Story by Adam Gordon and Micah Russell. Photography by Adam Gordon, Gerbie Reyes, Paul Delapena, Lee Vermont, Spokephotos, AJM Studios, Patrick Parong, Trevor Reiff, Ranger Ramirez, Raul Escoto.
Every year it seems like the next SEMA Show is starting right when the last one ended, and this year really proved it. It felt like we had just put out last year’s SEMA issue when we started laying the groundwork for 2019, and before we knew it, we were Vegas-bound again. With several years of SEMA attendance under the belt, things like hydration, nourishment, and pace were all top of mind as the show began - tactics derived from lessons learned in previous years, no doubt.
Last year was the first time we made written note of the increased truck and powersports presence, and that segment seems to have grown yet again this year, taking up the majority of outdoor spots on both sides of the building.
The quality of SEMA cars continues to rise as companies strive to make their booth presence known with top-shelf builds, and many builders and brands have taken to using SEMA as their debut stage for builds which remained under wraps during the process.
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Blue Lot
The Blue Lot, often the first part of the show you’ll see on the way in due to its proximity to many load-in entrances, is a bit of a mixed bag as far as its contents go. These feature vehicle spots are filled by cars and trucks which may not be inside the halls representing for a booth, but certainly achieve SEMA car status.
Just like last year, the increased presence of “Cen-Cal” style trucks took up half of the lot, but the rest of it featured some truly unique cars and hot-rods. One especially nice part of this section is the variety of well built street cars you’ll find in and around the Blue Lot. For many of our audience members, it’s street car or no car.
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Silver Lots
The proverbial “circus of SEMA,” the Silver Lots have become the primary attraction for thrill-seekers attending the SEMA show over the past few years. With “Ford Out Front” continuing its reign of chaos in the middle of the outdoors section, and Hoonigan returning with another burn yard bash for the second consecutive year, there was never a shortage of high-octane action in the Silver Lots.
There is truly something for every enthusiast out here - from real life Hot Wheels cars in full size, to tricked out supercars and everything in between. As you may have noticed, there was a massive presence of large trucks out here as well, presumably too large to fit through the convention center doors. One of our favorite vehicles out here was River City Rods & Fabrications’ “Brown Sugar,” a custom Chevy pickup camper RV with ‘70s style and a completely reimagined interior - the ultimate road trip vehicle!
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Central Hall
When you finally make your way inside the Las Vegas Convention Center, your indoor journey is likely to start at Central Hall. This is where you’ll find the OEM manufacturers like Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota, and Honda showing off their latest and greatest, as well as some of the biggest aftermarket brands in the industry - this hall is for the heavy hitters.
Even the main lobby halls before you reach the inside of Central Hall are packed with cool stuff on pedestals between every food stop. This hall is where we make our stay with our Tuner Battlegrounds finalists. Being the biggest hall at the show, brands do everything in their power to bring you in to their booth, so you can expect serious show-stoppers here. There’s a little bit of everything scattered throughout the Central Hall, from hot rods and resto-mod classics to world debut widebody imports and never before seen custom cars and trucks.
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Wheel & Tire Hall
In the world of wheels and tires, it pays to stand out from the crowd, and presentation is everything. This means that brands looking to stand out among the SEMA crowd are doing everything they can to present their products in a meaningful way, especially when it comes to wheels. One immediate stand-out in the Wheel & Tire Hall was the Kansei Wheels booth. This is a brand that’s relatively new on the scene, and is exhibiting at SEMA for the second time.
Their branded backdrop did well to showcase their booth car, a Toyota Cressida with a Mark II front end conversion, sporting their newest wheel offering. Our friends at Konig wheels made sure to cover all the bases with a new Supra, a Mk4 Supra, and a Tesla for good measure. There was no shortage of the new Supra down here, as it seemed to be the chassis of choice to showcase new wheel designs this year.
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Toyo Tires Treadpass
The Toyo Tires Treadpass has become synonymous with impeccable build quality. For us, this exhibit nestled between the Central and South halls is the highlight of the show every year, and this year was certainly no different. One requirement of showcasing your car here is a near complete embargo on releasing build information and images.
Every vehicle you see in the Toyo Treadpass is a debut build, unknown to the public before the show opens, and there is just so much quality here it’s hard to take a properly close look at all of it. Bisimoto’s latest bonkers Porsche build, ButtonBuilt’s new custom widebody Ferrari, a widebody AE86, and one of the most built A90 Supras of the entire show are just a small sample of what you’ll find here. Among the rest of the spectacular builds in the tent, five of these vehicles made it to the PASMAG Editor’s Top 10 cars of SEMA 2019 - a testament to the overall quality that Toyo Tires expects from their Treadpass each year.
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SEMA Ignited
For the first time in all the years I’ve attended SEMA, this was the first year I didn’t make it over to Ignited. After a long week of running around, meeting clients and contributors, and attending after-hours events, I was spent, and with our flight out the same night I made the responsible decision to let our contributors handle this one. Micah Russell, AKA Spokephotos, was with us for his first SEMA ever, so we sent him over for a surprise. He walked over to Ignited not knowing what he was walking into. His account of events is below:
“After signing a form I assume was a waiver, over the sound of screaming drag cars and crowds, I threw on a given numbered vest and walked into a long row of media personnel, a k-wall, and the stands full of spectators. Looking at the Nitro Circus ramp, I began to switch lenses and alter settings on camera, not understanding what I was about to witness. After they handed out the Young Builders award, a bearded man came out and briefly told everyone what Nitro Circus was. Then it hit me - there's going to be bike stunts! I had only seen this on YouTube and TV, but never in person before. I've never shot bikes doing airborne stunts at night. I thought this was going to be a drift session.
Watching the riders perform their stunts was unbelievable to see in person. The flips, tail whips, no handers, and endless insane tricks at the Nitro Circus were amplified by pyrotechnics. After the bikes were finished, they brought out the massive drift truck. There was as much diesel smoke as there was tire smoke, and it was awe-inspiring how much control he had over that truck.
To complete the night, Formula Drift drivers came out and put on a spectacular show with wall taps, flames, and enough tire shreds to turn a white shirt black. With every pass we had to duck down so we wouldn't get hit with bits of rubber. The amount of smoke they were producing made the crowd in the stands disperse. All the drivers did some tandem and single runs. After shooting and watching this particular event, nothing could have been a better way to complete my week at SEMA.”
Knowing our contributors enjoyed their time at an event even more than we did is just the icing on the cake that is a huge week at SEMA. As we boarded our respective plans back to our home destinations, the weight lifted off our shoulders knowing we had done it - another SEMA in the books. Until next year! For more information and news, go to semashow.com.
