Modball Rally - Day 7 (Sin City and SEMA)

day 7. and gorgeous day outside to wake up to! 70 degrees out, and sunny. nothing like we had in Minnesota before leaving. we were all under the impression that we had access to SEMA through the event at the start. but as the event went on, we all started to realize that it wasn't going to happen. but we were still going to try, regardless of if we had passes or not. so we all met upo for some breakfast at the palms, and the headed over to the show.( lets see if i can remember them all, Viga and Peter- v8 m3, Ryan and Kyle- turbo NS-X, the G35 dad and son, and the Lotus father and son team). i will say that one thing about Vegas, good food is cheap haha..

so we all get there, and get parked after paying $10 to do so. after some looking around once we get to the convention center, we start to figure a plan out. Tristan goes over to look into registration, thinking maybe we can get the group in under the business name? nope, need a business card for every single person, with their name on it, etc? so no go. and while thats going on, i am off on the phone with some other folks that i know are somewhere there at the show, looking to get some passes or any other way of getting in. so while Tristan gets his registration, and then hands it over to Peter, so he can gain access with Viga, whom already had his own. realizing what the ID badges looked like when getting his, Tristan proceeds to help the other members of the group make their Modball Rally ID's look like the SEMA ones, hoping no one would scrutinize them later upon entry. and while Tristan handled all of that, i was off meeting a pal of mine from PureEuroRadio, and grabbing press passes for Tristan and myself. by this time, we were starving from all the running around and whatnot. well, the power of the press pass came shining through! ended up enjoying a nice cooked to order, catered in meal with Mario Andretti at the Magnaflow booth. talk about some unexpected perks. lets just say that next time out at SEMA, i plan to try and get set up under press again..

From there, the plan was to head back to the hotel, and relax for a bit. We had one final event at the Hard Rock for a concert of some sort. So some were off to wash their cars, thinking that we had some sort of event parking at the Hard Rock, while the rest went in search of food, or rest. As for us, well we were hoping to do one of those? Wasn't going to happen though, as is always the case when things are going a little too well. My car decided it wanted to start mis-firing pretty badly as we were literally on the "Vegas strip". So we end up in the entrance to a now vacant strip club as far as i can tell, next door to an outdoor mall, and in the shadow of the Trump Casino and Hotel. And i will be honest here, having my car act up on the strip in Vegas, while SEMA is going on, has got to be about the most nerve racking situation for a car guy. (just had to add that in, sorry). Sounded like a bad coil pack, but yet we couldn't get it to act up like one by the normal means. so after some looking about, we were stumped. and being on the strip, instead of in a shop made things all the more interesting. did end up meeting most of the staff for S3 magazine though, since they happened upon us on their walk back to their hotel. after some calling around, we ended up running it over to a local tuning shop, Black Sheep Performance...
after nursing it over to the shop, we started to dig in. and this is where the fund began! we began by pulling the spark plugs to look them over for any signs of damage. a few looked a little worse off then the others, but nothing too out of the ordinary. and seeing how they had a blasting tool to clean the plugs up, we proceeded to do that. well, upon installation of the 3rd plug, i felt a little crunch? not what you want to have happen when doing this, and the first sign of things going straight in the crapper. so there we stand, staring at the motor. spark plug broken off in the head. time to step back, and take a deep breathe. so off to the dealer for a set of spark plugs, since no one else in town is open that would have them. so off we were, on what would be one of three runs to the dealer that night.....

to be continued...