2NR: From what I gather from your earlier days, you were a street racer?
JC: I was involved in a fair amount of stoplight grandprixs back then, but I don't think it was as big then as it is now. I can say it surely wasn't as organized as it is today; much more impromptu. There were a couple spots where we would meet up-like the local In&Out burger joints in Covina-and head out to the street locations to do some racing. To be honest with you, I would only go as a spectator because going with your dad's car isn't the coolest thing in the world. My Baja bug wasn't made for 1/4-mile confrontations. Believe it or not, all my life I've had cars with small motors. In college, I cruised around in a Ford Pinto with a two-liter motor which I modified heavily. Hey! You would be surprised. Those two liters are pretty darn good! Anyway, with a lightweight Pinto chassis and souped up motor, I got TONS of tickets in that car. (Pondering on the subject) Yup, I got every type of moving violation possible.
2NR: Wow... nitromethane lawnmowers, mom's vacuum cleaner, and a shitload of speeding tickets. What made you decide to step up to the next level in the automotive world?
JC: When I was in high school and college, I wanted to be a commercial pilot and fly planes. I got my A.S. in commercial flight and received my private pilot's license. At the time, my whole mentality with the automotive industry was if you didn't get into racing or the manufacturing sectors, you wouldn't be able to make a good living. You can call it fate or just a freak incident, but when I was in school, I wanted to join the air force. A hearing problem in my left ear disqualified me from entering the academy. I assume it was from all the open exhaust cars I used to wrench on. I was given what's called a "4F" in the military. That meant no one would accept you because you have a health problem.
2NR: That totally sucks. So what did you decide on doing after finding out you were no longer able to pursue your dreams of becoming a pilot?
JC: It was from that point that I had to change career paths and decided to pursue mechanical engineering at Cal Poly Pomona. While attending school, I worked for a company called Bap Geon in the Weber Carburetor R&D division under Garry Polled. He eventually went to Redline to run their Weber carburetor department. Shortly after that, I joined Garry at Redline. It was there where I met Peter Neuwirth, who is one of my partners at AEM. Peter needed someone who could start up an R&D section for their Weber carburetors and asked me if I was interested. That's essentially how it all began for me and it was the turning point where the automotive world became a part of my life.
2NR: You are the founder of AEM. How did that come about?
JC: When I was working for Redline in the R&D department for carburetors, the automotive industry was gradually changing to fuel injection and the demand for carburation was diminishing quickly. In 1987, Peter decided on eliminating the carburation department in R&D at Redline and sold it to me on October 1st of 1987. So in essence, AEM became the R&D department of Redline. AEM was going to start out as something entirely different from what it is today. As you know, AEM stands for Advance Engine Management and the plan was to address real high end, high-tech fuel injection work. If you think about the name AEM and what we produce for the company, you'll see our products don't define the true meaning of the company name. When I started the company, I always wanted to get into electronic fuel injection. With the company expanding and evolving into what it has become today, we can now say we are headed in the direction of defining the true meaning of AEM.