2NR: Were there any problems with cultural differences?RG: A little bit with the teams. In Japan, they're in the racing business, and they put on a pure race. They don't even like sharing the spotlight with drifting. Some of the GT teams were whining, "Why aren't we the big dogs?" They didn't realize they were the big dogs.
2NR: Some of the JGTC guys had a problem with the D1 guys being there?RG: Here in America, drifting is a hot property; it's cool; it's cutting edge. But in Japan, drifters don't have high social status. In Japan, a drift driver would be like someone who runs in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series. In Japan it's all hierarchy, pecking order. In the motorsports hierarchy, JGTC is on top. The drivers want it to be known that whenever they go racing, everything else is beneath them. I don't understand why the Japanese don't put drifting and JGTC together. They consider racing a higher and drifting a lower form of motorsport.
2NR: Originally JGTC was going to be in Fontana, Calif., and it was going to go up against D1 in Irwindale, Calif. Later D1 joined JGTC at Fontana. Were the GT Association guys angry or bothered that D1 was on the same weekend?RG: No, they weren't angry so much as concerned. The guys in Japan didn't even realize what that [putting the two events up against each other] would do to us. They don't know how the market works over here, and we had a totally new product. We were concerned. We knew if we didn't work together, it wouldn't be good. So that's why we decided to reach out to them. It never occurred to any of the Japanese.
2NR: How do you feel about the drifting guys? I know you guys don't actually promote any drifting stuff.RG: I think it's awesome; I think it rocks. The only thing is I don't think it's a competition; I think it's an art form. I think it's entertainment more than sport. They're great at what they do and I could never do what they do, but a sport to me has to have a clear ending. Why can't drifting be a half-hour show with smoke and pyrotechnics? That's how I'd like to see it go, more in the direction of a show.
2NR: What's Paramax up to next?RG: Who's Paramax? You mean my money-laundering business?
2NR: Yeah, your Yakuza-backed criminal front.RG: The one thing we'd like to do with GT Live is a U.S.-wide series of some sort. Thirty-eight percent of people who came to our event were from out-of-state, probably from the East Coast. We'd like to reach out to them. But we can't do too many events because we need to keep the quality high.
2NR: No raves or foam pit parties?RG: We don't know yet. That's the one big thing we're working on this year, of course, with GT Live again. We're trying to figure out what has to be in it, where it should go and what content should be in it.
2NR: What about bringing over the full Japanese JGTC experience? The support races, the Nissan March Cup one-make race, the food vendors, the shops selling the $100 Nismo T-shirts.RG: That's actually a very interesting idea: to bring over all the Japanese food, the whole JGTC experience. That's actually a really good idea. Either a lot more people would show up, or nobody would show up.
2NR: What's in store for GT Live this year?RG: Well, same bat channel, same bat time thing. End of the year, Fontana, basically putting on an event similar to last year-but better. You can't run the same content every year for an event.
2NR: But Fontana again for sure?RG: Maybe in the future we're looking into different things. You have to remember, our original concept was Gran Turismo. People only really knew the JGTC cars from two places, Gran Turismo and magazines. A lot of Gran Turismo takes place on streets or street courses, so I think for the long-term we'd like to race in the city-we'd really like to race downtown Los Angeles.
2NR: You mean like the old L.A. Street Race [an actual legitimate, city-sanctioned road race]?RG: Yeah, but that was around the Coliseum and wasn't the greatest venue. We actually had a track laid out around the Staples Center. Even before the first race, we actually had interest in running around Staples in August 2004. The only problem was that during the one-week window we had for the GT cars to come over the X Games were in town. And that franchise had just signed a multiyear contract.
2NR: GT Live has been in every tuner magazine out there and has been played as a tuner event. Now that you've got an insight into our world, where do you see the industry going?RG: Things change, but I don't think it's dying out. I think tuning's going to stay around for a while. People used to start out with used Hondas and things, but now they're 27, 28 years old and can afford something nicer like 350Zs, EVOs or S2000s. They get something nicer from the factory and just keep going more upscale. Maybe Euro cars are what's next.
2NR: Any last words for our readers?RG: Keep reading 2NR, man.