When it comes to car shows, judging criteria is usually based on how the car looks or what kinds of modifications it has. Having attended tons of the same old car shows, our good friend Tony Lee from ItsJDMYo had an idea to make a different type of contest within the car scene.
While driving up or down a driveway may seem like a mundane everyday task for most, it obviously requires a certain amount of technique when you have a lowered car. Tony took that idea and decided to make it into a different form of driving competition, with the help of certain friends. Our own Editor-in-Chief Antonio was selected to be the emcee of the event, while judging duties were handled by Yogi from Fatlace, Noel from Canibeat, and ItsJDMYo’s own Keychain.
The drivers were judged out of a possible 40 points. Drivers could earn up to 10 points for the amount of angle they used going up the driveway (less angle, or 90 degrees straight is worth more than extreme sideways angle); up to 10 more were awarded for angle going down, up to 10 points for scraping on their way up, and up to 10 more for scraping on the way down. Penalties included a 2 point deduction for reversing while trying to get up or down and another 2 point deduction for passing the marker cone (aka import model Holly Lee).
When I see someone with a slammed car trying to drive up or down a steep driveway, I can’t help but stop to watch to see how they do it. Whether they turn at an extreme angle using the whole driveway or go balls to the wall and head straight in, watching the cars compete today I couldn’t help but laugh and be shocked at the same time. I never would have thought watching cars going up and down a drive way would be so exciting. Calling it So You Think You Can Stance (title based off of the TV show So You Think You Can Dance), it turned out to be a really fun event to attend.
Mickey Andrade from HRE wheels came out with his pearl white AE86. With some sick HRE wheels, his paint is a matte version of what you would see on the newer Lexus IS/GS.
Amongst the many attendees, Formula D driver John Russakoff from JSP Fab came to the show with his 1969 KE10 Corolla Sprinter. Rocking a rare set of Enkei AP Racing wheels, John was pegging his speedometer at 80mph on his drive up from San Diego. This has to be one of the sickest Corollas I have seen to date. I haven’t seen this car around since 2009 at JCCS in Long Beach.
This E30 BMW with the bosozoku style oil cooler up front is actually turbo charged! Owned by a guy named Kyle and built by Chris Castro of Castro Motorsports, the E30 is a good example of Japanese style on a European build.
Milt Salamanca of the Low n Slow crew rolled out and was the first up in the competition. He didn’t scrape much going up the driveway even at his extremely low ride height, mainly because the bottom of his car is already smooth and flat from scraping every day.
Holly Lee came out today thinking she was going to be modeling at a booth. Instead, Tony made her act as the marker cone for the competition. Basically, drivers had to scrape in and out of the parking lot without hitting her.
Armand Pranadi brought out his wide body SW20 Toyota MR2, not just to hang out and show his car but to actually compete.
Scraping your bumper was an inevitable thing when your car sits this low.
Sitting on 18×10 and 19×12.5 Work Meister S1 wheels, he kept catching his fenders on the way up and down. Everyone in the crowd winced at the popping sounds his fenders made as the wheel lips made contact with them. He came out without any damage during the competition, but as he was reentering just to park the car he actually cracked a fender. You can probably see why…
Terry Pham of Dstroyr and Infinit Wheels got a chance to take his old NA6 Mazda Miata out for a spin. You may remember his car from a few previous events with a slightly different look. A Garage Vary style front lip was added along with a pair of Planet M runners under the rocker panels. Along with the aesthetic changes the owners had changed as well recently.
Terry initially pulled too far forward, but since reversing would get some points deducted, he said screw it and just went straight up and down the driveway. Even Holly was like “Damnnn” when he left some pieces of the car behind on the sidewalk. Terry just shrugged it off and laughed, because the car wasn’t even his anymore! He sold the car to a friend the previous week, and was just borrowing it for the event. LOL
Tony Pham, also of Dstroyr and Infinit Wheels, had a go in Anthony Do‘s right hand drive glass roof EF8 Honda CRX SiR, with 15×9 SSR Formula Mesh. Tony almost got stuck on the way down the driveway, so he decided to just gun it and burn up Anthony’s tires!
This FC3S Mazda RX7 of the Nuisance crew was sitting on some Ford Crown Victoria wheels. I bet you wouldn’t have guessed that an American car came with some dope looking wheels like that.
Luigi Arroya from the 1Up crew brought out his AP2 Honda S2000. He took Third Place in the competition while maneuvering the the ramp with just one hand on the wheel because he was too busy smoking. He is on coil over suspension with a CR front lip, blue Volk Racing CE28N wheels, and a red and black interior. The red and black interior on white color combo is one of my favorites.
He was all smiles going up, but on his way down, the grin on his face turned quickly when his pristine mint front lip started to fold inwards and scrape along the pavement.
The CR front lip flexed pretty well coming down; luckily the bottom portion was black, so no paint came off. He did, however, almost grab a fender with his front wheels. Ouch!
BigMike was in the building and just like every other event we spot him at, he’s always being the ladies man. When Antonio snapped this pic of Big Mike, he was talking Sheila from NOS Energy Drink into teaching him Arabic on a boat headed for Mexico. Everyone knows Big Mike just loves motor boating!
Chris Davidson from Low n Slow won First Place at the event with his first generation Lexus GS300. Loaded up with 4 large-bodied people, the GS scraped pretty hard all the way up and down both driveways.
The Second Place winner was Alex Gutierrez with his 1990 Honda Civic EF sedan sitting on Work Ewing Mesh wheels. Nevermind the drive way, his car was so low it even scraped on the flat road surface when rolling around the parking lot! While everyone else walked around looking at all the cars, Alex was busy scrolling through all the photos on the @MotorMavens Instagram account!
Alex got a TON of attention from everyone at the event, because we could all hear every single piece of his car as it scraped up the concrete driveway. He seriously scraped MUCH more than anyone else! The only reason he got Second Place instead of First was because he got stuck on the way down the driveway… on a CRUSHED, EMPTY, can of Nos Energy drink!!!!
The event turned out to be a lot more fun that anyone had originally anticipated. Just like the other ItsJDMYo! meets, I always like the fact that you can leave when you want to and there are no admission fees or other drama normally associated with attending a car show. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun the entire day, and I can’t wait for the next one of these events!
::Mike Kim
Haha looks like an awesome time.
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Looks like a fun and great event!
Awesome! I like the event name too! Haha!
The offroad guys have rock crawling competitions, now the stance guys have driveway crawling competitions haha
@DaveT and PedroV: YUP!!! It actually WAS a super fun event. Super chill atmosphere, with a bunch of friends and fresh cars all around… no drama, no smog… we should’ve been playing Ice Cube’s “Today Was a Good Day” on the speakers…
THE aSTIG: HAHAHAHA the event name was all Tony’s idea.
@JMac: as funny as it sounds, yeah… driveway crawlers. They even had a first round of qualifying and a “driver’s meeting” so I was cracking up. I was like, damn… what is this, Formula D with driveway qualifying and a Top 16? LOL! Anyway nobody took anything seriously… it was all just for fun. Everyone maintained a good sense of humor around the entire thing…
Looks fun and cars look awesome…. But damn! How
Come people arent worried about breaking stuff on their cars?! All those cars look super expensive and i just dont know if id be down to bust up my car like that! Crazy!!
this reminds me of the old vidoes on you tube of the shakutan guys and boso guys all blocking one street to see weather or not they could make it up a certain driveway. kinda sick to see something like that in the states. now if i could only find the vido on you tube, or maybe it was on the poweredbymax.net forums some place cant remember
This is what it’s come to. Wow. “My car’s lower”, “NO, my car’s lower!”, wth? Who cares! Decreasing driveability shouldn’t be a fad.
Great coverage guys..Im glad everyone noticed my face change on the way down..surprised that lip still help up..haha..not exactly cheap..
Thanks to everyone at motormavens for the awesome pictures..
Pics look awesome as always guys. Good to see you out there.
has it really come to this?
@John Russakoff: when my TE27 gets back on the road (very soon), we need to drive our cars together! They would look awesome with the matching orange paint!!!
pointless….
@ john russakoff good to see ya out there too brotha!
I seriously never would have thought it would have gotten this hyped up and it really turned out to be some serious fun!
People may see it as being pointless but hey its like spending the day on the beach or in a park lounging and chillin out, it may seem pointless to others but the ones who are there are the ones to enjoy it!
@HOLLYWOOD – post em up if you can find the vids! I’m interested in seeing the roots behind this!
@Hollywood and Mike Kim : I have the video link! I’ll post it up in a few…
woooo…damn!! Holly Lee!!! woo hoo!
dude…Honda S2000 does not look bad at all! Also, two of the photos, i guess its Mazda, looks helluh photoshopped but it is not! Nice pics man!
It was great to meet you Antonio =)
And big thanks to Mike Kim for the awesome shots!
Despite the chipped paint and split/cracked fender, I had tons of fun that day.
There was no regret on what went down that day, it was one beautiful Sunday in SoCal with like-minded car guys =)
@Raman: haha, we posted a photo of Holly on our Instagram, and people had a similar reaction. You can follow her at @hollyxlee, but ONLY if you follow @MOTORMAVENS first. Haha!
@The Infamous Devil’s Horns Wing: Nice meeting you too! Your SW20 has better fitment than any MR2 I’ve ever seen… in my life.
LOL. Good times. It’s always good to be able to spend time with good people, laugh, and enjoy beautiful southern Cali weather.
This event was brilliantly conceived all in good fun. It intelligently makes a joke of one of the biggest obstacles to lowered cars. Driveways. At the same time, it brought cool dudes and cool chicks together with cool cars, everyone content to chill with one another and have a day of fun participating in a cool “event” that was done all in the spirit of fun. Just for the awesome feeling of liking what you like “just because”…and screw the haters. Even Formula D drivers were there having fun.
It was obviously not an event for people who take themselves too seriously or who would be too stupid to see that it was done all in fun like Matt, ollie and big o above. These guys act like they never do anything just for the feeling it gives them but I’d be willing to bet that they left their computers after they posted their comments to head to the bathrooms of their Moms’ homes, dreaming about “real” girls. I bet they secretly wish they were the cool kids. And they could be, if they stopped being such judgmental dickwads. Real girls don’t like that…
Great coverage MotorMavens! And a really COOL event! I’d like to be there someday!
Moms house huh?
No. Some of us have college degree’s, 401k’s, track cars, daily drivers which are one of less than 4,000 made,
All this talk about not enjoying fun, schwat in ze hell? I love having fun, esp when it means laughing at fanboi ricers. Who cares who’s car is lower? FUN= the oil staying in my oil pan, and the paint staying on my bumpers, and lowering a car so it handles better, NOT because I want to see how low it can go.
Silly fads like this need to die off, just like altezza tail light and Tsunami body kits. People wonder why the import community gets no respect from the outside world. . . the above article is good proof. Your car bottoms out going across tar snakes? That’s like being proud to be called the tallest midget, the smartest person with down syndrome, or considering waiting tables a profession.
Stay classy,
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luvm55oJdR1qa9yvvo2_250.gif
@ Matt –
a) Been embarrassed by one too many Hondas in your “less than 4000 made” daily?
b) Jealous much?
c) Cool story bro.
Hey Antonio!
Here’s the photo gallery from the event! Took a ton of pics.
http://www.autoshowevents.com/zenphoto/car-show-events/So-you-think-you-can-stance-January-22-2012
Low n Slow, one of my fav pics. Love the flags.
http://www.autoshowevents.com/zenphoto/car-show-events/So-you-think-you-can-stance-January-22-2012/So-you-think-you-can-stance-picture-2012-200.jpg.php
Wow Matt – It takes a truly inconsequential person to decide the value of a thing based on the opinions of others. Who cares what the rest of the world thinks or what they respect? Who really cares what you respect? Here’s some truth for you. Trying to impress others is a sure sign of a very small person. Not to mention, you’re spouting off to me about a college degree while using the possessive (‘s) to convey plurality. My ten year old niece would finger paint red ink all over your response, College Boy. Normally, I wouldn’t care but you brought in the idea that college and a 401k somehow preclude participation in the lowered car movement. I mean, you’ve actually submitted the possession of a 401k (again pluralized with an ‘s) to validate your taste in cars – as if that somehow makes you more intelligent (or classy) than someone who simply enjoys the aesthetics of a lowered car. I’m thinking logic was neglected along with grammar at your college. By the way, dude – the 401k is uber obsolete in post-bailout America and the dollar is leaking value faster than an aging whore. You’d be better off taking your money out of there and buying gold or silver to protect future wealth. What completely useless thing will you appeal to next? Your Roth IRA?
Listen bro, having a rare car is only cool if YOU think it’s cool and, if it’s cool to you, who cares if it’s rare or if it’s something common that you just happen to like? Why can’t college-educated people like you have enough intelligence to let others like what they like without your negative comments. It used to be common sense to say nothing when you have nothing positive to say. I guess it’s true that common sense is so rare these days it’s like a super power.
@ daredevil, relax man, they’re only opinions,i think your taking these comments a little too serious. Just because we dont like it doesnt mean we”re mocking ityou have your opinion on what is cool and we have ours. respect big O
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big O,
I never have a problem with people who respectfully share their opinion. That looks something like this: “It’s cool that that’s what YOU like but I’m not really down with it” or “Personally, I like F1 Racing more.” OK. Cool. To each his own. But when you call what someone else likes “pointless” or not-so subtly call the people who like a certain style stupid or “fanbois” or bitch and moan about how the import community gets no respect because of what someone ELSE chooses to rock – then you are not just expressing an opinion. You have then crossed the line into being insulting of someone else’s opinion which then leads to you getting insulted in return. See how that works? You can dis-agree but you can’t dis-respect. Civilization 101.
CR-X’s are EF8’s… not EF9’s. I’m just anal about that stuff though lol. The 2 corollas are some of the nicest I have seen in a while (AE and KE). Love the cop car wheels on the Nice shots, glad the event turned out to be fun!! Too many broken parts for it to have not been entertaining haha.
Coverage is up, sorry about the delay guys. Enjoy
http://standardfunctions.com/?p=2501
oops you’re right @inspector, i wrote that at 5am the night of…typo heh
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OMFG No… I’m actually ashamed to be a car person with worthless crap like this. It’s pointless, it’s gay… Take it to a track, grow some hair your your chest.
preach on brother brian,preach on…..
Mike,
good read. This is too funny, I wish I’d gone too and chilled with the homies and or haters, who cares it’s all in good fun and no one got hurt, stabbed or shot. Looking at everyones facial expressions in the background looks like everyone enjoyed the event.
Tony, I think you started something. I can see Formula Stance in the future! lol. or AMERICA’S BEST STANCE CREW.
@Herb: It’ll be a Stance Stance Revolution. LOL
@Everyone Else: You guys, this whole event was just made to HAVE FUN and NOT BE TOO SERIOUS about this automotive hobby! Please keep that in mind!
What suspension is that EF8 on? It’s perfect! Wish meets like this happened in Canada
The ideas in this scene just keep getting worse.
Lets start a fad where we mess up our engines almoast to the point of not working, but still just running enough to pull us around. We can all brag about how many cylinders our engines are running on (lower the better) and how long its been since we changed the oil. We can then have competitions where we show all the haters how our cars are barely capable of being used practically anymore and how its ultra badass because we daily em still. Give all the dopes that like ruining cars something to do.
Honestly, we dont go out to tracks saying “look at these dumb asses”while yall are talking about “my car is faster, no my car is faster.” We all do what we do because its what we like! you like to go fast, and we like to like to have fun in a community where there isnt constant debate about who is faster and constantly trying to show someone up. we do this for fun and because its what we like to do. dont hate on us for not liking what you like, thats just being a grade a cunt.
@Han_SoLow I agree! Making cars completely incapable of handling normal driving is retarded. Especially when you make it to where you are damaging the damn thing on a fucking drain dump. I can appreciate a good stance for looks and artform, but this…this is just stupid. If I ever stanced out my car, I wouldn’t ruin it on a stupid fake curb.
Stanced cars weren’t meant for this. Once again retarded. This is completely different from a track day, which is about improving driver skill and competition. Putting you at your peak. I mean, actually getting points for scraping? For damaging aero and fenders? It’s more of a “lets see who can afford to replace parts more often!” competition than anything about how aggressive of a stance you can make your car (while being usable). It’s dumb shit like this that has made me have a great disdain for the JDM crowd. I’m glad I spend my time at DE events and Autocross with the PCA, renegade miatas and SCCA events. Shit like this is a blight on car culture. Not as bad as street racing but still makes us look like chuckle fucks and not respectable.