By SEMA Editors
 This year’s 26th annual PRI Trade Show at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, December 12–14, 2013, will offer cutting-edge business education, advice and direction for racing businesses, race tracks and racers through various conferences, seminars and programs. |
The Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show has long been known as "The Three Biggest Business Days in Racing," with more than 1,200 exhibitors featuring the latest in motorsports innovation and technology.
But with the recent growth of Race Industry Week, it’s also now considered a can’t-miss event for racing businesses that wish to keep pace with the latest trends.
This year’s 26th annual PRI Trade Show at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, December 12–14, 2013, will offer cutting-edge business education, advice and direction for racing businesses, race tracks and racers through various conferences, seminars and programs.
“With the current economy, everyone in the racing industry is trying to do more with less,” said John Kilroy, publisher and general manager, PRI. “The variety of business-oriented offerings during Race Industry Week gives attendees the opportunity to fine-tune their marketing and sales programs and keep up with the latest trends and concerns.”
Winning the eRace, PRI’s exclusive digital marketing conference for racing professionals, features experts in multiple areas of online promotion. The program includes presentations on e-mail marketing and website best practices, as well as an exclusive strategy session on social media featuring a panel of industry experts.
“At Crane, we have a very tech-heavy staff, but our marketing staff is smaller,” said Lisa Holly, who attended last year’s inaugural Winning the eRace conference on behalf of Crane Cams. “When you have a small marketing staff, social media and digital media can be very overwhelming and extremely time-consuming. Coming to Winning the eRace gives us a clearer direction on where Crane needs to go and where we’re lacking and what we need to change.”
Elsewhere, eBay Inc., will sponsor an e-commerce related seminar, "Expanding Reach With e-Commerce: Trends & Best Practices," with Brian Servatius, business development manager for eBay Motors, providing a snapshot into the state of e-commerce, emerging trends worth understanding and best practices for merchandising products and managing online customers.
On December 11, the second-annual Race Track Business Conference is designed to create dialogue and interaction among motorsports professionals by incorporating track operators, sanctioning body executives, track designers, attorneys, financiers and more.
The conference brings together experts from all forms of tracks—oval, drag strip, road course, kart tracks and motocross—to provide operators with winning strategies from the industry’s leading race track executives. The speaker lineup includes legendary race promoter Humpy Wheeler, Hulman & Co. CEO Mark Miles, Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood and many others.
“We are pleased to once again be joining the 2013 PRI Show as part of Race Industry Week,” said Tim Frost, publisher of National Speedway Directory—the annual book and online tools that provide information on North American race tracks. “With the return of the PRI Trade Show to Indianapolis, this conference will become the central place for all race tracks. The agenda and speakers will offer valuable insights and networking opportunities for the attendees.”
Separately, the "Insuring Success" seminar also is designed for race track operators and promoters. Lowery Robinson, executive vice president of Specialty Insurance Group, will cover "Event Cancellation, Prize Indemnity and Contingence Income."
A pair of seminars presented from the racer’s point of view also will be available for Show attendees. Two-time sprint car champion Jason Meyers will share his formula for success in business in "The Business of Winning," where he will discuss everything from public relations to sponsorships to professionalism both on and off the track on the morning of December 14.
In addition, racer-turned marketing and business strategist Tom Marx of The Marx Group will offer "Marketing Metrics That Matter"—a seminar on how small businesses can benefit from tracking and understanding sales, marketing, public relations and social media figures.
This year’s PRI Trade Show is expected to play host to exhibits from more than 1,200 racing companies occupying some 3,400 booths, and attract more than 40,000 racing professionals from across the United States and 72 countries.
The show returns to Indianapolis for the first time since 2004, after the show’s owner, SEMA, acquired the International Motorsports Industry Show (IMIS) in late 2012, consolidating it with the PRI Trade Show under the PRI brand for 2013 and beyond.