Tampa 2002

The Scrapin' Tour returns to the Sunshine State for more blazing action.

By Nathan Trujillo

Go-Lo Entertainment's sixth Scrapin' Tour show of the year was held in Tampa, Florida on April 21 at the Florida State Fairgrounds. The big show was sponsored by Gumout, Quaker State, Nitto Tires, Dayton Wire Wheels, ShowTime Hydraulics and Thump Records. Go-Lo and Lowrider Magazine have the Scrapin' Tour cruising, hopping and dancing to all-new heights. At the time of this writing, we are a third of the way through the year and there are still nine lowrider shows to go until the grand finale in Las Vegas, Nevada, happens on October 6.If you think about it, the Tampa show can be thought of as a qualifying round for the top dogs to eventually get to the main event, which is the Super Show. However, as much as the lowrider shows are for the big bankers to spin and win, we editors love to mix among the rides that hit the streets day in and day out, as well. This year's event showcased all of the above and LRM was happy to be there to capture all of the wild and colorful action.

The weekend of the show proved to be very busy and it was exciting to see such creatively customized cars line up to enter the show and compete in more than 20 categories and sub classes with Best Of Show categories up for grabs, too. Making the show worth the price of admission were such Car Sweepstakes contenders as Raul Martinez who scored enough points for First Place and Robert Medina who parked his '81 Buick Regal and received Second Place. And shifting into the Third Place spot was Scott Miller.

One category recently added within the last two years is the Traditional Lowrider class for '79 or older cars. Traditional rides are cars that cannot have any major body modifications, full custom paint or interior work. Robert Fernandez took the reigns in First Place with Second Place going to Kano Reyes for his four-door '63 Buick LeSabre. And taking the right of Third Place passage was Jose Reyes (no relation to Kano) with an cool orange '63 Chevy Impala. The Original or "OG" class was a no show. In fact, the East Coast has always been a hard place to find original cars; it must be the weather.

The Truck Sweepstakes contenders are definitely not your everyday run-of-the-mill pickups. Instead, they are vehicles that are years in the making. Placing First with a glamorous Mazda mini-truck was Eddie Gordy, Jr. and in Second was Juan Gonzalez' '89 Ford Ranger from Unity C.C. Bruce Rivera accepted a nice check for Third Place. If you're new to the lowrider scene, American-made bombs are in. The big-bodied bombs are '58 and older and the aged hay hauler bomb trucks are '59 and older. There were no bomb trucks to be seen in the Fairgrounds, but checking in First Place in the Bomb (car) class was Antonio Carrillo, Jr., while the Second Place trophy was awarded to Jesse Gonzales, Jr.The Euro class consists of sub-compact cars that are outfitted for performance and frequently come from overseas; Europe (from which the name "Euro" is derived, or more often Japan). The First Place trophy was handed to Cesar Gonzalez and arriving in Second was Johnny Calvo who owns a candy green '97 Honda Civic. Go-Lo saw that Edwin Chong received some recognition in Third Place for his import entry.

Whether you like two wheels or three, the Lowrider Bicycle and Tricycle classes will have you guessing as to who will come up with the craziest creation. The best and baddest First Place bike went to Manuel Leija, while the Second Place winner happened to be none other than Moises Rodriguez who pedaled in a hot custom two-wheeler. James Adams walked off with a big smile because he took over the Third Place spot, while Alex Quinonez hit the jackpot with his tricycle.

The outdoor area of a Tour show is just as exciting as the indoors because you never know what custom car surprises may show up. Sure enough, the candy colors and mile high hydraulics setups presented themselves along a section of the grass field at the Fairgrounds. It's also important to note that the Brown Impressions Car Club were at the show to support and celebrate their club's entrance into Lowrider Magazine Hall of Fame for keeping the lowrider spirit alive for more than 20 years. Good going, guys, you deserve all of the props.With hardly a break in the action and with the crowd still buzzing with excitement over the wild hydraulics action (see complete coverage elsewhere in this issue), officials cleared the arena to make way for an all-star entertainment lineup on the Thump Records stage. The talented Lisa Lisa, formerly from Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam, is a hard-working woman with a great voice who now hosts a hit show on MTV. She belted out the hits in Tampa. Comedian Ralphie May had the audience in stitches. He can also be seen on ESPN's Mohr Sports.

One guy who loves the lowrider atmosphere is the Miami, Florida, based DJ Laz. He comes from afternoon hit radio on WPOW Power 96. Laz did not let the party down as he served up his usual female dancer antics along with that Miami sound that he's much known for. The Bikini and Hardbody contests added to the fun, followed by the awards ceremony that presented hundreds of trophies to competitors. As a perfect end to a perfect day, the Sweepstakes awards sent many folks home with more money in their pocket than they started with.As the sixth show out of 16, the Tampa event featured both memorable up and coming show cars as well as rides that are destined for Super Show qualification. If you'd like to be part of the fun, check out the 2002 Lowrider Scrapin' Tour schedule to see when Lowrider is coming to your town.