The Lowrider Magazine Tour is back and better than ever. The 2006 Phoenix, Arizona, Tour show proved to be even bigger than last year with some 18,000 people showing up to the sold-out event, making this second Tour stop of the year a great one. With the help of sponsors Quaker State, Fuze and NOS energy drinks, Harley-Davidson, CCE Hydraulics and Rockford Fosgate and Jump Mobile, the Arizona State Fairgrounds was the place to be this past March.
On Saturday, everyone was eager to roll into the show and set up their cars. Being a sold-out event, nobody was taking a chance on losing their show space. The move-in crew did a hell of job, moving in about 450 cars on Saturday. This made Sunday morning's move-in a walk in the park as the crew moved in the balance of the pre-registered entrants. With more than 500 cars at the show, it was looking like a good day to try some lowrider tricks in Phoenix.The result was rows of show cars that were parked from wall to wall. The good cruising weather helped to bring out the car clubs in force. Clubs in attendance included Desirable Ones, Groupe, Impalas, Imperials, Individuals, Klique, Majestics, Old School, Phoenix Riderz, Rollerz Only, Society, Uniques and Uce C.C. There were also solo riders as well as hoppers who rolled in from as far east as Louisville, Kentucky.
With old cars being "historical" in Arizona, it was only natural that there were several fine examples at the Phoenix show. In fact, 75-percent of the vehicles at the show were traditional lowrider vehicles, ranging from a '48 bomba to a '96 Cadillac. It was good to see all of these vehicles in one location.Groupe Car Club was impressive as they rolled in deep and fielded a strong line-up. Klique C.C. held it down with their new cars, including Jaime's "Lyme Tyme" '63 Chevy Impala cover car and a bad '67 Chevy Caprice from the Riverside, California, chapter. Rollerz Only had a few classics holding up the club name. Cheryl Mendoza's Cadillac Escalade was all business as it showed off its custom interior. Uce had a few cars out in Phoenix, including Chino's '79 Chevy Monte Carlo, "Orgullo Mexicano," which claimed the Best Car in Show award. (Check out Chino's Chevy in our Best-Of Radicals special edition on sale now.) The Majestics line-up was also strong, ranging from "Smiley's" '84 Cadillac to Mauro Cobain's '81 Buick Regal, "Bare Elegance," May LRM cover car.
The Phoenix show is also known for all of the lowrider bikes that roll out to the show each year, and the 2006 event was no exception as the bike judge had more than 75 bikes to judge. Sebastian Paz from Tucson, Arizona, showed us why his bike is called "Superman," as he swept the class. Cierra Careaga's "Care Bear" bike representing Groupe rolled into Second Place. The little chica's 20-inch bike was ready to hop with its airbag setup. Squeezing into Third Place was Enedino Pelayo; not bad when there's so many bikes competing for top honors.We tried walking through vendor's row and it was nuts. The area was packed with ready to buy customers and vendors running their show specials. The music was bumping, hydraulic shops like CCE had their specials going on, Quaker State had (as always) great stuff and information about their latest products, Fuze was handing out samples of their energizing drinks, and Harley was offering free photo opportunities with their American classics. With Arizona being the home of Rockford Fosgate, it was only natural that they brought out a bangin' system (in a bad '64 Impala) for the people to see and hear.
It was standing-room only for the rockin' concert on the Jump Mobile stage. Kicking off the concert was Houston, Texas' favorite tamalero, Chingo Bling, who opened up with a few of his mix tape hits that included the current Grillz remix being played throughout the Latino community. Then, MC Magic did his thing and the crowd showed the former NB Ridaz major love. The concert just kept getting better as the "Smokin' Nephew," Baby Bash, took the stage and showed us why Arizona is one of his favorite places to perform by singing "Baby, I'm Back" and his classic "Suga, Suga." Last up was San Diego, California's favorite homie, Lil' Rob, who dropped some of his latest jams, including "SuperBad," "Summer Nights," "Playground" and "Bring Out The Freak In You," which proved to be a favorite with the chicas of Arizona. Once the concert was over, it was time for the awards ceremony which concluded the show. It'll be hard to top this year's Phoenix show, but we'll be back here again before you know it with more of that Arizona-style lowrider love. Until then, peace and keep on ridin'.
Phoenix Winners
BEST CAR OF SHOW
First--Alejandro "Chino" Vega, '79 Chevy Monte Carlo
Second--Orlando Ceballos, '80 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
Third--Marty Felix, '64 Chevy Impala
BEST TRADITIONAL LOWRIDER
First--Arman "Smiley" Utudzhyan, '84 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
Second--Jose Esparza, '68 Chevy Impala
Third--George Ortiz, '63 Chevy Impala
BEST ORIGINAL '69 & BELOW
First--Steve Trevino, '60 Chevy Impala
Second--Mark Burnell, '61 Chevy Impala
Third--Pele Amarillas, '64 Chevy Impala
BEST TRUCK
First--Cheryl Mendoza, 2004 Cadillac Escalade
Second--Richard Hernandez, '86 Chevy S-10
Third--Robert Ceniceros, '96 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer
BEST BOMB
First--Gene Bare, '51 Chevy
Second--Jaime Diaz, '53 Chevy
Third--Justin Umbs, '53 Chevy
BEST BOMB TRUCK
First--Daniel Gonzales, '55 Ford
Second--Hugo Bastida, '54 Chevy
Third--Mike Carrasco, '57 Ford
BEST CUSTOM COMPACT
First--Adrian Leija, '88 Nissan Sentra
Second--Eduardo Roa, '95 Honda Civic
Third--Jason Smith, '98 Honda Accord
BEST BIKE
First--Sebastian Paz
Second--Cierra Careaga
Third--Enedino Pelayo
BEST TRIKE
First--Xavier Rojas
Second--Andrew Spirit
Third--Juan Morales
LOWRIDER EXCELLENCE AWARD
Cesar Rodriguez, '48 Chevy Fleetline