New Mexico celebrates hydraulics and heritage with lowrider car holiday

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State lawmakers are embracing New Mexico's time-honored culture of transforming customized lowrider cars into rolling canvases of artistic expression and a source of community pride.

House and Senate lawmakers designated Tuesday as Lowrider Day at the state Capitol, marked by celebrations of Latino tradition and history. Proposed legislation would go farther by creating specialty license plates in tribute to lowriders.

Legislators including state Sen. Leo Jaramillo also are drafting a bill this year that would enshrine the lowrider as New Mexico's state vehicle — alongside the roadrunner as state bird and the spikey yucca state flower. Lawmakers also envision a future lowrider museum in the car-crazed city Española, 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Santa Fe.

Jaramillo says the Upper Rio Grande Valley emerged as the cradle of lowrider car culture in the 1960s as Vietnam War mechanics brought their skills to bear on customized cars. Decades later, an MTV crew documented New Mexico lowrider traditions and labeled the Española valley as the “lowrider capital of the world.”

Lowrider enthusiasts on Tuesday parked vehicles near a statehouse entrance, including a vintage Pontiac Grand Prix in sparkling-fuchsia paint and an eyepopping, orange Cadillac with golden wire-rim wheels.

“It’s more than just a moving piece of art. It’s also STEM in motion, the science of hydraulics, the mixing of paint,” said Jaramillo said. "When I speak to kids in Española about lowriding, I always remind them about the science behind it."

Democratic state Rep. Cynthia Borrego said lowriders are intertwined with memories of growing up in small-town New Mexico and cruising in cars on weekends during the 1970s and '80s. In recent years, New Mexico cities including Albuquerque have rolled back ordinances that restricted “cruising," by labeling it as a nuisance. Today, Borrego said, entire families embrace lowrider traditions.

“People bring up their kids, knowing how to work on cars, how to show them,” she said. “It does sort of became a family thing.”

On the House floor on Tuesday, state Rep. Art De La Cruz of Albuquerque reminisced about his first car — a 1964 Chevrolet Impala and makeshift lowrider.

“We couldn't afford these fancy hydraulics. ... All we could do was put weights in the back of the car” to lower the suspension, he said. “I put cement sacks in there. It worked. It didn't hop.”

New Mexico State Senator Leo Jaramillo of Espanola sits inside a lowrider truck owned by Lorenzo Otero outside of the State Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M., on Lowrider Day, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

Vicki Garcia cleans her 1963 lowrider Chevy Impala outside of the State Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M., on Lowrider Day, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

Lorenzo Otero polishes a car club emblem on his lowrider truck outside of the State Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M., on Lowrider Day, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

Joan Medina of Chimayo displays her 1987 lowrider Pontiac Grand Prix outside of the State Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M., on Lowrider Day, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

Lorenzo Otero's car club emblem is seen on the window of his lowrider truck outside the State Capitol in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025 in Santa Fe, N.M. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

Lorenzo Otero of Albuquerque wipes down his lowrider truck outside of the State Capitol in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025 in Santa Fe, N.M. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

Joan Medina of Chimayo displays her 1987 lowrider Pontiac Grand Prix outside of the State Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M., on Lowrider Day, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

Joan Medina of Chimayo displays her 1987 lowrider Pontiac Grand Prix outside of the State Capitol in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Lowrider Day, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025 in Santa Fe, N.M. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

Angelo Medina of Chimayo who along with his wife Vicki brought their lowrider 1987 Pontiac Grand Prix to the State Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M., on Lowrider Day, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

Joe Romero of Albuquerque shines his original 1959 Chevy Impala outside the State Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M. on Low Rider day, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)