Sound Off competitors show off the boom in their rides

BYRON -- Jack Bristol of Chapel Hill, N.C., said he sometimes gets stares when driving around in his red pickup truck.

When he’s booming the 8-inch subwoofer and the six other speakers stealthily installed in the vehicle, heads turn the 71-year-old’s way. Sometimes it’s from the burst of his air horn -- pumping out decibels as loud as a freight train -- causing people to plug their ears or jump out of their skin with fright.

Bristol was one of 13 participants March 12 at the Middle Georgia Raceway taking part in an event few people know takes place in the world of car shows -- the Sound Off competition.

“People are mostly surprised I drive a vehicle like this,” Bristol said before cranking up his sounds to be recorded by the judge’s computerized decibel reader. “You don’t have to be 18 to do this. You can be 71.”

Bristol, an Air Force retiree of 29 years who also worked 14 years in sales, drove six hours to compete in the event in Byron.

“I call him ‘Jack the kid’ because he’s just a big ol’ kid,” said Steve Koss, owner of Lancaster, S.C.-based Koss Motor Sports, which sponsored the Sound Off event.

“I’ve been competing for three years,” Bristol said. “I wanted to do this since I was a teenager. Now my house is paid for and I don’t owe anybody, so I figured this was the time to do this.”

Observers and other car enthusiasts at the Middle Georgia Raceway for a car show and auction covered their ears as Bristol prepared to blow his air horn for the judges.

“I do pretty good,” said Bristol, who won the air horn competition blowing 118.9 decibels.

Bristol didn’t win the loudest stereo competition.

That honor went to Darnell Scott, who traveled from Columbus to compete. At 160.9 decibels, Scott’s stereo system was significantly louder than Bristol’s air horn.

Scott, 27, said he spent a total of about $2,500 on the bumping system in his GMC truck -- two 15-inch Power Acoustik subwoofers and two 5,500-watt amps.

The ground shook and any loose metal on the cars within a couple of feet of his truck rattled as Scott turned up his speakers for some bystanders before the competition.

Several who were at the race track for other car show activities held their ears.

“That’s only 10. I can go to 20,” Scott said, chuckling as he held the remote control to his stereo.

Scott, who retired from the Army after being injured in Iraq, said he’s been competing three years and placed third in a competition in Florida last year.

For Blake Lawler, 18, a senior at Jones County High School, the Koss Motor Sports Sound Off event was his first.

He entered his 2006 Nissan Sentra that’s pushing a Fi BL 12-inch subwoofer.

“I got into this because it came with an 8-inch subwoofer,” he said about his car. “That got my interest.”

Lawler said the system in his car is the third he’s installed in the vehicle.

As his loud hobby takes hold, Lawler said, it likely won’t be long before he starts traveling to competitions in other states like Bristol and Scott.

“Everybody had a great time. We had all demographics, all age ranges,” Koss said. “It’s not all about winning but having the chance. ... The soul thing that drives me is having fun.”

To contact writer Harold Goodridge, call 744-4382.