Momma Lowrider: Sandra Teran of Dukes Car Club :: Essays Papers

Momma Lowrider Sandra Teran of Dukes Car ClubOn Easter Sunday of last year, the sound of gunfire, then police sirens, interrupted the music booming from the cars on South Sixth Avenue. Three pile died and six were injured in two separate shootings that occurred within an hour of each other on the road crowded with cars and people (Stauffer). This event reinforced the way the public often views cruisers as violent juveniles or gang-bangers engaging in a dangerous, vain activity. The force-out of Easter Sunday, however, does not typify cruising or cruisers. Cruising - and the intense work that goes into making a car, especially a lowrider, truly cruise-worthy - offers an alternative to violence and gangs. Often, a car club helps with the work of customizing a ride, giving the owner advice on how to get the look of the car just right. Dukes Car Club has been one of the most everyday and visible car clubs in Tucson since it was founded forty years ago (Teran 10/8/01). Sandra Teran, a member of Dukes Car Club, represents an aspect of cruising and car clubs that few people are aware of family involvement and community pride. When it comes to cruising, lowriders star in the show, and have for the last thirty years. Lowrider signifies any automobile, from trucks to cars to motorcycles, customized to ride low to the ground. The asphalt-scraping suspension isnt the only renewal the cars often sport elaborate rouge jobs, expensive wire rimmed wheels, plush upholstery, and tough hydraulics systems. The cars owners, also called lowriders, display their cars by cruising slowly mass the street or exhibiting them at car shows. Despite the time and money put into a lowrider, lowriding is not just about the cars. It is also about family and community, as Sandra Teran explained to me when I interviewed her. Sandra is prominent in the lowriding community, and driving up to her home I could see why. Three classic luxury cars sat in the driveways, their meticulous paint glea ming. The love for all things classic extends to the inside of her home two jukeboxes stand by the front door and a photo of one of her sons wearing a zoot suit hangs on the wall. I arrived a few minutes early for our interview, and Sandra had gone to pick up one of her grandchildren, so I sat and waited.