Text by NWMotiv.com Staff  - Photos by Josh Mackey, Armin Ausejo and Team Menace

In the car scene, there are two sayings when it comes to style: Trend Setters and Front Runners.  Team Menace, born from the depths of the car show scene here in the Pacific Northwest, are definitely the Trend Setters. The scene in the Northwest might date back past 1999, but until the onset of the blockbuster movie “The Fast and The Furious” it was pretty dormant at best. Sure, we had a few car shows here and there, mainly pioneered by few members of this staff, but nothing that would get major circulation. This is around the time frame that Team Menace was born, just a few years before the F&F time as we know.

Just like most other clubs and teams created across the nation, Team Menace was established by five friends who all shared a similar interest in modifying their cars. Many teams across the country grow vast in size over the years and the scene expands,  but Team Menace always decided to keep it small.  One team member says “our membership is based most importantly on strong friendships amongst one another; thus we chose to keep ours small and tight knit”. The team has always kept a theme with their cars, “Show & Go” as they might say, in other words, if the car isn’t completely built, you will not see it at a show or race.

There isn’t a single voice for the team, nor is there what you would call a president. Team Menace opts to let everyone on the team have a voice, which again strays away from the normal team organization which is ran by a president or leader. There have been 20 members of Team Menace since in inception back in 1999 but normally only has around 11 active members at a time. The most impressive statistic about this team is not just their dedication to the team, but also their support for the community. Every year the team helps bring the local scene together by either participating in the Toys for Tots Run, or by assisting in aid relief for a foreign country. If that’s not enough to impress you, then maybe the nearly 20 team awards will. It’s not enough that each car usually sweeps its class at a car show, but the team usually pulls in enough awards to make every member content.

Media coverage has been no slouch for this team either. Almost every car that has been on the team has received a print feature in a major publication at one point. Whether it’s Import Racer or Import Tuner, most editors know that  a Team Menace car is a worthy car to feature in their magazine. Having been nationally recognized on the SPEED Channel has been a huge highlight for the team!

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