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| South Padre Island, Texas |
| Review posted by member: |
| ray888fl |
| Description: |
| It seems as if Spring Break has become part of American folk lore, a rite of Spring passage. Everywhere from Connie Francis singing about “Where the Boys Are” to Elvis doing his best to show us wanna’ bes how to be cool - Spring Break just always seems to be out there. |
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It seems as if Spring Break has become part of American folk lore, a rite of Spring passage. Everywhere from Connie Francis singing about “Where the Boys Are” to Elvis doing his best to show us wanna’ be’s how to be cool - Spring Break just always seems to be out there. The first weekend in March is generally considered to be the official kick-off of the migration of thousands of snow bound college students looking for a break from the drudgery of school work in the hopes to find some fun in the sun at any beach - near any water that they can find. South Padre Island, which is located on the southern tip of the Texas coast, is one of the prime locations for the annual gathering of the masses, and on the first weekend of March, it also means the gathering of automotive enthusiasts.
Using the South Padre Island Convention Center as a home base, the Texas Heat Wave kicks off the first show of it’s annual Custom Car and Truck Tour in the South Texas sunshine. Sponsors of the event include some big names like O’Reilly Auto Parts and Competition Sounds, that have helped build the annual show to the size it is today. In fact, for 2009, the number of Show N’ Shine entries increased so much more than the 2008 event, the vendor vehicle parking lot was almost completely taken over to make room for everyone to setup. And everyone seemed to be there with almost any type of vehicle. It is becoming well known that Texas is
the largest truck market in the country, and the South Padre Island event proves just how diverse trucks can be. Article & Photos By
Michael & Rebecca Marrs
There were plenty of lifted trucks from mild to wild that seemed like street versions of a monster truck, while there were even more that have been lowered from a few inches to actually sitting on the ground.
There were also several muscle cars on hand to such as Corvettes, Mustangs, and some really nice Camaro’s to help keep everyone honest about our automotive heritage. Other entries include some nice Chevelles, full customs, and even a few modified late models that could be the next gen of Hot Rodders.
Activities at this years’ Spring Break Jam included some brave souls that tried their best to repave the parking lot during the ever popular Burn-off contest. While this area was blocked off, the crowd was entertained with the Hydraulic Competition, where the cars and trucks not only measured out how high they could ‘jump’, but they can dance as well. If you have never seen a Ford Ranger or an S10 Blazer literally dance to the point of all four wheels off the ground at one time, then you really should check this out. Meanwhile, out back of the main outdoor stage, a group of stunt skateboarders were on hand to bring a few thrills to the show that really caught the interest of the younger crowd. Not only providing a backdrop for the outdoor activities, the outside stage provided live music from a variety of bands during the day, along with a great innovative modern dance troop of young people from San Antonio called Unifyd Soul. They drew a big crowd at every show.
Of course the Spring Break Jam wouldn’t be Jam’n without some serious sound systems, so the crew from USACi were on hand to provide any of the audio competitors with a chance to gain valuable points on their way to the World Championship meet that will happen during the fall of the year at the USACi World Championships. Of course, anyone that has built their quality road tune system is more than welcome to make a pass and just see what their real numbers are... out of curiosity of course.
So when you start think’n about Spring Break’n, give some thought to the first weekend in March on South Padre’ Island, where the cool breezes blow in off the Gulf of Mexico and the Texas Heat Wave Tour just gets hotter every year.
For more information on the Spring Break Jam or any of the Texas Heat Wave Tour events, call 512-252-0283, visit www.heatwaveinc.com.
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