2005 NOPI National Review

2005 NOPI Nationals
Tuesday, September 20, 2005 Posted by: Torry

Above: NICO Spokesmodel Elizabeth Haynie stands next to the 1st place trophy awarded to NICO for Club Participation.

WOW! is about all that is can be said. Words don’t even begin to describe the 2005 Nopi Nationals.

NICO dominated the NOPI Nationals this year. For the first time ever, NICO entered the show as a club. In the past, we had come to the show as a small group, just to see the sites. Usually we’d have an “official” dinner on Saturday night to meet everyone from NICO. But this year was different.

We kicked this year’s NOPI Nationals off with a dinner on Friday night at the Roadhouse Grill. Over 50 people showed up. Some faces were new, some were old, but we all felt like family.

Saturday morning we headed to the track bright and early. We got to the track at about 7am and began setting up our cars.We secured space under our tent for Rex’s (Speedoctor) ’65 Silvia, Mike’s 700+ HP G35, Scott’s (lowjack) Alphasonik 350Z, and Cory’s (OneFastStanza) Turbocharged Sentra Spec V.Mark’s (S14MarkSR) crystal clean SR20DET powered 240SX and Fred’s (Palmerwmd) Supercharged 350Z created the centerpiece in front of the tent.

Soon after, tons of cars rolled in. The number of 350Z’s and G35’s were remarkable. Most were NICO members already, but those who weren’t were soon to be. The rest of the day was filled by thousands of positive comments about the club and the cars we had there. Even our Club rivalry for NOPI, Fa Sho, stopped in to give us some kind words on the cars at our tent. Thanks guys!

Our NICO Models also proved to be a real attention getter on Saturday. Not only were they signing posters for hundreds of people, but they were truly attention getters when walking through the vendor area. Walking with them, we must have stopped 5 times in the vendor area so that people could get their pictures taken with them.

Saturday night ended quietly, as most people went back to the hotel to relax. However, some of us went out to The Outback for dinner to kick back.

Sunday started even earlier than the previous day.We woke up at 5am to prepare for what would be the most exciting day of the entire show.Word of our area must have gotten out, because Sunday brought us many new people who we had not yet met. Liz signed posters left and right, people were in and out of our tent all day long, and compliments to NICO were heard around the track.

Elizabeth, our new head of modeling for NICO, brought the attention of hundreds to our area. Lucas Oil even asked to do a photoshoot with her for their upcoming calendar. During the photoshoot, when the Lucas photographer was done, tons more people continued taking pictures of her for at least 30 minutes.

The day had gone by much quicker than the previous because of all the activity in the area.At the end of the day, most of us went to the award ceremony, while a small group of people stayed back at the tent, and assisted Liz as she autographed more posters.

At the award ceremony, NICO was awarded the largest award given at the show–1st in Club Participation!

Additionally, the following people from NICO won:

Michael Delacruz – 3rd Place – G35 Sport Coupe Street

Rex Birkmire – 1st Place – Asian Classic Street

Slim Dub – 3rd Place – Asian Engine Swap Custom

Wes Stinson – 3rd Place – Asian Luxury Custom

Jonathan Coronel – 2nd Place – JDM Style 240SX Street

Andrew Margrave – 3rd Place – 240SX Street

Carl Hernandez – 2nd Place – Asian Engine Swap Custom

Darrin Forte – 3rd Place – Dyno 6 Cylinder Forced Induction

In addition, NICO gave out some awards that were voted on by members. Those awards go to the following people:

Mark Jackson – Best 240SX

Scott Parker – Best Nissan (350Z)

Slim Dub – Cleanest Swap (300ZX)

Michael Delacruz – Best Infiniti (G35)

For the rest of the photos, please take a look at:

AZhitman’s Photos
Neejay’s Photos
biggie’s Photos
Maverick7687’s Photos
Exar-Kun’s Photos
idriveaTTz32’s Photos
lowjack’sDrift Photos
lowjack’sShow Photos
DammitBobby’sShow Photos
DammitBobby’sGirl Photos

Thanks again for everyone’s support! Keep checking back with this page as we will be adding more and more photo albums as we get them!
Contact Info: Torry