New Changes Shown At The Northeast Racing Products Trade Show

Column By: ROBERT SYMONDS / RPW – SYRACUSE, NY – The 2017 Northeast Racing Products Auction and Trade Show kicked off their weekend on Friday November 17th and ran through Saturday afternoon. With many drivers, crew members, fans, and vendors all filling the Center of Progress building at the New York State Fairgrounds, it was surely a great event for all to learn more for the upcoming season.

For Drivers and crew members, it’s a chance to change / improve their program for the next season. Vendors were eager to show off their new chassis, parts, and service for the upcoming season. Some of these vendors included Teo Pro Car, Troyer Race Cars and Bicknell Racing Products.

As Matt Hearn from Teo Pro Car was showing his 2018 chassis, he mentioned quite a few changes for their drivers to notice in their new chassis.

“In our 2018 Teo, we changed the rear clip around a little bit,” he explained Saturday night. “This added a little more adjustment for our drivers. We also moved the seat location a little bit.”

Looking ahead for future events, Matt added that the 2018 Teo Open House would be on February 2nd and the seminars would be on February 3rd.

“The Seminars and Open House are a great way for drivers to get a jump start on the upcoming season,” Hearn said.

Bill Colton had a large exhibit for Troyer Race Cars, showing both his 2018 Dirt Modified chassis and 2018 Pavement Modified. Peter Britten had his ever-popular 21a on display with a completely see-through body on the right side. The panels were cut in half, right down the middle, so you could see the left side components without the body. Colton’s Troyer dirt car seemed to get a lot of attention due to the interesting display.

“This year, we have a new TD4 Chassis in which we worked with Peter Britten to develop,” Colton said Saturday evening. “We started work on it in June and ran it all the way through with the Super DIRTcar Series along with the last two weeks at Albany-Saratoga.”

Britten, as many people have not forgotten, had a very strong run during the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 at Super DIRT Week.

“The development of the car was to focus on making it turn better in the corner,” he said. “We also focused on getting traction to come off of the corner. It really has turned out great.”

Colton also added that the 2018 Troyer pavement chassis has not changed from 2017.

“It’s a proven car with many wins on the NASCAR tour and the ROC tour,” he said.

The 2018 Troyer Open House date hasn’t been announced as of yet, but look for it in the month of March.

Pete Bicknell, the owner of Bicknell Racing Products, was also really proud of his company’s success in 2017 and has experimented at making options for drivers in 2018.

“A big change is the left rear suspension,” Bicknell mentioned. “We have been experimenting with it but it has won four out of the last five races.”

Bicknell said a few drivers have tried it, including Ryan Watt and Mat Williamson.

“It may not be the suspension of choice for everybody, but it gives another option for the drivers,” he said. “Other than the left rear suspension option, not a lot has changed because its a proven car.”

Matt Sheppard was able to come back from a mid-season hiccup and win many upon many races, plus capturing the Super DIRTcar Series Championship in his 2017 Bicknell chassis.

“We (Bicknell) have had well over 800 wins this year and the count keeps climbing,” Bicknell added.

Pete and the entire Bicknell staff also were talking to their customers about their 2018 open house that’s set to take place on January 13th.

“The open house is full of free seminars from drivers like Matt Sheppard and myself,” he said. “It’s the perfect chance for other drivers and crews to get their questions answered.”

Pete also stated that Bicknell is building an entire car in about 1 days time with frame, body, and bumpers at their shop in St Catherines, Ontario.

At about 2pm Saturday afternoon, the auction kicked off at the north end of the building. With many bidders packing the area, Jeremie Corcoran took to the mic to thank everyone for the support of the first annual event, and continuing support for a show next year.

“Thank you to everyone for coming out,” he said. “Next year, we will be even bigger with more vendors. Also, next year, a new building will be built towards the other end of the fairgrounds and we will have all future shows in that building.