Every year, one of the car shows I look forward to the most is the West Texas Shakedown in San Angelo. I’ve been making this trip for years, and every year I try to bring at least a couple of models along with me.
If you want to see how last year’s trip went, you can check out my West Texas Shakedown 2025 coverage here.
This year, I originally had three girls scheduled to go. Unfortunately, one of them injured her toe just a few days before the show and had to back out. That left me with two blondes for the weekend — Amelia Rae and Parker Murphy.
I’ve known Amelia for a while now. I first photographed her back in April 2023, and since then we’ve worked together on a bunch of different projects and become really close friends. If you want a little more of that backstory, you can check out Amelia Rae: Naked Valentine.
Parker is a much newer friend.
We first shot together back in April of this year. We didn’t really know each other before that shoot, but we hit it off almost immediately. She came back and modeled for one of my shootouts on Memorial Day, and somewhere along the way I talked her into heading out to West Texas with me. You can see a little more of our first shoot together in Perfect Parker: Small Frame, Big Heat.
This would be the first car show for both of them.
There wasn’t really a road trip this year. Amelia, Parker and I were all coming from different directions, so everybody drove separately and we just agreed to meet in San Angelo Friday afternoon.
By dinnertime, everybody was in town, checked in and hungry.
And if you read my coverage from last year, you probably already know where we went.
Rosa’s.
Going to Rosa’s on Knickerbocker has pretty much become part of my West Texas Shakedown routine. Every girl I’ve taken there has liked the place, and Amelia and Parker were no different. Parker even told me she knows there’s one around College Station, which means I may have to make that drive one day just because I’m craving Rosa’s.
We completely over-ordered, ate way too much and still ended up carrying leftovers back to the hotel.
Pretty normal start to a Shakedown weekend.
Saturday
Saturday morning started early.
We got ourselves together, stopped for ice and drinks, grabbed some breakfast burritos from Hidalgo’s and headed out to the show.
This year was a first for everybody because West Texas Shakedown had moved to its new home at Concho Valley Dragway. Unlike previous years, the entire show was outside.
That made me a little nervous.
San Angelo. September. Outside all damn day.
I knew the heat could be an issue. Rain was another possibility. As it turned out, the wind ended up being the biggest pain in the ass. Thankfully, it also kept the temperature from feeling quite as brutal, so I guess I can’t complain too much.
What I really didn’t know was what kind of turnout to expect.
Between the economy, fuel prices and moving the entire show to a different location, I wondered if attendance might be a little lighter than normal.
Nope.
That sucker was packed.
Cars and trucks everywhere.
Raymond Garcia was gracious enough to hook us up with a golf cart for the entire weekend, and thank God he did because we damn sure put some miles on that thing going from one end of the showgrounds to the other.
At first, Amelia and Parker were a little unsure about everything. Neither one had ever done a car show before, so they really didn’t know what to expect or exactly what they were supposed to be doing.
That didn’t last very long.
Before long, we were cruising around the showgrounds and both girls were jumping out to pose with cars and trucks left and right.
They started getting more comfortable. People started recognizing them. People wanted pictures with them. Vehicle owners wanted them posing with their rides.
Pretty soon, they had themselves a little fan club.
Who doesn’t love blondes?
Back at our booth, they were also helping me push Hotties Video Magazine Volume 1, which happens to feature both Amelia and Parker on the cover.
And needless to say, neither one of them was particularly shy about telling potential buyers that they were completely butt naked inside the damn thing.
That sales pitch apparently worked.
We had a few buyers who suddenly became VERY interested in seeing what was on that USB drive.
By around 5 o’clock, though, we were cooked.
The show itself was still going strong and would continue well past midnight, but we decided to temporarily tap out. We headed back to the hotel to cool down, freshen up and grab some dinner at the restaurant inside the hotel.
I was expecting basic bar food.
I was wrong.
The food was surprisingly damn good.
While the show continued without us, we took our time, cooled down and got some energy back. Amelia and Parker also decided they wanted coordinating outfits for Sunday, which led to a last-minute run over to Romantix to see what they could find.
They found a few things they liked, we handled our running around town, and then it was time to head back to Concho Valley Dragway.
Because Saturday night wasn’t over yet.
This was the adults-only portion of the show.
▶
▶
When I invite models to come with me to West Texas Shakedown, I tell them ahead of time that participating in either the bikini contest or wet T-shirt contest — whichever one they’re doing that year — is part of the deal. If somebody isn’t comfortable doing that, no problem. Just tell me beforehand so I can bring somebody who is.
Neither Amelia nor Parker had a problem with it.
This year… wet T-shirts.
I expected my girls to participate.
What I DIDN’T expect was seven women total getting on that stage.
Usually, a lot of the local girls are a little more reserved about jumping into something like that, so seeing seven contestants up there surprised the hell out of me.
And when everything was over…
Amelia Rae took first place.
She walked away with a pretty nice chunk of change, a hell of a lot more fans than she started the weekend with, and bragging rights for the rest of the trip.
After that, we were done.
Saturday had been long, hot and exhausting. We headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
Sunday
Sunday morning moved considerably slower.
After the long Saturday, Amelia and Parker weren’t exactly jumping out of bed at sunrise. I was hungry, so I went ahead and grabbed breakfast at Hidalgo’s by myself while they got themselves together.
They met me at the show a little later.
Sundays at Shakedown generally start a little slower anyway, so that actually worked out pretty well. It gave Parker and me a chance to grab the camera and wander around before things got busy.
We shot some photos of her with several of the vehicles for her own collection, and you’ll probably see some of those pictures pop up somewhere on this website.
Amelia wasn’t feeling 100 percent that morning, so we let her hang out at the booth and take it easy while Parker and I shot.
Once Sunday really got rolling, though, something had definitely changed.
The girls suddenly seemed to have a LOT more fans than they had Saturday morning.
I can’t imagine why.
Maybe showing your tits and ass onstage in a wet T-shirt contest the night before had something to do with it. 😂
Whatever the reason, Amelia and Parker spent Sunday posing with more vehicles, taking pictures with people and making even more friends and fans.
By just before 5 p.m., our weekend was pretty much over. Trophies were being handed out at five, and since everybody had driven separately, we packed everything up and headed home on our own schedules.
Another West Texas Shakedown in the books.
And the weekend actually ended up having one more lasting effect.
After seeing how many people they met and how much attention they picked up over the weekend, not long after we got back home we ended up getting both girls set up with their own websites — another place for all those new friends and fans to keep up with them.
If you met either one of them at Shakedown — or you just want to see more of them — you can visit them here:
Amelia Rae — katesraee.com
Parker Murphy — parkerafterdark.com
Hopefully Not the Last One
I’ve done a LOT of car shows over the years, but West Texas Shakedown continues to be one of the shows I have the most fun doing.
That’s why Raymond told me something this year that I really didn’t want to hear.
This could be the last one.
Nothing is 100 percent certain yet, but Raymond explained that everybody involved is getting older, and putting on a show this big takes a ridiculous amount of time, work and energy.
I get it.
Hell, I’m getting older too.
Photo shoots, traveling, setting up vendor booths and spending an entire weekend running around a car show aren’t nearly as easy for me as they were 20 years ago.
Still…
I’m selfish.
I hope they keep this damn thing going.
Raymond Garcia, Fernando Deanda Jr., Mean Gene, the rest of the West Texas Shakedown staff and everybody from Exotic Minis Truck Club have treated me and whoever I bring with me like celebrities every single year.
They’ve always made us feel welcome. They’ve always taken care of us. And that’s something I’m never going to forget.
If this really was the final West Texas Shakedown, I’m damn glad Amelia and Parker got to experience it with me.
But I’m still hoping I’ll be packing my shit and heading back to San Angelo again next year.
Wet T-Shirt Pervert video provided by Rick Treviño — @BigRphotos
