2012 Performance Racing Industry Trade Show
Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FloridaSaturday, December 1, 2012
For auto and racing enthusiasts, Fall is a time of great excitement. As collector car events largely move indoors and get smaller, many of the mammouth industry tradeshows like SEMA, PRI, IMIS, and the Los Angeles and Detroit Auto shows debut new concept cars, new lines, and new technologies. The PRI show is dedicated to performance racing products and technologies and is a great chance for manufacturers, vendors, buyers and the general public to get together and talk about how all of the aspect of the industry work together to facilitate the need for speed.
Hot Rod Hotline was represented at the show by the presence of the Motorhead Media booth. Motorhead Media also includes RacingJunk.com, Collector Car Nation, OldRide.com, Bikerhotline.com, and SprocketList.com in addition to HRH. Folks in the booth gave away Racing Junk t-shirts to an enthusiastic audience on the condition they had to wear them right that minute, and the 2013 calendar was a hit – complete with the lovely ladies who posed for the products, and were signing their names and taking pictures with lucky calendar recipients.
But the real treat was the collection of products, tech, media, and industry professionals showcasing their wares. New oil pans from AED, clutches from McLeod, and a whole undercarriage from Ford and Chevy were on display. Attendees could drive a race car simulator at the Snap-on Tools exhibit, see beautiful classic race cars at Advanced Composite Products, watch teams of teenagers compete at the Young Hot Rodders of Tomorrow competition, and check out Circle Track’s latest build. While Hot Rods were in short supply, some truly beautiful muscle cars – including a Dodge Charger from Dick Landy’s collection, the Sox & Martin Plymouth ‘Cuda and the Mopar Missile- were on display for an appreciative audience, along with a variety of race cars built by collaborations between manufacturers, like the 06 Lopesport Racing/Mobil One/Goodyear Tires/Optica Lopez/I104.5 La Radio Joven/ECR Engines/Meissen Engineering C6 Corvette. Many of these beauties were also part of the Festival of Speed event on Friday night, sponsored in part by Collector Car Nation.
Next year, PRI and the International Motorsports Industry Show will be combined into one following IMIS purchase by SEMA. It will be held in December in Indianapolis. For exhibitors who traditionally attend both shows, the benefit of only having to travel to one is balanced out by losing a chance to go to sunny Florida during the chillier months. These are the sacrifices a love of cars, and racing, require!