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.