SEMA and PRI (1 Viewer)

sammi

Nitro Member
Both of these shows, as it appears to this "keyboard crewchief" (AKA ticket buying, FOX drag show watching, NHRA member), portray one of the larger "going off the rails" problems of modern racing.
Insiders insulating themselves from the people who actually buy stuff from them.

If going to the races and trying to see a car hidden deep in the trailer canyons isn't bad enough, now we have to listen to drag racing insiders telling us how cool and wonderful SEMA and PRI are and then being told by the same people, that the people who start the income stream that pays their salaries can never hope to go to these shows. Really? I must say it feels like being an unwashed villager standing outside the castle while the king and his lackeys party off into the night. Dilly Dilly

Racing is entering an era where you can't afford to alienate any fan-old or young. Attendance dropping(calling certain races sell-outs reminds me of the rain and pant leg allegory), abysmal TV ratings and lack of any meaningful event coverage from the local media tell me every attempt must be made to open the doors to the castle and welcome warmly anyone who shows interest in motorsports.
 
The intention of both shows, as well as the APAA co-show, is to provide the industry professionals access to the people that often only have email or phone contact.

They are there to service the small businesses and teams that sell, use, promote their products to the general population, amature racer, etc.

While you might get the impression that they are kind of a "Car Show", they are business focused and many booths have no cars at all.

Finally, ALL of the companies providing access to their products are pulling their best people away from their day to day jobs for the show. The show is about business!

BTW: Almost from the start of day to the end of day, the aisles in both shows are packed to capacity. Often it is difficult to even get around, much less have access to the booth staffs.
 
The same goes for any trade show. i don't know of any that are open to the public in any market.They are designed as a meet and greet, where deals are made and announcements are made.

The business is done after the fact when everyone is back at the office.

I call them a boring love fest.
 
I'm sitting here wondering what the big deal is........Lol! It's not like it's hard to get into the PRI show, and if you pay attention; REAL CLOSE attention, you'll see that there are just as many folks there seeking autographs and other non-business related stuff as there are people there to genuinely do business. And when I say genuinely, I mean GENUINELY. Not just being there for the schmooze-fest it can be.

Sean D
 
I'm sitting here wondering what the big deal is........Lol! It's not like it's hard to get into the PRI show, and if you pay attention; REAL CLOSE attention, you'll see that there are just as many folks there seeking autographs and other non-business related stuff as there are people there to genuinely do business. And when I say genuinely, I mean GENUINELY. Not just being there for the schmooze-fest it can be.

Sean D
Agreed. If you want a ticket for either one, it is easy to get.
 
It's the whole Beany Baby marketing ploy .... if you want to go to one of these shows and can't get credentials you simply aren't using one brain cell.

If it was truly trade only there wouldn't be drag racer's doing autographs at PRI. Now that said my son did get a kick of Hurco telling John Force to suck up to him at IMTS this year .... but he/we had bought 5 CNC machines from them this year.... and John gets them for free, so sometimes its your job to suck up to the 25 yr old kid who's actually spending money. I enjoy them all once every few years, but IMTS, FabTech, and OTC hold my attention for much longer than SEMA. I can get all i need done at PRI in one day. If you are a reasonably sized customer any vendor will meet with you one on one at your shop or theirs (or their largest nearby customer if you are a new customer and want to see stuff in action). The trade shows are good for seeing the 90% done new stuff, and comparison shopping for stuff where you won't be a large dollar buyer. Very few truly large deals hatch there nowadays.
 
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I think you've missed the point of the shows. They're trade shows, not car shows.
And as noted, practically anyone can get passes. This year was the first time I went to PRI and there was no shortage of people there.
 
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