Final Bout Gallery 2019 Coverage… Part 2…

By stickydiljoeJune 8, 2019

I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into for my trip to Final Bout this year. It was about 2:30 AM when I was sitting inside my hotel room the weekend before, trying to decide if I was going to fly out to Wisconsin. Wekfest Chicago was happening the next day and I had to wake up in less than three hours to head to the venue for set-up. I told myself that I was going to get some rest that night, returning back to my hotel room early to get some shut-eye but I couldn’t find that much needed rest I had been searching for. Less than two weeks before Chicago, I had just flown back from Japan after another event out there and perhaps the jet-lag was still affecting me. My body clock was all over the place and I was pretty worn-out, I’m not gonna lie. I hadn’t booked my trip for Final Bout because I had no idea if I was even up for it. Yasu was in town and it’d be weird if I just left him in Los Angeles by himself while I was in Wisconsin so a part of me wanted to stick around just to keep him company…

On the other hand…I knew that if I missed Final Bout Gallery this year that I’d probably be missing out on something very special. Who even knows if there will be another Final Bout again in the future? I’d potentially be living with this great sense of regret if I just stood idly by, not setting foot on USAIR Motorsports Raceway to experience the event. It was inching towards 3 AM. I had to make a decision. Could I really miss what might end-up being a once-in-a-lifetime moment? Was it worth it for me to book this last-minute flight, which had already skyrocketed to over $600 to fly into Wisconsin? Does anyone actually pay that much to fly into Wisconsin? Are hotels available still? Would I be living in my rental car that weekend? How much was this all going to cost me in the end?…

Spoiler alert: It cost me well over $1000 when it was all said and done…

Of course I went. I think I like to live more positively these days, in my ‘older’ years, and believe that everything would work out if I just took a chance. I didn’t do much of that in my twenties. I played it pretty safe, but being safe doesn’t get you very far. Sometimes you gotta take that chance. Right before 3 AM that morning, just a week before Final Bout Gallery was set to take place, I picked-up that wallet off the hotel nightstand and booked my trip. A few hours later, while cars were rolling in for Wekfest Chicago, I even convinced Yasu to come along with me. We were looking at this green Civic hatchback that later won the “Best of Show” award when I put my camera gear down to book Yasu’s flight. For whatever reason, his flight was cheaper than mine, even though it was the exact same flight AND I booked later, but whatever, lol. We were on our way to Shawano…

You gotta take chances. They don’t have to be smart decisions or good ones for that matter. Sometimes you just gotta leave it up to fate and take that leap, see what happens, you know? I have a great deal of respect for those guys who actually went and brought their cars all the way out there to drive at Final Bout. That’s quite a task to prep your car, take it to a place that you aren’t necessarily familiar with, and hope that things work out. Some of these guys came from FAR away, with some even driving their cars to and from the event. Imagine if something broke and they couldn’t get the car home. Auto transport sounds easy, but it definitely isn’t. I’ve done it before, it’s not fun. Sometimes shit breaks or even flys off the cars when they are traveling from afar. And what if something breaks? Who knows if you’ll have the right tools on hand to repair it? That takes a certain level of dedication and a whole lot of faith that things will work out if you just take that leap. Perhaps these guys had the same mindset that I had, not wanting to miss out on an opportunity to be a part of something that might not ever happen again. Maybe they wanted to create an experience that they will never forget instead of just waiting around for it to happen to them…

Life keeps happening while you wait for opportunities. You gotta seize them. This time, it waits for no one. All the credit in the world to all those who understand that and make sacrifices to live their life to its maximum potential…

Now, we get back to the photos. Friendly reminder for those who missed Part 1 that I decided to do this event coverage in reverse, meaning that we started at the end first, and are working are way back to the very beginning of the trip. I thought it’d be cool to try it out. And the photos don’t really tell a story in any particular order anyway so it wouldn’t have any dramatic effect on how it all plays-out. It’s a lot of photos that I captured randomly just running around the entire weekend at Final Bout Gallery 2019…

Enjoy. If you’re new and you like what you see, I hope you stick around. Those of you who have been here for a while, I hope you enjoy the added diversity in content…

Simba Nyemba running through the competition course in the normal “Advanced” course, unlike the reverse route that you saw in Part 1, meaning that this photo must have been shot on the first day of Final Bout Gallery…

Rich Whitemane in his JZX100 Chaser would eventually win this year’s competition, driving with both style and skill on the Advanced course…

Jason Bostrom from Drift Team ANIMAL STYLE in his Origin Aggressive PS13…

Hertlife from HOONIGAN’s “Twerkstallion” FC RX-7 in the pits…

Toyota 1JZ-GTE powered Subaru WRX from RISKY DEVIL running an INGS+1 front and Work XT7 wheels in bronze…

Ilia from PROCEED’s Vertex FD…

Daigo Miura from SEXY KNIGHTS’ RPS13 180SX fresh off the boat from Japan…

Some B-Wave Wangan flavor on the Dark Squad S13 coupe…

Super aggressive Origin Labo Attack Line aero on ANIMAL STYLE Brandon’s 240SX. There are some tandem driving videos featuring Brandon and Jay from REALIZE in the Final Bout Vlog Episode, in case you missed it…

Julian from ANIMAL STYLE’s Origin Labo S13 which you guys saw some photos of in Part 1 along with the new Origin Labo FRP headlights…

Sebastian from GARAGE MOON POWER’s SR-powered R32 Skyline sedan…

I don’t know if you guys recognize this Kouki Vertex Lange S14 but it used to be Mark Arcenal from Fatlace’s old car. It’s still looking good these days and driven hard by its new owner, Fish from RISKY DEVIL Chicago…

The SQUEEZE86 with its bright yellow/purple/silver colorway powered by a newer 3S-GE BEAMS engine swap…

The wonderfully simple and stylish orange 240SX owned by Vince Leone wearing Sexy Style aero…

Paul Harrison from SHADYNASTY was one of the best drivers all weekend in his TE27 Corolla powered by an individually-throttled BEAMS 3S-GE…

Carter Jackson’s JZX100 represented Canada’s drifting community quite well…

Another personal favorite of mine from that weekend was Julio Antunez’s S13 coupe wearing full Final Konnexion aero and Advan Racing wheels. Looks like a Silvia straight from Japan…

Simba from PROCEED doing his thing…

Vince’s S14-spec SR20DET powered Sexy Style 240…

Ridealongs were welcomed and encouraged all weekend…

I saw so many body parts flying around all over the place that weekend but to see something like this was a rare sight. All’s well that ends well though and guys just went about their day with little care for damage or missing aero components…

Simba and Leigh from PROCEED…

One of my favorites from Final Bout 2 was actually Fish’s Rocket Bunny Boss S14. A part of me was hoping I’d see it again at this year’s event but it’s also cool to see Mark’s old car being used properly…

D. Miura catching a little bit of the dirt and grass at USAIR…

The Chairslayer, Rob Parsons, in his Vortech supercharged LS-powered 180SX…

Gerard’s Aristo from SERIAL NINE is one of the best-looking JZS161 builds in North America and it was so cool to see it ripping around the track on those custom VeilSide Andrews Racing IX wheels…

Jay Kubota from Auto Factory REALIZE in his 400HP SR-powered RPS13…

Cory Misko’s E46 3-Series sedan with a custom D-Max style front bumper…

Frankie Bovino from Faction Motorsports’ BN Sports Type 3 RPS13…

Matt Panic’s 3S-GE BEAMS powered RA21 Celica from SHADYNASTY…

Jackson and his JZX100 once again…

Chob in his Precision 6262 turbocharged 2JZ-swapped JZS161 from PROCEED…

Loved the simplicity of Kevin from SERIAL NINE’s Toyota Altezza…

More of Matt Panic’s Celica as it made its way through the Advanced Course…

Ilia did some driving when he wasn’t busy running the event…

Love seeing Japanese big-body sedans sliding around with big turbos…

Whitemane with the wall-tap…

When it comes to style and wild liveries, I don’t know who does it better than the guys from Drift Team ANIMAL STYLE…

Rolando Alfaro’s GM LS2-powered Z33 on Rays Gram Lights 57DR…

Billy Lemke’s 1JZ-GTE swapped JZZ30 SC sliding around luxuriously on SSR Vienna Kreis wheels…

Josh Deliz’s Origin Racing Line S13 with Silvia face, powered by an S15-spec SR…

SHADYNASTY TE27 Corolla with 3S-GE BEAMS power…

Aaron Eschmeyer’s incredibly clean Kouki S14 Silvia wearing GP Sports aero and Work VS-KF. Looks better than some show cars I would say, and trust me, I’ve been around a lot of show cars…