Tanner Foust’s FC1-X EV Racer Booed by ICE Fans at SEMA, He Had Them Smiling by the End

The SEMA show has historically been a pseudo-religious pilgrimage of sorts for lovers of custom cars, big drift, and even bigger internal combustion engines. But in recent years, a small but ever-increasing hoard of electric vehicles has joined the ranks at the Las Vegas Convention Center every year. But all the Cybertrucks, Rivians, and every other EV in the state of Nevada for that matter, can't hold a candle to what racing icon Tanner Foust brought to the show this year.
Mixed in with a gaggle of ICE drifters, like a custom VW Passat "Drift Taxi" and a 350-horsepower turbo Polaris RZR, you'd be forgiven for not paying much mind to the FC1-X at first. But if your eyes do catch a glimpse, you'll be greeted by one of the most stunning silhouettes of any EV in the world. It's a form factor that harkens back to the golden age of rallycross racing with aggressive aero and a compact, short wheelbase. But the looks aren't skin-deep. Under the carbon fiber skin, an 800-volt, 1,070-horsepower electric drivetrain gives Tanner all the grunt he needs to drift like mad.

In his Clarios/Optima-branded FC1-X, Tanner was about to show the SEMA faithful what the electric rallycross racers of the future can do. Lined up on a stretch of asphalt outside the Las Vegas Convention Center's West Hall, Tanner was about to represent the best of EV drivetrains to a crowd of devout petrolheads. But before he did, he was gracious enough to sit down with autoevolution to explain why his all-electric rally racer is the craziest thing he's raced in competition. Despite what his own opinions might be.

"SEMA is a great place to showcase ideas and expressions in the automotive space, but a fully EV rallycross car is probably not that popular out here," Tanner said of the, let's say, "mixed" reception he anticipated for the FC1-X at SEMA. "There's great sounds of LS7 V8s firing off in the background right now, and it's a fire-breathing community of enthusiasts who sometimes are threatened by the EV boom," Tanner went on to say.

"But what I do love about bringing it here is I love things that are fast. Even though it doesn't sound like a high-compression LS7 out here, this thing is fast. But hopefully, it opens the minds of those who are into the performance of cars, not just the sound." But as Tanner himself was quick to point out, it wouldn't matter if he was driving an 800-watt EV drivetrain or how much instantly accessible power it made. Nothing on God's green Earth would ever make these hardcore anti-EV folks come around to accepting them as a valid form of motorsport. But as he pointed out, Tanner was ready to be showered with boos if it came to it.

"I don't think it's gonna be a warm welcome when we bring it on the track initially," said Tanner. "I think I'm gonna do a burnout, and I think it's gonna be silence sitting on the line, and people are gonna be skeptical. Then when it launches, they're gonna say holy s***. That's the moment they're gonna realize you can go super fast with a lot of different stuff. Hopefully, you open some minds. That's what it's about here."

If Tanner's logic is correct, showcasing the FC1-X in action at SEMA was perhaps the only way folks ideologically opposed to EVs could have their biases challenged and eventually overcome. "Sometimes you gotta put the fire out at the source. There's so much racing fuel in the blood in the people walking around here that this is the source. It's an awesome opportunity to showcase that right in front of their eyes, I love being a part of that." But outside of just looks, the Optima/Clarios sponsored decal set is particularly special for Tanner.

As his first OEM sponsor back in 1997 for a cheap set of tires on one of his drift rigs, Optima and their parent company, Clarios, have been subsidizing Tanner's penchant for racing practically since day one. But it's because Clarios doesn't care one way or another what drivetrains racers use, so long as they continue to run on Optima batteries. The team was happy to give Tanner a full sponsorship for his rig.

"Clarios and Optima are critical; they're very motivated by being essentially a drivetrain agnostic company, and they have products for everything. From the fire-breathing machines that you hear in the background right now to what's sold in the [VW] ID. Buzz from the factory as a Clarios battery," Tanner said of his working relationship with Optima. "I think they just want to be a part of people's journey and Optima is the passion brand. Racing with the FC1-X wouldn't happen without companies like Clarios and Optima."

We could've gone on all day about the FC1-X and its chops as an ambassador for not just EV racing but electric vehicles in general. But Tanner had more pressing things to attend to in the convention center parking lot. Lined up in front of a capacity crowd, there was indeed a light spattering of boos as certified ICE junkies' reflex against anything electric took hold as expected. Then, Tanner effortlessly lit up all four tires in a fashion that'd soften even the most calloused EV hater's heart.

With a zero-to-60 sprint into handbrake turn and back again completed in what felt like the blink of an eye, it's difficult to ponder an equivalent ICE racer that could finish faster. In the discipline of a hard launch from a dig, there's nothing quite like the instant torque of a battery EV is almost impossible to beat with internal combustion. If that wasn't convincing enough, a liberal drift show afterward in the FC1-X by Tanner at least gave everyone something to smile about.

By the end of Tanner's time in front of a SEMA crowd, that smattering of boos became a raucous applause. Of course, a live performance by one of America's all-time drift kings did a great deal to soften the atmosphere. Were they just cheering Tanner by the end of it? That's at least a slight possibility. But either way, it was a win for the FC1-X.