The Nopi Nationals and the drive to the show, called the Nopi Tour was an annual drive and show on the east coast that always had a huge turnout. I was lucky enough that a good friend of mine still had the CD (yes a CD) that I had given him of the show.
The show itself was held at Atlanta Motor Speedway and would take up the entire infield area. The show was 2 days of craziness that typically had an H2Oi after party theme with races, burnouts and all sorts of other antics taking place each night.
One of my favorite things outside of the sear size of the show, which included drift demo's and an autocross course hosted by BFG where you'd get to drive cars that were outfitted with a BFG and a competitors tires (it was always fun to tear up someone else's car).
But back to my favorite part which was the multiday drive to the show. The drive would start up in the northeast, somewhere around the NY/NJ area and would be a point to point "drive" that would have multiple stops at performance shops and other key points for food and etc.
Along the way and at each stop, more and more cars would join in. At certain times of the drive there would be 200-300 cars all driving together. I always loved that part. For me it was all about getting some rollers or getting ahead of the group and shooting from the side of the road, and of course there was always fun to be had when you had this many car rolling together.
The show for the most part was broken into sections by Make and Model, so you'd just head over to a specific area to check all the Honda's, Toyota's or etc.
The 2004 Nopi Nationals was definitely about body modifications and huge stereos. Plenty of cars were ruined (modified) with every different type of headlight and taillight combination possible. Some were very well done with others; let's just not talk about those.
I cringe thinking about how many Honda's I saw sporting Supra taillights, but that was the thing to do.
It's interesting looking back through all these photos that are 15+ years old, seeing cars that are now considered classics and are highly sought after, were some of the cleanest cars at the show.
Cars like the Type-R, NSX, Skyline or Supra back then were the "it" cars and they still are now.
For me I really enjoy looking back through these old pics and really wish I had kept all the different show, races and etc. that I shot ack in the day. Its funny to now look back at the different automotive trends and see what is still relevant today.
For me back in 2004 I had been on the scene for a few years (after watching the original F&F movie) but the Nopi Tour and Nopi Nationals were definitely the catalyst that hooked me into the JDM and Import Racing scene and I've never looked back since.
The one thing I wish I did was keep all my old photos (both print and digital) I honestly have no idea how I lost these throughout the years but I was excited to receive this back from my good friend. Now it's time to get back to Project 71-109 and prepare for the Vtec Club Event at Chuckwalla March 6. This will be my first point ranking event I've participated in and the first trackday after getting my car back. I'm hoping that I can get all my new parts installed in time.
Everything Else. Enjoy!!
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