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November 3 - 7, 2004
the Drift Session packed our bags again and headed for the land of
fake boobs, neon lights, and the 99 cent shrimp cocktail: Las Vegas!
10 Drift Session staff members made the journey to Vegas this year to
experience the mother of all automotive trade shows, SEMA.
For those of you that
don't know, SEMA stands for Specialty Equipment Market Association.
These guys run automotive industry trade shows across the US so
thousands of people like us can check out the latest and greatest
products and services in the business. For 4 days, the Las Vegas
Convention Center is filled with over 100,000 people and thousands
of vendor booths, all related to automotive / marine aftermarket
products.
Hundreds of unique
and sometimes bewildering vehicles are placed on display during the
SEMA show. People with entirely too much money left the audience
speechless with a number of head-turning rides. Amongst the notable
vehicles were a $600,000 monster truck, a tank-track treaded truck,
a 700+ horsepower Stingray Corvette, and the DUB Magazine Bentlys
and Chrysler 300c's.
Day 1, November 3rd,
2004:
The Drift Session staff members gathered bright and early at the
Airport Executive Center Starbucks location before heading to the
terminal. Airline itineraries and SEMA show passes were distributed
to all members before making the quick trip to the Omni Air
terminal.
Our travel
arrangements were made via Vacations Hawaii, home of some of the
cheapest travel packages to Las Vegas. As we got to the terminal,
the Vacations Hawaii staff quickly greeted us and checked us and our
baggage in for our flight. After getting hassled in the security
checkpoint when finding various lethal grooming devices (but not
finding my ultra-lethal bladed Leatherman multi purpose tool)
the small-pee-pee'd security staff finally let us through to
terrorize America once again with loud behavior and crude
jokes.
The Vacations Hawaii
staff stuffed us into the Omni airline like sardines where the
cosmetically challenged female flight crew and flamingly-gay male
flight crew attended to our travel. Luckily for us, Spider-Man 2 was
playing and standard headphone jacks still work in Omni aircraft so
you don't have to pay $5 for rented earphones.
As I sniffed the
stale air in the aircraft cabin, I noticed that it smelt like
mothballs and Chinese incense in the plane. As I looked around, I
could easily see why as the plane was loaded with dozens of old
retirees, looking for some excitement in the city of Lost
Wages.
Our flight landed at
6pm Vegas time and we quickly boarded a shuttle driven by the
fastest Russian shuttle driver in Vegas. Within minutes, we were at
our rental car destination and then on our way to the California
Hotel.
For those of you that
have never been to the California Hotel, it's kind of like walking
into Kaheka Daiei on Senior Discount Tuesdays. Just about everyone
there is from Hawaii, and everyone acts like they're still in
Hawaii. The plate lunch restaurant line quickly ran out the doors as
people acted like they haven't eaten a plate lunch in years.
Day 2, November 4th,
2004
It was the 3rd day of the SEMA Show but the first day for us, so we
were excited to go. Even though we were up at the crack of dawn and
ready to go, mobilizing a crowd of people in a new place isn't easy.
Although we planned to leave at about 8am, we didn't arrive at the
show until about 10:30am. The $20 parking put a dent into our
wallets, but at least we didn't have to walk far to the show.
Once in the SEMA show
we were busy checking out all different types of exhibits and cars.
Numerous vendor booths had things to pass out, samples to take, and
prizes to win, so within no time our bags were loaded with
goodies.
Supprisingly, the
show was filled with models, but not many good looking ones. Fake
boobs were abound in the SEMA show as fairly plain looking girls
with gargantuan breasts stood pose for dozens of amateur
photographers.
Drifting has
definitely hit the mainstream in the import market in America.
Everyone seemed to be marketing a different "drift"
product and Cusco went even so far as to state that you need 7
different parts to drift properly! Drift body kits, drift mufflers,
drift wheels, and drift tires. If you had a product and you wanted
it to sell, you could just say it's for drifting and have yourself a
hot item at this show.
During the day we met
with Drift Extreme's Nobushige Kumakubo and Kazuhiro Tanaka. I
almost ran into Bill Goldberg and Mike was busy staring at all of
the industry people that he'd only read about in magazines and seen
on the internet.
In the afternoon, we
stopped off at the Slipstream Formula D press conference. They're
going to be doing some kind of TV deal, but I don't think I have
that channel anyway. The room was filled with America's "big
name" drifters that would get absolutely smoked by similarly
hyped drivers in Japan. Lots of drift event promoters were present
as well along with Grip Video Mike in the middle of things, taking
video like always.
After the show it was
back to the hotel to drop off our stuff and then on to Sonic Drive
In to meet up with the Vegas drifters. If you've never been to Sonic
Drive In before, you're truly missing out on one of life's great
experiences. It's a true to life, real drive in, where you order
food from your car window and a girl on roller-skates brings your
food out to you. Dozens of "racers" from the Vegas valley
had heard that the Drift Session crew was coming out to visit and
made their way to Sonic Drive In. Various 240's and Hachi's popped
their hoods displaying SR's and even a 20 Valve GTS swap.
After meeting up at
Sonics, it was off to the Vegas drifters "spot." Hawaii
drivers Barry Wong and Steve Oliberos managed to join us as well,
bringing along their sponsors and their sponsors' street cars to have
some fun.
The Vegas drifters
first took us to the same place we went to last year, but the Vegas
PD was doing some training in the area so we went elsewhere. But to
no avail, after just minutes of drifting in each location, the PD /
Security kicked us out and sent us back to Sonics. All in all,
it was fun while it lasted and good to experience the drift life in
other parts of the world.
Day 3, November
5th, 2004
Back on Friday for the final day of SEMA. After about half a day of
walking around, checking out more booths, our feet were totally
exhausted. Show exhibitors started to break down their displays at
about noon, so we figured it was time to go.
The rest of the day
was spent traveling up and down the Vegas Strip visiting the various
mega resorts. We made sure to check out the Forum shops at Cesar's
Palace as well as the Desert Passage shops at the Aladdin Hotel and
Casino. Once our shopping bags were loaded, it was off to see the
water fountain display at the Bellagio Hotel.
Day 4, November
6th, 2004
Since the D1 Driver's Search at the Vegas Motor Speedway was
cancelled, we had another free day to roam around Vegas. Several
Drift Session staff members tried their hand at the Fast Lap indoor
go-karting track with Drift Session drivers Barry Wong and Kaui
Kalahiki. After that, it was more shopping on the Strip to look for
more omiyage to take back home.
At night, we met up
with Chef Takashi, the head sushi Chef at Restaurant Tsunami at the
Venetian Hotel and Casino. Chris Bilette had previously made friends
with Chef Takashi the night before and made sure to bring the rest
of us back to try out the Chef's sushi delicacies. Several platters
of sushi later, the Drift Session staff returned to our cars to
journey back to the California Hotel.
Day 5, November
7th, 2004
According to schedule we were up bright and early to make the
shuttle bus back to the airport for the flight home. It was a great
trip with all of our friends and we hope to see everyone in Vegas
again next year.
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