A thunderous roar echoes throughout the once quiet neighborhood. I hear the revving of engines. Suddenly there is a loud screeching of tires pealing out across the pavement. The sound of the engines becomes even louder than before, then quickly decreases as the cars speed away. There is quiet for a few minutes, then the whole thing repeats again. This is a common occurrence in my neighborhood and always means one thing. It's those racers in their rice rockets again!
             To the layman, a rice rocket is just another Japanese car, but among the young generation, this stands for a certain class of these popular imports. Rice rockets cannot be bought at car dealers. Normal Japanese cars must be made into rice rockets. Rice rockets are Japanese cars that have been modified, altered, reworked, repainted, re-engineered, etc. into either a racing machine, or something that just looks and sounds like one. A car without any of these changes is just a standard model and is called stock. Any car straight out the dealer would definitely be considered stock.
             An important part of being a rice rocket is the look. It is very easy to spot one among many cars. There are numerous telltale signs that distinguish them from ordinary cars. No car can be considered a rice rocket unless it's lowered. The lower the car the better, preferably a couple of inches off the ground. It is taboo to have stock rims on a rice rocket. Nice rims are pricey, but a must. Also a must is tinted windows. Other rice rocket owners frown upon having transparent windows. Loud colors are a sure giveaway that it's a rice rocket. One color is usually not enough; many prefer two or three tones. Many decals supplement ricer rockets, blanketing the car with racing stripes, names, insignias, cartoon characters, or anything that is designed to attract peoples attention on the road. The richer owners go all out starting from ste
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