Just over 40 years ago, the first SEMA show was held in a relatively small hall under Dodger Stadium near downtown Los Angeles (yes, I was an attendee). SEMA at that time stood for Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association.

Today, the SEMA name represents the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association, and is held in Las Vegas, at both the Las Vegas Convention Center and at the Sands Expo Center. The floor space between the two is 4.7 million square feet and there are over 4,000 vendors displaying everything from new cars, new speed equipment, new tires, new wheels and some of the best looking females that have ever been seen anywhere on earth.

The Ford Motor Company was the Official Vehicle Manufacture for the 2004 show and also had the largest booth space, featuring dozens of new and custom Ford vehicles. The most attention at the Ford booth, and for the rest of the vendors for that matter, was directed at the new 2005 Mustang. Even outside of the Ford booth, I counted at least two dozen new Mustangs on display, all with some form of modification or aftermarket equipment bolted on or trick paint jobs.

Because of the special focus by Ford toward the new 2005 Mustang, several selected "car builders" were given the new Mustangs in advance, to see what they could come up with for the SEMA show. These new tricked-out Mustangs were all on display in the Ford booth, and included many of our Fun Ford Weekend members, friends and sponsors. These included Roush Performance, Steeda Autosports (a neat bright yellow road killer), Classic Design Concepts (bright red with a super trick roof), Mustang Racing Technologies (all black and called the Interceptor), and Paul's High Performance. Paul's red 2005 Mustang was set-up as a drag car with slicks, cowl hood, a roll bar and bolt-ons, and is already a terror on the strip. All of these cars and their builders were introduced at a special Press Conference held during the show.

Bill Alexander and I wandered around during the four days of the event, talking to sponsors, discussing plans for 2005 with potential sponsors, meeting with various vendors, sponsors and racers and in general, just having a good time doing the "meet and greet" stuff that goes along with these events. As usual, there were a ton of FFW friends and racers (new and old) in attendance. Among those that we ran into were Dwayne "Big Daddy" Gutridge, Rick Head from Innovative Turbo, Gene Deputy, Chuck Samuel and Kevin Marsh, and did I mention that there were some fine looking ladies "displaying their equipment" in many of the booths?

After a day spent walking around, it was great to kick back and maybe have a drink or two next door at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. There is a little bar over at the Hilton in the main casino that has become famous (or infamous) as a meeting place after the show. I'm not sure what the actual name of the bar is, but everyone just refers to it as the "Hooker Bar".

How it got this name I really don't know, nor do I want to speculate. Anyway, many people hang out there, and on Tuesday evening, our good friend Keith Keplinger of Keplinger Designs (he puts out our Tire Tracks magazine) acts as "the host," taking care of the bar tab and everything. Keith gets very offended if you reach for your wallet on "his night" at the Hooker Bar. So who shows up for these little festivals at the Hooker Bar? Dario Orlando from Steeda, along with Austin Craig (Austin is doing some consulting for Dario), all of our friends from Primedia Publishing (MM&FF) including Jim Campisano, Evan Smith, publisher Terry Shiver, and every other drunk from the magazine business. Also, Josh Bolger from Mustangweekly.com, George Huisman from Classic Design Concepts and his bevy of beautiful assistants, Pro 5.0 racer Rob Reese, Scott Hoag (from MRT), Paul and Rhonda Svinicki (Paul's High Performance), Joe Tech, Dennis Gage (My Classic Car), Steve Saleen, Jim Ryan from J. Walter Thompson and several execs from Ford Motor Company (I will not reveal names as I do not want to upset the apple cart).

If I left some of the names out it was either for your own protection or because I was unable to see that well at the time.

OK, that was on Tuesday, and on Wednesday evening, Ford put on what amounted to one of the most incredible little "celebrations" of all time. The toughest ticket to get in Vegas that night was to the Ford Party, which included food, drinks and the sounds of the Beach Boys in a full 2-hour concert.

What a show. It felt like the 60's all over again to me. There I was, in a trance, rocking and jiving, when all of a sudden, I felt two arms encircle me from the rear, reach around to grab me by both nipples, while at the same time, two magnificent breasts were thrust into my upper back. Only Linda Vaughn could get away with that, as I rarely let other women touch my breasts. OK, I'm lying. Any female can touch me there and I won't be offended.

If you have never had the opportunity to attend a SEMA show, I urge you to mark a place on your calendar for the first week of November in 2005. It is an "automotive trade show" of course, and to get in you must have a business card in a related industry. It's well worth the cost (I think it's about $40 for non-SEMA members). You will see things that you have never seen before, and because of that, I recommend that you leave your wife at home. 

- George Klass