SEMA News—December 2020
Calling All Racers: The PRI Road Tour is ON!
By Chris Kersting
For most folks in the racing industry, this past year has seen far more than a fair share of cancellations. When the team at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) made the announcement in September that the 2020 PRI Trade Show could not take place this year, the racing community was going to have to do without a key annual business gathering that helps set the stage for success in the year ahead.
With the PRI Trade Show cancelled, the PRI organization pivoted to an exciting new approach to inject energy into the racing world and further its mission of supporting the business of racing. The PRI Road Tour—a cross-country campaign to gather and share news from racing-related businesses—was born. The Tour began October 10 in Indianapolis, making stops throughout the Midwest and South, and will continue until December 15, by which time it will reach the West Coast.
The PRI Road Tour was conceived as a way to put PRI’s industry-leading print and electronic media outlets to work on behalf of the racing community itself, generating content and sharing news from racing hot spots. The Road Tour is taking the PRI team directly to manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, race teams, tracks, speed shops and racing attractions over the two-month span. In short, if your racing business can’t come to the PRI Show in 2020, PRI will come to you.
The Tour is designed to help continue the sharing of ideas and innovative technology that normally takes place in December in Indianapolis. By initiating this all-out blitz of reporting, PRI will help companies transmit information that would have come out at the PRI Show to racers and businesses who would have attended. PRI is taking the initiative to help the racing industry tell its story—and then telling the world.
The media plan is extensive and multilayered. Traveling in the PRI Road Tour van, wrapped with the PRI logo, the team will conduct on-site interviews and curate content to share on PRI’s website and social platforms as well as within its industry-leading monthly magazine. PRI is also partnering with a wide variety of media outlets, racers, influencers and social-media channels to further amplify the news and information it gathers.
Whether the Tour team visits your location or not, all motorsports companies are invited to take advantage of this enhanced media effort by submitting press releases, photos, videos and other assets to roadtour@performanceracing.com, where they will be reviewed by the PRI media team and shared with other media and the industry, generating a presence for industry businesses that will extend well beyond the length of the Tour itself.
Road Tour staffing includes a rotation of top-notch photographers, videographers and social-media experts. They are engaged in capturing and sharing video, photos and exclusive interviews highlighting the industry’s newest products, vehicles, races and developments while closely following local, state and national health and safety guidelines. Their work will further the business of racing, supporting the motorsports industry by helping spread the word through content that will resonate with the racing world.
If you haven’t already tapped into the content stream generated via the PRI Road Tour, you can visit www.pri2020.com/roadtour, email roadtour@performanceracing.com, and follow Performance Racing Industry on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
SEMA
CHRIS KERSTING
Calling All Racers: The PRI Road Tour is ON!