Sleep Can Wait: SEMA Season Is Here!

There’s a certain point every year when the diesel world shifts into another gear. Projects that have been moving along all year suddenly have a hard deadline, parts are showing up daily, shops are burning the midnight oil, and sleep becomes optional. Yep, we’re heading into SEMA crunch week, and Las Vegas will be here before we know it. That same mix of hard work and big ideas runs throughout this issue.

We start with “Quiet to Riot,” Jonathan Urquhart’s wild 1950s Ford F-250 powered by a 5.9L 12-valve Cummins. It’s a truck built around having fun, but the bigger story is the crew behind it and the kind of friendships that come from long nights in the shop.

On the newer side, Brett Burnett’s 2025 GMC Denali, “Lost Bet,” proves that sometimes losing a wager isn’t such a bad thing. A Super Bowl bet kicked off a one-week transformation that resulted in a lifted Denali sitting on 28-inch American Force wheels and 38-inch rubber.

Then we go big. Austin Ruether’s 1974 Ford F-250 Camper Special combines classic Ford sheetmetal with a 6.7L Power Stroke, a fully custom chassis, and 44-inch Boggers. His first trip to SEMA in 2022 sparked the idea, and three years later he had built something of his own worth staring at.

Taylor Spencer takes a different approach with her daily-driven 1972 F-100 Ranger, blending old-school Ford style with a 5.9L 12-valve Cummins and a 4WD conversion. Even better, the truck was a father-daughter project built with her dad, Logan.

If horsepower is your thing, “The Bear” brings plenty of it with Trent Clark’s 2007.5 GMC Sierra 2500HD, a Duramax build that has gone through years of changes, broken parts, bigger power, and an evolution into a full-blown show truck.

We also get our hands dirty installing a FASS No-Drop Kit on an L5P Duramax, showing how cleaner, more consistent fuel can be added without turning the job into an all-day fight with the fuel tank. And we hit the road with Sick Michigan Miles, diving into drag-and-drive racing where streetability, reliability, and track performance all have to work together. Finally, we head to Oregon for the No BS OBS Show, where nearly 540 classic Ford trucks showed just how strong the OBS community has become.

Now it’s your turn. What are you wrenching on? What events are on your calendar? Send us what you’re building; we want to see it. As for us, it’s time to get ready for Vegas. The SEMA crunch is officially on.

Thanks for reading!