IHRA: Partner profile - Racing Electronics

Years ago, interviewing the legendary Tom Carnegie, track announcer for the Indianapolis 500, he spoke of how tough it was to keep the crowd informed. He'd turn to his left, and speaking loudly through a massive megaphone, tell the crowd on the left what was happening, then the crowd directly in front of him, then the crowd to the right.

Today, spectators want information, and they want it real-time. The track announcer does the best he or she can, but they are competing with the sound of the cars or motorcycles on the track.

This created an opportunity, and Bruce Silver, CEO and founder of Racing Electronics, decided to place an advertisement in a local racing newspaper, advertising scanners to other race fans as Christmas gifts.

"It was a gamble but he was a race fan with a knack for gadgets and electronics," says his corporate biography. "His goal was to make a product that would help other race enthusiasts have a more exciting race day experience."

That was in October, 1988, and Silver's hobby soon turned into a multi-million-dollar business. Shortly after starting with scanner sales, race teams were requesting in-car race communication equipment. In 1989 Racing Electronics started selling race communications equipment and today, it's the premier supplier in NASCAR, IndyCar, ARCA and, of course, the IHRA.

Silver began his business in New Jersey in the fall of 1988, but in 2005, moved to Concord, North Carolina, the heart of NASCAR. The company produces the headsets, wiring harness' and other equipment in the Concord, NC facility and today employ about 80 workers

There are plenty of cheap imitators out there, but the quality of the product and the level of service Racing Electronics supplies are unmatched in the industry. The company offers a full range of communications for teams, drivers and the sanctioning bodies, and for fans, there's a wide array of products available including binoculars, headphones, stopwatches and, of course, the product that put them on the map: Scanners, which allow fans to listen in on communications between their favorite drivers and teams.

Learn more about the company at RacingElectronics.com. And if you are in the neighborhood, drop in for a tour – the address and phone number is listed on the home page.