Event Coverage: Scrapin The Coast 2019 Rocked Biloxi
/Surprise, that’s right, we at E3xtreme do cover more than just drag racing. In fact, we have a lot of different interests, from drag racing, truck & tractor pulling, dirt track, and yes, even lowriders and lifted trucks. So, I wanted to take some time and talk about an awesome show that we covered last weekend called Scrapin The Coast in Biloxi, MS.
This was the first time that I had personally been to this show, and honestly the first time that I had gone to a show of this size in years. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the crowd, the city, the fans, and the cars. To my surprise, I was absolutely blown away by everything. While the weather was straight out of the seventh level of hell, it was well worth the time to see this show.
Scrapin The Coast is a show that has been happening for years, and Biloxi, MS was the perfect host for the show. I was so impressed by the local police department, and their handling of the entire scene. Traffic was laid out and organized perfectly, there was no confusion on our part where to go either. Parking was spot on for spectators and show entrants as well. Upon arrival, we found out where to go for our credentials, walked in there, and was immediately greeted with a smile, and for some reason the man at the desk knew who I was (though I wish I would have gotten his name). Everyone there from the men and women parking cars, to the ticket takers, to the concession stand staff, to the security guards were all friendly.
I know what you want to hear about are the rides that were there though, and I will get to that in just a minute. First a little backstory on this whole deal. Most that know me, know that I spend about 75% of my life on the road covering drag racing, and that is my love, but a lot of people don’t know that I was very interested in the lowrider and custom car scene dating back to the early 90’s. I have always been a fan of, and enjoyed building custom car audio systems as well. Back in the mid 90’s, I think 1997 to be exact, some of my friends and I took the 2 ½ hr trip to Chicago for the first ever Lowrider Magazine Chicago Supershow. That was a game changer for me personally, along with my appreciation for what these men and women do to their rides. This wasn’t about slapping some wheels on a truck, along with some blocks and springs. This was all out, all gold Dayton’s, Reds Hydraulics, everything engraved, pieces of artwork. Much like you would see on modern drag cars. It wasn’t 28” wheels and body drops, it was 15x8” 100 Spoke, with 15” bumps, and three-wheel motion. Boy have things changed in 20 years.
Expectations for me were high at this event. For the amount of hype, I had seen surrounding the event, it had better live up to it, and if it didn’t, I was going to have to tell you straight out. Well, I am here to tell you that it lived up to and surpassed the hype. While it certainly wasn’t the Loco ’64 or Wrapped with Envy type lowriders from back in the day, the quality of work and craftsmanship is just as obvious. Instead of the mini trucks and ’64 Impalas, it was the big boy/girl trucks. The lifted scene has completely exploded over the last decade or so. This isn’t your buddy’s Skyjacker kit from 1998 either, this is custom work that would have some chassis builders envious.
Not only have the big trucks exploded onto the scene, but there was certainly a fair share of late model muscle there as well. Mustangs, Camaros, Chargers, etc. Some bagged and laid out, while others had more subtle modifications done to them. Everywhere I turned there was something to see, and this wasn’t a concert hall stacked with filler rides. This was a lot of high-quality stuff that made you stop and take notice. Just as impressive as the trucks touching the sky, were the ones that were slammed to the ground. Going back twenty years ago, it was all about the Mazda B2000, the Chevy S-10, Blazers, Rangers, Nissan Hardbodies, and your occasional fullsize 1500. If you were really lucky, you might know someone who knew someone that slammed a 2wd dually. Last weekend I saw more fullsize trucks sitting on frame or door rails than I had ever seen before. And certainly not hack shit like some of the stuff we did back in the day either.
Not to be forgotten, there were a ton of imports on the property getting their slam on as well. I was happy to see a lot of them seem to have gotten away from that stupid ass “stance” look that I was seeing a few years back, where the tires were toed in so badly I don’t know how you’d even steer the damn thing.
The stereo setup was something that I was looking forward to checking out too. While I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where in the hell the stereo competition took place, I did spend some serious time checking out these setups. There was a GMC with five alternators on it that was impressive, along with a bunch of other rides. There were some things that I noticed though. Some of the install quality was disappointing to say the least, whereas you could tell that it was all about how loud and not how clean. One thing that annoyed the ever-loving shit outta me though was the number of speakers mounted outside of the vehicle. I am not sure when this became a thing, but I hope it’s not a thing for long! Certainly, some impressive custom work in some of the vehicles as well.
Below you will find a link to the galleries of photos that myself and Courtney Paulshock captured during the event. This is certainly an event that I will be returning to, and it is things like this that we will be covering more often. There may even be a “show/street” car coming out of this camp soon enough also. A big thank you to our coverage sponsors for being on board for the event, and a huge shoutout to all those involved with Scrapin The Coast! You did an awesome job, and it’s great to see the car culture carrying on the way it has.
Photos Via: Courtney Paulshock & Damon Steinke