Our local Shakey's Bunch of Lunch Buffet offers the finest in culinary fare with pizza, fried chicken, and the signature Mojo potatoes. There is something for everyone and everyone has a particular favorite, with the exception of Jonny, who indiscriminately piles everything onto his plate in an effort to, as he says, "get my money's worth." A trip to the NOPI Nationals is much like a visit to Shakey's sans Jonny straight-arming you into the sneeze guard on his way back for thirds.
Just like Shakey's the NOPI Nats offers something for everyone, from trailer queens to dyno kings, lowriders to drifters, and everything in between. This year was no exception and we made our way through the doors that open every which way but normal and the heinous headlight conversions to find that perfectly browned Mojo slice in a sea of soggy potatoes.
Even a horrific hurricane and hellish gas prices couldn't keep the diehards away from the Atlanta Motor Speedway and our Tour zone was wilder than ever with the more-than-meets-the-eye interactive HD display rig and Need For Speed: Most Wanted Blacklist tournament. This contest featured multiple gaming stations that pitted gamers against each other in a battle for the best elapsed time around a designated course. Jesse Butler displayed the greatest dexterity and was the fastest at NOPI, which earned him some cool prizes from EA and a drift session ride along with Alex Pfeiffer in the RS*R S2000.
You read that right, Bubba, the NOPI Nationals featured an infield drifting exhibition that also included Manubu Orido, Kazu Hayahsida, Takahiro Ueno, and Daijiro Yoshihara. On the outskirts of the track Signal Auto's Yukinobu Okubo and special guest driver Katsuhiro Ueo (sidebar alert!) put on their own drifting clinic. In case you wanted to leave the driving to yourself BFGoodrich and GM both presented driving events that allowed you to sample all different kinds of rubber and rides.
Even those who live their life a quarter-mile at a time came to NOPI. MC Christian Rado helped us out by serving as our Tour Zone carnival barker after Kenny flew home early citing a lack of "really divine herbal tea" in the Atlanta area. Shawn Hillier even put in some time at the Tour Zone signing autographs. Ara Arslanian, Gary Gardella, Marty Ladwig, Len Monserrat, Stephan Papadakis, and more brought their cars and their sensible shoes to the AMS.
Standout rides included every car from JDM Universe (even the normally jaded JDM Wong was noticeably impressed) as well as the Hogan family Supras with the actual Hogan family running around the event. Other cars that caught our eye included the RB25-powered silver S14 from Z Fever and the oh-so brutish blue Spec Clutch Time Attack S14.
Last, but by no means least, there are the women at NOPI who make our pants sit funny. Our Tour Zone included the bodacious Barton twins and their quadruplets and the naughty NOS cuties. Nads even tried to smell the hair of the Toyo models but Toyo's own Stan "This is Not My Girlfriend's xB" Chen gave him the meanest titty twister.
But the greatest thing about NOPI is-Oh, man! Sorry, Yamz is leaving for Shakey's and we must get there before Jonny scarfs down all the Mojos. If you really want to know what the best thing about NOPI is head out on Tour with us next year. There are only nine months left, won't you make your travel plans now?
By The Shakey's Pizza Pr Machine
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