You rocked a Samurai and an Escort? Hilarious! The CRX, is that the infamous L'Natural?
Yeah, that's her, Ol' Stella. She put Shawn Hillier and myself on the map as all motor icons. I set more records and accomplished more goals with that car than my current one. It's been in almost every magazine.
What was your first street race?
Canoga & Lassen [cross streets up in the Valley-CJ]. I raced an Integra from Sokudo. It was against Sheng Chao, the legendary icon and owner of JHP USA. I was from Cyber Racing, a crew recognized in the Valley. For a while, I think Wicked and us had the industry on lock. Anyway, we smoked that fool and went home with what I thought was big money at the time: $20. [Laughs]
Crazy street racing stories?
I have two. I watched a dude die on a street bike at the Sylmar races. Some dumb young newbie made a U-turn at the end of the quarter-mile and he T-boned him. The idiot in the car tried to leave and I remember the crowd fucked him up. The second story takes place the very next night. No one learned; they all came back for some more street action, including myself, and an argument broke out about a race that took place a few weeks back.
What was the argument about?
There was a street race between two big names back then. One from the Eastside and one from the Westside: old man Tony Fuchs from the crew I rolled with. It was supposed to be heads up; naturally aspirated motor-to-motor race, but Tony was notorious for hiding nitrous in his car. He'd hide a Sneaky Pete in his dash and squeeze that shit through a hole in the firewall. Back then he was running a carbureted B18, so the inlet was open to the atmosphere. The nitrous would fill the bay and go into the engine. Anyway, the Eastsider caught wind of Tony's tricks and rolled up in a rage, literally with a MAC-10 and all. Let's just say the entire place cleared out. [Laughs] That's what street racing was all about back in the days, getting that extra edge on the other dude, and hoping you live through it. Your first event at a sanctioned track?
First event was Battle of the Imports up in Palmdale, Calif. I remember I had to sleep outside the gate 'cause it used to get so mobbed up. I was in my CRX with an LS motor on DFI, all gutted, no heat, unprepared. I remember staging and wondering what water was doing on the track before the lights. I had no idea about the burnout box. The only water on the streets was rain. I was nervous as hell and there were all kinds of chicks in the stands. The light turned green and I spun the shit out of the stock tires and let off. I think I ran a 15 or 16. I was dazed but hooked. I went back in line and waited the five hours for another 15 seconds of fun. Those were the days.
Why all motor?
The original goal was that it was supposed to be cheaper. Drag turbo kits were bank for an 18-year-old with no real job, so I had to go normally aspirated. As we tried to gain power, we found out it was way harder than going turbo. Back then if you built your motor, it was to handle boost. We decided to build the motor high compression and see what we could do normally aspirated. We saw huge gains and continued with cylinder head development. So you can say that it wasn't a goal, but it ended up becoming one.
Your favorite motor?
I would say that the K-series is my favorite motor, but I can't forget what put me on the map: the H-series. In the '06 Si, we were the first to run 9s all-motor on an H-series, and I don't think anyone has since then.
Why did you switch from the CRX to the '02 Civic?
We wanted to build a better car. We started to hit limitations on the CRX chassis for tire size, traction, and so on. The new Civic had a longer wheelbase and better lines, and we were able to build the suspension to fit pretty much any tire size and motor configuration we wanted. Basically, it was a chance to start fresh and make a new statement. In 2006 when we changed to the K motor and updated the front end.