An all-virtual SEMA Battle of the Builders 2020? Almost!

If you follow the automotive aftermarket space, you likely know by now that the annual SEMA show will be all-virtual this year, with a trade-only online event branded as SEMA360. But will that also mean a virtual Battle of the Builders 2020, with one of the most publicly popular features of the SEMA show also taking place entirely online?

The answer, in part, is “Yes,” according to Ira Gabriel, SEMA’s vice president for marketing, PR and communications, who spoke to AutoNewsblaster October 7. But that isn’t the whole story.

“We’ve made the pivot to do it, I will say, ‘almost all remotely,’” Gabriel said.

But what, exactly, does “almost all remotely” mean? And if that means that it’s going to be “a little bit not remote,” is Battle of the Builders 2020 going to be, well, a “2020-safe” event?

Actually, it sounds like SEMA is indeed taking a well-thought-out approach to creating a platform that leverages the organization’s TV-production experience to allow Battle of the Builders 2020 to move forward in a way that it mindful of the safety of contestants as well as those involved in the practical logistics of making the event happen.

According to Gabriel, a panel of outside judges, including past Battle of the Builders winners RJ DeVera, Cam Miller, and The Ring Brothers, will work with SEMA to narrow a field of entries submitted throughout this year, up to the cut-off date (Friday, October 9), to a Top 40 and then a Top 12.

“Then our intention is to bring the top 12 to Los Angeles at SEMA’s expense to film them in a studio so we can have that dynamic of each of them looking at another car, with all being captured for content,” Gabriel said. “So when I say it’s going to be done ‘almost all remotely,’ most of the entire process will be done remotely up to the point we bring the Top 12 to Los Angeles.”

That’s when the production begins for the Battle of the Builders TV special. And that’s when the television and film industry expertise in methods to safely resume production kicks in. It’s a set of practices that, driven by the necessities of 2020, the industry has had to develop quickly.

“We have contracted with an outside production company that has undergone safety protocol,” Gabriel said. “And when they conduct their shoots it’s a limited set. There’s California safety protocol that’s being followed because it is going to take place in Los Angeles. We have a certain limited number of people that will be there. It’s choreographed in such a way that it’s presented in a very television-friendly way, but it’s set up very ‘space-centric.’ The benefit of having the vehicles there is that the judges will have an opportunity to walk around each vehicle, make their notes, look at the vehicle, and then cast their vote. But it will be done under strict compliance.”

As in past Battle of the Builders competitions, once the final field of 12 has identified, those finalists themselves will become the judges.

“Each of the Top 12 has the opportunity to critique the others’ vehicles, and then they will cast a vote for a vehicle other than theirs,” Gabriel said. “So it really does become not only an outside professional judging evaluation, but then a peer-to-peer evaluation, and that formula has worked very well for us through the years. It’s where we get a lot of great interaction with the individual participants who then in the Top 12 act as their judges.”

But here’s the $64,000 question: will the Battle of the Builders winner be another 1969 Camaro, as has happened three out of the last five years?

Gabriel did not offer a prognostication about that. But he did offer an explanation as to why ’69 Camaros have been so successful over the history of the competition.

“It’s a very popular car,” he said. “It’s tough to say if it’s a bias by any of the judges, because I don’t think it really is. You have a truck judge, you have a sport compact judge, you have somebody for Young Guns, and then for Hot Rods. There’s just a lot of ’69 Camaros, and the quality of work that is done to those vehicles is exceptional.”