Do you remember the figures?
It was 1,650 pounds with me in the car, 26x8 tires, and 600+ hp. Nowadays these type of numbers aren't impressive, but this was back in 1999 before everyone understood the science behind building. We developed a lot of pioneering FF drag technologies on that Civic. That car eventually ran an 8.57 a year and a half later with relatively minimal changes: larger tires, wheelie bars, suspension tuning, and staged boost levels. With the yellow Civic we were always a half-second faster than everyone else.
You still hold the record for the fastest FF Honda with your 8.12 second @ 184 pass back in 2001?
Sort of: I held the fastest FF record from 1999 in Palmdale with the '98 EK Civic after that Battle of the Imports and held it with an 8.12 pass I ran in 2001 with my '01 Civic coupe until 2004, when someone else took the record. By then I switched to my FR-configured '03 Civic.
And you set records in your NSX-powered FR Civic as well didn't you?
Yeah, we changed to the '03 Civic in 2003 and we set pro import records with that car and ran a best of 6.52 at 215 mph.
Why the switch from FF to FR?
At the time the real-wheel-drive class was getting more competitive and we wanted to compete in the fastest class.
Out of all your drag cars, which was your favorite?
It was the '03 rear-wheel-drive red Civic. It made 1,600+ hp on methanol and had the most tunability. We had the most competition with that. We were going heads up against other 6-second cars like Abel Ibarra, Titan Motorsports, Street Glow, and so on.
What happened to all four of your Civics?
The EF was parted out to build the tube chassis '98 Civic. The '98 Civic is actually at the Peterson Automotive Museum. The '01 and '03 Civics were both sold and later raced by other teams.
Why did you quit drag racing?
I'm not sure if I quit, but I stopped for a while. After doing the same thing for so many years it's nice to try something new and drifting was a big challenge. The events and class turnouts in drag racing were getting smaller and I was getting tired of racing the same five teams at each event.
In your opinion, what happened to drag racing?
Oil downs! The show just wasn't there. Cars would break down, there'd be huge delays in the schedule and small class turnouts with only three to eight cars didn't give the spectators much to watch. Also, it became very expensive to operate a race team. The top teams were spending $500k+ a year on staffing, transport, parts, upgrades, and that's not including the price of building a car which was $150k+. With skyrocketing costs, there were less teams competing at each event.
Is there a way to bring import drag racing back?
I think it is starting to come back at the grassroots level, which is great because that's where our scene came from: owners driving their streetcars on the track.
What was the transition to drift like?
It was a whole new learning curve with driving and car setup. We've got the setup down, but I'm still learning on the driving side. Tanner, my teammate, won the '07 Formula D Championship in the car that we built here at AEM.
What most people don't know is that you actually wrench and build the motors you race.
Before I drove professionally, I worked out of high school at JG Engine Dynamics for two years and opened my own tuning shop, Honda Pro for three years. Ever since my '91 Civic, I've built all of our drag and drift engines, with the exception of the development that AEM's John Concialdi did on our turbo NSX powered '03 drag Civic. John built the first versions of the NSX race engine we used. But all the front-wheel-drive H22 drag motors, Tanner Foust's turbo VQ35, and my turbo 2.4L F22 drift motor I personally built and tuned with input from AEM.