Alma Gates Receives Salute
By Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 7/17/2006
VISTA, Calif. — Directed is one of the many companies saluting ace competitor Alma Gates in her final competitive season.
Said a Directed spokesman, “Alma Gates is known and loved all over the world by car audio fans as the 'the world's loudest grandmother,' a title she earned by shattering SPL records (and windshields) and forever changing car audio competition.”
Gates is due to retire from competition and will make her final appearance at the USACi World Finals in Kansas City in October, according to JBL, which has sponsored Gates along with such brands as Directed's Viper and Panasonic.
Gates, age 71, has been called one of the industry's most prominent and respected competitors. A fixture at car audio competitions for the past 10 years, she has set numerous sound-pressure-level records with her Ford Broncos. She became involved in car audio competitions because it was a shared interest with her then-teenage son, and provided a means of spending time with him, she said.
CNN has called Gates the “boombox Granny,” said JBL.
