It happens every year; the annual Lowrider Super Show in Las Vegas blows by in the blink of an eye. All those long days and nights of blood, sweat, and tears in the garage come to fruition in this event that pits the world's best against the rest. The event was held at Cashman Field this year and those long hours paid off for some, and didn't for others, as the deadlines and entry qualifications for the premier Lowrider competition are strict and fair. They always say, "If you snooze, you lose," which is true, but in our world; "If you snooze, you don't cruise." You don't get a chance to compete for bragging rights, either, as every competitor brings their A-game to this event, keeping details at a maximum and procrastination at a minimum. With the help of show sponsors Lucas Oil, Hydraulic Energy, Krazy Kutting, and Wholesale Travels Planners, the show was a success as the event was completely sold out along with 800 of the nation's top Lowrider vehicles on full display. While the faces change every year for the Super Show, the stories remain the same. Throughout the year, people tried their hand at qualifying for the prestigious "Lowrider of the Year" titles and with that said, the rumor mill was spinning about which cars would make the biggest impact. One of those cars was the new "Perfect Score," which was supposed to be the replacement for the one that was totaled in an automobile accident a few years ago. This one just stayed in the rumor pile, however. Another common story was spun about those unlucky contestants who broke down on the way to the show and never made it to the venue at all. Others had the nightmare of never being picked up by their scheduled transporters, leaving these sad cars stuck in their hometowns during the year's biggest event. Overall, there were more stories this year about entrants trying and failing to make it out than ever before. For those lucky enough to make the trip, the event was well worth the trouble.

The Las Vegas Super Show is always larger than life, so when they sent out the hop invitations, they called on the industry's best. With twenty invites out to the country's top competitors, this year's hydraulic show was a must-see event. Cars came from far and wide to go head-to-head in this grand event.

For the past thirty-nine years, Mexican Fiesta has brought the sound, culture and taste of Mexico to Milwaukee's lakefront. The three full days of fun in the sun kicked off this year, like every other year, with a traditional Mariachi band welcoming everyone. Hundreds of food vendors lined up as well, showcasing the finest authentic Mexican cuisine. For the third straight year, the entire west side of the park was dedicated to the finest lowrider vehicles the Midwest has to offer. The entire day was packed full of fun as hundreds of custom vehicles lined in to the Summerfest Grounds located directly on the water in beautiful Milwaukee. Some clubs in attendance were Rollerz Only, USO, Cruizin In Style, Envious, Good Times, Stylistics, Solitos, Viejitos, Psychos Dreams, Street Legends, and All State Low Life, to name a few. The festival encourages individuals from all ethnic backgrounds to come share in the rich history, art, music, and food of the Mexican and Hispanic cultures. Mexican Fiesta is more than just a celebration; it's an affirmation of the belief that our community is alive with promise. Education is the key to the future and through scholarship awards; the festival becomes the gateway for young Hispanic men and women taking their rightful place in society.

History was made last August when the legendary Klique car club brought together all nine of their chapters for one exclusive meeting and picnic strictly for members only. East Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Inland Empire, Phoenix, El Paso, Ventura, Santa Rosa, and Las Vegas chapters all made their appearance. This event marked the first time that Klique came together as a whole in California for one mandatory congregation. Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley, California, was ground zero for the picnic and served as the perfect backdrop for a bash that included authentic Mexican food, an ice cream truck, and a festive atmosphere that united the club members and their families.

The Carnales Unidos car club has always been known for being involved in their community and the Fresno chapter is no exception. This chapter of the club met in order to figure out what their next community outreach endeavor would be. Unanimously, the club decided for the second year in a row to throw a show that would benefit Cornerstone Community Care in Fresno. Cornerstone Community Care is a non-profit organization that provides care for kids and at-risk teens from the local community. The decision was made to host the event at Mosqueda Center. "In the late 90s - early 2000s, the Mosqueda Center was a hot spot to host events, and it is also located in the heart of Fresno," says Carnales Unidos President, Mickey. The event was free for the community and there were plenty of activities at the event for all ages and walks of life. The show kept a keen focus on kids, as evidenced by the "kids fun zone" set up at the event. This section of the show had a bounce house, face painting, a bicycle repair area, and a few other activities to keep the kids in a positive frame of mind. The event also had a Mariachi Band and a local band playing throughout the show. With a great turnout, it's clear that this show is growing and the club is hoping to have an even bigger turnout next year. "The event couldn't happen without all the support we got from all the local car clubs who came down to supported the community," says Mickey. Thanks go out to all three chapters of Carnales Unidos and the staff of Cornerstone Community Care for putting on a great event. We'll see you next year!

While other Lowriding magazines have come and gone, Lowrider Magazine has been lucky enough to withstand the test of time, and our 35th year anniversary is a testament to that. We are honored that our longevity has led to so many fans and friends, many of whom grew up admiring the magazine and longing to one day be able to build a car worthy enough to grace our pages. We were also honored to celebrate our history and tradition at the Yolo County Fairgrounds in Woodland, CA. The Saturday evening show was the perfect occasion to celebrate our achievement with our Nor Cal supporters.

Lowrider Magazine returned once again to the grounds of the historic San Fernando High School in San Fernando, California, for the 2012 date of the Oldies car club car show and concert. The show took place on the fourth Sunday of July in 2012, and boy did it turn up the heat on the car show circuit! Summertime temperatures in the San Fernando Valley are always close to the century mark and the day of the show was no exception. Without a cloud in the sky, there was no doubt the show was going to be a scorcher due to the heat of the weather and also the blazing rides that the car clubs and solo riders were bringing to the show!

Charter Oak High School of Covina, CA., played host to Reality car club’s annual car show, and yet again this years show was a complete success. With all of the entry proceeds going to the school, the 6:00 A.M. roll-in time did not deter the nearly 200 cars that entered to participate. Admission for the spectators was free, and the show had a steady flow of spectators that came out to see Hot Rods, motorcycles, pedal bicycles and of course the Lowriders. Some of the clubs on hand included Traffic, Stylistics, Together, Techniques, Lifestyle, Royal Image, Suenos Latino, City Life, Style Unlimited, and all the way from Japan, Primera car club.

The Greenspan’s Classic was back for its second year at South Gate Park in the city of South Gate, California, this past March. The 2010 show was such a success for both Greenspan’s and the city of South Gate that they decided to host another show this past year and this one certainly didn’t disappoint. As the primary sponsor of the event, Greenspan’s was allotted a generous amount of space for the show just like the 2010 date, so the show became an invitational event for pre-1970 vehicles. Some of the invited guests included Bomb Connection car club, Classic Lowriders car club, Pharaohs South Bay, Tovars, Classic Oldies car club, and Connected car club Ventura County, as well as a number of individual car owners.

This year marked Socios car club’s 10th Annual car show in Sacramento, CA., and their biggest one to date with 710 entries vying for appreciation and recognition. “Just like we’ve done every year, we made it free for all the spectators,” says Gabe Mijares, President of Socios car club. Thanks to their respect and appreciation for the culture and its enthusiasts, the show has become one of the largest in northern California.. “We take pride in funding the whole show ourselves,” says Gabe. “We don’t have major sponsors or promoters helping us out. We also gave out some really nice plaques this year, and people seemed to be really impressed with the quality of the awards and judging.” While most shows bring out well-known musical acts, Socios puts an emphasis on cultural pride, bringing out Aztec dancers and traditional Mexican folk dancers to perform for the crowd instead.

The historic Bob’s Big Boy, of Downey, CA., played host to the June “Cadillac Fest.” The free event had a variety of Cadillac’s representing styles from the Big Bodies on down to the classics that we have all fallen in love with through out the years. There was month’s of promotional planning put together by Mike Lopez of the Cadillac Connection.

On November 18th from 9am-3:30pm, Traffic So. Cal Car Club and the Ontario Firefighters Local 1430 are taking over the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California for their second annual Spark of Love Toy Drive.

While “a show by any other name is not the same,” may be true, no matter whether you know it as the Extreme Autofest or Lowriderfest, the event always brings out some killer rides and this year’s show was no different. The Lowriderfest came to Angels Stadium parking lot in Anaheim, CA., on June 10th 2012, and like it always does, the event combined multiple automotive lifestyles into one location. This fusion gives the show a great diversity that all automotive customizers can appreciate. When we first walked in, we saw Lowriders to our left, Dubs to our right, and Imports in front. The show drew about 500 entries, with some of those entries including heavy hitters like this year’s Lowrider of the year, “El Rey,” from Elite car club. Some of the car clubs on hand included Klique, Impalas, Nokturnal, Swift, Xplicit, Elite, Techniques, and a few others.

The one-day event put together by Sic Psycles and Show & Kustoms went smooth as the weather brought out the best of both worlds to the Chino Fair Grounds. The second annual show has grown from its debut last year in May. With over 400 entries, the Sunday show had spectators come through the turnstiles all day long as people came and left getting their fill of lowriders and Harley styled out Lowriders.

We're getting a jump on the 2013 LRM Qualifying season and what better way to kick it off than with the 41st Annual Tejano Super Car Show. From November 17-18 we'll be taking over the Ector County Coliseum in Odessa, for a fun-filled weekend of Lowriding Action.

Lowrider Magazine is coming to the Cashman Center in Las Vegas for our annual Vegas Super Show. It has been a fun year for us and what better place would there be to help us wrap up the season than Las Vegas. So if you plan on being in Las Vegas on the weekend of October 14th stop by the Cashman Field Center and check us out.

For the 14th year in a row, Brothers, the true industry leader in classic truck manufacturing threw their annual show and shine. The event was held at the Canyon RV Park in Anaheim, CA., on a Sunday in July of this year. The event was held to showcase classic Chevy and GMC trucks from 1947-‘87. Trucks of all kinds rolled in from everywhere for this event, it has reached national status as the Classic Chevy and GMC Truck Event to attend. From Off Road to Hot Rod, and Rockabilly to Lowrider, the diverse truck lineup at the event certainly had something for everyone. Brothers also combined all the right elements such as good food, live music, and classic trucks to make this a great family event that anyone could enjoy. We will sure be in attendance next year, and if you would like to get more information on next year’s event, make sure to go to BrothersTrucks.com to check out all the info and date information.

The Northern Cali Super Show is still scheduled for September 29th, and that is just right around the corner. This is the last show on the tour to qualify before the Las Vegas Super Show in October, so make sure to mark your calendars and come out to the Yolo County Fairgrounds in Woodland, California.

This year's return back to Mesa, Arizona for the Mesa Super Show was a flashback to Super Shows of the past; where the cars were the stars, and old school was hip before hip hop was old school. Traditionally, this show has remained at the top of the must-attend lists for all Lowrider enthusiasts, as the entire southwest converges on the city of Mesa for an unparalleled display of the area's best Lowriders. This year marked a return to the glory days for Mesa, as close to 12,000 spectators and well over 650 exhibitors packed the Mesa Convention Center and Amphitheatre for this special reunion show and Arizona Lowrider Tour Stop! Young and old were treated to a glimpse of Lowrider royalty and the Motorsport Showcase signature Saturday night show set the stage as the Arizona sun set into the evening for a night of Lowriding at its best.

Cruising on Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles has been a ritual and rite of passage since the 1940s. Since that time, the “Boulevard” was the place to be seen, especially if you were a part of the many Lowrider car clubs that made the famous route part of their weekend activities. Whittier itself was not the only draw, many of the larger car clubs would park at the same parking lots when they were not going up and down the “Boulevard,” as they would take the opportunity to socialize with each other as well as with the opposite sex. Traffic was at a standstill most weekend nights and navigating through the area was troublesome for the residents that lived off of “the Boulevard.” Eventually, the authorities would shut down the cruising on Whittier Boulevard for good in the late 1990s.

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream” C.S. Lewis. As you read that quote, what influential person does it bring to mind? For me, it immediately reminds me of those that have reached numerous milestones throughout our Lowrider history; to include the individual you’re about to meet in this column. As founder of Taste of Latin C.C. in 1972, he has sustained the club’s charter to present day and along the way, saw to its induction into the LRM Car Club Hall of Fame. As if that wasn’t enough, he also earned the right to have his ‘64 Impala, “Odessa’s Masterpiece,” featured in the pages of LRM as a centerfold in 1980, and secured a father and son dual car feature in 2011. Even with these personal and lifelong achievements under his belt, this 2006 LRM Hall of Fame inductee has reached a pinnacle once again. Who could have imagined that a small Cinco de Mayo car show held in 1972 would evolve to be known as one of the best Lowrider shows in the country?