis in December for the PRI Trade Show, where they discover the latest motorsports parts and equipment, conduct business, network with fellow industry members, pick up information, discover education and training sessions and keep up with the latest industry developments. The 2021 event was no exception, as thousands of dedicated buyers—including engine builders, speed shop owners, fabricators, tuners, race teams, machinists and more—covered more than 750,000 square feet of exhibit space and Show features in search of solutions for their racing businesses. 

“I start at Row 100 and walk the PRI Show aisle-by-aisle every year, so I don’t miss anything,” said PRI Champion Member and engine builder Jim Mikel of Performance Technology, Wakarusa, Indiana. 

“It takes all three days because there’s so much to see. Plus, I’ll wind up running into people I know, like this guy here,” the longtime attendee continued, pointing to fellow engine builder Patrick Ross of PRR in Avon Lake, Ohio. 

As Mikel indicated, rows of booths were filled with new racing technology, performance parts and track equipment designed to help boost business productivity and profitability. These innovations included the shop machinery found in Machinery Row, like the Centroid A560 XL 5-Axis Cylinder Head Porting Machine, purchased by JR Smith of JR’s Machine and Performance. The equipment was hooked up on the Show floor for live demonstrations before being shipped to Smith’s shop in West Liberty, Iowa.

“This machine is absolutely the most valuable thing here at the PRI Show for us. It’s overwhelming to see it in person,” Smith said about the shop’s first-ever CNC machine purchase. “This will speed up production and accuracy. It can machine a cylinder head in four hours, where now we do it by hand, and it takes two to three days.” 

Another racing professional keen on finding new equipment at the PRI Show was PRI Pro Member and fabricator Tim Sill of S&S Motorworks in Savannah, Missouri. He and Joe McMillian, also of S&S Motorworks, were found at the HE&M Saw booth eyeing the 782XLH utility saw.

“We do bumper-to-bumper fabrication, so we need good tools to modify parts,” Sill said. “We weren’t in the market for a new saw until we walked by and saw this really quality piece here. We could use it to make brackets for chassis or engine mounts, or even make sheetmetal for modifications to car bodies.” 

“It would make our job a lot easier,” McMillian echoed. “Outside of this booth, I was looking also for organizational accessories from Hepfner Racing Products for my trailer that we use for traveling.”

“And we’re also working with Scoggin Dickey for engine parts—camshafts, water pumps, flywheels, brackets—for a drag race car we’re working on right now. It’s a bracket 2013 COPO CRC Camaro,” Sill said. 

Still, many visited the PRI Trade Show solely to keep up with the latest advances in motorsports, including Dougie Kaempfer of R&D Automotive Restyling in East Troy, Wisconsin, who browsed the Featured Products Showcase in Lucas Oil Stadium to see the standout parts and equipment from this year’s exhibitors. He was joined by media member and longtime friend Richie Jaeschke of Wisconsin Hot Rod Radio based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“It’s always nice to keep up with the technology,” Kaempfer said. “I have six PRI Show badges at home, and this will be number seven.” 

A tuner and fabricator, Kaempfer also kept his eyes open for components for the Nostalgia Junior Fueler he works on as a pit crew member. A Lincoln Electric TIG welder was of particular interest in the Featured Products Showcase. “There’s just so much to see in terms of performance parts fabrication,” he said.

Outside of the Featured Products Showcase, Kaempfer tabbed the brand-new EV Performance Zone as the most valuable feature of the 2021 PRI Show. “It’s interesting to see all the EVs in one room. It was new this year and very well displayed,” he said. “There are a lot of manufacturers making new electric-powered cars. Ford has an electric crate motor that can be swapped out—it’s a great motor. Even though some old-school guys don’t want anything to do with it, you gotta admit it all works pretty well.”

Personal Connections

The PRI Show is about much more than products, though, as attendees were also eager to participate in the lineup of premier PRI Education seminars and complimentary networking programs. For example, Mike Arrigo, the North East Regional Owner of Hooked on Driving HPDE school in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, attended the PRI Student Program Industry Networking Breakfast to connect with interested students. 

“One of my goals is to network. I’m here to help other people; this isn’t just for my own business. I want to elevate the whole team of people I work with,” Arrigo said. His wife, Mona, was also at the Show attending the 5th annual Women in Motorsports panel.

“Going along with that, another goal was to connect the companies I work with together,” Arrigo said. “We have a tire partner, and we have a rim partner, and before the Show, I said maybe it’s time to put these two companies together. We could have them make four-piece tire and rim sets, and have our competitors try them out on the track before buying. We have a high number of racers come, about 80 to 200 at our Watkins Glen International and VIRginia International Raceway events, so I thought it’d be cool to give back to both the racers and those two companies at the same time.”

Along the education theme, university students were again welcomed back to the PRI Show to see products first-hand that they learn about year-round. That was one of the reasons Eduardo Hernandez and Marcus Jarrett, both second-year automotive technician students of Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin, attended the event.

“The school offered us to come,” said Hernandez, who works on lubrication technology at a Toyota dealership. “They told us it was a free event over a couple of days with the latest in performance parts, so we were curious and decided to check it out.” 

“We actually have a performance class coming up, so we thought it’d be good to come here to see the performance parts,” said Jarrett, who also works on lube tech but at a Subaru dealership. “A lot of the students will be bringing in their own cars to work on them in that class, so it’ll be really cool.” 

The PRI Show proved to be the perfect backdrop for this goal, as the pair were seen checking out the differential displays at the PowerTrax booth.

“We already took a differential class at school, so we were looking to figure out how these different designs would perform and what each one does,” Jarrett continued.

The most surprising part of the PRI Show for these first-timers, though, was the event’s sheer size. “We heard it was big, but we had no idea. We thought we were getting close to seeing everything, but we turned a corner, and there’s another whole hall of booths,” Hernandez said. 

For race teams, the PRI Show again provided a hotbed of opportunity from current and potential sponsors. Driver Gavin Graham of Gavin Graham Racing in Lakeland, Florida, visited his first PRI Show after securing first place in the Proxy Equipment Pro Trucks 50-lap feature as part of the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. At 13 years old, he is the youngest winner of a Derby feature in the event’s 54-year history. 

“The best thing about the PRI Show is talking to more people in person,” Graham said. “I don’t have to worry about the Internet failing. I can have nice conversations with companies and really get to know the people that work there and start a good relationship with them.” He visited with companies including Serck Motorsports, Five Star Race Car Bodies, Eibach, and Allstar Performance and Motor State Distributing.

The significance of the in-person event was repeated by Graham’s team marketing manager Luis Murillo. “It’s impossible to make [quality] connections over email and with sponsor request forms. Honestly, there’s just so much value in having a personal moment with someone. It’s one of those things where the message can get lost in an email or a link, but whenever we do really connect with someone, our brand stays in their head.” 

Along with sponsorship efforts, the PRI Show also helped Graham connect with Chris Dilbeck of Serck Motorsports to discuss cleaning services for his components during the off-season. “Serck is a European company that specializes in cleaning services from the grille screen to the radiator fan. They make sure there are no contaminants, and we’re going to try to get our radiators down to them soon,” Graham said.

Along with the Snowball Derby feature win, another team accomplishment: Gavin Graham Racing connected with scores of  new fans with a booth at the Show. 

“We were originally planning on registering as attendees, but we had the opportunity to exhibit, so we did,” Murillo said. “We were [one of a few race teams this year to have] a booth and give out swag. We gave out all 1,000 merch bags we brought. We also had 1,092 physical QR code scans, and we jumped from 14,700 to 15,400 followers on Instagram.

“[As a hybrid attendee and exhibitor,] our goal was to connect with people, and we did that this year,” Murillo said. 

Indeed, the PRI Trade Show proved to be the hub for all things to improve motorsports operations, from new tuning components, race car parts cleaning services, hardcore engine parts, and shop machinery and equipment, to quality networking connections, innovative new ideas and world-class education. Just like the aisles at the PRI Show, the options were seemingly endless.