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The Pioneers and Cars Essay

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The Pioneers and Cars

With the popularity of movies like The Fast and the Furious and its sequel Too Fast Too Furious, import car culture has now become mainstream. What had started out as a small subset of Southern California car culture has quickly become part of American culture. In the same way hot rodding of the 50s and muscle cars of the 60s was a cultural lifestyle of the youths of that era, the import scene is now the new car culture of our generation. Car culture runs deeply in California. Hot rodders and street racers daily cruise the streets, all started from Asian Americans' love of import cars and racing.

Since most Asian Americans in the late 70s and 80s drove Japanese imports, they could not compete …show more content…

JoJo is one of the most consistent racers today. His times may not be the fastest but he is always expected to run well. Adam, who started A&L Racing in his parents' barn, is also consistent. He used to race the fastest street legal RX-7, was the first to race a tube chassis NSX, and now races a tube chassis, rear wheel drive Honda Civic SI for Honda of America. Ed, with the help of his brother Ron and Bergonholtz Racing, was the first front wheel drive to run the quarter mile in 10 seconds. Now he races a Mazda 6 for Mazda USA.

The other side of the import car culture is show. All the import car shows that are put on today are modeled after Import Showoff, the original import car show that was started in 1995 and today is one of the most prestigious. It was started by Ken Miyoshi to showcase import cars that not only were fast but which were also artistic, much like the hot rod/custom car scene of domestics. Ken's show has spawned the creation Hot Import Nights, Hot Import Daze, Import Revolution, Extreme Autofest, and all the other car shows happening nationwide.

These show cars take a lot of time and energy to create. To win, your car must stand out from the hundreds of other cars in the hall. RJ De Vera knows how to stand out. RJ is a complex man. He has owned his own aftermarket parts mail order company, been a writer and photographer for Super Street magazine, starred in a television commercial, and was a

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