Two years ago, IBT Inc. thanked its customers on its 55th anniversary with a two-day event at the Kansas Speedway. The Merriam, Kan.-based bearings and power transmission distributor rented the entire speedway and showcased a variety of amenities, including food, entertainment, 50 vendor displays and 13 training seminars.

This year the company decided to do it again, only bigger and better, said Gary Hense, IBT’s director of training and marketing services. About 1,600 people attended TechX 500 Sept. 13 and 14, Hense said, visiting 60 vendor booths, attending 14 seminars and listening to a surprise address by baseball great George Brett on integrity and longevity.

The highlight of the event was a series of NASCAR “ride alongs,” he said, in which customers took three laps on the 1.5-mile speedway in IBT-sponsored car #33 and eight other Nextel Cup cars—at a guaranteed 165 mph.

“We gave over 500 rides,” Hense said. “Just to be down there at the track and see these people get out of the car was worth everything that we did. The customers all just had a blast.”

Ringfeder Corp. , a manufacturer of power transmission products, is celebrating its 35th anniversary. The Westwood, N.J., company serves the industrial, metalworking, oil & gas drilling, packaging, food products, conveyor, machine tool, logging, printing and construction equipment markets…Bosch Rexroth Corp. has a new “Tools and Downloads” Web site where engineers can download specs and find information on Bosch products at www.boschrexroth-us.com/tools...Clampco Products launched a new business, Clampco North America Ltd., which will manufacture stainless steel worm drive clamps in Brantford, Ontario. Clampco, based in Wadsworth, Ohio, produces stainless steel T-bolt band clamps and V-band couplings…Watteredge Inc. , a manufacturer of industrial hose and tubing in Avon Lake, Ohio, will begin offering made-to-order tubing products for food processing, air and water, chemical and acid, marine hose and material handling…Herrick Industrial Supply Co. of Ogden, Utah, and Gator Supply Co. of Harvey, La., have joined the supplyForce network of distributors.

After months of acquisition activity, The Home Depot’s wholesale distribution business has been officially branded HD Supply , ranked fifth in Industrial Distribution’s 2006 Big 50 report . The company has added to its growing family of distribution businesses by purchasing companies such as Hughes Supply , Texas Contractors Supply and Edson Electric . The individual businesses will gradually transition to the new brand name…Kennametal, Inc. acquired Camco Cutting Tools and Advanced Powder Fusion (the Camco Group), based in Kelowna, British Columbia…Penske Logistics and ABX Logistics are forming a strategic alliance (Penske-ABX Logistics) aimed at providing integrated, global supply chain solutions for multinational corporations…U.S. Electrical Services, LLC of Chester Springs, Pa., has purchased Duplex Electrical Supply Corp. , a distributor of electrical components for electrical contractors...General Electric is selling GE Advanced Materials to Apollo Management, L.P. , a private investment firm, for $3.8 billion in cash and securities…RBC Bearings Inc. purchased All Power Manufacturing Co. of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., for approximately $9.3 million. All Power will become part of RBC’s Plain Bearings division…Atlas Copco (China) Investment Co. Ltd. has reached an agreement to acquire the Shanghai Bolaite Compressor Co., Ltd., which will become part of Atlas Copco Compressor Technique’s Industrial Air division...Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd. has acquired ZEKS Compressed Air Solutions , a North American provider of compressed air treatment equipment. Terms were not disclosed.