The writing is, very clearly, on the wall - this year's SEMA Show, running from November 3 to 6, could shape up to be a stinker for the small-displacement tuner crowd. True, the organization throwing the shindig is crowing about potentially strong attendance in spite of the recession, and for lovers of modern pony cars it looks like it'll be a banner year for the Mustang/Camaro/Challenger set, particularly with Ford as the official manufacturer of this year's show.

But if your car-lovin' life revolves around the sport compact segment - well, son, it's gonna be a long week.

Don't get us wrong; like every year, we're sure there will be a multitude of eye candy, both mechanical and flesh and bone. We've seen several of the cars headed to Sin City, a horde of hot machines that really don't fall into our focus but consist of incredible creativity, craftsmanship and genius regardless.

Both Honda and Toyota will be present, and Honda in particular has reason to cause a ruckus (pardon the pun). This year marks the company's 50th in the U.S, and though it hasn't said anything officially yet, we expect to see some kind of commemoration at SEMA.

At this point, it looks like Toyota and its brands will likely command the most looks at the show. We have a full rundown of the Scion project cars, which we'll publish later this week (including new hotness from Five Axis Design), but from its luxo marque expect big things, namely the North American unveiling of the Lexus LFA supercar, which made its global debut last week at the Tokyo Motor Show (see our full story at: http://urbanracer.com/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=4033&z=2).

As revealed yesterday on Autoblog, Fox Marketing will also play in key role in Lexus' 2009 display. Many of you will recall the IS F it built last year, and this year Fox has tackled the open-top IS350C, adding a blower to push power to 400 ponies and a host of additional modifications.

Giving the Toyota juggernaut a run for its money will be new kids (relatively speaking) Hyundai. Last year the Korean car outfit wowed everyone with project Genesis Coupes from Rhys Millen Racing, HKS and Street Concepts. The platform for 2009 is again the RWD compact Genesis two-door, and tapped once more are Millen and Street Concepts, with newcomers (and perennial HKS competitors) GReddy and Hennessey Performance Engineering joining the group.

From what we've gleaned so far, the GReddy Genesis (http://urbanracer.com/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=4011&z=2) sports upgrades to the cars' turbo system, suspension and brakes, aero, and cabin, but it's Millen's Coupe we can't wait to see. As we teased here weeks ago (http://urbanracer.com/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=3973&z=2), he's turning the thing into a mid-ship V8 - we believe it will be sufficiently nuts.

If you belong to the industry, or can finagle your way into the show, there should also be a few opportunities to hobnob with luminaries from the world of sport compact motorsport.

FWD drag racer Lisa Kubo, who has been making a comeback of late, will be the featured personality at the MFactory booth throughout SEMA. Fellow competitors Bisi Ezerioha and Stephan Papadakis will be signing autographs at the AEM booth at various points over the week.

From the drifting world, Millen will be repping his brethren and explaining his insane Genesis build at the Hyundai stand. Sliding peer Tanner Foust was also set to make an appearance, at the AEM booth, but now we understand he will be in China competing in the Race of Champions alongside Travis Pastrana (must be rough).

Of course there should be no shortage of big-time motorsports celebs in Vegas next week. The NHRA's John Force is scheduled for stints at the Road Wrap booth, while Top Fuel racer Tony Schumacher will be stationed at the Relilient Technologies space. IndyCar Series pilot Marco Andretti will be spending Tuesday afternoon at the Honda booth, while his granddad and legend Mario will be spending time at the MagnafLow booth.

And we'll bring it all to you next week. Our dogs are already barking.

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