Denver Show

The Scrapin' Tour rolls into the rockies for a Mile High experience.

By Nathan Trujillo

It looks like Lowrider Magazine and Go-Lo Entertainment have officially made it through three quarters of the 2002 Scrapin' Tour after a successful show in Denver, Colorado. The Denver event was sponsored by Gumout, Quaker State, Nitto Tires, Dayton Wire Wheels, ShowTime Hydraulics and Thump Records and held at the newly revamped Denver Coliseum. It seemed as though the entire state of Colorado showed up to witness an all-new lineup of highly custom lowrider cars, trucks, bombs, imports and bicycles. And as usual, some very high dollar rides took the show to another level.

Down below on the main show floor were some very popular rides. For instance, one of the local favorites and a sure Super Show contender was Angelo Salazar and his '68 Chevy Impala, "Nightmare." He took First Place in the Car Sweepstakes category. Angelo rolled in another ride that was begun by his late brother Tony and finished by Angelo. Mike Roybal from New Mexico won Second Place with a '78 Olds Cutlass Supreme and Third Place belonged to Blue Garnica with a highly detailed '89 Chrysler LeBaron. Still to go are the rest of the Sweepstake winners.

The Traditional lowrider cars are highly customized but not in the radical sense, because they keep their hood, doors and trunk opening in the original manner. Glenn Saiz' killer '64 Impala was on jackstands for First Place and Robert Espinosa's tough-to-beat '68 convertible (his ride has every accessory available) tallied up a Second Place score. In Third Place was Patrick Garcia.

The judges selected three winners in the Truck and Bomb Truck classes, as Ben Sandoval's "Money Talks" '87 Chevy El Camino won First Place while DeDe Jaramillo and her '95 "Golden Ram" Dodge held the Second Place trophy. And bragging about Third Place was Martin Martinez with a flip front end Chevy S-10 Blazer. Long-time truck builder "Bro Ed" Rodriguez accepted First Place for his '51 Chevy while Art Noriega's "Sweet Dreams" '51 was awarded the Second Place trophy. Roy Madrid's two-tone brown '50 Chevy won Third Place hands down.

The next category that we looked into was the Bomb class where Rick Murray's '39 Chevy accumulated enough points for a First Place trophy and Max Madrid had to at least celebrate with a beer his Second Place finish with a lean and mean '50 Chevy bomb. In Third was Alfred Rodrigues' green four-door Plymouth--the same make as the current bomb of the year, "Pura Vida." The Euro/Sports Car class seems to be dominated by Honda Civics. Ben Sellers' "Midnight Breeze" won First Place and Arthur Manzanares picked up the Second Place award. A new guy on the scene is Jaron Broudnax with a very expensive Mitsubishi Eclipse, which claimed Third in Denver.

Last but not least (and maybe saving the best for last) is the Original class. Freddy Perez from Northern Colorado loves the hunt of original cars and he won First Place with a '50 Chevy Fleetline while his beloved wife, Martha, won Second Place. Both are members of Old Memories Car Club. Third Place went to William Kieffer for his incredible and unique '61 DeSoto.

Well, guess what we've covered thus far? The big boys who entered the show, which makes this job incredibly difficult because they're only a small fraction of the entire show. The main attraction in Denver was her highness Angelina lookin' good and singing just as well with the NB Ridaz from Arizona. Both commanded the stage and they even gave homage to the late Roger Troutman of Zapp & Roger. Lowrider always expects a great show to come out of Denver and this year was no different. For photographers, writers and videographers, the Mile High lowrider scene just explodes with live action and true culture... you better believe it. Until next year.

DENVER HOP

The Mile High crowd cheered about the smoke, popping tires and record-setting 105-inch hop!

Hopping contest MC Mike Karsting and Tony V. of KQKS FM 107.5 both led the Denver, Colorado, crowd to the edge of their seats in anticipation for some wild and crazy hydraulics action at the Denver Coliseum. A total of 15 entrants were prepared to do battle in nine categories at this Scrapin' Tour event and they supplied enough excitement to put the Go-Lo Entertainment team on alert with fire extinguishers and car-towing wreckers.

The only competitor in the Truck Hop was Ernie Lopez and his yellow '86 Ford Ranger, which reached 49 inches after about 10 hops. Nine or 10 hops seem to be the average for all of the hoppers, which means that if you miss the first leap with your camera there's always at least a second chance.

The Single-Pump class featured two switch hitters, Dustin Hanson and Robert Norman. Robert's '85 Olds Cutlass set the height at 14 inches, which had him crossing his fingers like a pretzel, but Dustin's '84 Chevy Monte Carlo launched to 22 inches, which lifted him into First Place. Next on the clipboard was Willie Ortiz and a yellow hop-ready '63 Chevy Impala. As the only entry in the Double-Pump class, Willie put up 18 inches and pocketed $750 big ones.

Hydro hopper Michael Montoya (sponsored by Fino Morales) drove in a primer red '84 Buick Regal and blew a tire rounding the corner of the Thump stage. Well, guess what? They had three minutes to change that tire; see, anything can happen, anything! And like a NASCAR pit crew, Fino Morales and company sprang into action and replaced the tire with a minute left and then lined up alongside hop umpire Alex Cortez and his veteran judging gang. With the crowd cheering him on, Michael kicked out a 42-inch hop, effectively putting him into First Place over Jason Maestas who captured 20 inches in a white '84 Cadillac.

Hydro showman Jorge Guzman has by now presented himself as a hydraulics professional who dominates and intimidates the Radical Hop class. His black '87 Toyota features all of the necessary stickers and displays an impressive chromed-out undercarriage. But before he took the switch into his hands, Jorge carefully tape measured the rear cylinder extension to make sure that they were within the hopping regulation by laws... what a nice guy who always follows the rules! Jorge had the record earlier this year, but had it snatched away by Orlando Adkins in Tampa, Florida, with a jump of 93 inches.

This time, Jorge was poised to take it back and he did just that as the cameras began flashing. Jorge hit a monster launch which resulted in a new world record hop of 105 inches, while almost sending his hopper through the Coliseum roof. The crowd roared once more when Robert Morales from Robert's Tires and Wheels in Denver fielded a Radical hopper and landed a big goose-egg with a line through it. He hopped for exhibition only because of mechanical difficulties and had to be hauled out with a wrecker.

After a break so that Dayton Wire Wheels and Nitto Tires could give away their products, three more entries unplugged their battery chargers for the Street Car Dance. Joe Vigil hops the '82 Regal that Fino Morales sponsors, however it was a DNF (did not finish) due to a growing trunk fire, which triggered a massive puff of extinguisher powder. He scored one point for the job and got Second because Sonny Quintana and his '82 Monte Carlo did not complete the 90-second time limit. Managing a 26-point score and First Place isn't easy but Moe Medina did just that with a havoc-creating '83 Cutlass Supreme.

Shawnna Ferge is the only woman to enter the hydraulics contest on the Scrapin' Tour. She paraded a black '90 Isuzu to the arena floor and grabbed 10 points in 90 seconds to win First Place because a hose or two busted loose and let out a stream of hydraulic fluid during her run. Cashing in on Second Place was Chris Martinez in a silver Chevy S-10, but instead of totally trashing his truck he was more on the conservative side because his ride was just too clean to tear up. Still, he gets good props for bringing his truck out in the contest. With two cars left to go in the grand finale, MC Mike Karsting had to give some bystanders a safety warning telling all to beware of the Radical dancers.

Both Ron Eggers supported by Boulevard Hydraulics and Cool Cars Bryan Gillespie are known to flip rides over and were set to bring on the metal-mashing mayhem that would bring the Coliseum down and the crowd to a standing ovation. Ron's silver and black '94 Nissan Pathfinder (which is only a shell now) entered first under its own remote-controlled power and began getting radical air immediately with unreal side-to-sides and around-the-world maneuvers that surely makes Ron's engineering talents world class. Ah, but Ron would be denied as the truck came up short with 14 points.

And just when we thought that we've seen it all, out comes Bryan in his CCE-equipped '87 Cutlass Supreme to manhandle the situation and score a perfect 30 points. With a car full of power, he rammed the cylinders from side-to-side and hit crazy front-to-back motions just as fast as Ron did. It's the speed at which these cars make their moves. It's so hard and fast that the car literally gets destroyed in the process and just like watching NASCAR, they're in it for the competition and the carnage. How do we know? Because the crowd was loud, baby!