Last night, Jimmie Johnson became the first driver in NASCAR’s 61-year history to win four consecutive Sprint Cup championships. Any way you cut it, that’s pretty impressive–Jimmie and Chad the entire Hendrick organization absolutely deserve to revel in the victory they’ve earned. At the same time, Jimmie (perhaps unfairly) has come to represent to a lot of folks everything that is bloodless and corporate about modern stock car racing. There’s a good chance that his run of wins will turn a lot of people away from the sport, as the abysmal ratings of this year’s Chase for the Cup have already suggested–especially old-school fans who crave the firey personalities and distinguishable cars and cut-throat driving of yesteryear’s NASCAR. People forget that Jimmie grew up in a trailer park, and that just like everyone else he earned his salt in motorsports, rising through the ranks of motocross and off-road and the minor leagues of ASA and NASCAR to get to where he is today. But regrettably, despite his obviously prodigious driving skill and team dedication, he often comes across as simply a corporate racebot who’s just had everything handed to him. How about you–what are your feelings on Jimmie’s fourth championship victory? And how will it affect how you watch NASCAR in the 2010 season?

The green category seemed a little subdued this year, and there were a lot of cars we’d already seen during previous visits to SEMA. Still, that didn’t stop us from finding some real standouts in the zero-emissions, electric, hybrid, and alt-fuel divisions–showing that green performance is still alive and well. For one thing, there was the Corsa Motorsports hybrid-electric LMP1 car, which will be running a full series in the American Le Mans Series this year. And the Progressive Automotive X Prize contingent was out in force, vying for the $10 million prize in the race to build marketable ultra-fuel efficient cars–we thought the Saba Motors electric roadster was one of the coolest rides in this section. The LPG-powered ‘56 Ford pickup was an absolute knockout with its candy paint, copper-lined engine compartment, and propane-powered 460 big block. That all-electric 1976 Porsche 912 took a more subtle approach to vintage green, looking refined and flawless following its concours-level restoration and EV drivetrain conversion. Then finally there was Factory Five’s new electric hot rod, a total show-stopper that handily lived up to the hype that’s surrounded it in recent months. Vote on your favorite SEMA green car, below!

Ah, motorsports–it’s so much more than racing these days. The motorsports contingent is always huge at SEMA, and it’s one of those categories that can literally go from A to Z: there are so many variations on automotive competition that there’s no way you can expect to capture a representative cross-section. That’s okay–it just allows us to focus on what we find cool, with shameless subjectivity. In the interests of inclusiveness, we’ve tried to hit as many of the hottest motorsports series as our five entries will allow. NASCAR is represented by the new Nationwide Series Mustang, running Ford’s all-new Roush Yates FR9. Then there’s the 2010 Camaro’s debut entry in Formula Drift, which will definitely be on our radar in the coming season. Chris Rado’s insane Time Attack Scion carries the torch for that genre. SCCA is represented, albeit in vintage form, by Bob Boileau’s multiple-championship-winning Civic. And the Traxxas short-course race truck rounds out the motorsports fleet for off-road racing. Um, yeah, we totally skipped NHRA. And a bunch of other stuff. Oh well, time to hit the polls!

There were scads of hot rods at SEMA this year, even more so than in the last couple of years, when the modern hot rod scene was really diversifying and gaining traction with mainstream car culture. The range of the rod genre was astounding–we saw everything from ultra-built trailer queens to bare-bones rats with the road dirt still on ‘em. And now, it’s time for you to decide on the best hot rod of SEMA 2009. Our candidates include the Rolling Bones ‘32 Ford, which wins the distance award for driving from New York to Vegas for the show; Piss-Off Pete, an amazing Peterbilt running a twin-supercharged Detroit diesel; the Truckster in the Painless booth, with its hot flat head V8; Bruce Harvey’s supercharged Ratical Model A; and Priapism, the only rod we found at the show that was running two engines. Cast your votes below!

I’ve found it a little funky-looking in some of the renderings and photos that have been circulating, but when I saw it in person in the Ford booth at SEMA, the new Nationwide-Series Mustang just looked plain mean. Plus, this is seriously historic: while Mustang has dominated a ton of other motorsports series, it’s been largely absent from national-level stock car racing, so its entry into NASCAR is a pretty big deal. And moreover, the rear sheetmetal, even though it’s a NASCAR-mandated template, looks better than the factory Mustang’s 2010 back end. The Nationwide Mustang will be running the new Roush Yates FR9, an all-new beast and a complete departure from the 351-based motor that Ford’s been running in NASCAR since ‘91. More pics…

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This hybrid-electric LMP1 ran a partial season last year, even scoring a third-place finish on the first run of its fully-enabled hybrid drivetrain at Lime Rock. For 2010, Utah-based Corsa Motorsports is hoping to have the last of the bugs worked out and to put its green race car on the track for the full American Le Mans Series season. Built by Ginetta-Zytek, the car is running both a 4.o L V8 and a 45 kW electric motor. It uses a kinetic energy recovery system that stores braking energy in a large lithium-ion battery pack located under the cockpit. It was pretty cool to see it at SEMA, this car that’s likely going to make history next year and that’s on the crest of the movement toward cleaner racing. See more pics below the jump.

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The Blue Oval was a major sponsor of SEMA this year, and while their booth was in the same primo spot that it always has been, it seemed that they pulled out all the stops for their display this time around. There was just so much going on here: there was a double Mustang giveaway, including both a 1967 and 2010 GT500; there was an off-road driving simulator that gave you a chance to take the Raptor for a virtual test drive; there was a temporary tattoo parlor where you could get your Ford branding of choice stamped into your flesh; there were interactive demos of Ford engine internals, and display motors ranging from the venerable flathead V8 to the Roush-Yates NASCAR 358; there was the Galpin Auto Sports live build of a ‘69 Mustang, which took place over the course of the show and included installation of a fuel-injected Ford Racing 392 putting out 550 hp. Mustangs were of course huge this year, with the 2010 redesign and all–but there was also a ton of Fusions, Foci, Fiestas, trucks, Lincolns and concept utility vans–and like a lot of the automakers this year, Ford gave a nod to its performance history, including in its lineup such heavies as the GT-40 and the 427 Fairlane Thunderbolt. The booth was overall very splendidly done, and it was always absolutely swarming to the extent that getting decent footage of the booth in its entirety could only be done after hours. Click below the jump for a ton of pics, along footage of both the booth as a whole and the Galpin Mustang build.

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Why, Vertical Doors Inc., of course. The company had a lambo-doored Camaro and Charger in their booth at SEMA this year. As Nelson would say, Ha-ha!

Continue reading "Who Still Thinks Vertical Doors Are Cool?" »

I’m one of a number of people who just doesn’t quite get the ‘10 Mustang. It’s not that it’s awful, it’s just that I like the ‘05-’09 better. Well, this year’s SEMA show, with all its awesome ‘10 Mustang builds, has done a lot to help the new car grow on me–and it certainly doesn’t hurt the cause to see one tricked out as a badass drift car. According to the guys at the Falken booth, Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s Mustang is the only 2010 currently in Formula D, and the car is expected to run a full season next year. Under the hood is a Whipple-supercharged 4.6L Aluminator v8 by Ford Racing, putting out 680 hp and 650 lb-ft torque, mated to the same 4-speed gearbox they run in their NASCAR program. I’m thinking that Hankook Camaro had better watch out! See more pics below the jump.

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Hehe… I’m just going to leave this one alone. The last time we got between a couple of Cali car clubs by making fun of their SEMA rides, we ended up having to shut down the comments and start banning fools. People’s moms got involved. There were a lot of caps. It wasn’t pretty. So I’ll just let the pics speak for themselves. Hey, for what it is, it’s actually really impressive–I thought the captain’s chairs were an especially nice touch. Enjoy!

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Well, NASCAR’s Nationwide Series might not be getting a Camaro, but Formula Drift sure is! Check out Grunewald Racing’s new drift Camaro, which will be competing in the 2010 season. It’s running a GM LS-A crate motor with internal mods by Hennessey Performance. Carbon fiber front clip, decklid, and spoilers are by Seibon, and the carbon fiber driveshaft is by PST. Aeromotive handles the fuel delivery, AEM the engine management system. It’s also running Eibach MultiPro R-2 coilovers and front and rear sways. Rubber (you guessed it) by Hankook, and the beast will be piloted next year by Conrad Grunewald. Do you think it’ll have anything for the now-veteran drift Mustangs?

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There was a pretty cool off-road course set up at SEMA, and I paused to watch some baja trucks ripping it up as I was scuttling between exhibit halls. I loved how a low concrete divider was the only thing separating these monsters from the spectators–too bad that’ll only be the case until the first crowd-flattening episode forces SEMA to put up more lawsuit-proof barriers. Hit the jump for video of the off-road action!

Continue reading "Four-Wheelin’ Thrills At SEMA’s Off-Road Proving Grounds" »

HoK has always been known for their eye-searing paint schemes, and for their SEMA booth this year, they chose a pretty awesome canvas. The late-70’s Monte Carlo is one of my favorite overlooked classics, and I’m glad we can count on the lowrider and high-riser cultures to make something incredible out of cars that would probably otherwise just be run into the ground as beaters. I loved the classic lowrider metal-flake treatment on this Monte, but there was so much sparkle that it confused the heck out of my camera, which didn’t know whether to barf or go blind–see pics in a variety of different flash modes below the jump!

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It seems like Scion’s booth gets better with each successive SEMA. This time around, it seemed to be scaled down a little from last year, but that made for a more efficient delivery–Scion’s offerings really were all fun, no filler. Every single vehicle present had undergone extreme modifications, like the roofless Cartell Customs tC below the jump, or was being used to showcase some visionary over-the-top concept, like the “mobile kitchen” xB, the wood-bed pickup conversion with the moped in the back, or the “DJ 2.0″ by Five Axis–complete with lights and disco balls, a monster Pioneer sound system, and a mini dance floor. A trio of rides from Scion’s xB Tuner Challenge rounded out the fleet, including this turbocharged xB by Peter Colello. The theme for the booth was “Become One Of Us By Becoming None Of Us,” in keeping with the brand’s emphasis on individualism and transformation. Follow the jump for more pics and a video tour.

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It’s a 1976 912 packing 85 3.3v lithium ion batteries. They power a NetGain Warp11 DC motor, which puts go to the wheels via an original Porsche 5-speed transmission. Built by Sunshine State Restorations in consultation with the Tallahassee Area Electric Vehicle Association. The overall effect? An ultra-clean classic EV. See more…

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