SEMA Can Break You
November 5th, 2009
by Jim McIlvaine of ESPN Milwaukee Blogs
After three days, SEMA is beginning to take it’s toll on the weak and unprepared. At the very least, this show will help people find their personal limits. This guy clearly blew through his threshold at some point and decided to take a snooze in the middle of his exhibit. I had to snap this picture quickly, as one of his co-workers noticed me pointing the camera in his direction, waiting for the flash to charge up. Many of the bigger exhibitors have meeting rooms, which are often converted into nap rooms, depending on how late people have been staying up.
If you read the blog the other day, you’ll remember the 200mph truck with the 7,000 horsepower jet engine. When I cruised back through the alternative fuels area, I stumbled across this pickup truck, which was promoting some kind of computer system, that allegedly increases fuel economy by as much as 50%-
Apparently, the system has something to do with hydrogen technology and the guy claimed the development of the box of electronics under his hood had a $300,000 pricetag on parts alone. At this point, I’m willing to listen to his pitch with an open mind, because I really don’t know that much about the combustion process or hydrogen and maybe this guy really has built the better automotive mousetrap. He did claim several major auto manufacturers and countries were talking to him about his technology. Then he shifted gears and started talking about his future plans for this truck.
He said he planned to set a land speed record at the Bonneville salt flats and eclipse 300mph in a truck that can still be driven on the street. Immediately, Mike T and I looked at each other in stunned disbelief. When he asked us how we thought he might accomplish this task, I replied, “With a solid rocket booster strapped to the bed of your truck.” He laughed and responded by saying that he was going to use ram-air technology instead and that the only major modification he was going to make to the truck was to chop several inches off the top.
I was going to ask him how he could do this, considering many of the world’s most aerodynamic supercars struggle just to hit 200 mph, but Mike T, who competes in diesel truck pulls, started asking him how he was going to deal with all the safety modifications required for a 300-mph pass, in a daily-driven truck. The guy then got a puzzled look on his face and responded by saying he didn’t realize they had safety any requirements for running at Bonneville. At that point, I thought to myself,”this guy should stick to talking about strange-looking boxes with electronic gizmos in them and not talk so much about driving 300 mph in a pickup truck.”