PRI Show 2022
 

The PRI Show is this coming Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Is anyone planning to go? Will be a little different this year. Since SEMA bought PRI a few years ago, you knew this was coming. You have to be a PRI "member" to go to the show. An individual membership is $40.00 a year. If your a member, show admission is free. It's a convoluted way to say the show cost $40.00 per person to go to if that's the only PRI thing you do a year. Still worth it to me. Wish they would just be more up front and say it cost $15.00 a day to get through the door and be done with it. Indianapolis Convention Center. Who's going?

I'm out! ...... Thanks for the heads up. I didn't know that's the new way of doing business. I wonder if it will weed out some of the tire kickers from the professionals.

We're going on Thursday...First time since before Covid.

We've been going for something like 30 years and only missed the one that got cancelled.

I suspect that the $40 membership has 2 reasons. Getting more cash flow is certainly one of them. 30,000 attendees = $1.2 million.

But swelling the ranks of SEMA membership also gives them more clout when they go to D.C. to lobby for a bill. I'm betting this is why they want "members" instead of just charging an entry fee.

FWIW,
Eric

This is just for the 'spectators' not for the people with booths and all their attending helpers?


:confused:

Oh yea, you bet. A tiny 8'X8' booth with a single table and a chair was a couple thousand dollars for the 3 days as a vendor BEFORE SEMA bought PRI. Talking to my friend at Sunnen about 8 years ago when the show was in Orlando, FL. For Sunnen to bring 2 semi's full of new equipment to Orlando, set it up in the hall, wire all the equipment to run, bring 12-14 employees, pay their room and board and all the show fee's. It was a half a MILLION dollar weekend for the company. And they were not the largest vendor. Probably in the top 150 or so. So this show is a huge undertaking. I estimate vendor numbers were down 15-20% from the pre-COVID high's. Still a great show and worth it to me every year. A chance to see everything going on in the racing indusrry in 3 days in 1 place. Chance to talk to people who own companies and actually make decisions. Eric and I have had some success getting vendors to actually make PONTIAC parts after beating on them year after year. Edelbrock, Crower, King, Moroso, are just a few that come to mind.

Guys like me appreciate when guys like you beat on those vendors...You guys have helped more than most people could ever know...Thank You

Just got back from the PRI show. Always worth the effort and cost to go there. Couple of quick observations that may help some building engines. Engine bearings will continue to be a problem for at least the next year. This is from ALL bearings manufacturers. I talked to King, Federal Mogul, Cevite, ACL. They all say the same thing. Manufacturers are all trying like crazy to replenish the warehouse distributors. National stock was completely depleted during COVID. LS engines, modern Hemi, SBC, BBC, SBF, will all be supplied first in STD. and -.010 sizes. Then +.001 and -.001 for those engines. Then all the other popular fast moving brand engines. Last and finally, Pontiac, Olds, Buick, and all the other legacy engines that have been gone for decades. They will only be supplied in STD and -.010 at first. It could be 2 YEARS for example to get -.030 or -.040 bearings for a Pontiac engine, if ever.

Overall, the show was up beat and busy. Attendance may have been a little light yesterday, but seemed pretty crowded today. Lots more successful, very old companies have been bought up by giant investment, venture capitol groups. Race Winning Brands, Industrial Opportunity Partners, and Holley Group probably have nearly 100 well known brands under their umbrella.

One buyout mentioned quite a bit was the sale of Jegs to an investment firm. Talking to the manufacturers, that has gone very badly for the most part, and many of them are leaving and moving their goods to Summit, Motor State and other warehouse merchandisers. Customer service and tech help seems to be a mess.

If others made the trip, chime in with your thoughts.

I didnt get to talk to any bearing people, but was very pleased with the show, the crowd size, and the interest of everyone that I talked to...Probably the best in the last 10-15 years, IMO

We’re there any new EFI intakes? It would be great if someone would make something similar to this Holley LS piece

http://lstwo.com/images/21998973793030854903.jpeg

I ended up buying a pair of Kirkey seats for the road race car. Nothing better than getting to actually sit in them, look them over in detail and talk to the manufacturers. Miscellaneous observations:

There's no uniform way to compare each brand's widths without trying them on.

The $2500 seat wasn't any more comfortable than the $559 seat that I bought.

The early-days NASCAR that was on display in the hallway had the OEM bench seat! A good reminder of how tough the pioneering drivers were.

Eric

I am sorry to report I didn't see a SINGLE new hard part for our ancient engine platform. Talking to the vendors, I doubt we will see any NEW Pontiac hard parts from a major manufacturer for several more years, if ever. Universally, they can not keep up with regular stock orders for mass produced, high volume engines. Especially, engine hard parts. So designing, testing, and producing parts for an obsolete engine platform couldn't be lower on the list of projects for them, IMO. Any hope of new parts for our engines will come from small private efforts. Sorry to be a downer, but that's the feeling I get walking the show. When we don't even have a reliable source for engine bearings, and have a 1-2 year wait for existing part numbers, it's hard to be optimistic. There were 1059 vendors at the show. I could have missed something. But traditional Pontiac stuff was scarce.

Considering the supply chain problems that STILL exist I would be surprised if any major parts manufacturer was even considering producing parts for an engine that has been out of production for over forty years.

Since I'm always the biggest optimist in the room, I should point out that there's a few glimmers of hope. Flat tappet cam cores are available again after a loooooong absence. Other Pontiac-specific parts will slowly reappear. Extreme patience and planning required.

Eric

I was there Thursday afternoon - Saturday. My review mimics those of mgarblik . I had a great time & spoke with many vendors from suppliers to manufacturers to EV. EV stuff is interesting. Some will flip & bark, but its coming. The Venture Capitalist mergers I don't see a s a good thing , but its a money game. As stated, niche motors are not a priority. 1000+ HP LS, next day availability. Companies follow the money. I spoke with a company that manufactures headers & discussed making the Tri Y header. Made a post about & got very little traction here & on FB . Price point is similar to high end modern offerings. That solidifies why the niche motors are not a priority. No one willing to pay & stuff sits whereas they could sell every modern/ popular unit they make. That aside, I got lots of info for current & future projects. Well worth the expense. Those complaining about the $40, I welcome it, it seemed to remove the tire kickers & looky lous. Plus they gave us free burgers, turkey & beer Thursday night.

It seemed like this year the audience was more serious about business, there didn't seem to be as many people just collecting stickers and trying to get street outlaw autographs, I don't know if the $40 at the gate had anything to do with that or not. I felt like the show went very well from my standpoint as a vendor. I can tell you it wa nice not freeing you @$$ off everytime you had to step outside for a change. :)