WEBVTT - Ep29 Mike Chang 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:08.520 Welcome back to another episode of Car Stories with k 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:13.760 and Amelia Hartford Mike from Evasive Motorsports joining us in 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.439 the booth. Mike founded Evasive Motorsports in two thousand and 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:21.400 two with his partner Tony. Not only do they sell 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.840 aftermarket product for the community, but they also build and 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.200 race and sponsor other cars and drivers. 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:32.960 And why is Evasive they go to aftermarket parts company 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:34.080 because there's a whole bunch of them. 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.639 Yeah. Well, I think in our conversation the listeners will 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:42.160 find that he has this passion, this love where he 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:48.279 just kind of devotes everything into trying to perfect a car, 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:50.760 almost like an ekey guy guy. 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:55.000 Eke guy, it's the Japanese ancient term that came from 0:00:55.640 --> 0:01:03.080 the northern part of Japan from the showgun Dyna the yakumoko. 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:03.880 I can't feel of your bullshitting or not. 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:06.160 Yoshino ah san. 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:08.280 In the first half. 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:11.759 What does that mean? Ikey guy? 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:16.360 Ikey Guy is essentially finding what your purpose on life is. 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:20.560 And with the conversation with Mike from Evasive, it's that 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:24.560 it wasn't money that motivated him, it was building cars. 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.880 He's essentially dominated the market and very well respected for 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:33.000 building tuner cars, specifically the EVO nine and the S 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.479 two K, and doesn't have any plans of slowing down 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:37.400 anytime soon. 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:39.679 Yeah. I really wanted to sit down with Mike because 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:46.160 I've always seen Evasive around the community and when you 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:50.560 ask anybody about Evasive, their reputation is stillar There's nobody 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:54.320 pucks any crap about them. And I wanted to know 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.960 how do they last for twenty years and they're so 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:01.200 respected and beloved in the car community, and like, what 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:02.360 is their magic sauce? 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:04.520 Yeah, and you may know Evasive, but a lot of 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:06.880 people don't know directly the owners because I feel like 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:09.680 they're more private about their lives and they're so focused 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.200 on trying to give back to the community. 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.480 And it seems like Mike is a super like shy guy. 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.400 But you know somebody like him that has been able 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:24.000 to create a thriving business for the past two decades. Yeah, right, 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.959 they're onto something. So something to learn from Mike. 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.840 I also learned what mushing was mushing mushing all right, 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.480 you guys, without further ado, Mike from Evasive. 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.760 Hi, Mike, Hi, Amelia and I were talking this morning, 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:45.840 were like, so Mike's coming from evasive we know nothing 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.160 about you, oh, which is pretty awesome that we get 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:54.840 to start this podcast. So Evasive sells. What do you? 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:55.360 Guys sell? 0:02:55.960 --> 0:03:02.680 Pretty much everything, like anything from lug nuts to body kids, wheels, tires, 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.440 like anything you want to, like, you know, tune up 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:05.800 a car. 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:08.120 Okay did it always start like that? 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:12.120 It did? I mean, you know, it started as something 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.480 I did in college as a hobby. So like we 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:20.360 we started selling lugnuts. Actually really it was it was 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.760 something easy to ship and it was in Hi the mend, 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.640 you know, lugnuts. Yeah, because a lot of times before, 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.320 like this is twenty years ago, people would buy wheels 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.600 and they would run like kind of jinky looking lugnuts. 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:38.640 So we started selling like color and fancy lugnuts and 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:40.880 people loved it and we would sell like you know 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:43.480 at first, you know, this is all out of Mike arroage. 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:46.320 Where's this garage? Where'd you grow up? 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:48.880 This is when I went to kel Poly so it 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:50.120 was like West Cofina. 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:51.760 Area, So you grew up you're selling caliboy? 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:55.160 Yeah, okay, Well I was born in Taiwan actually, so 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.120 and I moved here and I was like ten, but 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.280 I went to school in La and then went to 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.880 cal Poly and then yeah, back to the lugnuts. 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:08.000 It was you're in school slinging lung nuts exactly. 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.880 Yeah. Yeah, and we actually bought the url like King 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.600 of Nuts. When you went to that l you went 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:18.200 to EVAs the Motorsports. So that's how kind of got started. 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.320 And we were selling like like twenty thirty packs of 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:24.320 lugnuts a day, and then from there we kind of 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.520 expanded to what we you know, what else we carry 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:30.720 obviously you know those like intakes and exhaust all all 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.680 the other stuff, but like bigger items. Obviously we can't 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:38.159 wear warehouse it in my garage, so you know, we're 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.039 doing drop ships and then you know, one thing leads 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.760 to another and then we me and my business partner. Okaya, 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:47.800 so me and Tony. Tony's my business partner. We kind 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:51.520 of started together mean through my wife actually, so my 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:54.400 wife and him there were like high school friends and 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.240 then just when I was dating her, I met him 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.960 and then we're both super into cars. Like this is 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:02.880 like this is the era where like e commerce was 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.800 just barely getting started. What year was this, I would 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.800 say year two thousand, two thousand. Yeah, so there's like 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:14.400 a handful of people selling car parts online. So we're like, 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:18.200 and he is actually, you know, he's actually a computer 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.560 science major, so he's really good with the computer and 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.600 like you know, coding and stuff. So like, hey, we're 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:26.880 both into cars, why don't you build a website and 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.559 I'll be like the kind of like the parts runner 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.440 and I'll do the you know, the operations. And that's 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:33.279 kind of how it started. 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:35.839 Wow, how did you come up with the name evasive? 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:38.320 He came up with it. Yeah, I was like sure 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:39.000 and whatever. 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:41.000 So what's that mean? Evasive? 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:41.960 Like it's kind of. 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:45.359 Yeah, yeah, iris. 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:49.719 So people make jokes about it all the time, like 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:52.960 you're evading your customers, but like, but I feel like 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.680 it's more like like on the racetrack, because like you know, 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:58.360 that's what we're about, Like you can't catch us. Like 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.800 it's like we're very like sneaky evasive, like we're like 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:04.440 just passing people whatever. You know. That's kind of like 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:06.280 I like like to take it as that. 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:10.320 So you and Tony bonded because your love affair for cars. 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:10.840 For sure? 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.080 What cars were you into that you guys had a 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:13.719 common bond. 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:19.240 We both had integrals, So like Honda as like our route. 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.960 Yeah, so it's kind of like a car parts startup 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:23.280 in the two thousand. 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:26.680 Totally yeah, totally reach car parts. And then we try 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.320 to do we try to build a website to be 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:33.120 very like lifestyle ish, like you know, we're we have 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.520 we put up our cars and we kind of like 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.240 did it in a way where like this is how 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.760 we build our cars, and we have like t shirts, 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.320 you know, kind of like it's not just like here's 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:45.919 a bunch of parts, go buy it. Like we already 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:48.760 try to represent like kind of like the way we 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.479 build cars. And then if you kind of like how 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.600 we do these hondas up, then maybe you'll buye with us. 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.760 You know, so what started you in the cars? Like 0:06:57.800 --> 0:06:58.600 we'll get you into that. 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:00.760 I don't know. I mean, I just remember when I 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:02.479 was a kid, you know, like I just I was 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.440 drawn to like toy cars, like it's it's I don't 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.560 know exactly when like I had that connection. But it's 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.760 funny because I was like part of like a car 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.880 crew in the like the pors show off days. I 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.360 don't know if you remember, like car show would just 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:19.240 be really big. 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.760 Hot im poort nights type of show off and poor 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.600 show off. Yeah, what's that you know that I've heard? 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:27.520 I don't like I know more than Yeah. 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.320 So the nineties, way, how old are you? I'm forty three? 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:32.640 Forty three? Oh he looks like he's twenty two. 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:38.320 Okay Asian jeans. Yeah, like in push office like the 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:40.480 biggest thing ever. Everyone just goes to a car show 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:43.000 and they have it like in del Maar, like San 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:47.000 Diego they have Nise show Off and Little Tokyo. I 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:49.880 was part of a car crew. You were young. It's 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:51.720 like I want to belong somewhere. So like I was 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:53.920 in the cars. So they approached me and said I 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:55.560 wanted to draw on a car crew and then you know, 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.480 and then that's how I really got like involved in cars. 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:00.440 Oh there's a car cruise. 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:03.280 Yeah, And that was like the thing like everybody belonged 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:05.840 with into a car crew back in the days, like 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.920 if you're solo and it's like, oh, kind of weird, 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.840 Like it's just like you know, by yourself. So everyone 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:13.880 had to like I'm part of this crew and part 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:15.600 of that crew. It's like a night. 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:18.800 My crew when I moved to Indiana was called B 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:23.640 Crew for Bloomington, Indiana. B Crew yeah, that's what we 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:24.400 called ourselves. 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:25.600 What was your cruise name? 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:29.240 Hybrid hybrid Hybrid. I don't know what they call it, 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:29.960 team Hybrid. 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:31.480 I guess hybrid hybrid. 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:33.360 Twenty years later, there's. 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:34.760 Still still around. 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:36.520 It's crazy Hybrid's now. 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.160 Prias is Noel. Yeah, no, they're still around, still doing 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:41.640 the same thing. 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:44.880 Wow. I guess the need to be part of a 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:49.079 crew will always continue for people, right, yeah. 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.839 I guess in a very ancestry type thing of needing 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.200 to find that family. Yeah, the tribe. Yeah yeah. 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.480 That was never part of a car crew because I 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:00.400 was too poor to have a car really when I 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.440 was young. But I was part of a break dancing crew. 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.359 I was We had these like fake Adidas like jumpsuits 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.640 were like red and black. We're called the Tiger Crew, right. 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.440 It was so stupid, and there was like five of 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.200 us and four dudes could actually pop and break and 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.719 I could barely do the categillar. 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:24.040 Like barely do that. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:25.679 So they were like, all right, you want to wear 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:29.320 the crew, you can, you can carry the stereo and 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:31.839 I would just sit there like really on press play. 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:34.800 Never they never let me dance, but it was cool 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:36.520 to be part of it because you go to school 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.520 and you wear the jumpsuit. They just show up and 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:39.640 you're like, Yo, what's up man? 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:40.280 There. 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.480 We didn't you know, we didn't go like fight, but 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.839 we talked shit like Yo, Yo, Mike, what you're looking at? 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:47.840 Yo? Man? 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:48.280 Yeah? 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:49.480 Yo, what's your crew? 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.679 Dragon Crew? Let's go We're going to dance this sound. 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:57.600 Yeah, that was kind of thing. Is like you get 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.080 to wear the team gear, right, and you feel like 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.800 like like you have backup in some in case something 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.559 goes down. Like that's I think that's the mentality like 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:06.760 when you're young growing up. 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:10.640 Yeah, So when the Hybrid crew, what was the initiation? 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:13.320 There wasn't much initiation. 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:13.599 No. 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.080 I think if you have a cool car, like it 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:18.120 started off like, oh, if you have a cool car 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.559 and you you know, you're friendly and like people get 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:22.880 along with you, then yeah, join our crew is super simple. 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.280 But then like as a as the crew got bigger, 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.520 it's when I kind of left. I was like there 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.680 started to have politics and like they started collecting fees 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.000 and all this stuff. I'm like, okay, yeah, I'm not 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:35.720 really yeah. 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.679 And I feel like to clarify for those listening who 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:39.800 aren't maybe in the car World when you have a 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:41.760 car crew and correct me if I'm wrong. And my 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.720 experience is different. You used to go on the forums 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.520 and just find people who had the like making models 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.280 of your vehicle. They'd probably meet at some parking garage 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:52.640 or somewhere, and you would just show up in order 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.080 to meet people who had similar interests of yours. And 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.040 over time that's where it becomes political, like well, we 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.000 need money for you to show up, or you need 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.160 to buy this, or we're doing this track event and 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.240 you need to come with us if you're part of it. 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.640 But yeah, it was a great way to meet people. 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:08.520 Yeah, and it was really simple too, Like you said, 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:10.599 it was really like, hey, I like you, I like 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:11.040 your car. 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:13.520 Let's go hang out, Let's go Kirk somewhere in toime. 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:15.800 It wasn't like complicated like these days. You know. 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:17.000 Yeah, well we're old now. 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.120 Yeah yeah, yeah. I think for young people in movies different, 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:20.480 I don't know. 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:23.840 I have found it's harder and harder to find where 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:26.079 the events are. You have to know someone who knows. 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:28.760 I was recently in Puerto Rico and I was trying 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.520 to find just any car event, any Sunday cars and 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.079 coffee anything, because I wanted to like see the community 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.920 out there, but just googling it or going on Facebook 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.000 and all that, it was near impossible to find. I 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.240 feel like people don't post about it as much anymore. 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:43.319 It's kind of just word. 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:46.000 Of mouth, yeah, or like they have their circle of 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.480 friends that yeah, the same people that come out. 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.600 Yeah, but Kelli, I mean here, it's like the Mecca 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.680 car events, right, there's like one every. 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:58.440 Other day much Yeah, smaller events. I feel like more 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:02.480 and more there starting to get rid of a couple 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.680 shows like Sunset GT was a big one. They're no 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.440 longer doing that. The Malibu Cars and Coffee kind of 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:09.160 shut down. 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:09.520 That's gone. 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:14.679 Yeah, why the residents didn't Well maybe the shop owners 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:15.880 didn't appreciate. 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:19.319 All the I don't entirely know the politics behind it, 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.120 but yeah, So there. 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:22.839 Was one in Woodland Hills, the Cars and Coffee and 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:24.000 Woodland Hills. That's gone too. 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.040 Supercar Sunday is that the one? 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:27.719 Yeah, there was, right, and then there was. 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.280 One in there's one in Westlake still that happens. Oc 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.880 still happens. That one's still around. 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.079 Yeah, oh see, yeah, that one's yeah, I think once 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:37.160 a month the problem is. 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:38.719 There's a lot of police who show up who even 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:40.640 if you're not doing anything wrong, they want to ticket 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.680 you or pull you over for having any modifications to 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:44.080 your car. 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:46.520 It's that's that takeovers I think it is too. 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:51.520 Yeah, so you guys are big into supporting drivers. You 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.160 race Pike's Peak, right, and you do a bunch of 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.240 racing elements too, more so than just selling products. When 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.800 did that come about? Do you also build cars for people? 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:03.720 Now? Yes, we we build cars for people. We have 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:06.480 a shop that's full service, like there's a Dino alignment 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.200 rack like fabrication, so like anything could be done in 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:12.920 the shop. And as far as racing goes, it's probably 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.760 started in six I would say, you know, one of 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.560 my favorite things to do was watch like you know, 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.560 Best Motoring or like these uh these shows that come 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.280 out of Japan of you know how they basically their 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.640 style of building cars and and the thing that was 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.640 big was Time Attack, which is, you know, basically a 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.760 car like it's like qualifying to see who goes the 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:37.240 fastest around this whatever particular lap. In O six, we 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.960 picked up our evo miss Bishi Evo, and then we 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.079 turned that into like a time Attack Car and that's 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:46.520 kind of where it started. Since then, like every single 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.200 year we've been just trying to find ways to build 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:53.079 new cars or race in certain like events, whether it 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.280 be Time Attack or a Pike's Peak. And then uh, 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:58.640 we've shipped the car to Japan actually to compete before 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.600 at scoop A Circuit, So that was really cool. But yeah, 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.720 I would say like motorsport is like the main focus 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:07.160 for like the company. 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.400 Yeah, I erase for you guys, grow for you guys. 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.560 He drove for us for five straight years now for 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:17.960 Pike's Peak and also for just various track events. 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.600 And Die is Dio Shihara who we had on this podcast. 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.200 Great guy, Yeah, super super chill guy. 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:27.320 So Evasive is like your own little car crew now. 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.640 Sorry of Yeah, I would say so, yeah, I mean 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:32.520 I would consider all of our customers to have the 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:37.320 same mindsets as we do. We like just more performance 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:41.400 oriented guys who are into like not just fixing up 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:43.400 the car, but like for a reason to maybe go 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.400 faster on track. That's the kind of customer base we 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:48.680 have just because you know, everything we put out there 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:53.120 is performance based. You know, we're not really building show cars. 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.400 We're building cars for specific reasons, you know, like this 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:58.920 is for Pike's Peak, and this is for time attack, 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.760 or this is for or maybe some sort of racing event. Yeah. 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.640 Do you feel like that that that demographic or that 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:07.840 culture is growing. 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:12.080 Oh yeah, sure to hear for sure. Yeah, because like 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.120 back in the days, nobody took their cars to the track. 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:16.640 It wasn't you know, it wasn't even a thing where 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:18.280 like I think most of the cars would break down, 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:22.080 you know, like that the way people tune cars back 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.400 in the days was not good for the track. You know, 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:27.480 it will overheat. I just things we're not going to work. 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.560 But these days people actually buy, you know, they shop 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.320 for quality parts, parts that actually work, you know. And 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.760 then a lot of it's based on our feedback too, 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.160 you know. So like if we build a car with 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.760 certain type of wing splitter that generates a lot of downforce, 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.040 and they shaved this a lot of time, would tell 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.600 the customers, hey, this works. You don't have to go research. 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:48.760 Just by this part. You will go two seconds faster 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:51.480 at this track. So that's kind of like our approach. 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.160 Oh so you and Tony actually like go to the 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:55.040 track till you guys. 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:59.160 Yeah, I used to drive a lot. Actually, yeah, maybe 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:01.120 it's been like ten years, but I used to compete 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:02.400 at events. 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.680 So you started with tuners. It sounds like you specialize 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.360 in tuners, But do you guys also do it? And 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:10.280 I'm sorry if this wasn't you guys? Did you do 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:11.320 a Tesla? Also? 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:12.680 Yeah? 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:14.320 Yeah, didn't you set a record with that? 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.520 It was I think it was last year's Pike's Peak. 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.280 It was the fastest ev to go up the mountain, 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:22.840 But I don't know if that's a record. 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:24.040 Issue was the time? 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:26.680 Yeah, it was just the fastest EV to go up. 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.120 But we built the car in twenty twenty one. It 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:34.880 was Model three, and that was a really interesting experience. 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:37.360 I feel like it was one of those things where 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.320 like I see Tesla's everywhere, and I just saw, hey, 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.400 you know, if it's like like the Civic, right, you 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.680 see civics everywhere, everybody's gonna want to stand out from 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.840 each other. So I'm like, hey, Tesla could be that car. 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:52.800 So that's why we built Tesla race car and kind 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:55.360 of like you know, ran it for two years and 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:57.280 it was good learning experience. 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:02.000 Because evasive it Motorsports is everywhere, Like anybody who's like 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:06.160 you know, tuning their car or modifying it for the track. 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.880 At least think Southern Kelly, you guys are an institution. 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:10.400 Yeah. 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:12.520 What do you think was the secret for you and 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.320 Tony to be able to last this long? Because it's been, 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.240 like you said, like almost like twenty years now. 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:21.160 It's twenty twenty two going on twenty two years now. 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:22.160 That's a long time. 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:22.960 It's a long time. 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:23.280 Yeah. 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.560 Yeah, sometimes I'm like, I spent more than half my 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:28.560 life doing this home, I realize, But. 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:29.960 Wow, that's a trippy thought to have. 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.200 It is, yeah, it is. But I think I think 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.440 the key is just like we find our passion, which 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:40.520 is motorsports, and we just do that without really thinking 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:44.199 about like that the recipe works, right, I think to 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:49.440 build cars that really like inspire like people and inspire ourselves, 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.600 like these track cars and whatnot, and just put it 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:56.080 out there, and then the customers do tend to come, 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:59.800 like we attract the right customers, you know, and we've 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:01.840 just done that since day one. I feel like, you know, 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:06.000 we're not I think we're not thinking about sales numbers. 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.480 We're not thinking about, hey, let's do promotion every month. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.280 We're just thinking about what can we put out into 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.280 this like whorld of like tuning cars that keeps people 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:16.960 value and they see it and they're like, hey, I 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:18.720 want my car to look like that, and I want 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:20.680 to build my car to be like that. And they, 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:22.800 you know, the customers just follow us and just do 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.160 the same things we do. And that's I think that's 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.040 why we've been around for so long. 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:43.720 When did you come from Taiwan when I was ten? 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:45.240 Have you been back lately? 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.080 Just a couple of times in the past, like twenty years, 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:49.080 not really. 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.359 You know, I was just there for like months. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:54.000 it's pretty amazing city. 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:55.520 Taiwan is is awesome. 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:56.600 Yeah have you been there? 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:57.280