The SEMA show is one of my favorite automotive events of the year. It brings so many different types of aftermarket automotive business together and I always come out of the show knowing more about this business than I did at the beginning of it. It is always great to meet new people, talk about new projects and see some amazing people in the racing industry. This year I had the opportunity to sign autographs in the Hedman Hedders booth again. It was an absolute pleasure to hang with the Hedman people in the booth. All the employees are so nice and made me feel very grateful to be part of the Hedman family. I also had the pleasure to meet Chris Vandergriff, son of Bob Vandergriff Senior, the owner of Hedman Performance group, and brother to Bob Vandergriff Jr, NHRA top fuel driver. The entire Vandergriff family is amazing and I am very honored to be able to represent their company at a show like SEMA. Signing autographs are an amazing opportunity as well. I love meeting new people and talking about the car, my racing and of course, the wonderful companies that help us with the car. But by the time SEMA is over, it is absolutely exhausting, I’m worn out. After walking miles each day from hall to hall, having non-stop meetings and then spending time with clients and people after hours, the four day long show feels like two weeks. But there are many new things to come in 2014 that wouldn’t be happening without shows like SEMA, and I am very grateful to be able to attend them.
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13 November 2013 – The SEMA Show
With Marc Lewis, who works really hard to make the Hedman Group booth come together–and also made the great poster you see on the podium for me!
My friend, Bill McKnight, from MAHLE Clevite. He was helping out at AAPEX where two builders from Hendrick Motorsports built a Cup engine from scratch to running in 22 minutes!
One of the master engine builders from Hendrick Motorsports tried to teach me their one handed speed wrench technique. All I can say is thank goodness I have a great crew turning wrenches!
With John Hotchkis of Hotchkis suspension. He’s come out with a complete handling kit for the new Dodge Dart, yay! Good to see the Dart getting some aftermarket love.
The highlight of the show for me, the Mopar press conference. On stage are the new “Shaker” hood scoop optioned Dodge Challengers. It’s a real shaker!
My friend and co-columnist at MoparMax, Steve Magnante. Steve is doing work for Dodge and the night before the press conference he got his first tatoo. For 2014 Dodge brought back the Scat Pack and that’s Steve’s ink.
With my friend and fellow Speed Scene Live co-host, Darr Hawthorne. Darr loves drag racing as much as anyone I know, and he’s responsible for getting me into automotive journalism. Thank you, Darr!
I really liked my appearances in the Hedman booth. I love to talk to people about how much HP my car picked up with their long tubes, motorsports, racing and all things cars.
Posted in Alex Blog News
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