PERFORMANCE RACING INDUSTRY TRADE SHOW - Canadian too!
| Special collaboration by John Procida, PRI Media Contact |
| This year's PRI Show features more than 1,100 exhibitor booths, with an expected 35,000 to 40,000 buyers on hand for what is the world's largest racing trade show - and one of the world's 50 largest trade shows of any kind. While the number of booths is slightly down from a year ago due to the downturn in the economy, early trends show that actual buying is trending upward as people start to see a more positive future. Included among the 1,100 exhibitors are 21 from Canada, to go along with approximately 300 buyers who pre-registered for this year's show. Stewart McKay, of BC-based Deta Custom Tools: "We've been coming to the PRI Show for 21 to showcase our machining work. It's really a great event for both sales and schooling. Not a year goes by when we don't learn something new here to apply to what we do. If you're in the performance industry, PRI is the place to be." Guillame Couture, of Montreal-based CHAG Autosport: "Our heat cylinder (for bringing tires up to the desired temperatures) was developed in the UK and we're distributing here in North America. This is our first year as an exhibitor, but we've been to PRI as a buyer for the past four years. This is obviously, the biggest, most popular show in the world. Everyone that's important in our market is here, so we need to be here at PRI." Among the notable happenings this year includes a late-model stock car chassis being built from the ground up here by Leavitt Chassis, of Mooresville, North Carolina. The company began work as the show opened on Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. and is only being worked on during show hours (9 to 6 each day) and is expected to be completed by noon on Saturday to be raffled off to benefit the Victory Junction Gang charity. In addition to the activities going on inside the Show's walls was the always popular PRI/CKI All-Star Karting Classic on Thursday, which a star-studded line-up that included IndyCar racers Alex Tagliani, Ryan-Hunter Reay, Justin Wilson, Tomas Scheckter, as well as NASCAR stars A.J. Allmendinger, Jamie McMurray and Scott Speed, and F1 driver Tonio Liuzzi (Force India). Alex Tagliani, IndyCar: It's always fun to see the boys back in the racing paddock - guys like Justin Wilson, A.J. and Tomas Scheckter. It's great to catch up with them. Karting is where everybody started their racing career. It's a no-pressure type attitude in the paddock, so it's a lot different feeling. Everyone here's to see who's going to drive and who's going to do what, so in the beginning it's just a lot of fun, but once we get on the race track that all changes and everybody wants to win. I started karting when I was 10 years old and I've really never stopped. I'm still doing it today." In the end, it was former Champ Car driver Jan Heylen who earned the victory, followed by Speed and F1 pilot Liuzzi. The show continues through Saturday. |
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