Eric Arriaga wins Car Show 2006

One may see him on weekdays in his khaki uniform, going around the islands to recruit prospective candidates for the U.S. Marines. Last Saturday, though, the Marine sergeant showed another facet to his character, besting others with his customized car to bring home the top award in this year’s Car Show.

Eric Arriaga got the nod of the judges, winning first place in the 2/4 Door Xtreme Show Category with his “pimped” Honda Civic sedan. Arriaga also garnered the highest points given by the judges, giving him the Best of Show award this year.

Arriaga calls his car his “baby,” which has been improved and overhauled, making it the most state-of-the-art vehicle on the island. Among the enhancements made on the car are five state-of-the-art TV monitors, including two on his 100-degree vertical doors. He also removed the backseats and replaced them with two mega-bass subwoofers, complementing his high-tech audio player.

Arriaga’s “baby” had also caught the eye of car aficionados in Guam, as it also bagged the first prize for Xtreme Sport Compact 2-Door Category during the biggest car show in Guam in April.

Arriaga said that cars, among other things, are his passion. He said he has already spent over $14,000 just to upgrade his winning car. He said he would spend another $10,000 on it for further enhancements.

He said he uses his winning car to go around the island but he uses another car for work.

Successful show

This year’s Car Show was organized and sponsored by Sorensen Broadcasting – Power 99 and The Rock.

Power 99 and The Rock station manager Tina Palacios said she was overwhelmed with the success and turnout in this year’s car show. The event, which started at 4pm, drew over 2,000 community members to the Garapan basketball court last Saturday.

Palacios said this year the car show had more participants. There were also more food and other vendors during the event.

Palacios thanked the sponsors such as Joeten Motors, Triple J, and Shell Marianas, among many others. She cited Shell Marianas for bringing over drag race champion Romeo Salas for an exhibition during the event.

The car show also had a hotdog-eating contest, a burnout contest and a Teeny-Weeny homemade bikini fashion show late in the evening.

Winners
For the 3 A’s Polyshine Sound Off contest, winners are: Aj Fejeran, first; Olympio Muna, second; and Jack Muna, third. For Shell Marianas Burnout Competition: Sang Kim, first; Tony Cruz, second; and, Luis Guerrero, third.

The advance category for 2/4-Door Category winners are: Kurt Sablan, first; Melvin Ada, second; and, Kenji Yoshida, third. For Xtreme 2/4-Door Category: Arriaga, first; Leo Cruz, second; and, Sang Kim, third.

For the SUV Category, Keizo Ishida walked off with the grand prize, while in the Trucks category, Reynard Aranda won first place, followed by Ramon Villagomez and Keizo Ishida.

Hot female rides winners were: Azumi Ishida, first and Madeline Indalecio, second. Best of Show went to Arriaga.