Our story begins on a chilly fall weekend, at Bakersfield, CA’s Famoso Raceway (read: the middle of nowhere), lending moral support to my roommate, Robbie Perez, who was shaking down a stock-block, turbo B20-powered Rat Wad Civic coupe he’d built for sister mag Project Car. We had the unpleasant circumstance of showing up on the one weekend of the year preceding NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing’s series Finals at Pomona, CA. As far as we could see rolling in alongside 600 or so dead-serious Top Fuel, Pro Stock, and otherwise domestic hot-rod professionals, we were the only knuckleheads with an import in tow. Don’t even think of borrowing tools from that crowd:
"Sure, what do you need?"
"A half-inch ratchet and some metric sockets."
"Metric? What are you racing?"
"See that Honda over there? That’s us."
"Huh. Sorry, wish I could help . . ."
The situation only got worse as we worked our way through the lanes for our first pass. There were other imports in attendance, most breaking axles at the line or blowing up and coating the strip with oil, holding up the show for competition dragsters that would run nearly twice as fast while shutting down mid track. To nearly all in attendance, we were a scrawny, rag-tag bunch of kids. Even the announcer echoed the popular sentiment with a disgusted tone:
"And in the right lane, another Honda, about to break an axle." We needed help.
And then we got some. Into staging lanes rolled the flat white, wide-fendered, slick-clad, front-mounted-turbo-powered, parachute-braked embodiment of what we wanted our foes to forever associate with the term "import tuning": Jason Park’s FCS Fab/Park’s Racing Engines Outlaw Street FWD-class Integra, dubbed Ghostrider. Conversations halted and eyes stared as it cranked to life and rumbled its way to the burnout box, its built LS/VTEC struggling to manage high compression, forced induction, lumpy Web cams, and a flood of E85. Overpowering the comparative silence of muffled imports before it, the DC2 roared to life with the din of its domestic rivals, all 1,100 horses instantly erupting its 25-inch Toyo slicks. The announcer was at a loss for words.
"Be careful," he nervously chuckled to Jason, who guided driver Chris Cook through the staging lights. "It’s sticky down there."
"Good," Jason grinned back.
Spectators squirmed for a better view as the DC2 pegged its anti-lag system at the second staging light, its custom Borg Warner S372 turbo screaming an amalgamation of F-14 fighter jet and C-4 detonation as its fender-exit exhaust shot fireballs to match. For 9.8 seconds, it owned the eyes and envy of everyone in attendance, not counting the hearts it stole at the line. The announcer screamed the E.T. and traps and cursed in disbelief. The critics said nothing. Score one for the imports.
Back at the pits I learned more. Ghostrider is owned and was largely built by Jason "Parker" Park. It’s an ’00 Integra GSR, and has been in race trim in one form or another for nearly a decade. After a few years in storage, it’s made its long-awaited re-appearance for the second half of the 2010 season and has gone as fast as a 9.30 @ 166 mph at Import Faceoff in the hot Las Vegas desert. More importantly, I learned that Parker and Chris are DIY enthusiasts like most of us. No Renegade rig, multi-car enclosed trailer, six-figure budget, or comped entrance fees. No sponsors, even—just a couple of import gearheads who live for speed. Our conversation paused as the Rat Wad limped back to the pits with a blown motor suffered during its second pass. Once the friendly trash talking by Parker and Co. died down he turned to me and confessed, "I’ve been there; that sucks. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen to us."
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