On any other day, at any other location, you could take any one of the amazing trucks that were on display at the most recent SEMA Show in Las Vegas and it would stand out in a positive way and get the praise and recognition it deserves. Seriously, any truck, any other show. However, if a truck is at SEMA it means it’s probably over-the-top in one way or another and despite the owner being eager to show it off or get that “atta-boy” he may be craving, the reality is his truck may be ignored or completely overlooked, which may seem a little hard to believe.

Having a truck build at SEMA is the pinnacle for a lot of owners so if it’s at this massive aftermarket show you wouldn’t think they’d have a lot to complain about. The problem, however, is it takes a lot to stand out when you’re surrounded by other high-end dream builds. A lot of these amazing trucks get lost in what is referred to as the sea of sameness.

It’s basically the equivalent of a really smart kid going to an Ivy League college. In high school she was a “genius” and dubbed the smartest in her graduating class, but as soon as she steps foot on campus she’s just another student and like everyone else. With a lot of the over-the-top trucks this year it felt like they were all kind of the same: a brand-new diesel truck with a massive lift, wrapped, a year’s paycheck worth of aftermarket accessories and most likely, nothing done to the actual engine that remained stock and untouched.

I never thought it would get to this point, but I honestly felt sorry for some of the owners this year. I averaged over 10 miles of walking each day at SEMA as I made my way around to the diesel truck builds and I admit there were some cool trucks that I walked by without stopping to snap a photo because it felt and looked like what I had already seen.

Granted, having a truck at SEMA is a huge accomplishment, but where the show producers select it to go at the show gives you an idea of how they feel about it. For those who have a booth or their own display, they of course get to decide what vehicles they want and where they want to put them. But outside and in various locations throughout the show, extra vehicles are grouped and placed where the show producers deem is best.

When you’re confirmed to be at SEMA you send a photo of your vehicle and that’s when the judging begins and it can be thrilling or quite frankly, very disappointing. I’ve been on both sides of this evaluation process so I have first-hand experience.

I had one SEMA build where the show producers put me out front in a prime location. It made me feel good to be selected for such a high traffic area. However, on the other side of the equation I had a SEMA truck once that was buried in some random hall at the show that no one hardly saw. We might as well have named the build Where’s Waldo, it was that bad. I’d swing by every couple of hours and catch people taking naps under it. I guess it was a quiet spot for attendees to rest up, sigh.

It’s no wonder the lifts keep getting taller, the paint schemes get a little crazier and the accessories push the boundaries a little more each year. These are just truck owners trying to stand out and not get lost in that sea of sameness. But at the end of the day, the trucks that are purpose-built as daily drivers that aren’t afraid to go off payment and where the owner plans to use the fancy hitch for more than just a flag holder, are the trucks I’m most interested in.

They might not always stand out at SEMA, but at least you know they’ll get used and won’t spend their lives on a trailer going from one show to the next. I stopped and talked to owners of some very over-the-top builds and I got a lot of strange looks when I asked if the truck would ever be taken off-road. I figured a couple of them would at least lie and say maybe, but most were upfront and freely admitted the truck was built as a show truck only.

So while I took a lot of photos this year at SEMA, the trucks that I really enjoyed and took notice of probably weren’t the same ones the other attendees were paying attention to. Face it: unless it’s the truck pulling that princess truck, it probably didn’t get my full attention this year.

Brady L. Kay,
Diesel Tech Editor