In Part 4 of 4 of our Final Bout Gallery ’19 event coverage, we rewind all the way back to the very very beginning to the very first day of our trip to Shawano, Wisconsin. Soon after arriving at Austin Straubel International Airport, Yasu and I hopped into our Volkswagen rental car and drove straight to our hotel to drop off our suitcases. This year, I decided to stay in the small-town of Pulaski, which was roughly 20 minutes from the airport and another 20 the other direction from USAIR Motorsports Raceway. I booked so last minute that there wasn’t very many hotels left available locally so Pulaski was the best possible option. When I came for Final Bout 2 in 2015, Yogi and I stayed in Green Bay which is cool in that it presented a more “city-vibe” but the drive back and forth to the track every day was pretty long. Being that Pulaski was a town of just about 3500 residents, I expected the hotel to be some spooky lodge in the middle of nowhere but it was actually a very nice hotel…in the middle of nowhere. It must have been brand new or just opened within the last few years because it was super modern. The AC was blasting, they had free cookies, and even free Continental breakfast, which was great being that the track was a bit far away from any food…

Once we dropped-off our luggage that Friday afternoon, we grabbed a quick snack at a local McDonald’s and then headed straight to the track to see if we could catch some of the cars that were there and maybe even some driving. When we pulled-up, we saw the pit area was filled with cars already as mostly all the competitors had already arrived earlier in the week. There was a bit of rain coming down but it didn’t stop people from hanging out and chatting so we went inside and picked-up our media passes before I started collecting media content. Most of the photos you’ll see today in the pit area was all shot on the first day (Friday) we arrived. Final Bout didn’t officially start until Saturday but it was cool to get early access into the lot to get photos of the cars. With so much driving happening on the track in the following days, I wanted to make sure to get photos of the cars when they were all cleaned-up and pretty. I knew by the end of the weekend that most of these cars were going to be pretty banged-up…

Ultimately, I guess it is pretty cool to see the event coverage unwind in reverse order from the end of Sunday all the way back to Friday. You get a real sense of how hard these guys are willing to go on the track and how they spared no cost or effort in making their cars the best they can be to compete. Final Bout involved both driving skill and overall visual style as their criteria, and looking back on these photos now, everybody certainly understood that. A huge thank you goes out to the people behind Final Bout for the invite and hospitality. I look forward to future events and the continued evolution of this event series. With that said, let’s get to the last of my photos…

One of the first cars I saw that afternoon when I arrived to Shawano, Wisconsin were the Canadian trio from Car Shop REACT…

Joseph Pacione’s URAS Type IV 240SX running a multi-colored livery designed by D~Magic…

Here you can see the cooling lines and GReddy radiator cap peeking through the vented Koguichi Power FRP hood…

J-spec 180SX taillights and carbon kevlar RPS13 rear garnish…

Emir’s HCR32 Skyline sedan with a full BN Sports kit, Volk TEs, and a livery designed by Mike Martino…

Martino also designed the livery and applied it on his own S15 Silvia…

You’ve seen plenty of photos of his T&E Vertex-kitted Silvia throughout this four-part series of FB coverage…

The Squeeze86 with a one-off livery done by Factory 83, Run-Free front, Vertex sides/rear, and Work Meister CR01…

Under the hood is a Panic Wire-equipped, individually-throttled, 3S-GE BEAMS set-up…

SHADYNASTY Paul Harrison’s widened TE Corolla with a set of classic SSR MKIII stuffed under the wheel wells…

Stuffed into the tiny engine bay of the TE is a similarly set-up BEAMS 3S-GE utilizing individual throttle bodies…

Another angle of the ITBs, with aluminum ducting mounted to the four horns to route air-flow…

The painted front headlight cover of Matt Panic’s RA Celica before he met any debris from the USAIR Advanced Course…

Nice neo-retro feel with the newer Work Equip40 wheels on the classic 1st generation Celica coupe chassis…

The Miura brothers from SEXY KNIGHTS getting their cars cleaned-up in the early morning before competition…

DARK SQUAD just a week removed from the Wekfest Chicago event where they won the “Best Team” award…

David Guerra’s MSports-themed 240SX with 17/18-inch staggered Work Emotion CR set-up…

Final Konnexion PS13 with Japanese Silvia brick headlights and a vented DMAX hood…

Ryan McClure’s Traum Type 1 JZX90 Chaser paired with Ganador mirrors and Volk Racing GT-C…

Dark Squad Tommy’s flared PS13 coupe with Silvia face and projector headlights powered by a turbo SR-swap…

S-Chassis heaven aka Shawano, Wisconsin…

Shane Lach from BOSSTOWN’s 240SX running a Origin Stream Line front and original bronze concave Volk TEs…

Polished SSR Professor SP1 wheels adding a nice contrast to the bright orange paint on Vince Leone’s Sexy Style RPS13…

Mike Hahnen and his 13B Rotary Miata from GLEAM…

Modelo Jones’ RPS13 running a rarely seen EZO-ISM front lip paired with an OEM Kouki 180SX front bumper…

Antanas Lingis’ getting some practice in his Origin Aggressive Line S13 coupe…

John Ruiz’s BN Sports IS300 when it was just freshly-painted in time for the Final Bout Gallery event and damage-free…

Josh from FULLCLIP in his turbocharged GM LS-swapped widebody S13 coupe…

Dustin Miles getting a lot of smoke in his Toyota 1JZ-GTE powered Origin Labo Race Line S13…

Dom GOLDSTAR’s candy red Z32 300ZX back when it first arrived in Wisconsin from its long-trek from Northern California…

One of my favorites since I first went to Final Bout 2 is Tommy’s PS13…

Aaron’s GP Sports Kouki S14 and JR’s RE-face FC3S…

EZO-ISM rear lip on Shane Lach’s RPS13…

Perfect ride height for Vince Leone’s 240SX. Glad this car survived the weekend with little to no battle damage…

More EZO-ISM goodness from Modelo Jones…

FRONTSTREET Tom’s 240SX representing Faction Motorsports…

Some more Dom GOLDSTAR goodness before his 300ZX received a thorough thrashing…

Mel del Rosario’s Midori Green KA-T 240SX…

Ryan McClure and his JZX90…

Japanese ride-alongs in Ilia’s Vertex FD…

Revgasm Josh’s Ikeya Formula RPS13 paired with white canards and Craftsquare mirrors…

PROCEED tandems during early morning free runs on the Advanced Course…

Frankie Bovino’s BN Type 3 RPS13 on Blitz Type 03…

Carter Jackson inches from the wall in his JZX100 Chaser…

Mike getting a lot of angle in his PS DUCE Miata…

RUN UP! RE Amemiya FC representing Northern California….

Close-quarter tandems with the PROCEED URAS Type IV PS13 and Ikeya Formula RPS13…

Bovino in his BN Sports 180SX…

Tomoya Suzuki from SEXY KNIGHTS riding with Simba from PROCEED…

Drift Team GHOST 13B-powered FC RX-7…

PROCEED FD running the Advanced Course on SSR Minerva…

Julio’s Final Konnexion S13 looking great as it rounds the corner…

Don’t see very many strawberry-face conversions these days like this RPS13 with C-West front…

Rich Whitemane’s Toyota Chaser was spectacular all weekend at Final Bout Gallery…

Juan Marquez with visual evidence that Work Emotion XT7 wheels look great on Cadillac CTS-Vs…

Luc James’ candy red URAS Type IV PS13 with original Work Equip up front and Blitz Technospeed Z2 in the rear…

SSR Minervas seemed to be the popular wheel choice for many that weekend at Final Bout Gallery…

Tim from RISKY DEVIL and his RPS13…

Jonathan Johnson’s turbocharged V8-swapped FD3S from HIGH FADE…

Great angle in Tomoya Suzuki’s SEXY KNIGHTS FC3S…

SEXY KNIGHTS x PROCEED…

Modelo Jones tucking those SSR Minervas in the rear and he exits a corner…

Kirby and this RB25 NEO-powered R34 Skyline…

Suzuki’s BN Sports front bumper has certainly seen better days…

Not all heroes wear capes…

A couple photos of Kevin Petersen and his SXE10 1JZ-GTE Altezza with factory aero and N Style flares…

Guys were looking for creative ways to carry loose aero parts around all weekend at Final Bout…

Chuck’s 1JZ-GTE Onevia from Southern California’s Auto Factory REALIZE…

Bright Sakura Pink Gram Lights 57DR on Gary’s Origin Labo Toyota JZ-powered S13…

Jay’s Sexy Style 240SX with a built SR20DET and SSR Minerva wheels…

IS300 tandems via RISKY DEVIL…

SQUEEZE86 putting that BEAMS engine to work…

…And one final parting shot from Final Bout Gallery 2019 featuring the subtle styling of the SERIAL NINE Altezza…

That is officially a wrap on the four-part Final Bout coverage. Will I return? Will Final Bout return? Who knows. But I hope you guys enjoyed the photos and a glimpse into this very unique event series. Thanks for looking…

And now, back to our regular scheduled programming…