Friday Yukio was out in Pomona supporting the first day of the weekend for his teams while I was up on the westide of LA working away in my new awesome job. We decided it would be a good idea to have a date night before knowing the next two evenings would be spent falling asleep early from heat exhaustion due to the heat off the track. It's moments like date nights that remind us that we are just regular people outside of racing and it is important to keep it in check off the asphalt.
Saturday morning rolls around and it is time to head out to the famous Pomona drag strip. I have been there before, ironically, that is where I first experienced Drifting almost a decade ago. We get there and meet up with the one and only Bro Photo aka Kyle Lewis that has been shooting for Yukes since forever. Turbo by Garrett has 4 cars that race out of about 80 teams in the series more or less and there is one dragster that is a 2jz with Garrett turbos. Three of the 4 come from the shop MMR (Modular Mustang Racing) from up in Camarillo which is super close to where I grew up. They specialize in of course, mustangs, in which they began specializing in mustang part installations and eventually began turbo charging few years after prototyping and installing super charger kits. The owner Mark expanded his knowledge in aftermarket for mustangs by learning the science of airflow dynamics when he accepted a position working for Best Products/Pro-M.
The other car belongs to Garret’s distributor, Turbos Direct. They run their Outlaw 10.5 2005 Mustang W/ Smith Racecraft Backhalf that produced a Best 1/4 ET 6.62 @223 MPH and a Best 1/8 ET 4.32 @177 MPH. This was my second NMCA event, and I am starting to understand the complexity that goes into Drag racing; the different classes, brackets, mods, rules, everything. As with any other motorsport, there is a lot of waiting around for your drivers to run, but when they have their turn after patiently waiting in the staging lanes, it is nothing short of pure adrenaline. At Fontana, I got my first taste of how badly methanol burns, and to listen and smell for those cars, my eyes and lungs burned like hell!
We basically sat in the VIP box the entire time with our friend Rossy and Yukio’s pal from Turbosmart, Marty. After qualifying, Rossy, Bro photo, and us went to Korean BBQ which is always a good idea. The food there was super fresh, especially their chicken, which still had a feather on it despite being friend and dead. Yum, yum, super fresh feather chicken!
Saturday night is not complete without a date night to our favorite hookah spot in Redondo Beach, skyline hookah. The ambience is very upscale club setting, but they don’t have their liquor license, which draws a younger crowd. Unfortunately more and more it feels like high school seniors hang out here with their vapes and talk about how PCP and pills don’t show up on drug screening. Always a good time I suppose? Yukio has a fan boy there as well, he is so fascinated with Yukes’ WRX and always tries to start up a conversation on builds and what he is getting next. So adorable!
Soon after it was Sunday morning and time to hit Pomona for the finals, all of the Garrett cars had qualified. Again, lots of waiting around for our bracket, the Turbo by Garrett Pro Mod. Everyone ran really well and laid down some solid time,and we had one podium for Mickey Thompson Tires True Ten 5, Mark Luton, the owner of MMR.
We ended the race weekend with a quick visit to my aunt, uncle, and cousins down the street from the track and dinner at Malibu Fish Grill which was just about the most amazing thing I’ve had in a while. If you are in the South Bay, I highly recommend you try it! To top off the exciting weekend, we gave into our guilty pleasures and tried a new ice cream sandwich place, Baby G’s on PCH in Hermosa Beach. Another weekend of successfully combining racing with cohabitation which will get tested again with more and more race events coming up soon. Never a dull moment, and that’s the way I like it.
xo Drift Bunny
No comments:
Post a Comment