WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
Scenes from the 2014 SEMA Show
This article is from our archives and has not been updated and integrated with our "new" site yet... Even so, it's still awesome - so keep reading!
Published on Sun, Nov 30, 2014
By: The LACar Editorial Staff
Pictures by John Grafman
This is what happens in Vegas every fall season at the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show, otherwise known as the SEMA show. What started in 1963 by a handful of hot rod legends now consists of over 6,000 companies in support of a $30 billion a year industry. The SEMA show had its beginnings in Dodger Stadium back in 1967. It moved to Las Vegas 10 years later, and has never looked back. Today, the show takes up a tad over a million square feet, attracts over 3,000 journalists, and has a total attendance north of 100,000 manufacturers, buyers and industry representatives. Editor John Grafman captured the best of the best from this year’s show. – R Nakano
SEMA VITAL STATISTICS
Birth of the association:
1963, as the Speed Equipment Manufacturing Association. The name was changed to the Specialty Equipment Market Association in 1970.
Founding members:
Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman,Robert E. Wyman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand, Jr., Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock, Jr.
Birth of the SEMA show: 1967 in Dodger Stadium with five cars on display
SEMA show moves to Las Vegas: 1977
Current number of company members: Over 6,380 worldwide
Net square footage of the SEMA show: Over one million
Number of exhibitors: Over 2,000
Number of booths: Over 10,000
Attendance: Over 100,000
For more information about SEMA, go to sema.org
