Every year there is a show that marks the beginning of desert season for many off-roaders. This show is the Sand Sports Super Show. The show is now on its 7th year of continued growth and success. This year they had seven halls and an outdoor display area, which totaled 500 million sq.ft. of the baddest sand toys in the world. Off-Road.com made sure to be there to bring back the latest and greatest sand sports products and trends for our friends.

This mesmerizing Tatum body had a perfect blend of paint and carbon fiber accentuating the already impressive sandcar.

With over 300 vendors on site, you’re sure to find something that will spark the interest of even the most discriminate duner. Having the hottest fabricators and builders at this show made it a candy store full of new buggy designs, unique paint and graphics, and the most advanced sand sports technology available today. The best part of it all is that almost everything is for sale, and if not…it’s amazing what people will do for money.

Many people just came to hang out with fellow duners. There were also those that came with the intent to buy that new sandcar or toy-hauler for the family. I noticed a great deal of wheelin’ & dealin’ going on at the show. If you’re ready for a new toy, buggy, toy hauler, or the latest bolt on for your tow rig—this is probably one of the best places to land some good deals.

TPD Trailers are the perfect solution for those of you with too many toys and not enough cargo room—Stack It!

Many buggy builders come to the show to sell a car or two, others simply want to show their work and craftsmanship—in hopes of helping potential clients build their dream machine. It’s amazing how accessible some of the best sand car builders were at the show. Over the three show days, Joe Fab from Sand Limo was out there talking with the public, and adding more clients to his list. I love this guy, he is very pleasant to speak with, and man does he have a killer mullet. You go Joe!

The kids were hoping around on the new MotoStik while Mom and Dad checked out the buggies at Suspensions Unlimited.	Fox Racing Shox showing us the latest in racing shock technology.

Billy and Friends getting ready to order a new Alumicraft.

Walking around the exhibit halls I saw a variety of things like parts for quads, the latest in dune apparel, and even got a chance to view some of the newest sand films hitting the sand this fall. There were also numerous new buggy builders and fabrication shops at the show that added some interesting new methods of building a sand car. One builder that stood out was Predator Performance from PA who integrated Bilstein 9300 Series “Black Hawks” on both their A-Arm and J-Arm buggy designs. Their overall engineering is different than anything we have out in the West Coast—different strokes for different folks.

ALBA Action Sports race quad ready for the sand.	The guys from Off Road Warehouse on opening night.

Scott from Richardson’s RV in Temecula, CA showed me the new Holiday Rambler toy haulers. I’ll take one please…

One of the trends I saw was that more and more sand cars are being used as dual-sport buggies. In other words, these cars are being built to have fun in the sand, but can easily be used in the hard-packed terrain of Baja by simply changing wheels and tires. This combination is hard to beat, especially for those of us that might want to play in both soft and hard terrain from time to time—just to spice things up a bit. The dual-purpose buggies are heavier than your traditional dune buggy, but that extra bracing and heavier gauged tubing is well worth it, especially if you plan on giving that buggy a beating on the whoops. One of the best builders today making these desert racing dune buggies is John Cooley from Alumicraft out of Santee, CA. He has been racing and developing some of the best racecars and dune buggies out there for many years. Alumicraft “Cooley Cars” display premium quality and craftsmanship. They have been engineered and tested on some of the most unforgiving terrain Mother Nature has to offer. I got a chance to briefly speak with John Cooley and talk about some new and exciting projects he’s working on. We will be meeting with him later this year so we can take a closer look at what Alumicraft is all about.

Gold Plated Kings from North County Plating. Can you say “BLING-BLING”?	Curtis from JD Films gave us a heads-up that the new DezertPeople film will be out soon. You can count on some exciting high impact action from these guys. We’ll catch up with Curtis later.

Predator Performance from PA show-off their buggy designs that use Bilstein 9300 Series “Black Hawks” as part of their A-Arm and J-Arm buggies.	Someday buggies will fly.

Coming to the Sand Sports Super Show was torcher for me. I didn’t see anything I didn’t want. I only wish I had more money to get myself that new long-travel buggy, a big and plush toy hauler, and the baddest diesel truck I could find to pull those toys to the dunes. This show is truly a duner’s paradise. It really helps people get psyched about desert season. I won’t lie, I loved everything about this show especially all the sandcars, trucks, quads, dirtbikes, and girls—need I say more. If only this moment would never end.

Rock-Sand custom Billet A-Arms for quads.	This year’s ASA raffle sand car by Joe Fab. Someone actually walked away with this Sand Limo, and the ASA raised over $250,000 to help keep the dunes open.

In an attempt to make this moment last as long as possible, we made sure to take plenty of pictures so you could look at them over and over again. Make sure to check out the photo gallery. Until next time, this is your friend JH “DezertScorpion” signing out—see you at the dunes!