Event Dopeness >>> Our Trip To SEMA!

This isn’t your typical SEMA post; will we have highlights and some of my favorite cars? Of course, that’s why the Stay Crushing FR-S is the first thing you see! I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about SEMA and why it’s so important to me; as well as the road there.

Over the past 40 days I’ve been living in a hotel. We had a pipe burst at my place, flooding the kitchen and my bedroom. Just 4 days before SEMA this is where I booked my hotel room for SEMA.

It’s now the night before and I’m back home doing laundry, it’s bitter sweet because this is the first time I’ve been home in so long and I have to leave immediately for the most important show of the year. I know I’ll be back soon, so it’s not too bad.

I wanted to head to Las Vegas a day early and early morning so I could really get settled and ready for Day 1 of SEMA! That’s the OMGBattlecase which is my version of traveling light, while it does weigh in at over 90 pounds full it IS only one bag. That’s my unreasonable reasoning, I think I’m pretty sound in my disillusion.

My early start may not have actually been that early, I think it was maybe 10AM by the time I left. The road to the 405 was pretty open, actually.

My trip couldn’t really start until I ate. On the road, Jack in The Box is a solid substitution for a real meal.

The trip to Las Vegas is a quick one for me, it’s a really fast drive for me. Especially after crossing the country multiple times! It was 46 hours (Of just driving time, not counting stops) to get to West Palm Beach this year so a 4 hour drive is easy peasy.

I arrived at the show early the next morning, I was first greeted with this beautiful mattle blue Beetle. Sitting real pretty on some Fifteen52 wheels, I don’t know much about it since this show is a lot more than just coverage for me. But! If you want to read all about it click here and you can real all about it on Jalopnik!

Here we have Will Land and Eric Cheney; two of the masterminds behind the eBay Motors team. That’s one of the big things about SEMA, you see people that you either look up to, respect, know personally, and anything in between. You can see everyone from you favorite Formula Drift driver to Chip Foose. It’s a totally surreal experience.

For many of us, especially media members, brands and up and coming drivers it’s an opportunity to market ourselves to companies directly. We have been lucky enough to have Enkei Wheels and Advanced Clutch Technology believe in us and back us this year. Robert Kochis of Stay Crushing built this FR-S with his own blood, sweat, and tears.

I was there the day Robert met Kei Miura at Greddy to pick up his Rocket Bunny kit, and, meet the man himself.

On this day, Robert had no idea if he was even going to make SEMA. He had a month to get everything done, and, as you can tell he did make it. But it didn’t come without struggle. The struggle makes everything better in the end, I know I’ve had my moments where things come easy and it’s nice but not nearly as nice when I bust my ass to get something done and have it come out just the way I want.

He went to school, worked full time, and put all of his money into this build. Not everyone understands why we would do this, why would someone put their only free time and money into a car? Because, it’s awesome. It’s an indescribable feeling that overcomes you when your car is exactly where you want it, driving around with a constant smile. Oh, and this isn’t just some show queen flash in the pan build. He daily drives this beast.

He was also one of the first recipients of our Street Posse sticker.

These AWESOME stickers were made by SkyPrintMedia and they came out perfect. Big shoutout to Alex Lopez and Tori Michael for coming through last minute.

As Day 1 came to an end, I headed over to Global Rallycross where Tanner Foust clinched the championship. GRC is plenty cool, but, I was more in the mood for bleach burnouts and general hoonage. Que the Hoonigan after party, where drivers like Nate Hamilton, Vaughn Gittin Jr, Ryan Tuerck, and Chris Forsberg were doing demos and trying to burn through whatever they had on their car.

Chris’ car is still the loudest car I’ve ever encountered, and, having so close was mind numbing. Or, alternatively that was all the PBR they supplied.

Motorcycle burnouts are the coolest burnouts.

No seriously, they’re super rad.

Speaking of familiar faces, Jarod DeAnda was out there MCing and he was doing a kickass job like always.

After burnouts, beer, and bleach I had one of the longest but best days in quite some time and I took the monorail back to the hotel to get ready for the next day. The next day was full of meetings for me, talking to companies of who would be able to keep our dream alive into 2013! And, the final day I was set to do coverage, I had to leave home for a family emergency. I’d just like to thank everyone for their continued support of us, and, I can’t wait to show you guys what we have in store for you next.

-Drew Fishbein