J Rations Exhibits at the 2006 Off-Road Impact Trade Show & Conference
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (January 22, 2006)—We didn’t crash this year’s Off-Road Impact (ORI) show in the literal sense. But since we were in the throes of the launch of Standard Issue 1 just a month before the show, it felt that way. We managed to sneak in just under the deadline and were welcomed by all the folks at ORI as we took our place on the exhibit hall show floor.
It seemed that everyone who was anyone in the world of off-road was in attendance at the second annual show, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 19-21. With the big guns dominating the floor—Banks Power, 4Wheel Drive Hardware, Hella, Flowmaster, Bestop, Toyota, BFGoodrich, et al.—we were happy to be part of the crowd.
Events began with breakfast keynote speaker James Owen, author of Cowboy Ethics, followed by a State of the Industry report, and the educational conference presented by the Off-Road Business Association (ORBA). ORBA also commanded the show’s main event—the $90,000 Alumicraft Prerunner giveaway. Our congratulations to Jimmy Wietzel of Alpine, California, for holding the winning ticket—one of more than 1,900 sold.
courtesy Mike Cohn
The J Rations booth had a lot of foot traffic, giving us an opportunity to provide hands-on demonstrations of what separates J Rations from other off-road titles. Some guests had received Standard Issue 1 but had not slipped the CD-ROM into their computer CD drives. Too busy, too intimidated, too happy with just the magazine, we didn’t know. So we took advantage of the opportunity to give readers a tour of what they were missing, with “Wow!” and “Cool!” becoming the words of the day.
Our thanks to Advanstar Communications for expert coordination of the trade show and conference. We plan to have a greater presence at ORI next year, because this fledgling event certainly promises great things to come.