Everyone who has ever asked me what it’s like to cover SEMA gets the same answer: It’s like shooting a car show at a rock concert; there is more to see than your brain can possibly comprehend, and don’t ever think you’ll see it all.” I usually emphasize that last bit, because it’s so solidly true. There is no possible way that you can walk the entire footprint of the SEMA show and take in everything. We didn’t do any of the ride and drive events on the property. We probably missed an entire hall’s worth of exhibits as we covered the bases we wanted to cover this year. We were lucky enough to get what we got, to be perfectly honest with you. We might have a fun job, but make no mistake about it, it is a job. If I needed any reminders about that, all I had to do was look at my pedometer to see how much I walked each day.
On Friday, the show was pretty much going to be in my hands: Brian was going to do some live stuff but he had to leave before lunch, and my wife flew in early that morning, so I lost a bit of time picking her up and locating parking (never a fun chore anyways, the big parking lot had been shut down in preparation for the SEMA Ignited show that evening.) Lohnes didn’t leave me with a task list, but he did mention that I needed to go out of the back of the hall behind Toyota’s exhibit…he had seen some cars in the parking lot and wanted me to go take a look. Originally, I thought he was referring to Toyota’s lineup of Corollas, from old to new with a representation of each generation in-between, which was pretty cool. But seeing the Mighty Car Mods’ “SubarUte” parked in the lot like it was nothing was a shock. But this is SEMA, the show where Hot Rod’s Crusher Camaro was walked past like it was nothing all week long! Click on a photo below to check out what was hiding in the back!
