*** Want a crxpo99 t-shirt? Send me an email. They are $15 each. Andy has a way to get them shipped directly to you. We'll get a big order and ship them out all at once. I should have pic of the shirt scanned in by this week.

When we got back, the Canadians wasted no time in partying. Wil McQueen knocked on my door around 1am (I was trying to fix the (#^$(-ing crxpo website due to operator error, doh). He handed me some Kokonee beer and I left the laptop behind =) When the cops showed up and asked us to go to our rooms, I got back to the laptop and getting things ready for the big event. Meanwhile, some of the guys strung together some empty beer cans and tied them underneath Ricky and No-Control's crxs, heheh.

Saturday we arrived early at Laguna to set things up. Andy, Eric, myself, Eileen, Oscar and a few others got to work and tried to beat the CRXers before they began arriving. It was a mad rush, but we did fairly well. By 8am, the rexers were already pulling in and Andy was dishing out the killer t-shirts and reg packets.

One of the confusing things for participants was the separation between the Media Center building and the central parking lot. Few people realized there was a 2nd area with food, internet access (laptop), webcam, and restrooms. (Something to avoid for crxpo2k)

By noon we had 80 CRXs lined up in the parking lot. Stefano Paris and Jeff & Amy Mathews set up a nice large tent for their ZDyne demonstrations. Brian of Hasport parked his 3-crx trailer in the rear, Andy was working the check-in booth near the Media Center, and Eileen and myself set up a CRXPO general booth on the parking lot.

Everyone walked around and checked out the custom rides. Some people borrowed other people's crxs for test drives and excursions. The CRX owners with nice audio setups were blasting their tunes. Every once in a while, you'd hear someone crank their crx to WOT and everyone's head would turn, heheh.

Around 11, Andy and myself brought gathered everyone for a talk. We introduced ourselves, said thanks to our numerous sponsors, discussed the planned agenda and talked briefly about the history of CRXPO, COG and where we're heading for 2000.

The BBQ didn't work out that great. We ran out of food and yours truly sprinted back to Costco for more food. Next year I think we should either do the pizza thing or catering. Luckily we had some nice people volunteer the pits. Oscar, Eric, Tam and Brent all took turns battling the heat of the grills. Thanks guys. That was nice of you.

At 3pm, we held the soccerball and trivia contests. Since we had so many prizes donated, we had about 8 winners on the crx soccerball toss. Ricky Crow won the CRX trivia contest hands down. Here are the other category winners:

a) Best dressed engine bay - ??
b) Best paint scheme-Mikey Lee www.importfan.com, Tam To
c) Craziest performance mod done to a CRX - David Newman with his LS/VTEC setup.
d) Craziest lighting scheme -Mikey Lee www.kooltint.com
e) Originality - Hai Dang in his cabriolet CRX
f) Best CRX audio - Bill Clark (unanimous)
g) Best original license plate - Rico Roberts ("CRXPO 99")
h) Most "Riced-Out" CRX -Mikey Lee quickteck.cjb.net, Rico Roberts,Ron Dizon Team Devotek

At 4:30pm we lined up our CRXs by color (Red, blue, white, yellow and black). As we left Laguna Seca, Andy blocked oncoming freeway traffic using his CRV, as our "CRX snake" slithered out of Laguna. We cruised Hwy 68 and made a wrong turn before heading onto Camino Aguajito (a scenic backroad which took us back to Monterey). I'll include some vid clips from this drive in my crxpo compilation.

At 5:30 we neared the end of our convoy drive and I intended for us to pull into the Hampton Hotel. However, as we got closer, I realized there was no way 65 CRXs would fit, so we re-routed into the local KMart parking lot. I jumped out of my car and ran into the median strip to videotape everyone as they streamed in.
Ahhh, what a beautiful sight! I have this one clip where David Newman slows down to leave a gap in front of him, then he romps on the gas and zooms past the camera. This will have to go into the compilation as well.

After parking our cars and talking for a while, we decided to get dinner together. But where would we be able to fit 65 cars and 80 people? I had tried in vain to find a restaurant in Monterey that would house us, so I was stumped.
Luckily, a lady next to me suggested the Round Table in nearby Marina. Wow, that ended up being the smoothest unplanned dinner ever! They happened to have a full staff, an empty back room, and a large screen with vcr all waiting. And when we arrived, the pizzas started arriving 5-10 minutes after we sat down. Talk about service!

I threw on an old videotape I had brought with me -- the '95-96 CRX Club International meets. Lots of oohs and ahhs emanated from our group as the crxs hit the skidpads and slid out of control. Then we put on the tapes we made from the same day (crxpo99). Everyone had a great time eating and watching the vids. We then left Round Table and realized how cold it had gotten. I went home and took a nap while everyone else got together Sat nite for a drive through the tunnel and some illegal drags. I heard Diane and Brian got to run in one of his killer CRXs, but then the cops showed up and it was a mad dash to escape.

Sunday morning we got together about 22 CRXs for a backroads drive. One of the cars developed igniter problems so we pulled over to help. After sorting things out, we took some short but really really fun drives through the hills, with Mitch leading the way in his b16a 1st-gen rex. My favorite part was fading my brakes and trying to hang with Newman. Those twisties always make the kid in me come out.

Towards the afternoon, me/Eileen, Mark, James, Bill/Tiffini, Oscar/Kayla went to Monterey wharf for some seafood and drinks. After we filled our bellies with ocean critters, we grabbed some gas and packed up for home.

David Newman's "Frankenstein" setup, zc hood and his usual bag of tricks.
Ricky Crow as "Swirly Boy" supreme. He handled the ribbing with aplomb. What a great attitude.
Daniel Ford's killer CRX had alignment troubles and, despite working non-stop with the help of Eric Bauer and Calvin Huie, his rex did not make it's scheduled appearance. (Dan said his rex will be ready for the upcoming NorCal mini meet. Good luck Dan)
I finally got to meet No-Control! Mike is a super guy and his CRX made me drool (custom pearl blue/black paint, zc hood, white rims, WW bodykit, ahhh)
Mikey Lee was parked nearby and his blue/white CRX was one of the absolute standouts. Custom rollcage, paint, graphics and performance mods garnered his ride many adoring gazes.
Brian Gillespie of Hasport brought their 3 10-second CRXs on a huge trailer. He provided a ZC swap tech demo which drew a lot of interest!
Hai Dang brought out his cabriolet-style Mugen CRX. Many jaws were dropping.
I liked Rick Tang's light bronze colored rex. Supercharged and looks to match.
I forgot his name, but the owner of the silver 1st-gen that is super clean....fantastic!! One of my favorites!

Thanks to:

Andy Ellifson - co-organizing crxpo, t-shirts, tracking reg fees, supplies, prizes, etc., etc!
Jeff Mathews - ZDyne donation, website help, crxpo shrine models, more.
Oscar Granados and Kayla - BBQ, truck, too many other things to list
Andy's friends Eric and Kyra -directing traffic in the hot sun, Costco run, BBQ, more.
Bill/Tiffini Clark -Awesome CRX Shrine case, crxpo planning.
Brian Gillespie (HASport) - sponsorship, prizes, zc swap tech talk.
Roy & Jay Lapid (GraphTech) - crxpo99 stickers donation, banner.
Rick Tang (R/T Motorsports) - prize donation, crxpo ideas, possible NorCal crx club!
Wil McQueen (Redshift Racing) prizes donated, beer & more beer!
Tam To - prizes donated
Robert Kuhn - prizes donated
Jim's Detailing - for doing a great detail on my crx as well as donating prizes. Website coming soon.
My girlfriend Eileen - thanks for putting up with me all those late-night sessions while I was working on crxpo.org. Sorry for all the cussing when working on my crx. You're the best!
Stefano Paris & Mikey Lee - SoCal convoy webpages/leadership and radio standards.
Rico Roberts - sacrificing his time to be our official photographer. Also brought his awesome CRXPO99 CRX. (he's sent me the developed pictures and they should be at my house this week)
Traci Genaw/Diane Harkins/Brent Slowik/Bill&Tiffini Clark - for my basketball/thank you!!!
Brent Slowik - for the mint cond brochures and remote control crx! (I realized too late that I didn't give you a prize for best stock crx! I hope the floormats from Japan help some)
Ricky Crow & Michelle - getting more Texans to come to crxpo, your unbridled enthusiasm and those swirlies!
David Newman - your enthusiasm and knowledge
Thevin Sattayatam and James for their long hauls (Illinois/New York)
Mike Martis (no control) for helping me out with lots of details
Mitch Dunefsky - leading us on the Day2 backroads drives. Fun!
Shaun Foster - Driving down to Monterey with me on Recon mission #2!
Jeremy Gomez - Helping me build up my zc and countless other things. Sorry you couldn't make it.
I can't remember your name, but the nice girl who suggested we call the Round Table pizzeria in Marina. Thank you! You saved the day by finding us a place to seat 70 people!
My sister Roxanne for lending me her 1984 Honda CR-X HF back in '85. Ya got me hooked on these awesome cars!

I'm sure I've forgotten to thank some of you...please accept my short memory!