Kevin Oeste and Mike “Q-Ball” Clarke chat about their recent trip to Las Vegas for the 2023 SEMA Show, the week-long center of the automotive aftermarket universe. The SEMA Show is loaded with cars, new parts, and events, but Kevin feels this year was more about the personal connections than anything else. Of course, there’s automotive trivia and some other nonsense along the way, making it another fun episode of the V8 Radio Podcast!
Our hosts Kevin Oeste and Mike “Q-Ball” Clarke are joined by Ross Berlanga of TMI Products on this special episode of the V8 Radio Podcast! They cover the long friendship of Ross and Kevin and lots of hot rod stories along the way, all the way up to the upcoming 2023 TMI TRIM Award to be held at the 2023 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The TMI TRIM Award celebrates outstanding interiors of show cars and trucks, and provides great content and even market research for new TMI interior product ideas. Kevin acts as a judge and Emcee of the TRIM Award, and you’ll learn all about it here. And don’t worry, there is plenty of silliness and Automotive Trivia as well, on this unrivaled episode of the V8 Radio Podcast!
British magazines Classic Fords Modified and Retro Ford Magazine feature 10 pages of the top modified Mustang and Ford builds from SEMA Show ’22, in the latest issue. SEMA is the largest automotive aftermarket event of the year. If you are lucky enough to experience SEMA you are sure to experience Kevin Oeste. Kevin hosts SEMA Ignited and SEMA Central which include interviews with automotive celebrities, industry experts and influencers. SEMA 2022 was anticipated by many after coming off the pandemic years; however, SEMA 2023 just may prove there are further enhancements and higher exceptions.
Photography by Mike Rysiecki, SEMA, Zack Miller & Cole Reynolds.
SEMA CEO Mike Spagnola joins Mike “Q-Ball” Clarke and Kevin Oeste on this episode of the V8 Radio Podcast, recorded in the ARP display at the 2022 Performance Racing Industry Show in Indianapolis! Topics include the SEMA Show news, the SEMA Garage, and cool projects of his own like his new Nissan Z. Spagnola breaks down the SEMA Individual Membership and how joining helps protect the interests of all automotive enthusiasts and professionals. And he did pretty well on the Automotive Trivia contest! Click to listen and be sure to subscribe!
We were super-stoked to see the 1932 Ford Roadster owned and loved by Hot Rod Magazine’s Gray Baskerville. It’s not only a righteous ride, but has crossed over 230,000 miles in the name of having a good time telling car stories to the masses. It was great to see it in the Hot Rod Magazine / MotorTrend booth at the 2022 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, NV. It’s also on the cover of the 75th Anniversary issue of Hot Rod – check it out! @hotrodmagazine @semashow #32ford #hotrod #sema #baskerville #toocool #adeeos #legend #icon
SEMA 2022 is upon us and once again we are making the pilgrimage to the Las Vegas Convention Center to walk amongst all the innovative companies that make the automotive industry the juggernaut that it is. TMI Products will be among the many booths showing off the interior products that make them a leader in the industry but want to take it one step further and recognize the builders that have created one-of-a-kind vehicles with the TRIM Awards.
2022 SEMA TMI TRIM Awards
The TRIM Awards is a highlight of all the incredible vehicle builds that will be at SEMA 2022 and will be focusing on the interiors. The cars, trucks, SUVs, and wagons that grace the floors and booths of that cavern of steel and concrete are built to the utmost precision and feature the best that the aftermarket manufacturers have to offer. These vehicles are equipped with the latest parts to make their engines go faster, suspensions perform better, body panels appear straighter, and interiors shine brighter.
TMI is the leader in creating complete interior components that are ready to install and wants to recognize all the hard work that these builders have put forth in building these visual masterpieces. The SEMA show is known for having the best of the best vehicles on display, and their choices for interiors are something to behold. A finely appointed vehicle can truly be elevated if the interior is on par with the rest of the vehicle.
Since SEMA is a collection of the best vehicles that the automotive community can offer, TMI wanted to recognize the best of those vehicles and what the owners chose for their interior. The TRIM Awards were created to recognize the forethought that it took to not only create a finely crafted custom vehicle but to incorporate the interior into that design. Since the TRIM Awards will be given outlive at SEMA 2022, only the most detailed and creative interior installs will be considered.
The awards themselves are designed to not only honor the achievement of the winner but to do so in a very public way. Too often, awards are crafted in an unrecognizable shape from a material that is hard to decipher from far away. TMI wanted the TRIM Awards to be clearly visible when the winners display it at their house or garage and be able to easily hoist it up in the air to show how excited the winner is. The awards were also a way to get a group of like-minded vehicle builders into the same area and let them share in their achievements both out on floor of the convention center and up on stage. But it’s not just an award that our winners will be getting, each individual category winner will receive $500 voucher, and our Best of Show Champion will receive a certificate for a complete interior for their next build (value of $8,000) that can be used to purchase TMI interior products for a future build.
Giving out the awards will be a panel of insiders from the aftermarket industry including the TRIM Awards Host Kevin Oeste of V8 Speed & Resto Shop as well as being the voice of SEMA 2022. Veteran from the publishing industry with Sean Holman who is the Content Director of the Truck and Off-Road Group at Motor Trend and the co-host of The Truck Show Podcast. Sara Morosan, the 2021 SEMA Person of the year, multi-Ford Design award winner and co-owner of LGE/CTS Motorsports. Theresa Contreras, PPG Brand ambassador, Multi Ford Design award winner and co-owner of LGE/CTS Motorsports. Last but not least, we have the custom automotive video team of Marcel Venable and Jason Mulligan who are the co-owners of Auto Revolution on Amazon Prime.
To enter your vehicle, you first need to have a vehicle on display at SEMA 2022. The awards will be given away on stage in the TMI Booth during the week of SEMA at the TMI booth, located in the Central Hall, booth #24477, at 12:00PM on Wednesday. In order to accept your trophy, you need to be present during the awards ceremony. That way you can get up on stage and proudly hold up your award proving you beat out literally everyone else displaying a vehicle.
TRIM Awards Categories include:
Best Car–Open to any car that features TMI seats
Best Truck–Open to any truck that features TMI seats
Best SUV or Wagon–Open to any SUV or wagon, either two-door or four-door that features TMI seats
Best Full Interior–Open to any vehicle of any type that is running a full interior. A full interior includes all the available components from that model line
Most Creative–Best usage of patterns, colors, and overall execution
Best Color-Matching–Best usage of patterns, colors, and stitching that matches vehicle exterior
Best Custom Car Interior (open to all Cars at the show)–Can be any vehicle with any type of custom interior
Best Custom Truck Interior (open to all Trucks at the show)–Can be any vehicle with any type of custom interior
Fan Favorite (Chosen on Social Media)–Finalists that the TRIM Award Judges have chosen will be displayed on the TMI Social Media channels (Facebook and Instagram), voted in by audience
Best of Show Champion–Judges will vote on their favorite TMI-equipped vehicle of SEMA 2022 and crown it with the TRIM Award’s highest honor
SEMA 2022 TRIM AWARDS RULES
All vehicles must be registered and at the 2022 SEMA Show and registered with TMI so that the TRIM panel of judges can find your vehicle for the competition.
Judging for the TRIM(SEMA) Awards will begin Tuesday afternoon November 1st with the announcement from TMI’s SEMA booth of the top 16 vehicles
Competitors are encouraged to register online to let judges know where to find their vehicles.
The crowning of the inaugural TRIM Champion will take place on November 2nd at TMI Products SEMA booth #24477, 12:00 noon PST.
The V8 Radio Podcast are coming to you directly from the 2021 SEMA Show floor in Las Vegas! Mike Clarke and Kevin Oeste bring you a mid-SEMA week update, including thoughts on the show, new products, the electrified Project X, and much more. Even a cameo from our buddy Chip! But even on-location, they still toss out some cool Automotive Trivia questions and they usual antics you’ve come to expect from the V8 Radio Podcast!
The V8 Radio team was in full-force at the 2021 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, and this is just one of several episodes covering the event. You’ll find a general overview of the show, and also an interview with Mike Copeland of Arrington Performance about their supercharged LS-powered 1948 Chevy pickup that they reconfigured to run on Hydrogen! It got tons of attention at the show, because it makes around 500 horsepower with nearly zero emissions! Is this the future of hot rodding? Throw in some trivia and other nonsense and you have another engaging episode of the V8 Radio Podcast!
V8 Radio Podcast
Coverage of the 2021 SEMA Show, Hydrogen Powered Hot Rods, Automotive Trivia, and More on the V8 Radio Podcast!
This was an awesome project, the chance to restore the body on a 1955 Chevrolet hauler truck named “Carried Away” which serves as the chauffeur for an original 1955 Chevy gasser named “Mr. Chevy”. Mr. Chevy first became a race car around 1968, and has a great story all on it’s own. Below you’ll see the videos on the car and the truck, along with the restoration photos at the V8 Speed and Resto Shop. Once completed, Mr. Chevy and Carried Away were feature vehicles at the SEMA Show, the Grand National Roadster Show, the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, the Syracuse Nationals, the Tri-5 Nationals, and many others. It’s almost too cool for words. Check it out!
