Halloween always brings back happy memories of dressing up in costumes of your favorite cartoon characters and receiving tasty treats by going house to house around your neighborhood. Nightshift Phoenix had its own version of "Trick or Treat" where the event provided many "tricked" out show car vehicles as well as an abundance of "treats" in the form of eye-candy models where many were dressed in costume and/or passing out candy treats to the crowds. Needless to say, it was an enjoyable warm night that ended the 2008 season on the west coast on a high note.
Many teams were present with a bunch making the five-plus hour journey from California. TWC, Hokori, Ar-kan, Hybrid. and RL2 were all out in force at this event with TWC bringing over 20 show cars that easily won the Team Representation award. Several teams took their displays to another level with the Halloween theme of jack-o-lanterns, costumed models, cobwebs and other spooky decor to make show that show car teams can also have fun. But let's not forget the precious points that several elite cars and teams are running for at their last event for the season. Alex Witkin was in the UrbanRacer.com booth with his WRX while Robert Wang's VW Golf and the rest of TWC were out to close the season with a big impact. By night's end, the Arizona dust settled and several took home some seasonal recognition and prize bonuses.
On the model side, where shall we begin? Local models like Bahara were present at the HIN Model Central as well as Cleopatra-like-dressed Ashley Sarto and Melisaa Paradise. There was also your traveling favorites like Jenny Chu and Helen Su that also did go-go duties on stage. NOS Energy drink brought in Corissa Furr and Alicia Whitten as well as several of the NOS drift and drag vehicles. Valvoline brought in a crowd favorite, Courtney Day, and TWC with Model in the Trunk brought in a lot of models/go-go dancers with names like Kira Kaye, Elly Shee and Christina Lee. Seeing many of these ladies dressed in Halloween outfits was a delightful change of pace over your regular model gear.
Many other vendors were present as well entertainment everywhere giving anyone a choice to keep themselves entertained throughout the night. America's finest like the National Guard were present as well as the U.S. Air Force that also brought along a monster truck that looks like an A-10 Thunderbolt. The XDL U.S. Stunt Riding Championships were also present with invited competitors competing for overall points. Boost Mobile had their FreestyleMX with several stunt bikers doing tricks high up in the air for everyone in the venue could see. Lastly, Lil Rob was the headline performance in Arizona, and he kept the crowd cheering later in the night.
In the end, a cold wind blew in which was a sign that the season is finally coming to an end. A very busy season it was for many car show competitors where many joys and even headaches were experienced at each HIN event this season, but all of them will stay memorable. At this show it was TWC who swept all the team awards with Robert Wang taking home seven awards including Best of Show Radical. For some, it's time to retire a show car vehicle and possibly start on a new project. For others, it will be a time to bring their vehicle back to the shop and begin plans for next season. For some there are only 2 shows left this season with HIN Honolulu and HIN Miami. For the rest, it's time to finally rest and wait til the kickoff of the 2009 season.
The complete winners list can be found on the NCCA site.
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