The Race Cars of SEMA 2018

By Joe McCollough

11/12/2018

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More from SEMA 2018. This time we're highlighting a few of our favorite race cars. For every ultra-refined, shiny show car displayed under the lights in Las Vegas there is a raw, purpose-built competition car. Here are a few that caught our attention.

This F1 truck was too cool. It sported a Cummins diesel, a couple giant turbos, and still had Pike's Peak tech stickers on the doors.

This tough-looking Mustang would look right at home duking it out on the Trans-Am circuit in the late 60's.

There was a whole area reserved for the Optima Ultimate Street Car competitors, but we especially dug this supercharged LS-powered Syclone truck parked all by its lonesome.

We would love to get behind the wheel of this LS-powered Datsun and rip up a road course somewhere.

This C10 was all business with a fabricated chassis and wide-five wheels.

What does this Acura IMSA race car have to do with your hot rod? Well, if you look closely, this is the state-of-of-the-art in making a car go fast. There's a lot to learn from these factory-backed racing programs.

Few cars say "speed" more loudly that a blown fuel roadster. This one was the first roadster to break 300mph on the salt. Can you imagine going 300 in this car?

Here's the famous '57 belonging to Jeff Lutz. This car makes 3,500 horsepower and runs with the big dogs on Drag Week.

We looked at this Firebird several times and were never able to figure out what was going on with the wild labyrinth of header tubes, but it sure looked cool.

Check out our Best of SEMA and Engines of SEMA articles for more coverage from the show.

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