|
East Coast Nationals has already established itself as one of the top three day shows on the east coast. Ashton Harwood and his SubCulture crew do an excellent job each and every year. When Ashton invited me back for 2003, I was more than pleased to attend. Located in Richmond, Virginia, ECN combines all the elements that any car show fanatic could want and then some. This year would prove to be no exception. The weekend would prove to be very trying for me after being put on stand-by at the airport. A long four hour wait as well as a quick layover in Charlotte, and I finally arrived in Richmond. A crew of SubCulture's finest quickly scooped me up at the airport and wisked me over to the Holiday Inn, where everyone was quickly settling in and getting ready for the weekend's events. I immediately ran into Lee and Elena from SubCulture-Georgia as well as Elena's sister, Cindy. After saying hello, a quick walk around the parking lot would run me into the Pebble Pushers crew from North Carolina. I checked out the rides that they brought out and caught up with the whole crew then bounced back into the hotel, where I caught up with Vinnie Ganci and Jeff King and the Childhood Fantasies crew. Before long, Russell and Brandy Gulow popped in to say what's up, just as the power in the hotel was shut off. Can we say dark? We all crossed the street and chilled at the 7-11 until the early morning hours then headed to bed awaiting the arrival of saturday's wake up call. Saturday morning proved to be very trying as my phone rang off the hook while trying to prepare my beautiful self to head over to the show. Ok, so I'm not that beautiful but I can dream, right? I grabbed my gear and headed over to Jeff and Vinnie's room to meet up and roll to the show. We all piled up in the vehicles and got our roll on, ECN-bound. It was very hot at an early 10am, so I knew right away that the day was going to be blistering. Once we arrived at the show, I was correct. The heat was massive. But, it didn't stop the massive amounts of rides from showing up early. The grounds were already filling up as everyone was doing their best to inspect their ride and get it clean and presentable to judges. We broke out the cameras and went to work. Immediately, I noticed the diversity in the show field. You could find everything from a body dropped minitruck to a raced out import to straight-up old school lowrider-style at ECN. To top it off, clubs from all over brought out their best to show it off. Throughout the grounds, I noticed rides from Creative Styles,
|
Pebble Pushers, Down N' Dirty, Severed Ties, Negative Camber as well as many others, including SubCulture, who had many of their prize possessions on display for the masses. One could also find many popular vendors found throughout the show site including Drop'Em Wear, Air Ride Technologies as well as a host of others selling anything from vinyl graphics to the latest Dub City models. As the sun started to fall, the evening events got under way. First up was the ECN bikini contest. Several young ladies came out on stage to strut their stuff for the panel of judges, which were more than willing to sit back and enjoy the show first hand. The crowd got involved by enticing the ladies with beads and things got a little wild from there. The ECN bikini contest never disappoints anyone and this year lived up to the same. After the sun set, the sparks were flying for the dragging contest and in the late evening, another groups of ladies gathered upon the stage for the wet t-shirt contest. At the end of the night, one young lady was crowned the winner and everyone dispursed to get the after show party started. The next morning, I met back up with Jeff and Vinnie and rolled back over to the show to finish up snapping a few photos from the previous day. The bikini contest finals were held in the early afternoon followed quickly by the awards ceremony. I said my goodbyes to everyone and was wisked away back to airport for myeventual long flight home. Ahhhh, what a weekend! If you're looking for a new show to add to you events calender for 2004, make sure you check into East Coast Nationals. You'll definitely be happy that you chose to make the journey to Richmond, Virginia and be part of this great event. Also, be sure to check out the website for information on next years event. See you there! www.EastCoastNationals.comSpecial thanks to Vinnie Ganci for use of several of the photos from ECN. Bobby Stewart
|
