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FROM LOWRIDERS TO HIGH RIDERS
Tom Gomez covers the low and slow, as well as the tall and mighty

This article is from our archives and has not been updated and integrated with our "new" site yet... Even so, it's still awesome - so keep reading!

Published on Thu, May 11, 2017

By: The LACar Editorial Staff

Contributing Editor Tom Gomez

Contributing Editor Tom Gomez

LA Car welcomes Tom Gomez to Car Culture Ground Zero. Tom was part of the group that started LOWRIDER magazine (check out his review of the LOWRIDERS movie for LA Car). More recently, he's known for his truck magazine articles. His repertoire of writings, however, runs the entire automotive gamut, making him a perfect fit for LA Car. Welcome, Tom! – Roy Nakano Tom Gomez began his career at around the age of seven, using his Hot Wheels cars and his mother's Instamatic camera to photograph the die cast toys on the kitchen counter. Not satisfied with the results, he borrowed his father's flashlight to illuminate the interiors of the toy cars. He then use the light to enhance certain areas of the car - all while trying to focus and push the hard shutter button. The end result was 24-36 photos of blurry pictures. "My mother would take the film to the local drug store to develop what she thought were family photos," says Tom. "But the experience taught me composition, lighting, and angles that best showed off the vehicle's body styles. I still use some of the same techniques in my shooting style today." Tom is now an accomplished photographer and editor, and has worked for a number of custom automotive publications, including: LOWRIDER (Tom started his career at Lowrider in 1992), LOWRIDER EURO, LOWRIDER BICYCLE, BLVD magazine (original owner and fellow editor Lonnie Lopez and Tom left Lowrider and created the excellent, but short-lived BLVD), V-TWIN magazine, SPORT TRUCK (as senior feature editor), OL Skool Rods, Car Kulture Deluxe, STREET TRUCKS, TRUCKIN, ROD AUTHORITY, and XTREME OFFROAD.

Tom Gomez at work, shooting pictures for magazines

Tom Gomez at work, shooting pictures for magazines (Brian Gutierrez)

In addition to Tom's publication career, he still found time to lead the NASCAR marketing campaign for the outdoor camping company Coleman. Tom played a key role in operating a three-semi-truck marketing campaign titled "OUT THERE" with Coleman. "It was a whirlwind tour of the nation's top NASCAR tracks around the country." Subsequently, Tom was asked to serve as K&N Filter's senior race program manager, where, among other things, he handled the program for Jim Dunn's funny car driven by famed NHRA driver Frank Pedregon of the legendary Pedregon family of brother's Cruz and Tony. More recently, Tom was hired as director of marketing for KING Offroad racing shocks, where he partnered with long time friend Jesse James and was the technical advisor on Jesse's Spike TV series, "Jesse James is a Deadman". You can see Tom with Jesse on the "Baja 500" episode. If it's got wheels and is fast and loud, Tom probably has either photographed it or wrote about it. Oh, and we should mentioned Tom also plays drums in a rockabilly band when his schedule allows. Thus, when he's not writing about what's fast and loud, he's playing fast and loud.

99 lifted Suburban on Mickey Thompson 35s (Tom Gomez)

'99 lifted Suburban on Mickey Thompson 35s (Tom Gomez)

KINGSPADE - 2002 Chevy Silverado extended cab, with six-link rearend and supercharger (Tom Gomez)

KINGSPADE - 2002 Chevy Silverado extended cab with six-link rear end and supercharger (Tom Gomez)

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