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Behind the Wheel
Stories, anecdotes and tall tales of driving experiences. If you have a story please contact us and we'll put it here. The included content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Area Rides or it's affiliates.
SEMA is big. It fills the Las Vegas Convention Center- practically wall to wall. The center has 2 million square feet of exhibit space and a grand lobby with more than 225,000 square feet. All of this was used for SEMA. There were even booths outside! The parking lot had drifting at one end of the building and courses to drive new Chevy car lines at the other end. The sidewalks outside and the concourses inside were lined with show cars. The AAPEX show was much of the same but it has to be held at the Sands Expo Center which is 1.8 million square feet!
The schedule for all the different things going on read more like a novel. Just the celebrity appearance listing fills three pages- both sides with small print! Not only did businesses have their booths, but would use the meeting rooms at the center or have after hour dinners at other locations. All throughout the show the exhibitors had product demonstrations, hands-on activities, give-aways and a whole mess of things to entertain the visitors. There was never nothing to do for five days.
I missed a lot.
Lessons Learned
As I have said I have been to conventions of equal size at the same location. I knew mostly what to expect and I did fairly well to prepare. Yet I did find myself thinking that there was more I could have done. I am planning to go to SEMA next year so I am making a list of things in advance. With luck it can help others as well.
SEMA is still going on in Las Vegas, Nevada, but my SEMA experience ended yesterday. I am now home with hours of raw video to sort and edit yet. Having spent nearly three whole days and walking for miles I saw only a small percentage of the entire event. I am no stranger to conventions of this size. I have attended a similar show a couple times in Las Vegas and it was just as big. I knew going in that much was going to be missed. Yet I still found myself regretting quite a few missed opportunities.
What I did see and do was overwhelming. Everyone was there from after-market parts manufacturers to car care product companies. All the major automotive brands were there with a few I had never heard of. If it is a car related business in any shape or form they had a booth. There were some that were only marginally car-centric businesses like GoPro and American Express. The SEMA Exhibitor list is the definitive automotive who's who from all over the globe.
Lately, I have been noticed some poorly planned sections of roads. The initial design of the roads are sound, the planned usage of the road is the problem. The idea that the general public cannot handle even the most simple concepts when they get behind the wheel never goes into consideration when the plans are laid down for America's roads.
The main thorn in my side as of late are two-lane left-turn lanes...
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