After the madness of Hot Import Nights Los Angeles, the city of San Mateo braced itself for round two of the hottest import car show on the planet. There are those who think that the show scene is old news and that drift is the new kid on the block. From the looks of what went down in Los Angeles and San Mateo, it just might be the magazines and internet sites broadcasting the downfall of HIN are the ones on their last legs, not HIN.

            Proof that the show scene was alive and kicking like a twelve-year-old at Neverland Ranch could be seen in the quality of the privately owned vehicles registered to compete in San Mateo. In fact, some of the top-notch vehicles in the competitor area made a few corporate demo cars look amateurish. Team Hokori showed up in force with some wild rides that included an S2K sporting a yellow-and-black color scheme that inspired thoughts of a carbon-kevlar bumblebee on steroids. TWC brought along enough bling to make even The Donald feel poor, taking home prizes for Best Team Represent and Team Results. Tajai Das, who pulled a Ben Johnson in Los Angeles, was stripped of his Best Of Show Award only to be re-instated by NCCA officials in time to compete in San Mateo, bringing his record to a perfect 2-and-0 by the time the Expo Center closed its doors.

            Hot Import Nights comes well prepared for its attention-deficient followers, with MC Jin rocking the mic on the Pepsi Stage and the always popular HIN Glo-Go Dancers shaking what their mamma's gave them on the Mazda stage to beats spun by Lady Tribe, Miss Lisa and Colleen Shannon. A San Mateo exclusive was the Top Of The World Fashion Show, which featured a 48' elevated plexiglass catwalk (upskirt shots sold separately). The only thing causing a longer traffic jam than Les Wong's RX-7 was the crowd surrounding Modified's M-Lounge, where spectators could catch a glimpse of the hottest bodies in the industry like Mia Guzman, Sasha Singleton and Masiumi Max.