Four great reasons to attend the world’s best automotive aftermarket show, coming to Las Vegas November 4–7, 2014.

What do you get when you combine the world’s top automotive aftermarket manufacturers and 130,000 people for 96 hours inside 735,000 sq. ft. of floor space dedicated to hot rods and Hollywood royalty, muscle cars and mobile electronics, resto rods and off-roaders, drifters and tuners, paint and powersports, lighting and audio, UTVs and SUVs, tools and car care, motorcycles, trucks and wheels—and anything else we’ve forgotten to include in this epic rant of a sentence?

The world-renowned Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Forget about that Hawaiian beach condo, this is the automotive enthusiast’s idea of a tropical vacation. And here are four good reasons to go to this year’s event if you’re into all things horsepower.

1. SCORE Baja 1000 Experience

This year the SEMA Show is bringing a little bit of the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 race to Las Vegas. Jumpstarting the week’s festivities is the 2014 Trophy Truck qualifying event at nearby Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 3.6-mile-long, specially designed course will incorporate dirt, asphalt and two different off-road loops with daytime and nighttime sessions.

After the qualifying event, keep the adrenaline pumping by getting up close and personal with the some of the world’s best desert and off-road racers, an enormous 70,000-sq.-ft. desert racing exhibit, dozens of Baja 1000 Trophy Trucks and Class 1 race vehicles, and your favorite off-road companies. Look for the current series points leaders including off-road champs B.J. Baldwin, Rob MacCachren, Tavo Vildolsola, Clyde Stacy and Juan Carlos Lopez—they’ll most likely be there tearing up the dirt during Trophy Truck qualifying.

2. Massive Aftermarket

The 2014 SEMA show is your first look at how the aftermarket will make 2015’s hottest new vehicles even cooler. From the much talked-about new all-aluminum Ford F-150 pickup to Chevy’s redesigned Silverado and its new little brother, the Chevy Colorado, there will be plenty of aftermarket parts aboard. Likewise, expect plenty of gawking over the über-sexy new Ford Mustang, the accessory-friendlier­-than-ever Chevy Tahoe and Dodge’s urbanized Ram EcoDiesel hero truck. And speaking of Dodge, get ready for the supercharged beast that is the 2015 Challenger Hellcat as well. We also can’t wait to see what kind of accessories appear for one of the industry’s favorite aftermarket darlings—the Ford Raptor pickup—and its rumored new archrival, the Chevy Reaper. A steady stream of news is starting to hit the airwaves about how all these monsters are going to get dressed up, so stay tuned for more.

3. Behold the Star Cars

Another SEMA strong suit is the cars of the stars, and all the cool stuff that goes into building them. In fact, at SEMA there’s always some type of build-off going on, plus TV crews, celebrities and the endless posse of exquisitely airbrushed girls that tend to follow. If you’re into people watching, the SEMA Show never, ever disappoints.

As far as stars and cars go, you’re almost guaranteed to see some one-upmanship coming from favorites like Chip Foose and Chris Jacobs of Discovery Channel’s Overhaulin’ fame, the gifted crew from Pete Chapouris’ legendary So-Cal Speed Shop and Hollywood Hot Rods’ hipster Troy Ladd, just to name a few. At the shipping date for this issue, these million-dollar builders were being quite tight-lipped about what they’re bringing to Las Vegas, but we’re keeping our eyes and ears open and will learn all about it soon enough.

In a novel social-media exercise, at the show check out Rhino Linings and Doetsch Off-Road’s “Run My Build”—a social design exercise where enthusiasts vote on how to best accessorize a shiny new Jeep Wrangler JK “Trail Reaper” hunting rig, the theme already chosen by fans online. Follow along at www.Rhino Linings.com/Tough to bench race, watch the build, enter to win one of the monthly $500 credits for whatever accessories you want and, of course, witness the big reveal. This is just one example of the many cool interactive events happening at SEMA.

4. High-Octane Environment

Besides cars and products, SEMA offers plenty more to see and do including networking, conducting your own competitive product analysis and attending seminars. It can get noisy too, when you’re watching million-dollar hot rods fire up or tires going up in smoke at the drifting exhibitions. There’s so much here, your interests will be covered no matter what you’re in to—American muscle, hot rods, hybrids, trucks, tuners, Jeeps, street rods, imports or green technology—it’s all going to be there in one high-octane martini.

Christine Eastman is a motorsports marketing consultant, writer and enthusiast.

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 Getting In

Now for the sobering reality. Although SEMA is truly the magic kingdom for aftermarket performance, there’s a figurative guard at the gate—and the show is not open to the public. So how do you get in? That’s a challenge unless you’re an aftermarket manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer or member of the press. If you are, go to www.SEMAShow.com for credential information. Otherwise, stay tuned to Maximum Drive and we’ll do all the delightful dirty work to bring you the best of the 2014 SEMA Show in a future issue.

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