Sports Controversies

The interesting thing about sports in America today is that the dramas surrounding the games have almost become more popular than the games themselves. Furthermore I think Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL LOVES being at the center of all the controversy. He reminds me of Donald Trump in the way that he tries to use any publicity - good and especially bad - to his advantage.

PRI Orlando - Dec 10-12

Enjoyed my second trip to the Performance Racing Industry trade show in Orlando last week. It's really a fantastic time. Exhausting, but fantastic. It's a rare and critical opportunity to meet face to face with nearly all the people we call day to day as part of our advertising sales duties at Drag Illustrated Magazine. We walked the floor of the giant Orlando convention center for three days straight. We were in fact still talking to advertisers as they turned out the lights at 5PM on Saturday afternoon! (Scott Schwinning at Calvert Racing can back me up on that!)

Got a chance to meet ADRL champs for 2009... Todd Tutterow in Pro Extreme and Matt Hartford in Extreme Pro Stock. It's always cool to meet the drivers. Lots of cool free stuff... Nitrous Express was giving out samples of their new energy drink (good stuff), S&W Race Cars was giving out free pairs of my favorite hearing protectors - Skull Screws (I really do wear 'em all the time at the races and they usually cost several bucks a pair), and Geico Insurance was handing out free misting bottles of hand sanitizer (apparently always concerned about risk-control).

The most unusual company represented - at least to me - was Trek Bicycles. They said they were there investigating opportunities for translating their technologies from bike racing to motorsports. I said that to my knowledge titanium was the big news in making cars lighter. They responded that they'd stopped using titanium 3 or 4 years ago because they can do a better, lighter job with new composites. 100 full time engineers work at Trek trying to shave GRAMS off the weight of racing bikes, so I don't doubt it one bit. Not sure they'll follow my advice, but I gave them a few ideas for who they should talk to. As a student of marketing, this is the kind of stuff I live for.

Friday night we enjoyed dinner with legendary pro-mod driver, Charles Carpenter. He's an awfully good guy for being a legend, but I know he doesn't back down from ANYbody on the track. Amazing to hear about his days barnstorming the highways and byways of America match racing the likes of Ronnie Sox and more. Charles was there when the pro-mod was invented...pretty cool stuff!

Overall, I think PRI 2009 might have been a little smaller, but the mood seemed brighter than last year. You come away from a show like this with a deep appreciation for the caliber of people working at these companies in motorsports. It's an honor to work in the industry, and especially to represent a publication like Drag Illustrated that is so passionately supported by our readers and advertisers alike. Here's to a great 2010!