The Sema show was held at Las Vegas, NV. It is one of the largest U.S. Import and Domestic auto shows.

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Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Nov. 4-7

Story by Shaun Keenan Photos by Shaun Keenan & David Pankew of Modified Magazine.

From engine management systems that play DVDs and control virtually every electronic component in a car to Hummers riding 26s and laying chassis; this was by far a week worthy of the title, Automotive Purgatory.

To put things into perspective, this year's SEMA Show encompassed not only the massive North, Center and South (upper and lower) halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, but also the facilities in the Sands where AAPEX was being held. All in all, there was close to two million square feet to cover in just four days (Nov. 4-7). So, that's exactly what we did... as our sore little feet and ravaged bodies will attest to.

Still, the biggest question in my mind remains, 'where do we begin?' As you can imagine, there was just so much to see and do that it is impossible to tell you everything that went on. That said, and because we're still feeling the effects of walking miles upon miles of show floor just for you, our readers, this is just a sampling of what you'll find in our upcoming February issue, which will have more in-depth coverage from the 2003 SEMA Show.

Let's get started with a couple of news items that were the talk of the show early on. Every year, SEMA hands out awards in a number of categories at the new product breakfast. This year, Jack Roush handed out the 'Best Accessory' prize to ZEX for its Nitrous Purge Cloud Illuminator while Street Glow Inc. and V-Tech finished as runner-ups with a LED Undercar Kit and Flamed Taillight and Side Window Restyling products respectively. In the 'Best Performance/Racing' products category, MSD Ignitions/Autotronic Controls won for its Programmable Turbo Launch Control Device. Lakewood and K&N Engineering earned honorable mentions for their Aluminum Bellhousing and Scoop Filters correspondingly. Crane Cams took home the award for 'Best Street/Performance Product' with its hot Street and Race Distributor. 'Mobile Electronics' saw Rosen awarded for its new All-In-One Mobile Video System.

There were plenty of other companies awarded for their efforts over the past year, but we only wanted to tell you about those related to import and domestic sport compacts. But don't worry because, to make up for it, our editors will be including a section featuring 20 of the hottest products we could find at the show in our upcoming SEMA issue. Be sure not to miss it!

Another big highlight of this year's show was the SEMA Proving Grounds, presented by Yokohama, which was essentially a small demo track set up between the Center and South halls that allowed attendees to get into some cars and rip around the cones. Driving instructors from the Jim Russell Racing School were on hand to give out a few tips and hand out track access wristbands to the many journalists and buyers eager to test out new products in a real-world environment. On hand were a pair of BMW Z4s with the school, however, there were other aftermarket companies at the Proving Grounds, including Pioneer Electronics, Rotora and HKS, each of which were offering rides and drives in numerous modified street and drift cars.

Adjacent to the proving Grounds was the Mopar Alley - a tunnel between the two halls that was lined with heavy hitting vehicles from the 1960s all the way to today. Some of the hot rides included Mike Crawford's Dodge SRT-4 Hot Rod-class FWD dragster. Inside the North hall, Dodge had one of the largest exhibits in the show and the newest member of the family - the SRT-4 - was in full effect. There was even a Shaun Carlson Signature Edition SRT-4 on display with a whack of upgrades on it. Having driven the car recently myself, I think Dodge may have itself a winner with the new not-so-Neon.

We also spotted dozens of the drivers from both the NOPI and NHRA sport compact drag series' throughout the show and at all the parties that happened long after the doors at the convention center had been locked for the nights. On Thursday, NOPI had its season-ending awards presentation and the Xbox Cup was given out to winners in all Pro classes. Beginning with the Pro Street Tire class, Paul Efantis was clearly the man after putting together a perfect 10-for-10 season in his MSP Supra (2,720 pts). Brent Rau and his Osofast Eclipse took the title in Pro Outlaw with 1,925 points; in Pro 4 Cylinder it was Jojo Callos and the Castrol Syntec Integra (1,545 pts). Steven Thomson capped off a successful season in the Raptor Racing Civic Coupe with first place and 1,705 points, while Erick Aguilar - the first person ever to go under 10-seconds in a naturally aspirated four-cylinder Honda won the All Motor class with 2,195 points. Street Glow/Bullish Racing's Ara Arslanian (1,205 pts) took the title in Pro Compact some 150 points ahead of teammate George Ioannou, who won the NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series not too long ago. Next season should be an awesome one for both NOPI and NHRA and we look forward to following them again to every stop.

Well, that's about it, for this teaser that is! You'll have to pick up the February issue of Modified to get the rest of the story. We're devoting a lot of the mag to SEMA because, well, I believe I said it earlier, it was automotive purgatory.