Introduction

Ever since there have been cars, there has been different forms of auto racing. It’s not a surprise because people have raced on foot since the dawn of civilization. Nobody really knows how mountain racing began. However, the locations share a common design. The tour guide of the Lick Observatory on top of Mount Hamilton explained that roads up mountains were windy and long because vehicles, even modern, can’t drive up the side of a mountain. Most of these roads pre-exist cars and were made for wagons. There are 366 corners from Alum Rock to the top of Mt. Hamilton. Roads like this draw in driving enthusiasts of all sorts. Different professional motorsports have spawned from these mountains. There are even tracks like Horsethief Mile at Willow Springs Raceway that are designed to simulate a mountain road.

This very night, there are people driving as fast as they can on mountain tops. They’re racing for the peak, the base, an opponent in another car, or themselves. Some won’t stop until they start seeing morning traffic or the sun rise. Among these drivers, there is a mixed group of enthusiasts. There are the drifters who turn driving into an art form, the grip drivers who are concerned with competition and times, and the cruisers who just enjoy the drive. Some of these drivers extend beyond the mountain and perform at organized legal events. The drifters have their own events where they perform their high speed slides and are judged by a panel. Grip drivers can run road courses such as Horsethief Mile for lap times. There are autocross events that are in parking lots that many of the drivers and casual cruisers attend because it’s cheap and safe. All of these forms of legal events overlap in the drivers and styles. It’s common to find all these drivers on the same mountain pass.

Though very similar, the activity in the mountains should not be compared to the legal events that have spawned from it. The drivers share this common ground, but they don’t follow the same rules and precautions. The dangers that wait in the mountains are much greater than those on any of the mentioned events. The isolation, the time of day, visibility, weather, road conditions, road width, and opposing traffic are issues that face all of the mountain drivers. Accidents happen often up there. Some are minor guard rail kisses, while others end up in death. However, there are things some of these drivers fear more. Most of them know what they are doing is illegal, and every since the drifting boom in 2003, there have been police and rangers patrolling the mountains looking to catch people in the act. Other fears include injuring bystanders. These dangers and potential risks don’t deter people from driving.

Aside from all of these the events and styles that have derived from illegal mountain racing, not much is said about what drives the individual to participate in this dangerous activity. The reasons may be many, but of the three types of drivers that occupy these windy roads make up the majority, their reasons for driving are very different. What excites one group to push themselves and their cars to the limit may disgust another group. The vehicle setup and choices are different along with their attitude. Of the drifters, grip drivers, and cruisers, their motivation falls into two groups. There are those who are using this illegal activity as a stepping stone to get to a more legitimate form of motorsports. Then there are the others who don’t plan on ever setting foot on a track. To put it more simply, the drivers group into motorsports, hobbyists, and sometimes both. The level of competition varies throughout the groups, within and between them.

All of the drivers share the same road for different things. It’s not only personal gain that brings people up to the mountains. It could also be the recent media exposure. Drifting coverage has leaked into NASCAR, movies like Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and anime cartoons like Initial D. Even with all of the hype, the reason for driving up to the mountains and getting involved could be as simple as boredom. The influence isn’t nearly important as the motivation, the drive that keeps people there when others lose interest. That’s what keeps people coming back to the mountains, but no one has ever asked what it is.

Inspiration

In 1998 I was seventeen years old; my dad bought me my first car. Even before I could drive, I had some interest in tuning and racing. However, the car that my father got for me, a 1991 Acura Integra, ended up being nothing I wanted. So I decided to make a few changes. Since I couldn’t replace the car with one I wanted, I had to start modifying. It wasn’t until Fast and the Furious came out in 2001 that I started making major modifications. That summer I took out some loans and sent my car into the shop for a major overhaul. By the end of summer my car had a racing engine and transmission along with all the little tidbits that go along with the import scene. I didn’t know, at the time, that all those little gadgets would make the car more difficult to drive.

Later that year, I was invited to go on a cruise up a nice windy road in the Angeles National Forest. I had the fastest car among the group, and I decided to drive near the front of the pack. By the time I got to the top, the car that started last had been waiting there for about 1 minute. From that night on, I was no longer concerned with what I could do to make my car faster. It became more about being able to drive to the car’s full potential. So every weekend I went up to the same road and drove faster and faster. One night I encountered a white second generation (1986-1992) Mazda RX-7. We chased each other down the mountain until I went off the road and damaged my driver side hub and front cross member. That was my first encounter actually racing someone. It wouldn’t be my last, but it would be the last race that car would ever be in.

With my new found knowledge, I decided to choose my next car with cornering ability in mind. I actually had a 1988 Turbo RX-7 for some time before getting my naturally aspirated 1992 Toyota MR2, because I saw first hand what that car could do. After watching some racing history, I found out that the MR2 did very well in the JGTC (All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship) 300 Circuit, so I went with that platform instead. This car led me to my first and last official street race in the summer of 2003. Coincidentally, it was an RX-7 that was the same generation and color as the one I had encountered with my first car. The pressure was on, because I was racing locals who know the passes better than anyone. My car wasn’t set up properly for that road either. Though the spectators said I won, I left the mountain that night with a questionable victory.

After all that excitement, I moved to San Jose and left most of that behind me. During the time I was away, the world of mountain racing moved on without me. The people I knew went their separate ways. Some moved on to other things, like me, while others stayed in the mountains, and a few moved onto organized motorsports. Though I had moved on, I still stay in tune with the import racing scene. When I go home I occasionally go on cruises with old buddies with the same mindset I’ve always had. I find it humorous how these new drivers make the same mistakes I made. Regardless of my experience, they push forward with modifications that only make control more difficult. In that respect, I came to the conclusion, that they have to find out first hand what works and what doesn’t. When I was tuning my first car, nobody was there to give me advice. I wonder if things would be different if someone had.

People say hind sight is 20/20, but when I look back, my personal reasons for driving were always to improve my own skill. Not particularly in the area of driving, but to carry skills and knowledge that I can take with me everywhere I go. However, my motivation for being up in the mountain at 4 o’clock in the morning is no where near the same as the majority of the drivers up there. I never really knew what anyone’s goals were in terms of driving. Whenever I spent time with my car friends, it was car talk or parts talk. Not much of it was about the actual experience up in the mountains. Now I get to open doors that I locked a long time ago, and find those reasons behind the driving.