Forumfest 2022

Jun 24

TEXT - Vinnie Nguyen

Since its inception in 2010, ForumFest has always been about the gathering of various forums, car clubs, and groups coming together to share ideas, connect, and build relationships with one another despite being into different platforms. With “forum” being in the event name, online forums were one of the main focuses of the yearly gathering. Online forums were widely popular as that was where you would go for camaraderie, showing off your latest mods, and most importantly, learning from one another.

In more recent years, traditional online forums have seen a steady decline of participation, but the idea of “forums” have not. A forum is defined as, “A place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.” With the rise of different online forums like Facebook groups, Instagram groups, and others, we felt that it was important to bring back ForumFest and celebrate the evolution of forums.

Last summer, when Pacific Raceways confirmed that we’d be having a second date for another event, we were excited to be able to finally bring back such an important event for our community. In past years for ForumFest, we’ve always had a fight with the weather for the month of June and this year, it was no different. Days leading up to the event, the forecast was ever changing and it wasn’t until the day of the event where we had a confirmation that the skies were going to be clear for the day.

The morning consisted of our staff getting show cars and vendors checked in, staged, and parked in the show area, all of which went smoothly. By 9:15am we were all ready to go. When it comes to planning events a year ahead, it’s always hard to try and foresee all factors that could affect the event and as spectators started trickling in, we knew that it was going to be a more intimate event. We realized that with combination of the iffy weather, graduations, Father’s Day weekend and the closing of a portion of 405, it would deter spectators and participants alike. Nonetheless, we were optimistic about the day.

Joshua Padgett of Team Relentless reppin’ their flag out the passenger side of his Honda Oddyessy as they rolled in.

Anthony Dahmane of Team Velocity and his Green Galaxy wrapped Audi R8 waiting to check in.

Randy Olivarez of Team Menace and his Honda S2000 sitting nicely on Desmond Regamasters. Find us a cleaner show ready S2000, we’ll wait.

Judging was set to begin at 10am and after a quick meeting with the judges, we all went out to the show area to check on vendors and car show competitors. The best thing about all makes car shows are the different types of builds you get to see and the vision each owner has.

Andrew McCarter and his widebody Toyota Corolla. We haven’t seen many people modify this platform, but Andrew executed his build well!

Stoph Johnson and his dogs, Bocce and Treasure brought out their Nissan Cube. The back of the Cube is completely dog friendly! Furry friends are always welcomed at our events. We also hope to see Stoph’s Nissan Pulsar GTi-R at the next event!

One of our vendors, Austin Hironaka of Hiro’s Hotrods choppin’ it up with Boeuth and his wife Marissa. If you guy’s don’t know about Hiro’s Hotrods, make sure you check them out! They offer complete custom builds, engine swaps, fabrication, aftermarket parts and installation, merchandise and much more.

Speaking of Boeuth, his widebody 2JZ powered Lexus GS300 received a lot of attention and he took home the Best Lexus award at the end of the day.

One of our favorites from the show was Hiro Kanno’s supercharged Ford Mustang. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Hiro and his Mustang. It’s gone through many iterations over the years, but you can see the passion in his car from all the details. Check out all the carbon fiber goodness he’s running and oh, the massive Procharger drive in the engine bay. By the end of the event, our judges agreed that Hiro would win our Best Domestic award.

Another favorite was Johnson Swo Keowongphet’s 1972 Mercedes 280. It’s not every day you see an old school Mercedes on hydraulics. Talk about personality. It’s always dope to see the boundaries being pushed with builds like these.

There weren’t many hiccups throughout the day. Due to the rain coming and going throughout the week, drag racing was unfortunately delayed. Pacific Raceway’s crew were working hard to dry off the drag strip and the fruits of their labor were rewarded when cars were lining up at the starting line. Car shows are always better when racing is involved.

As the day went on, spectators, car show competitors, vendors, and NWMotiv staff alike were enjoying the day, talking with one another sharing stories and laughs. More intimate events allow more for personal conversations and connections which is always a breath of fresh air at car shows.

Tyler and some friends admiring his supercharged Vertex S14.

ForumFest 2022 would not have been as successful as it was without our sponsors and vendors. We had many returning vendors and sponsors and a few new ones as well!

Aimless Goods, a locally owned and operated printing business were our official Event Apparel Sponsor. With their partnership, every car show competitor received an event shirt as part of their registration package. We’ve been working with Aimless Goods for many years and they are our go to for all things custom apparel and stickers. If you guys need anything printed, cut, or even need pointers on getting your vision on apparel or stickers/vinyl, hit them up!

And if didn’t get a chance to cop a shirt at the event, you can buy them here!

As for our car show awards, we had a couple of partners who came on board. Never Content, a returning sponsor jumped on board once again to help provide awesome awards for our show winners! They’ve been great partners and we’re glad to have them by our side. For all of your Japanese street style automotive parts, apparel, and accessories needs, check them out!

A newcomer to our events were Motul! They wanted to have a bigger presence in the Pacific Northwest, and we were excited to have them be a part of ForumFest 2022, especially as an award sponsor. Recognized worldwide as “The Specialist in Synthetic Lubrucants,’ Motul is a French company specialized in the manufacturing and marketing of performance products. For more information, check them out at G2 Distribution, our local Motul distributor!

Stefan from G2 Distribution/Motul talking to Cedric about Motul products!

Make sure you guys go show some support to all of our other vendors as we couldn’t have done it without them!

BIG ISLAND POKE

DAILYDRIVEN

DIRECT IMPORT PARTS SHOP

Before the awards ceremony, we held a raffle for prizes generously donated by our vendors. We decided to let the winners choose their prizes randomly. It was exciting to see that we had a different winner every time!

Then, it was time for the awards! Thanks to Motul and Never Content, we had some sweet car show awards. We had to bring back the rain drop as an homage to our past awards. And what is more Pacific Northwest than rain?

Crews such as Team Menace, Jaded, Lexus Society, PacWay, and many others came to ForumFest to compete for the Best Team award. By the end of the day, Team Menace and some of their newly inducted members took home the sought after Best Team award and their members, Daniel, Gabriel, Kai, Randy, and Ryan all took home awards in their respective categories as well! It’s no surprise as their team has over 20 years of car show experience. These 5 were able to take home a lot of hardware, we can’t imagine how many awards they’d win if all of Team Menace was in attendance.

Daniel Nguyen, Gabriel Tam, Kai Tan, Randy Olivarez, and Ryan Wijangco

Jaded, a more up and coming team came out strong for ForumFest and took home 2nd Place Team. A few of their members, Jasper and Victor also took home some hardware for themselves!

Jasper Marzan and Victor Chan

We must say, there was an overwhelming positive response from our competitors, as they stayed for the whole day and every winner was present to receive their award. It’s reassuring to know that our community believes in what we’re trying to accomplish and we’re proud to be one of the many representatives for our Pacific Northwest automotive community. A congratulations goes out to all of our winners and we thank you all again for your continued support. We’ll see you guys at the next one!