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Photo by Jennifer Donahoe Augie Benson of White City shares a laugh with friends while collecting food for ACCESS Food Share at Double Dee's Burgers in Phoenix Saturday. Benson says the food drive, called Can Slam Jam, took a month to organize. Car clubs feed those in need By BILL VARBLE The rap music and the lowered cars at a Phoenix burger stand Saturday are about feeding the needy. What Augie Benson wants people to understand is that that's not out of character for these guys. "We want to help the community," Benson says. "One neighbor thought we were gang bangers and drug dealers. We're just guys who like cars." Benson, 24, of White City, organized the car show -- Can Slam Jam -- which overflowed the parking lot at Double Dee's Burgers in Phoenix most of the day Saturday. The show is a benefit for ACCESS Food Share. By 1 p.m., more than 1,500 cans of food have been collected, and boxes of food are piling up next to the trophies that will go to winning car owners. Nearly 50 cars from around Oregon are entered, and even a few from California and Washington. A 4-foot trophy will go to the car club that donates the most food. As Benson talks above the sound system, young men stroll around checking out the sleek customs. Many are accompanied by wives or girlfriends. Children run between the brightly painted cars. The Honda Civics -- a popular platform for custom graphics and stereo systems -- are loud and lowered, the pants are baggy and the caps worn backwards. But the games are decidedly old-fashioned: a gunny sack race, a pumpkin roll, an egg toss. By 2 p.m., the band that volunteered to play for free is an apparent no-show. But a disc jockey provided by a car club is keeping the beat, and nobody seems to mind. The most popular car entries are late-model compact imports, but there are also small trucks, big cars, lowriders. Benson says it took over a month to put the event together. Originally from San Bernardino, Calif., he's lived in the Rogue Valley a year. In his day job he works for a boat builder, but he operates Madness Motorsports, a customizing business, as a labor of love. He says it's sometimes tough to get people interested in charity projects because of the image of young guys and lowered cars. "Some people think we're hoodlums," he says. "We have our cars lowered because it's a style we like." "People stereotype us," says Scott Rule, 25, of Medford, a warehouse worker who says he grew up in Los Angeles. "It's not fair," Benson says. "We have jobs. We have kids. We're not out there to gang bang." Both men say they are fathers who are in relationships with long-time girlfriends and are taking care of their kids. How can people tell the difference between a car club and a gang? "They promote fear and violence, and we don't," Rule says with a shrug. The men say they don't see a lot of gang activity here. Just guys into fixing up their cars. "It keeps people out of trouble," Rule says. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA