By Richard S. Chang
No one can pinpoint the birth date or place of import racing. That would be too ambitious and require too many assumptions. That is not what we're prepared to attempt. What you are about to read (if you choose to do so) isn't the definitive history of import racing, but a collection of conversations with some of the people who were doing it when others weren't. Were they a few of the groundbreakers? Maybe, but good ideas have many fathers.
But to our defense. Do you remember Mikuni carbs? Do you remember steel wheels with chrome trim rings or 14-inch Hayashis? Do you remember a time when Hondas weren't the most popular imports on the roads? The guys we talked to (and there were many more of them-getting to them all would've taken years) remember all that and much much more. We're not saying they were the first, but just suggesting: It could've started here.
The VoicesJon Kuroyama Jon is part-owner of FasTrax Turbos. He has built the turbos for some of the quickest import racers in the business, including Abel Ibarra and Signal Auto.
Tod Kaneko Tod is an engineer in the Turbocharging Systems Division at Allied Signal.
Ron Lee Ron was a member of Paradise Creations Racing, a car club in the early '80s. Now, he is the marketing and sales manager at Mackin Industries, the U.S. distributor for Rays Engineering, Tanabe, and Koito.
Mike Quan Mike was also in PCR. Now. He is now in the sales/technical support branch of HKS USA. He now drives a Toyota Solara.
Frank Choi Frank's brainchild, The Battle of the Imports, has grown to become the biggest import racing event in California. This year, Battle will return to Virginia and Chicago.
Scott Kanemura Scott is the sales manager for Avanche/Racing Sports Akimoto.The '80s: Cars and Carnivals
Jon Kuroyama: It wasn't that big in 1975. There were a few [imports] around. And, of course, all of the older guys, the ones I looked up to, had Dusters and Novas and Chevelles and Camaros. They cruised around the high school. They were the seniors, and we were the sophomores and juniors. So that was maybe the start of us.
Tod Kaneko: I first met Jon [Kuroyama] on the street racing scene. I never had a problem with anybody. I know there was a lot of cross-town rivalries, but I pretty much hung out with everyone out there. It was pretty cool.
Ron Lee: Tod was four to five years before us. We saw him. We didn't know who he was, but we knew that there was a Pinto back there that was fast.
Tod Kaneko: It was a 2-liter Pinto that I did my first turbocharged project with. It was turbocharged with nitrous. A European motor that I had put together with Esslinger. And it made about 400 horses on the nitrous. I had it for about three years. Then I sold it to some Chinese guy in Monterey Park. I used to race the Mustangs, the Camaros. We used to meet at Denny's off of Western and 182nd St., which was the local hangout.
Ron Lee: Tod would always sit in the back at the street races. He wouldn't say anything. People would come up to him and want to race. He didn't hit up everybody. He was kind of like the shy type.
Tod Kaneko: My closest race was with a turbocharged 510. We actually raced twice. Out of both instances, it was a draw. It was dead even. This was prior to my turbocharged days. It was naturally aspirated with nitrous. [The 510 was] was turbocharged-a red turbocharged 510. I never got to run him when I went turbo.
Scott Kanemura: It was mostly just Datsuns and Toyotas back then. And there were a few Capris and Pintos. I started in 1985. I grew up in Gardena. And it seems from what I can recall that most of the cars came from the Gardena area, back in the late-'70s and early-'80s. I had an AE74 Toyota Corolla. It had a bored and stroked motor. It had a Japanese head, ported and polished by TRD. And all these trick things that nobody knew you could do to it.