The history behind the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show and Performance Racing Industry magazine is a unique and fascinating set of circumstances that came together all at once, and it's a fun and interesting story to share, especially when told with the help of its founder, Steve Lewis. So, for those new to the racing industry or veterans who have never heard the full story, here's how it all began.
First, the most important catalytic element in the birth of PRI is that there was a real need in the marketplace for this event to happen.
It was the mid-1980s, and the big SEMA Show out West was thriving. It was also evolving and expanding beyond its original premise of serving the racing market. "Speed" was removed from the organization's title (Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association) and replaced with "Specialty" (now the Specialty Equipment Market Association), as the organization embraced the opportunities in the broader automotive performance aftermarket.
The prime movers of the national racing industry felt there needed to be an annual event for all the people in the business of racing, with new hardcore racing equipment on display. No fans. No weekend racers. No mere enthusiasts. Just manufacturers of racing equipment as exhibitors, while the attendee make-up would include retailers of racing parts, race engine builders, race car fabricators, WD's and manufacturers reps active in racing, and professional race teams. Even in the beginning, it could be a small group of people, but it would be the right group of business people representing the 'hardcore' racing market.
In the winter of 1987, Steve Lewis, a race team owner in the USAC National Midget Series and a successful entrepreneur in publishing and trade shows (having previously 'grown' three highly successful trade shows in three separate industries), closed his second consumer racing show in Indianapolis, held the week of the Indy 500. The name of the show was the Indy Motorsports Expo, and for various reasons, it just didn't work. At the close of the second show, Lewis told the racing companies exhibiting that there would not be a third consumer show in Indianapolis, and asked if there was any important feedback that he should hear.
"It was unanimous. The exhibitors told us they did not need another consumer show, but really needed a true trade show specifically for racing, and they wanted us to produce it," said Lewis. Upon returning home, Lewis immediately met with eight or nine owners of hardcore racing businesses in Southern California at the Long Beach Marriott where further discussions of the proposed venture took place and there was a unanimous decision at the Long Beach Meeting that there was a need in the marketplace for a racing trade show. "We launched PRI magazine, then nine months later, the first PRI Trade Show was held at the Kentucky Commonwealth Center, the first week of December, in Louisville."
According to PRI records, there were 169 companies exhibiting in the first PRI Trade Show in Louisville in 1988.
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