The SEMA/OUSCI Trip 2015: Day 7 & SEMA Final Thoughts
It's the last day of SEMA. Kevin got here last night and we have most of the day free to shoot whatever we want, with the exception of knocking down the last Vendor Spotlight for Intercomp Racing, an RS Motors sponsor.
Scroll all the way to bottom to see my thoughts on SEMA after my first trip. I shot video all day, but, here's some pictures from Kevin Khottavongsa (inspiremn.com):
Alright here we go with my final thoughts.
The Good:
There's so much to see and so much to get lost in at SEMA. Almost to the point of being overwhelming- in a good way. I actually had to stop near the central hall, gather my thoughts and procede with tact. There were too many options for things to see- I had no idea where to start. Track, stance, rat rod, lowriders, donks, trucks, bikes and even some things I can't readily identify. If I figure out what some of those things were, I'll let you know. Don't hold your breath, though. They were really cool.
Most of the vendors are really friendly and seem to geniunely care about their products and love what they do. It shows quite obviously when they talk to you. The second guy at VIP Modular that I talked to (the first one seemed more interested in scrolling through Twitter than talking to people at the booth), the guy at the Sprint Booster booth (I'll be ordering one before next season), everybody at PowerStop and Andrew at Whiteline stood out from the others I spoke with.
There's really a lot of good. Almost everything that isn't mentioned in the next two sections was great. It would be impossible for me to talk about everything. The above is just what stood out as amazing to me.
The Bad:
There were a handful of vendors that didn't seem to want to be there. I can only assume that these vendors are paying to display their products at SEMA, so for their employees at the booth to be dismissive, seems like a waste to me. There also seemed to be an alarming number of companies pushing cheap Chinese knock-offs and replica parts. For a show that seems to be structured for the auto enthusiast, I was a little confused by the number of booths selling (pretty obvious) fake parts. From blow-off valves and headers to seats and harnesses. If there was a booth selling reputable parts, there was a Chinese booth selling a visually similar product at a much lower cost.
Now I can't entirely knock these companies for being there. Not everybody can afford to have expensive/real parts (though if you're considering it I'd recommend not going cheap for manifolds or safety products....because death.....and "danger to manifold"), but at the same time, at a show that seems to have an attendence of mostly enthusiasts, all the fake parts seemed a little weird. Maybe it's just me.
On a quick note, the end of SEMA parade could have and should have been much more organized and probably would've gone a lot smoother if the police/security didn't stop the parade every 30 seconds to tell people to move back. The parade path was almost 2 lanes wide and the line was only 1 car wide. Nobody was in danger. Nobody was going to get hit. The cars weren't that wide and the constant stopping kind of ruined the parade experience for me. To the police and security that worked the parade: Relax, it's not that serious.
The Ugly:
I've never been so hungry for Chinese food in my life. There was so much more rice and tackiness at SEMA than I would've expected. I'm still a little shocked. There were so many well done cars, more than tacky ones, but seriously, the bikes and trucks should win a Best in Class award for tackiness.
Last but not least, can anybody tell me why these huge lifted trucks are being towed everywhere? I get that it's a show vehicle, but all that work should at least be functional right? The truck is built but has to be towed by the same model truck minus the work? I don't get it. If a truck enthusiast is reading this, please explain it to me.
Anyway, SEMA was amazing. Hopefully we'll be back next year (with media passes again, of course).
I won't be blogging about Days 8 and 9. Instead, I'll be working on a video showing you what happened this week. It'll be hot. I suggest you have a towel and an oven mitt ready before you watch it. Hopefully I can finish it and post it sometime next week.