The buzz and excitement leading up to Tuner Fest brought some warmth during the cold chicago winter months. This offered everyone a glimmer of hope and something to look forward to after the deep freeze. Until it was the actual day of the show, how does that one rain nursery song go... Rain rain go away, come again another day!!! No matter what urban myth or ritual we tried, the rain came down the day of the show with a relentless terenchel downpour that would not let up until the early afternoon. Months of planning and organizing lead up to this special day and I said this to my son, what can go wrong will go wrong on big days like these. But we got to just roll with the punches and never give up!
I tried my best to not look at the weather report every minute the week before the show. I had faith that the rain would only be temporary and that it would pass over. The morning of the show started like every other. I packed up the trailer with all my merch, promo marketing materials for the show, all the lights for the stage and lastly my cars. .jpg)
Well remember how i said what can go wrong will go wrong, well this trend started first thing in the morning. The girl who was supposed to run my booth wasn't answering her phone. Which is whatever but when you message me the night before saying you'll sleep in my driveway if you have to, to not miss the event. Well she missed the event, didn't answer any calls and now I am hiring a new cashier for the booth.
Then my buddy who was going to drive the fuga didn't wake up till 8:30am. So me, my dad, my son, and a buddy headed to the stadium. Roll in officially starts at 9:30am, when I arrived just before 9:30am there was already a line. I wasn't late, y'all were early. lol!!!
When I arrived at the stadium, there was only 1 of my check in staff ready and the others were a few minutes behind. Within a few minutes we got the line moving and started checking people in and parking cars. Unless you got to the stadium at 6am, no one waited hours to get in. Again, I wasn't late, y'all were early. I say that jokingly.
As soon as we began to roll vendors and cars in then mother nature decided to let the rain fall. Fall the rain did for a few hours. I ordered a ton of poncho's in anticipation of rain but of course amazon didn't deliver them till sunday. I had ordered them earlier in the week and Amazon said they would arrive in time. What can go wrong will go wrong again.
Luckily, I found a poncho in one of my boxes and I can't say how clutch this was. The rain was coming down hard by noon with more rain insight. Eventually the poncho was giving in to the elements and my hoodie was wet, my pants wet, and with every step I took my shoes would squish squash. It got wet, it got real wet.
So that's that, already an eventful morning. Then finally, my buddy driving the fuga rolls in and I put his ass right to work. One fire gets put out, another one starts. My attention was turned to the main stage because they were having some technical difficulties with the audio. 
The sound cars came through during this down time with some music to fill this void. But maybe the sound cars came through with a little too much because the neighboring horse farm called the cops when their horses started freaking out. The back up plan walked in right after the cops came. The walking DJ cart saved the day. What can go wrong will go wrong, remember that when event planning. Keep rolling with punches.
Now that the roll in is coming to an end and spectators are pouring in just like the rain pouring down on us, next we will take a look at some dripping wet cars in the next installment of Tuner Fest.
To say it rained may be an understatement because it rained hard and it rained for a few hours. Even with the rain, the atmosphere was alive and I could feel the energy building.
The wetness did not stop anyone from walking around and enjoying themselves. .jpg)
The rain only added to the vibe and made for some very artistic photo opportunities. If you were brave enough to withstand the elements. Which I am gratefull that our media guys did battle the elements because these shots are amazing! The only other H22 swapped civic, which happens to be one of my favorite honda's, looks so good dripping wet. .jpg)
Let's look at some more Honda's, like this pair. This pair of Honda's belongs to the Cuevas brothers. Not a single corner was cut on these builds. Ton of jdm goodness all over booth of these civic's like the gramlights and airwalker front bumper. The lime green is a k-series and the blue is a B-series vtec motor.
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One of the cleanest civic's in attendance I feel flys under the radar a lot. This one is a turbo single jingle with all the jdm goodies to boot. I got a feeling that this one has some awards in it's future.
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We couldn't talk about Honda's and not mention Cj's S2K. A true beauty and sporting a new color wrap this year. Take a look at our feature section to read more about this s2000 and see the transformations it has gone through.
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Before we head on over to the 2-step comp, awards, models and Dj's, we have to mention these two lexus'. The white gs came all the way from las vegas and the black gs came all the way from kansas city. This for me was a big deal because they heard great things about the event and had to check it out for themselves. I was honored and humbled by their commitment. So much so, we shared some beers at my crib afterwards. 
Let's get right to the peice of resistance and a true beauty, the amazing, the wonderful, Sen City!!! They say you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, well I messaged Sen City in the winter asking if she would like to come to Tuner Fest. Much to my surprise she responded and as they say, the rest is history. What a total sweetheart for sticking it out and through the rain.
Also, big shout out to our homegirl Nicole Lynn Sharpe for coming to model as well.
Next let's take a look at the 2-step competition! The battle went on for a few rounds were it was between jdm legends and some euro temptations. At first, a gtr and a rx7 where going pop for pop until the volkswagens rolled in line.
If you've never been to or experience a 2-step competition, well the volkswagens are usually the loudest. A volkswagen will literally sound like a canon going off!!
The last thing I want to talk about is the music. We had 2 stages and 14 dj's to pack 7hrs of music. Probably one of my favorite performances of the day was Zoreau and the drummer which headlined the 2nd stage. I mean, did you guys feel that energy!!! 
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Of course it ain't a stance down low party if the man GOONBA is not there. My homie Goonba is a savage and also is the one that helps me with the awards. I pride myself on the award ceremony because I have never seen it done like the way I do it. We build up the energy and drop the beat when we announce the winner. So the winner walks up to collect their award with a badass bass drop and the whole nine yards..jpg)
Shout out to our newest sponsors, LazerTek. They came through with these completely custom awards. From start to finish, I only provided them with the logos and examples of previous awards. The creativity was left up to them. Wait till you see what they come up with next at Summer Nights Rockford Speedway July 17th.
Big thank you to everyone, the ones that attended, the ones that worked, the ones that enjoyed the show and the ones that did not. Without you there will be no shows and I thank you all so much! Now without further adieu, the official Tuner Fest 4k After Movie by the king of rollers!