SEMA 2010 Day One

SEMA 2010 is still a day away, but folks are streaming in from all corners of the world and the work is at a fever pitch. Even two days out, the parking lot at the Las Vegas Hilton was already starting to show glimpses of what is coming to the 2010 SEMA Show. The OPTIMA rig arrived early Friday morning and OPTIMA Jim and Cam Douglass, OPTIMA's Director of Marketing set to work removing the road grime accumulated over a 36-hour drive.

The NHRA was in town over the weekend, so the OPTIMA crew spent a fair amount of time at the track, but detail work still needed to be done on the big rig. The OPTIMA crew spent several hours cleaning the undercarriage yesterday, before heading out to the track.

This white trailer may look pretty run of the mill, but inside resides a $1 million+ Bugatti Veyron. We figure there are enough pictures of Veyrons floating around on the Internet, so we thought we'd show you what a Veyron trailer looks like

Work began before sunrise on Monday morning. The crew arrived in the parking lot bright and early (maybe "bright" is a stretch), so they could transfer dozens of boxes from the trailer to the OPTIMA Big Rig, to be delivered to SEMA. The boxes contain all kinds of swag that will be distributed to the participants in the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational- t-shirts, duffel bags, and I kid you not, some of the coolest yo-yos you've ever seen, just to name a few of the many items.

We're also going to be unveiling the OPTIMA Wall of Power at SEMA this week and while I'm not allowed to spoil the surprise online, I can give you a sneak peek of the move-in.

The local union here in Las Vegas made it very clear that if we were to move anything in through the large door at the convention center, it was going to cost us $1,000. It was then suggested we try to squeeze the Wall of Power displays in through the regular doors, but the displays were just too big. The union had a rep guarding the big door with a Cushman cart, but we were able to open an emergency exit and get the displays in that way.

With the displays safely at our booth (#23059) at SEMA, the crew headed over to the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational car corral, located near the Giovanna Wheels display. When we arrived, we found that the West Coast Customs guys, the MLB Monster Truck and a few other vehicles had parked in our pre-reserved space. A few phone calls and a few hours later and the situation was resolved.

This may all seem quite chaotic and at times, it can be. However, with all the planning and logistics that goes into putting on this show, it's not unheard of for hiccups to pop up along the way and everyone seems to take it all in stride. We even helped a guy, who locked his keys in his car.The OPTIMA display is starting to take shape, but there's still plenty of work to be done. Those of you in Power Pack Nation should check your inboxes, as we have a very cool opportunity for you to get in on the action here at SEMA. If you are not a citizen in OPTIMA's Power Pack Nation, head on over and sign up today.

We'll be posting tons of pictures in our Facebook photo albums, so be sure to check those out as well!