2004 - 2008

Having been exposed to the Gran Turismo franchise at a young age, I can remember driving cars that we couldn't have here in the U.S. There was a high level of appeal, as those cars were typically some of the better performing cars in their class. Add the sense of "unobtainium" to it, and you're left with a sense of jealousy for those who live in countries that had access to such vehicles.

Of couse everybody knew about the Nissan Skyline, S15 Silvia and such. For me though, I was really into the Mitsubishi Evo VI. The idea of having a 4 door vehicle that had the performance to hang with vehicles that cost 2-3x as much, while also being relatively inexpensive was extremely appealing to me. Unfortunately, we didn't get those cars here in the U.S.

Then came 2004.

The U.S. finally started seeing some highly sought after vehicles being sold in the market. We were finally given two giants that we wanted for years: The 2003 Mitsubishi Evo VIII and the 2004 Subaru WRX STI. I remember back when those two cars came out, you couldn't pick up a single car magazine without seeing an article on one of them or a test pitting the two against each other. They were ~$30,000 Japanese Sedans that were leaving V8 muscle cars for dead and giving six-figure super cars a real run for their money.

Naturally, I was pretty hooked. I went back and forth on researching the two, but ultimately grew an affinity for the Mitsubishi, which seemed to be the more hard-focused vehicle, while the Subaru seemed to be more of the compromise for those who want something comfortable in exchange for some performance. As a 13 year old kid, I didn't give a damn about comfort; I wanted all out performance.

I was pretty dead set on the Evo for a while and then grew out of it a bit when 2005 came along and my Dad and I started talking about getting a project car. After some discussion, we agreed on getting a 240sx. Having still been influenced by the video of Koguchi's 180sx, I was still pretty adamant about getting an S13, but my Dad felt as though it was too difficult to find a decent one to work with that wasn't already falling apart. We wanted to start with something that was still a working vehicle, and not a rotting shell that needed a lot of work.

After searching quite a bit, we ended up finding a '98 Nissan 240sx and put in a bid. We ended up winning and my Dad went to pick it up the next week. The car was a bit more than anticipated, but the condition was really good and it already had some great parts on it. I offered up pretty much every dollar that I had saved to my name at that point to help put down on the car and buy parts. I ordered some suspension components, a new hood, some seats and harnesses, an exhaust, and more. I was quicly broke all over again. I suppose that was the first glimpse into the rabbit hole of modifying cars.


At the end of the year, I moved to Arizona with my Mom and the car stayed in California with my Dad. I quickly started doing the same thing that I was doing when in CA; doing work around the neighborhood and saving whatever I could to put into the car. I would research online and talk with my Dad about parts to buy, buy them, and have them shipped to the house in CA. This was an ongoing routine for a little over a year until I got my permit in early 2007 and brought the car out to Arizona. Spent some time learning how to drive, got my license and then immediately got a job at the local Sonic Drive-In to pay for the car.

I spent as much time possible working, because more hours meant more money, which meant more car parts. My Mom still had her reservations about my obsession, but as my Dad said.. If I'm spending all my time and money at work and around cars, that means I'm not spending it on hookers and blow. I still did my fair share of stupid shit though. I was so eager to start drifting that I did some stuff in the neighborhood with friends (like an idiot) and did some stuff in the nearby parking lots that I knew were always pretty empty. I had a couple close calls too, but luckily I always ended the day with no damage. It was starting to get sketchy though, so I decided to lay off for a bit and start saving money to go to events. I ended up attending an event at PIR and met some people from the local 240sx forums. People who are still pretty deep into drifting to this day like Mike Burns, Joe Haven, Forrest Wang, Austin Kregle, etc.

I used the time I had at the event to ask as many questions as I could from people who were driving. I almost felt like I might be bothering some of them, but they were all really helpful. I really appreciated the fact that these guys who were pretty much all in their mid-late 20s were all willing to answer a bunch of questions being asked by a 16 year old kid while they were out at an event trying to work on their cars and have fun. I did my best to soak up every bit of information that was offered. I also made some great friends who aren't really into cars much these days, but I still talk to them reguarly to this day.

I felt I knew a fair bit regarding the cars and certain aspects, but I started to really get an idea as to how much really went into these cars and driving them. This went on for a couple years as I met some other great people, spent some time making changes to the car, and spent a lot of time driving. I managed to do a couple events here and there, but most of my driving still took place elsewhere. I had some spare wheels and a stack of spare tires, along with a friend who worked at Discount Tire and was able to mount & balance tires for me super quick and cheap, so I spent as much time as I could out at a warehouse in the city driving with people. It was there that I really started to get deeper into driving.

I was out there a couple times every month come mid 2008. I had people like Joe Haven and Mike Burns drive my car as well as ride shotgun with me and give me pointers on not only my driving, but my vehicle setup. I remember them helping me make alignment changes there at the lot one night after a few runs and it made a world of difference. I also got a lot of seat time with Forrest Wang, who I had established a friendship with over the previous year or so. We had bought/sold and traded a bunch of parts with each other, I hung out with him at Full-Race quite a bit, and helped out however I could while soaking up as much info and asking as many questions as I could. During that timeframe, I was also lucky enough to get some ride alongs and I spent pretty much the whole time watching him and what he did, rather than just enjoying the ride. I tried to turn every interaction into a learning experience.

It got the point to where I started to feel really good about my driving. I knew I wasn't anywhere near a lot of these other guys, but at the age of 17, I thought I was off to a great start. I could consistently pull runs and link transitions together. I started to dabble a little in tandem (though I still kept a pretty big distance as I was learning), and I was starting to recognize my own mistakes when I made them and how I could do better.

I was having so much fun though. I was still young and aside from school and work, didn't really have much of any obligations. So I would go to school and work, and my spare time would be spent with friends and having fun with cars. Every paycheck, I immediately paid for whatever bills I had to pay, and the rest pretty much went into gas, tires, and other stuff for the car. This went on all the way through the end of the 2008.

But 2009 was when things would really start to change...