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I won a contest.
16 years ago
Which contest, you may ask?
The EA games Sweet 16 contest, that's what.
http://www.needforspeed.com/web/nfs.....authorId=13007
I dunno if the link will work, but here's hoping.
This is the details of the prize.
Need for Speed is celebrating 16 years of gaming by giving away 8 VIP packages to the Formula Drift Championship in Irwindale, California. There are only a few days left to enter (contest closes 9/30/09) and the VIP package includes: airfare to and from Los Angeles, luxury transportation to and from the airport, 4 days and 3 nights accommodation at the AAA 4-Diamond Westin Pasadena, track-side seating at the Formula Drift Championship, and a Need for Speed swag package including an Xbox360 console, an LG EnV cell phone, a NOS cooler filled with NOS Energy Drink and more!
That's right. All that stuff. According to the rules and details, only winners will recieve emails. I got one tonight. I can't sleep now. Holy shit.
And how did I win this competition, you may ask? By writing about my trip to Los Angeles, and the subsequent visit to MotoRex.
Here is the letter I sent them.
"Hiya EA and Speedhunters,
Having heard about this rather magical-sounding contest, I decided that I had the perfect tale for your ears (or eyes, since you'll be reading this.) That story is that of when I made my first (and sadly, last) visit to a famous little shop called MotoRex.
Now, as most GT-R fans will know, the original R-Series Skylines were never allowed over in the States, as awesome and pretty as they were. From middle school up, I was like every other teenager who had seen the Fast and the Furious movies. I liked tuning up the cars and basically making them into rice rockets. I didn't know much about true style back in the day; I just thought they looked cool, and that was that. As i grew up, I learned more and more about the GT-R, and became rather fond of the BNR32 GT-R...something about the lines of the car, and the heritage behind it; I was enthralled upon hearing about it's quick claim to the title of "Godzilla"! I researched the hell out of the car mainly focusing on the R32, but also the R34 GT-R as well. I learned about MotoRex, and could recite by heart the process that the shop went through to provide US citizens with their own japanese supercars. I was fascinated with it, and yearned for the moment that i could go and visit, maybe even go to pick up my own car...
But then in my junior year of high school, my parents surprised me and my siblings with an announcement; they were planning a trip to Los Angeles for spring break. To say the least, i was excited. I immediately began planning on how I could convince my parents to make a detour to Gardena to check out the shop, and finally they said yes, just to get me to shut up.
So the trip finally comes around, and it's all fun and awesome and sunny, and we had plans to go from Los Angeles to San Diego for a couple nights, then drive back to LAX for the return trip. So on the way down, we made a quick detour; as we pulled into Rosecrans Ave (i believe that's the street; I'm rather surprised I still remember it), I was all smiles. Tire marks adorned the cul de sac all over the place from various customers trying out their new wheels in the simplest way possible. However, it was sunday, and the shop was closed. But there were still a few nice looking cars outside the shop. A green S14 and a 240SX with an S15 front end conversion sat side by side, along with a couple Hondas. I snagged a couple pictures (attached below), and went on my way down to San Diego.
We had a good time there, and got to see the zoo and all that (I especially loved the penguin exhibit) until we made our way back up. During this time, I had called MotoRex again to see when their hours were, and if it was alright to come check out their garage, huge fan, etc etc. It wasn't until we were on our way back that i got a call back from them, and they said yeah sure, we got the R33 and the R32, come on down! After much begging and pleading, we made yet another detour.
Now, when they said that they had the R33 and the R32, i thought they meant that they had one of each. Which was fine and cool by me; I'd still get to be in the presence of my favorite car of all time! Imagine my surprise when we arrived to find a not only a Team Falken S14 int he doorway, crammed full of tires (I later learned it was being taken care of after one of the Formula D rounds in New Jersey.), but about a dozen or so of the R33 and the R32. There were 2 of the R32's on jacks, one with it's entire front end taken apart. Me and my family walked around, my dad checked out the Drift car ("This thing has 400 hp? In this little rice bucket?") my mom took pictures, and my siblings futzed around and made fun of me for being such a car nerd. i ended up talking with one fo the mechanics there abotu the RB26DETT, about whether all the models put out the same power, have the same ATTESSA AWD system, etc. it was amazing. I have NEVER smiled that much in my entire life. Ever. I wish I could have gone there at my age now, knowing what i do at this age; i would have had so much more appreciation for the cars around me.
After hanging around for about 45 minutes or so, we decided we had to get a move on and such, but not before the mechanics told us to hold onf a second, and ran into the back to some shelving. When he returned, he handed me two rolled up posters of an BNR34 taking a corner. One is currently in my room at home, and the other hangs proudly above my dorm room bed. Again, i cannot stress enough that I have never smiled that much in my life. And I have yet to do so again.So finally we say our thank yous and goodbyes, and go on our way, but not before we drive by Nissan of North America, along with a few movie studios, which was pretty cool to see.
It wasn't but a few months later that I read that MotoRex had been shut down due to shady business practices, which upset me quite a bit. But I gotta say, I'm really, REALLY grateful that i got to go when i did. Living in Massachusetts, there's practically no decent japanese imports int he area. Maybe a JDM Integra, or an NSX here and there, but nothing too fancy. But now that the 2009 Nissan GT-R is sitting on showroom floors, I've had the chance to see a couple of them in person (The first time I did was on the highway, and I nearly crashed out of pure excitement)
Anywho, that's my story of my trip to MotoRex. Hope y'all enjoy it!
Thanks a bunch for reading my story,
Benjamin Scannell"
I'm still not 100% sure that I won everything, but here's hoping.
The EA games Sweet 16 contest, that's what.
http://www.needforspeed.com/web/nfs.....authorId=13007
I dunno if the link will work, but here's hoping.
This is the details of the prize.
Need for Speed is celebrating 16 years of gaming by giving away 8 VIP packages to the Formula Drift Championship in Irwindale, California. There are only a few days left to enter (contest closes 9/30/09) and the VIP package includes: airfare to and from Los Angeles, luxury transportation to and from the airport, 4 days and 3 nights accommodation at the AAA 4-Diamond Westin Pasadena, track-side seating at the Formula Drift Championship, and a Need for Speed swag package including an Xbox360 console, an LG EnV cell phone, a NOS cooler filled with NOS Energy Drink and more!
That's right. All that stuff. According to the rules and details, only winners will recieve emails. I got one tonight. I can't sleep now. Holy shit.
And how did I win this competition, you may ask? By writing about my trip to Los Angeles, and the subsequent visit to MotoRex.
Here is the letter I sent them.
"Hiya EA and Speedhunters,
Having heard about this rather magical-sounding contest, I decided that I had the perfect tale for your ears (or eyes, since you'll be reading this.) That story is that of when I made my first (and sadly, last) visit to a famous little shop called MotoRex.
Now, as most GT-R fans will know, the original R-Series Skylines were never allowed over in the States, as awesome and pretty as they were. From middle school up, I was like every other teenager who had seen the Fast and the Furious movies. I liked tuning up the cars and basically making them into rice rockets. I didn't know much about true style back in the day; I just thought they looked cool, and that was that. As i grew up, I learned more and more about the GT-R, and became rather fond of the BNR32 GT-R...something about the lines of the car, and the heritage behind it; I was enthralled upon hearing about it's quick claim to the title of "Godzilla"! I researched the hell out of the car mainly focusing on the R32, but also the R34 GT-R as well. I learned about MotoRex, and could recite by heart the process that the shop went through to provide US citizens with their own japanese supercars. I was fascinated with it, and yearned for the moment that i could go and visit, maybe even go to pick up my own car...
But then in my junior year of high school, my parents surprised me and my siblings with an announcement; they were planning a trip to Los Angeles for spring break. To say the least, i was excited. I immediately began planning on how I could convince my parents to make a detour to Gardena to check out the shop, and finally they said yes, just to get me to shut up.
So the trip finally comes around, and it's all fun and awesome and sunny, and we had plans to go from Los Angeles to San Diego for a couple nights, then drive back to LAX for the return trip. So on the way down, we made a quick detour; as we pulled into Rosecrans Ave (i believe that's the street; I'm rather surprised I still remember it), I was all smiles. Tire marks adorned the cul de sac all over the place from various customers trying out their new wheels in the simplest way possible. However, it was sunday, and the shop was closed. But there were still a few nice looking cars outside the shop. A green S14 and a 240SX with an S15 front end conversion sat side by side, along with a couple Hondas. I snagged a couple pictures (attached below), and went on my way down to San Diego.
We had a good time there, and got to see the zoo and all that (I especially loved the penguin exhibit) until we made our way back up. During this time, I had called MotoRex again to see when their hours were, and if it was alright to come check out their garage, huge fan, etc etc. It wasn't until we were on our way back that i got a call back from them, and they said yeah sure, we got the R33 and the R32, come on down! After much begging and pleading, we made yet another detour.
Now, when they said that they had the R33 and the R32, i thought they meant that they had one of each. Which was fine and cool by me; I'd still get to be in the presence of my favorite car of all time! Imagine my surprise when we arrived to find a not only a Team Falken S14 int he doorway, crammed full of tires (I later learned it was being taken care of after one of the Formula D rounds in New Jersey.), but about a dozen or so of the R33 and the R32. There were 2 of the R32's on jacks, one with it's entire front end taken apart. Me and my family walked around, my dad checked out the Drift car ("This thing has 400 hp? In this little rice bucket?") my mom took pictures, and my siblings futzed around and made fun of me for being such a car nerd. i ended up talking with one fo the mechanics there abotu the RB26DETT, about whether all the models put out the same power, have the same ATTESSA AWD system, etc. it was amazing. I have NEVER smiled that much in my entire life. Ever. I wish I could have gone there at my age now, knowing what i do at this age; i would have had so much more appreciation for the cars around me.
After hanging around for about 45 minutes or so, we decided we had to get a move on and such, but not before the mechanics told us to hold onf a second, and ran into the back to some shelving. When he returned, he handed me two rolled up posters of an BNR34 taking a corner. One is currently in my room at home, and the other hangs proudly above my dorm room bed. Again, i cannot stress enough that I have never smiled that much in my life. And I have yet to do so again.So finally we say our thank yous and goodbyes, and go on our way, but not before we drive by Nissan of North America, along with a few movie studios, which was pretty cool to see.
It wasn't but a few months later that I read that MotoRex had been shut down due to shady business practices, which upset me quite a bit. But I gotta say, I'm really, REALLY grateful that i got to go when i did. Living in Massachusetts, there's practically no decent japanese imports int he area. Maybe a JDM Integra, or an NSX here and there, but nothing too fancy. But now that the 2009 Nissan GT-R is sitting on showroom floors, I've had the chance to see a couple of them in person (The first time I did was on the highway, and I nearly crashed out of pure excitement)
Anywho, that's my story of my trip to MotoRex. Hope y'all enjoy it!
Thanks a bunch for reading my story,
Benjamin Scannell"
I'm still not 100% sure that I won everything, but here's hoping.
...as does the prize. Sweet deal, dude, congratulations. :D Awesome to read about. x3