1989 Honda CRX - Ed Bergenholtz's'89 CRX

But holeshotting the competition requires much more than just power; it's also dependent on traction. "Boost at the first part of the quarter-mile is almost useless," Ed says matter-of-factly. "You can see that by looking at all-motor cars. They're obviously not putting as much horsepower as the turbo cars, but they have the same 60-foot times."

So to limit boost at the launch and raise it elsewhere on the speed band, Ed equipped the CRX with an A'pex AVC-D boost controller with speed correction and scramble. It's speed-sensitive, so he can actually set the boost curve for different speeds. "Basically, when I hit Third gear, I hit scramble boost. It sets the boost up a little bit higher than when I launch for traction purposes. Usually at the bottom of the run, I would probably have it set at less than 10 psi of boost. Then when I hit Third gear, it boosts all the way up to 22 or 23 psi."

To really get the car to fly, Ed went against the grain and brought it to Harvey St. Mary at Harv's Performance Center in Whittier, California, a V-8 specialist, and more importantly, one of the premier DFI programmers in the country. "It was after that that the car really started making the times," Ed says, quick to hand out the props where props are due. But the soul of the car cannot be found anywhere on Earth.

The words "Sap Lives" can be found on the front of the car. It's a tribute to the car's original owner, Robert Sapinoso. You won't know him. He and Ed used to go to the street races in the early '90s, "when we were young and stupid," Ed says now. "I had an Integra. He had the CRX. And basically, I was his mechanic. I did the first transplant on it. We did a lot of racing and found new ways to modify the CRX. That was like our project car."

But in 1994, Robert, a student at UC Irvine on the cusp of graduation, was shot when he was mistaken for a gang member. He was killed in the very car Ed drives today. "The bullet holes are still in it," he tells me without hesitation. "That's the way life deals out the cards sometimes. The car was originally sold to a high school student. And he raced it for a little bit-got it down to 13s-but [his having the car] really bothered me 'cause it was our car."