ORLANDO, FL — According to show organizers, the 2005 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show will be bigger and better than ever this year.

Slated to take place Dec. 1-3 in Orlando, Fla., the 18th Annual PRI Trade Show will encompass 1,000,000-square feet of floor space, with more than 25 percent of exhibitors requesting additional booths this year. This is the first time the event will take place in Orlando, after 17 years in Indianapolis.

“Imagine 1,000,000 square feet of the newest racing products for the 2006 race season, and you’re picturing the powerful driving force for buyer attendance at the 2005 PRI Trade Show,” said Steve Lewis, producer of the PRI Trade Show. “There will be more new racing technology, racing products and race shop machining equipment on display in Orlando than anywhere on Earth!”

More than 300 companies have requested additional exhibit space for the 2005 show, according to Karin Davidson, trade show manager. The show has already expanded from 3,100 booths to 3,700.

“For years, hundreds of companies have been requesting additional exhibit space in order to display more new racing products or shop machinery, or increase the number of sales and technical people in their booths,” she said. “In Orlando, we can finally accommodate those requests.”

All of the exhibits will be located in one hall, on one floor, in the new, state-of-the-art convention center, making it easier for attendees to shop the show. There is no charge for admission.

More than 40,000 racing industry entrepreneurs from 40 countries will attend. Last year, 1,200 companies exhibited at the show, a figure that is now nearing 1,300. Attendees can preview the latest advances in racing technology, buy new products and have them in stock in time for the start of the 2006 race season. In the popular Machinery Row section of the trade show, race engine builders will find approximately 100 manufacturers of machining equipment, with the machinery wired for live demonstrations on actual racing components.

Jeff Hammond, NASCAR crew chief and TV race commentator, has agreed to return as the moderator of the Industry Roundtable panel discussion scheduled to take place at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 30.

On Thursday morning, the Grand Opening Breakfast will feature a noted motorsports figure sharing colorful racing stories, as attendees and exhibitors enjoy a hot breakfast. Past breakfast speakers have included Ray Evernham, Jack Roush, Robert Yates, Al Unser Sr., Bobby Unser, John Force and Smokey Yunick.

On Thursday evening, after the close of Show hours, thousands of Trade Show buyers and exhibitors head to the Industry Reception. PRI Retail Management Seminars and Workshops will be held on Friday and Saturday mornings before the Trade Show opens for the day. Subjects will range from merchandising and display strategies to management tips for operating a race engine business.

As a service to auto racing throughout the world, the Society of Automotive Engineers has organized another edition of its popular SAE Motorsports Engineering Symposium. The SAE Motorsports Engineering Symposium will be held in conjunction with PRI on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 29-30, in meeting rooms inside the North/South Building of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

The SAE Motorsports Engineering Symposium fills two days with the latest R&D and high level technical information for the racing industry. This SAE event has proven itself as a valuable venue for product developers, race engineers, management, researchers and entrepreneurs who need and seek networking opportunities and information from leading innovators. SAE held a similar event at the 2002 PRI show in Indianapolis.

Registration fees for an SAE member or PRI Exhibitor are $350 if registered prior to November 11, and $450 for a non-member. All fees will go up by $100 after November 11. For more information, go to www.sae.org/events/training/symposia/motorsports.

This year for the first time, the PRI Trade Show will offer the 1st Annual Mopar PRI Sprint & Midget Classic. A $50,000 bonus prize will be offered to the driver who wins both of the night’s 40-lap feature races, with the driver having the special challenge of starting dead last in the second feature race. The first 40-lap feature race will be midgets, while the second 40-lap feature race will be sprint cars. There will also be a drifting exhibition, sponsored by Nitto Tire. The 1st Annual Mopar PRI Sprint & Midget Classic will be held Friday night, December 2, at nearby Orlando Speed World Raceway, a 3/8ths mile paved oval with grandstand seating available for 5,500.

An extraordinary lineup of sponsors are taking advantage of this unique opportunity. In addition to Mopar and Nitto Tire, Associate Sponsors are C&R Racing, Calico Coatings, Oakley, MSD Ignitions, Sunnen Products Company, LA Sleeve Company, JE Pistons, XRP, Isky Racing Cams and Cometic Gaskets.

Click on www.performanceracing.com today and discover one of the most effective planning tools you’ll have for the 2005 PRI Trade Show. Right now, you can experience a ‘virtual tour’ of the show floor plan for the show. Look up an exhibiting company and its location on the floor plan for the North/South Building of the Orange County Convention Center. You can click on surrounding booths and learn where companies are in relationship to each other.

Attendees will be able to use this function to plan their itinerary each day of the Trade Show. The PRI Web site also allows visitors to create their own private account, allowing a personal business itinerary to be developed and stored on the PRI Web site for revisiting or ‘retuning.’

Special codes have been created for PRI Trade Show business visitors, providing immediate discounts for air travel through United Airlines and American Airlines, as well as car rental fees at Hertz. You simply get the code on the PRI Web site, then click the link to go directly to the Web sites of these companies, enter in the code, and create your travel reservations at a discounted price.

For more information on exhibiting or attending the PRI Trade Show, call 949/499-5413.

_______________________________________

Click here to view the rest of today’s headlines.