The Dragtime News January 2016 - On Location at The PRI Show | Page 6

PRI Runs Like Well-Oiled Machine
by John Procida

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.
– It’s been a long-held
belief that you can get a
barometer on the
upcoming year’s
economy in watching
the show floor at the
Performance Racing
Industry (PRI) Trade
Show. If that holds true,
201 6 should be a
banner year and it was
no more evident than on
the high-end Machinery
Row at the show’s 28th
annual event held, Dec.
1 0-1 2 at the Indiana
Convention Center.

group of exhibitors in
Machinery Row again
this year and the aisles
were absolutely packed
for three consecutive
days,” said John Kilroy,
Show producer. “More
importantly, we had
buyers and reports of
orders being taken
almost as soon as the
show opened on
Thursday.”

The latest products in
virtually every form
imaginable were on
display at PRI and they
left customers wowed.
This year’s Machinery “PRI is very impressive,”
Row featured 1 22
commented first-time
exhibitors and 394
show attendee Gary
booths and it was clearly Friedlein, who runs
evident that both the
Gary-Tech, a fab shop in
show’s exhibitors and
Hannibal, Missouri. “I’ve
attendees left with
seen a lot of stuff that
optimism for the coming I’ve never even seen
year.
before. We do a lot of
fab work and we’re
“We had an outstanding looking for ideas to try to
6

get an edge. We’re
looking at a possible
dyno purchase -- that’s
where the future is and
that’s what this show is
all about – the future.
It’s going to take me
awhile to get out of
Machinery Row. I’m a
machinist by trade and I
love this!”
Attendees gathered as
numerous
manufacturers not only
put their products on
display, but actually put
them to work on the
show floor. In one aisle,
Centroid Performance
Racing was machining
four small block Chevys
simultaneously in its
featured turn-key A560
XL with their new Port
Block quad fixture.
Other attendees were
treated to in-the-booth
seminars at Miller,
where they conducted
interactive