7. Import Car Show Explosion
From the depths of Southern California grew such car gatherings as Import Showoff and Hot Import Nights. Instantly exploding in popularity, gatherings such as Showoff became the premiere place to debut a show car, and HIN's nightclub/show formula eventually sparked onto the mainstream with a nationwide tour and corporate sponsorships. Nowadays, you can't find your way through any state in the US without running into some event that uses a combination of the words "import," "xtreme," "showoff," "fest" and "explosion."
8. Roger Foo At Laguna Seca
Back when it was still called the 2001 SpeedVision World Challenge, and a regular guy with a good car could still stand a fighting chance, a Northern California road racer with a yellow EG Civic named Roger Foo came out to show what he was made of. His budget was small and his parts were off-the-shelf, but his speed was undeniable. By running away with the win at Laguna Seca over the BMW and the Acura-backed Realtime Racing teams, Foo proved the latent capability of the Honda chassis and the promise that anybody fast enough could win regardless of budget. His win would only add fuel to the fire as Honda's began to transition from the drag strip to the road course.
9. Honda Invasion
Early on, if there was one thing synonymous with the import industry, it was Honda. With the number of enthusiasts driving CRXs, Civics and Integras, it was only a matter of time before engines were cracked open and cars lowered. When Honda brought out the Acura Integra GS-R and Type-R, and later the B16-powered Civic Si, it was all over. Having more in common with Lego blocks than cars, Honda's could be built out of any combination of parts from a multitude of platforms, and they were all fast.
10. Getting
Fast And Furious
Three Times Over
With the level of growth the import world saw in the 1990s, it was only fitting that Hollywood would take notice. The first The Fast And The Furious movie landed with a combination of seven-speed Eclipses, highjack drama and Vin Diesel. After spotlighting the import world and converting some new believers to the sport compact way of life, the F&F franchise made a stop in Miami and later drifted into Tokyo.
11. First Ever D1 Grand Prix
Internet videos, Option mags and hushed hearsay hinted at it, but nobody in the U.S. had ever actually seen a real pro-level drifting event prior to 2003. When the exhibition round finally hit at Irwindale Speedway, nobody was prepared for what the D1GP brought with it. Overfilled grandstands, thousands of screaming fans and a hungry US audience ate up the tire-smoking, twin-drifting show. The rest is history. The price of 240SX's and AE86's skyrocketed, Kazama and Imamura became household names and the drifting craze began.
12. The AWD Turbo Age
After the passing of the 300ZX, MR2, Supra, RX-7 and Eclipse/Talon, the turbocharged import car market looked frighteningly slim. It wasn't until Subaru brought the WRX over in 2002 that the new age of HP wars begun. A market hungry for modification-friendly powerplants ate it up. In 2003 Mitsubishi struck back with the release of the Lancer Evolution VIII, only to be beaten back very shortly by Subaru's announcement of a US-exclusive 2.5L WRX STi model. The Evo X and GTR models are just over the horizon and the US market shows no sign of loosing any enthusiasm for a factory turbocharged rocket.
13. GT Live - JGTC In The US
Established in 1994, the JGTC race series pitted turbo NSXs, V8 Supras, rear-drive Imprezas and boosted Skyline GT-Rs against each other in combat. Aside from a few magazine appearances and a 2 a.m. Speedvision broadcast, the US exposure for the JGTC series was nil. That is, until GT Live hit in December 2004. Bringing over such teams as Mugen, ARTA, Takata/Dome, Nismo and RE Amemiya, the GT Live event was the place to see high-revving, full aero, sequential shifting race versions of today's most popular imports. We still await their US return to this day.
14.
Scion's
Arrival
For years, small cars with engines below 1.6L weren't considered cool-until Scion came along. Changing the entire world's perspective on little cars with a brilliant marketing campaign, Scion single-handedly made the boxy xB the cool car to have. A new tuner scene grew, based on community, cruising and style, and Scion was at the forefront. With the new xA and xD coming shortly, Scion shows no signs of slowing down.
15. Time Attack Gains Momentum
With the import industry making whirlwind stops to the drag racing and drifting scenes, it was only logical that the road course would be next. Based in part on the popularity and escalating speed of JDM time attack tuner cars, the U.S. time attack scene has grown exponentially in the last couple years, with more purpose-built cars than ever before. A lap time doesn't lie and the import industry has been keen to this fact, allowing numerous tuners to line up against each other to see who is truly the fastest of the fast.
16. Formula Drift Begins
Pushing the growing drifting market even harder was the announcement of the Formula Drift series, the first U.S. series for professional drifting. With a nationwide schedule and an emphasis on spotlighting U.S.-bred drivers, the Formula Drift series has hit with huge success. A joint support venture with Champ Car and deals with ESPN only serve to highlight the current popularity of Formula D.
By Joey Leh
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