2010 PRI Trade Show Comes To Successful Close

After three days of big crowds and even bigger sales, the 2010 PRI Trade Show at the Orange County Convention in Orlando, Florida, came to a close Saturday. Nearly 40,000 racing business people from all 50 states and 65 countries worldwide attended this year’s show to get current with the latest in racing technology courtesy of the 1,000 motorsports companies introducing their new lines in racing products, machining equipment, motorsport engineering solutions and more.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with this year’s PRI Trade Show," said Steve Lewis, show producer. “Right from the opening on Friday morning, we had big crowds who came ready to buy. Attendees from all over the world showed that racers have no boundaries or borders when it comes to reaching their one common goal – to go faster."

The show got off to a fast start as numerous exhibitors reported record Thursday sales as the latest technology had buyers prepared to buy from the get-go.

“We’ve found everything we were looking for and then some," said Philip Verahaeghe of Boe Fabrication, LLC. “The Christmas list just continued to expand as we walked."

“This was our first year attending," offered Andrew Moreau, Verahaeghe’s colleague at Boe. “We met with vendors we’ve used for the past three or four years and had never actually met in person. We learned something at every place we stopped. It has really has helped the idea we have for our business model be where it needs to be."

And it was just as rewarding for the companies exhibiting this week.

“We had our biggest show ever this week," beamed Safety Kleen’s Ben Miller. “We sold at least one of everything we have on display. In fact, we were so busy on Thursday, we literally had to stop writing up order to go out and produce more purchase orders. Our sales were strong both domestically and internationally, where we had a number of sales to Canada , Australia and Europe. Now we need to turn our focus from selling to shipping orders early next week."

PRI Week also featured four major events that ran in conjunction with the show prior to its opening on Thursday in the International Council of Motorsport Sciences (ICMS) annual Congress, the Advanced Engineering Technology Conference (AETC) and the Asphalt Stock Car Setup Seminar, which all saw exceptional turn-outs on Tuesday and the ever-popular PRI Industry Roundtable, which featured a packed crowd on Wednesday. In addition, more than 30 of the 1,000 racing companies exhibiting at the show also provided seminars – from camshaft development to the Road Racing Drivers Club’s Young Driver’s Symposium. Among those conducting seminars on Saturday was legendary racer and former Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal.

“We had a very good turnout this year," said Rahal, who oversaw the Young Driver’s Symposium. “It’s starting to resonate with young carters and drivers. It’s all about helping the young kids understand what they need to do to be successful. I’m really pleased with the turnout. It’s great to see all these kids. They’re all sponges, just soaking it in."

Preparation for the 2011 PRI Trade Show, which will take place Dec. 1-3 at the Orange County Convention Center officially began at 6:01 p.m. tonight.

“The success of this year’s show bodes well for the racing industry and the economy for the upcoming year," offered Lewis. “We expect even bigger things in 2011 with our traditional show dates the first week of December."