KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It's ironic that the guy who made the most noise at the 2000 USAC World Finals is a quiet, reserved type.
Michael Jones of Lubbock, Texas, is so soft spoken that it was difficult to hear him above the roar that filled Kansas City's Bartle Hall on November 11 and 12. Observers had to lean in and listen carefully as he explained the features of his SPL wagon, a green Mitsubishi packed with 18 amplifiers and nine 15-inch subwoofers.
Perhaps when you have a machine that gets this loud, there's no need to raise your voice.
Jones, it turns out, spoke the loudest in Kansas City. His car produced a thunderous world record of 175.1 in the 1001-5000 watts Outlaw SPL event to take first place. Unofficially it's the loudest decibel reading ever measured in a vehicle at a world finals event. Jones further flexed his SPL muscle by taking home first-place trophies in three other SPL events: Bass Olympics, Port Wars, and Super Dash.
"The 175.1 was an incredible moment," said Jones, who owns Custom Sound Works in Lubbock (806-748-5683). "Our goal was to prove we had the loudest vehicle on the planet, and we did that. It was the best feeling in the world."
It was a weekend full of big numbers. The 13th annual USAC World Finals drew a record crowd of 16,000 people and 70 exhibitors. By all accounts it was the best-attended world finals in car audio competition history.
"We had an awesome weekend," said USAC President Ralph Randall. "The level of competition in every event was intense but very fair. We didn't have a single controversy about the results. And, of course, the show attendance was incredible."
Fans at the show got to see more than 500 vehicles, including 170 in the Sound Quality competition. A custom car show sponsored by the Kansas City car club Skreet Ho's attracted more than 160 cars.
If hundreds of unique cars weren't enough to interest you, there was also the Texas Bikini Team. Then on Saturday evening rap star Tone Loc was in the house. There was a hydraulic car hopping contest (the cars hopped, not the owners), and a neon "glow-off." Three radio stations conducted live remote broadcasts from the arena and a couple of local TV stations sent crews. There also was a film crew from the TV show "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" on hand to do a documentary piece on legendary competitor Alma Gates.
The Sound Quality competition at the 2000 USAC world showdown was easily the best in the organization's 13-year history. Judges were especially impressed with the Novice division, which attracted a field of 48 superb vehicles. World Finals rookie Timmy Ferguson of Metairie, Louisiana, finished at the head of the class, taking Best of Show in the Novice category.
"There were a lot of very impressive cars in the Novice division," noted veteran USAC judge Frankie Neely. "There are actually some cars in this Novice class that could compete against the big boys."
The "big boys" in this case were soundoff stars such as Mark Eldridge, John Pitts, Markey Dietrich, Todd Crowder, Frank Rougeau, and Mickey Brones, among others. Eldridge edged Pitts in the Expert 601+ class and also took home a Best of Show trophy. Dietrich won his third straight title in the Pro 151-300 class; Crowder got his third win in the Pro 601+ class; and Brones took home his fourth consecutive trophy in Pro 301-600. Rougeau, who had won seven of the previous eight championships in the Pro 0-150 division, got bumped by Kurt Scherer and his Extreme Audio vehicle from Manitowoc, Wisconsin.