Import scene
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
The import scene, also known as the import racing scene or tuner scene, is a
History
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
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][3] The growing scene was headlined by the flagship Japanese halo sports cars such as the Toyota Supra, Nissan Skyline GT-R, Mazda RX-7, and Acura NSX. Other cars such as the Mitsubishi 3000GT, Nissan Z, Honda S2000, Toyota MR2, Nissan Silvia, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, and Subaru Impreza WRX were all successful entrants in the booming scene.
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[4] 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 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.
Japanese products
Another part of the import scene is Japanese products that either explore or detail such racing, often introducing new fans to the scene. These are usually found through DVDs and books.
The
DVDs
Some of the more well known DVDs about the scene, apart from the anime series mentioned above, include:
- Best Motoring
- Hot Version
- Torque Video Magazine
- Video Option (alternatively known as JDM Option)
- Drift Tengoku
Anime and manga
Two Japanese anime and manga have been attributed to the growing import scene in some form or another. A common theme in both is that characters that are depicted underdogs with hidden and untapped talent drive what amount to antiquated cars that many would deem either ready for the scrapheap or underpowered compared to much better tuned and modified cars.
The anime and manga
On the opposite spectrum,
See also
- Grey import vehicles
- VIP style
- Art car
- Boy racer
- Cruising (driving)
- Drag racing
- Drifting (motorsport)
- Engine tuning
- Hot hatch
- Kustom Kulture
- Import model
- Rice burner
- Sport compact
- Stance (vehicle)
- Sleeper (car)
- Street racing
- Japanese domestic market
- Japanese used vehicle exporting
References
- ^ Garlitos, Kirby (2020-05-14). "How Japan's Car Culture Has Changed Over the Years". TopSpeed. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
- ^ Down, One Block. "Under the Hood of Japan's Illustrious Tuning Culture With Sabukaru". One Block Down. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
- ^ Velde, Issy van der (2021-03-19). "How The Fast And The Furious Inspired Need For Speed: Underground". TheGamer. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
- ^ "Eric Sebastian's Civic: PureHonda Car of the Year". PureHonda.com. 2006–2007.