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The import scene, also known as the import racing scene or tuner scene, is a subculture of modifying mostly Japanese-import cars, particularly in the United States and Europe.
Car modifying has been popular among youths in the US, especially in Southern California, since the days of hot rods in the 1950s and 1960s and muscle cars in the 1970s. There is significant evidence indicating that import drag racing first started in Southern California in the mid-1960s, with modified Volkswagen Beetles, Ford Populars and Austin A40 Devons: Documentation of quarter-mile passes were published in Hot Rod Magazine as early as August 1965.
Puerto Rico also has a history of pioneering import drag racing in the mid-'70s and -'80s, and it is still a popular hobby on the island.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Japanese vehicles, mostly early smaller Hondas (Civic, Prelude), Toyotas (Celica, Corolla, Supra), Nissans (Datsun 510) and Mazdas (RX-2, RX-3) gained popularity in Southern California. To be more precise, within the city of "Gardena" at a parking lot (location) for then what was called "Meiji (Japanese) Market or Meiji Market Plaza" along with a line of other authentic Japanese retailers serving the largely Japanese communities of Gardena, Torrance, and Palos Verdes was to become the " 1st known and established Weekend late-night meet-up location." The Young Asian-Americans and first generation "Issei" Japanese street racers from Japan and Okinawa played a particularly important role in the development of the early street racing scene. Many enthusiasts in southern California centered around the City of Gardena
In 1973, the Japanese issei began to bring the style of Japanese styled cars over to the U.S. Cars such as the Datsun 510, Toyota Corolla, and the Honda Civic along with other modified vehicles.
also began to modify their compact Japanese cars, following similar trends that originated in Japan, such as the paint schemes, modified exhausts, and engine carburation. As the import racers and car aesthetics grew in popularity and numbers, so did the competition. Meiji Market's parking lot became very well known outside the original Japanese car crews and this attracted more outsiders to visit, as well as American Car race Crews to appear, which inevitably became somewhat problematic. This local Import Racers scene became a hotbed for pink slip racing and more aggressive tension between race crews. Non-Japanese automobile racers & car clubs started to appear from far outside the Gardena, Torrance, & South Bay communities and in approx. circa 1983-86 Import racers and midnight racers started to meet at another local restaurant called "Naugles," which was located on Western Ave & and 186th street. Naugles was the "1st obvious step" that import racing was now gaining popularity in other Southern California communities.
The import scene grew exponentially in the 1990s and 2000s with more Japanese imports internationally, better performance, and media and cultural influences such as the Fast & Furious film series and Need for Speed video games. [1] [2]
Street Import racing venues and street meet-up locations in nearby cities such as Carson, Ca. and Long Beach, Ca. eventually arose from the original Meiji Market Location, and then came huge drag racing events at Palmdale, California often packed in over 10,000 spectators per day. Racers like Stephan Papadakis, Ed Bergenholtz, Myles Bautista, Lisa Kubo, and Eric Sebastian [3] on the West Coast dominated the first import drag racing circuit IDRC (Battle of the Imports) in the mid 1990s. Show car clubs became a huge factor within the import scene: Southern California had Team Macross 7, Team Outkast, Team Kosoku, Northern California had SVP, Sinister Racing, Team Flipspeed, Team Light*Speed Racing. in the East Coast (New Jersey, Toronto). In the South, Team Himitsujigen and Team Dangerous (Texas) and Team Hawaii had Midnight Racing and Alpha Project which won numerous car shows all over the island of Oahu. Special thanks to the crews at Distinctive, GX Auto, Progressive Auto Sounds, P.A.T.S, Sonic Motorsports, Midnight Tinting, Kaizo Speed Gear, Architechs, Hypersports Racing, Speedline, HDS, Hawaii Raceway Park and AugustKinetics. Guam had teams like Lowered 2 Perfection and Toys R Us, while the East Coast had the still-active Jade Crew.
The Japanese racing scene can be seen in the anime series Initial D , which focuses mainly on mountain pass-racing and Wangan Midnight which deals with high-speed expressway racing.
Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most commonly 1⁄4 mi, with a shorter, 1,000 ft distance becoming increasingly popular, as it has become the standard for Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars, where some major bracket races and other sanctioning bodies have adopted it as the standard. The 1⁄8 mi is also popular in some circles. Electronic timing and speed sensing systems have been used to record race results since the 1960s.
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The National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) is a Special Chapter of the Electric Auto Association and exists to increase public awareness of electric vehicle (EV) performance. NEDRA has been working to encourage competition and advances in electric vehicle technology since 1997. NEDRA achieves this by organizing and sanctioning safe, silent, and exciting electric vehicle drag racing events. The business is based out of Houston, TX.
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Keiichi Tsuchiya is a Japanese professional race car driver. He is known as the Drift King for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport. In professional racing, he is a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner and the 2001 All Japan GT Championship runner-up. He is also known for touge driving.
The Nissan Violet is a model of car that appeared in Japan in 1973, and was exclusive to Japanese Nissan dealerships called Nissan Cherry Store as a larger companion to the Nissan Cherry.
The Nissan S130 is a sports coupé produced by Nissan in Japan from 1978 until 1983. It was sold as the Datsun 280ZX, Nissan Fairlady Z and Nissan Fairlady 280Z, depending on the market. In Japan, it was exclusive to Nissan Bluebird Store locations. It was the second generation Z-car, replacing the Nissan Fairlady Z (S30) in late 1978. The 280ZX was the first time the "by Nissan" subscript was badged alongside the Datsun logo, along with Nissan trucks. The 280ZX was Motor Trend's import car of the year for 1979. The 280ZX was replaced by the Nissan 300ZX in 1984.
The Nissan S30, sold in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z and in other markets as the Datsun 240Z, then later as the 260Z and 280Z, is a grand tourer produced by Nissan from 1969 until 1978. The S30 was conceived of by Yutaka Katayama, the President of Nissan Motor Corporation U.S.A., and designed by a team led by Yoshihiko Matsuo, the head of Nissan's Sports Car Styling Studio. It is the first car in Nissan's Z series of sports cars.
Need for Speed: Underground is a 2003 racing video game and the seventh installment in the Need for Speed series. It was developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. Three different versions of the game were produced: one for consoles and Microsoft Windows, and another for the Game Boy Advance. An arcade version was additionally developed by Global VR and was published by Konami with assistance from Electronic Arts.
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Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) of the automobile aftermarket was formed in 1963 by Paul Schiefer, Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Els Lohn, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman, Robert E. Wyman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand Jr, Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock Jr. Now it consists of 6,383 companies worldwide, bringing together aftermarket manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers (OEM), media, car dealers, specialty equipment distributors, installers, retailers, and restoration specialists.
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Megalopolis Expressway Trial is the original title of a series of six Japanese films, about illegal highway racing in the Shuto Expressway, released between 1988 and 1996. An English subtitled version of the film series was released on DVD in North America in 2004 due to commercial success of popular Hollywood films like The Fast and The Furious. A 4-disc re-release of the 2004 edition was made available in 2007, it was renamed Tokyo Speedway: The Complete Collection. Though also available in Hong Kong, the DVD edition was not released in Japan since the series is still banned and the last episode unreleased yet.
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During its history the Toyota Supra has enjoyed considerable success in a variety of different motorsports.
Simpson Performance Products is an American motorsports parts supplier that manufactures safety products such as gloves, helmets, harness systems, driver's suits, head restraints, and shoes. It is marketed to racers ranging from participants at local track days to international Formula One and NASCAR teams. It was started by Bill Simpson as Simpson Drag Chutes.
NZ Performance Car is a monthly automobile magazine and website, and is the biggest selling automotive and men's lifestyle magazine in New Zealand.
The American Honda Motor Company, Inc. is the North American subsidiary of Japanese Honda Motor Company. Founded in 1959, the company combines product sales, service and coordinating functions of Honda in North America, and is responsible for distribution, marketing and sales of Honda and Acura brand automobiles, Honda Powersports products, Honda Power Equipment products, Honda Engines products, Honda Marine engines, and the HondaJet aircraft.
Ndubisi "Bisi" Ezerioha is a Nigerian-American engineer, professional race car driver, entrepreneur and engine builder. He is the current CEO and Chief Engineer for Bisimoto Engineering. Ezerioha is involved in import drag racing, and pilots a 2006 Honda Insight in the pro stock ranks of IDRA, IDRC and CMI series. A chemical engineer by training, and entering university at the age of 15, he was a pharmaceutical researcher for years before he decided to branch off. His automotive creations have appeared in numerous films, television shows, toys and video games.
