Steve Reintjes, who has served as NHRA’s Coordinating Producer for the past two years, has been promoted to the role of Vice President of Broadcasting.

In his new role, Reintjes will continue to oversee the NHRA’s production of all NHRA on Fox television broadcasts, as well as content created at the NHRA Wally Parks Studio, displayed at NHRA events and streamed online via NHRA.TV. He has produced the last two years of all NHRA on Fox television broadcasts.   [12/20/19]

As part of Performance Racing Industry’s (PRI) commitment to increase engagement and support for the racing industry, the organization has launched a search for two executive positions, including the new position of President to be based out of Indianapolis, Indiana.

The President will work closely with racing-related businesses, as well as individual racers, race teams, racing facilities, sanctioning bodies, and parts suppliers to develop programs and services to benefit the motorsports community.

In addition to the President in Indianapolis, PRI will hire a General Manager in Southern California who will be responsible for the daily operations of PRI’s Trade Show, Magazine and online media content. Bill Miller, the current General Manager, will continue to support the PRI team while focusing on his responsibilities as Senior Vice President of Operations for SEMA, which has owned and operated Performance Racing Industry since 2012.

Successful candidates will have proven leadership skills and a strong work ethic, and be motivated to serve the motorsports industry. Additional skills and requirements, as well as complete job descriptions, can be found at performanceracing.com/candidates.    [12/20/19]

Ian Olson, McDonald's senior director, global sustainability, and Debbie Mielewski, Ford senior technical lead, sustainability and emerging materials research team, take a look at one of the products made from coffee bean chaff.  (Ford Motor Company photo)

Ford Motor Company and McDonald's USA will soon be giving vehicles a caffeine boost by using part of a familiar staple in the morning routine, coffee beans, in vehicle parts such as headlamp housing.

Every year, millions of pounds of coffee chaff -- the dried skin of the bean -- naturally comes off during the roasting process. Together, Ford and McDonald's found that chaff can be converted into a durable material to reinforce certain vehicle parts. By heating the chaff to high temperatures under low oxygen, mixing it with plastic and other additives and turning it into pellets, the material can be formed into various shapes.

The chaff composite meet the quality specifications for parts like headlamp housings and other interior and under-hood components. The resulting components will be about 20 percent lighter and require up to 25 percent less energy during the molding process. Heat properties of the chaff component are significantly better than the currently used material, according to Ford. This is the first time Ford has used coffee bean skins to convert into select vehicle parts.   [12/20/19]