When people hear the name Buddy Club they think of three different things: One, an after-school special, surrogate-father partnership program (if they know nothing about cars); two, the BC-style or Type Buddy body kit (if they're ghetto and only know about knock-offs), or three, car parts (if they're like us). And when people think of Buddy Club parts, they usually think of Honda parts. But Buddy Club is more than just a stockpile of Honda and Acura parts, and there's more to the company than you think.
Many moons ago, Buddy Club embarked on a motorsports and racing program that would display its products' capability and durability to ravenous spectators. The distinctive livery of the Buddy Club cars became synonymous with late-braking, full-throttle blasts and atom-splitting passes in such race series as the old JTCC.
Flash back to 2002. Buddy Club was sitting pretty with one of the nicest DC5 Integra Type-R N1 racers around. The only problem was, the car needed a driver. Far from some sort of 1980s-era Transformer amalgamation, the Buddy Club DC5 needed a capable, proven driver to sit behind the wheel and fight in Buddy Club's name. Buddy Club got together with Jun San Chen of the Taiwan-based Team AAI. With nearly 13 years of experience and racing history under his belt at that time, Chen stepped up to drive the DC5. After much on-track testing, Chen helped determine the EP3 Civic Type-R would be the ideal second platform with which to attack the Japan Super Taikyu Series. And so the twin Type-R's were born.
Chen's Team AAI and AAI Motorsports started out as a sportswear company. Chen's lineups reflected his interests. In the old days AAI had mostly BMX, skating and surfing apparel, but cars were always in the picture. In the 1990s, Chen tasted the bittersweet flavor of wheel-to-wheel racing, and AAI Motorsports switched over to automotive performance. Amongst the brands he distributed was Buddy Club. Over time, the two companies became further entwined. Currently, Chen has a branch of AAI Motorsports in Ontario, Calif., that only distributes and imports Buddy Club products. It's in essence Buddy Club USA.
It was here in the arid air of sunny Southern California that I found myself looking at the massive, meticulously packed Buddy Club support shipping container. Designed to fit the Type-R's and all the spares and mechanics' tools needed for overseas trips, it was a massive, steel reminder that these two Hondas are part of an outfit dead serious on motorsports.