Infiltration

Since I had been out of the game for over three years, getting a hold of my ideal contacts was difficult. Some of the people who I drove with in 2001 had ahead to becoming full fledged drifters for car shops and companies. On top of that, our relationships ended on negative terms. Some of the drivers were viewed as sell outs to their fellow mountain drivers. It’s not simply because they went big time. The main reason was an article in one of the popular import car magazines. The few that had become drivers for various shops had said that they never drove in the mountains and detested the people up there. After that, even though they still went to the mountains, many of them lost their following. They claimed that they were trying to promote sanctioned events for their organizations. This was a huge barrier, but I decided to go around it by approaching privateers in the legitimate motorsports world. This way, they wouldn’t be obligated to say certain things for their respective alliances.

Finding hobbyists to talk to would prove to be much easier. Many of my friends from Southern California still drive in the mountains. Though not as often as before, they still go several times a month, and they always invite me when I come home. Not only are they still active, there are also new faces in the bunch. Some of them as young as sixteen have started to follow the foot steps of the veteran drivers. I’m not too concerned about the new faces. Building a rapport with them would have been difficult, because they have a misconception that I’m still very active in the mountains. It’s true to some extent, but my reasons for going aren’t the same as theirs. So, I decided to interview my friends that knew me long before we were into cars, or were into mountain driving before I got involved. It provided a much more comfortable atmosphere where they didn’t have trouble answering my questions honestly.

I originally wanted to interview a group of people who grew up in a formal form of motorsports and get their feedback on mountain racing. I decided to drop that search because it didn’t seem relevant to the answer I was looking for. Instead I decided to participate with smaller local groups on runs up in the hills around San Jose. I also drove with some of my some of my contacts in Orange County. Aside from dropping the feedback from the orthodox racers, I never felt particularly safe riding with any of my informants. With my experience driving, I felt much safer in my own car relying on my own skill. It also gave me the opportunity to view events externally as well as participate myself. I was invited on several runs which ultimately ended in my car being out of commission and the end of a deer's life.