"But you come here to Seattle's Pacific Raceways and pull a 6500 gate and you're walking on water, the best thing since sliced bread," says Frank. "As long as we do our job staying focused and staying true to the grassroots guys...the guys who have stepped up to head's up but on a street car level we will be solid. We are talking 387 street class racers here at Pacific Raceways. Of the 387 cars here let's say less than 5 percent are faster than 11.99 but they are happy with that. They take pride when their buddy takes his freshly swapped Civic and goes 13.0 out of the box then improves to a 12.80. He leaves in the 12s and he leaves a hero. Posting 12s may not be a big deal in Cali. I'm sure guys will say 'I've been running 12s for three years now.' But like I said, every market is different but the reason that the people keep coming out is the same; they love to go fast. To see how their car is performing and they want to be part of something, part of history."
"Battle was first and there isn't anything anyone can do to change that fact. I mean, sixteen years is a lot of history. These kids today were in strollers when you and I were beating the heat of Palmdale in 1992. Battle is a pipeline; the same enthusiasm back then is here today in the hot pits and the next generation of competitors are rolling around in strollers."
"The numbers today in Seattle are good and it proves that the kids don't want to come out and see 6 and 7-second cars, they come out to be part of something. But time will tell, these kids will graduate and move on even faster than the generation from the early '90s. It just a matter of time, and time is all we have, so we are excited about the first sixteen years and looking for sixteen more."
The Man On The Street
Frank points to a red Civic hatchback and gets on his soapbox. "Tye's car is the epitome of a street car, it's all glass, all metal body panels. It's got both seats, a CD stereo system, air conditioning and if he wanted to he could still daily drive the thing. That helps his tuner Intec Racing. I am not sure if there is some sponsorship there but retaining that street car status should translate better into action at the shop. Also attaining a car of the 7-second caliber is big dollars. These guys have full-time jobs and can't afford the luxury of loading up a trailer and racing full time, like Stephan, Abel or Kubo. Those are pioneers. They were at the right place at the right time and were recognized as the leaders and were offered the big sponsorship. They took it and maximized it and did very well for themselves. I would say that here at Pacific Raceways less than one out 10 racers would aspire to drop everything and become a full-time drag racer.
Tye J. Panzone, 31, hails from West Seattle, Wash., and he is one of those 'less than one out of 10.' He first got into the scene about eight years ago. His good friend, Jeremy, had a '91 Acura Integra LS with a few bolt-ons, wheels and some interior cosmetics. Tye picked up some import magazines and Bam! "I got hooked hard on this whole import scene," says Tye. "After going to a few local race shops to pick their brains, my first choice was the '92 EG hatch I run today. I started saving and buying parts, first it was all cosmetic...cause I had a non-VTEC single-cam D15 and didn't know how to do anything to make it faster. I bought all the classic rice parts; Z3 fenders, M3 mirrors, a bodacious three-piece wing, big-mouth body kit, extreme carbon hood."
He eventually got clued into the power game, swapped in a 1.8-liter LS and took that bullet to fully built, Frankenstein status with the addition of a VTEC head. After an initial turbo setup, Tye stepped it up and now flexes 550 dyno-proven wheel horsepower.
"I have street raced my EG quite often and have had the most fun with freeway rolling races against Corvettes, Porsches, and other high-end performance sport cars," says Tye. "But I like beating street bikes most of all, they don't get all pissed off when you beat them, they give thumbs up, no drama. Getting your $60,000 supercar spanked by a 14-year-old Civic must really torch the ego. I have done a lot of line-up street racing from lights and what not, but the cops really crack down on you hard for that, so I try not to do it too often. Plus the track is just so much safer."
"I guess my best night of street racing was a Friday night this summer. I left the race shop at about 1AM and as I pulled out, I was passed by about fifteen miscellaneous imports. A few slowed down and rolled up next to me and took off. The street was three lanes wide on each side and I had one car on either side. They both revved up so I followed suit. The light turned green I took off about a block down, they were both about half a block behind me...I love those kind of races cause I was just minding my own business and these guys thought they would punk someone and instead they got served. I would have thought that the huge intercooler sticking out my grille would have said enough, but I guess not. It was a lop-sided victory that made me appreciate the caliber of competition at the strip"
Tye continued, "My favorite thing about grassroots events are the people...both the hosts and the other contestants, we all have fun together. It's more like a bunch of buddies hanging out, having a good time with our cars, going out to dinner, going karting and partying. It's just a fun crowd. Big props to the Choi bros for keeping it going."