Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Car Stories
Speaker 1: with Sun.
Speaker 2: King and Amelia Hartford.
Speaker 1: And today we get to talk to our dear friend
Speaker 1: Die Yoshihara, living legend, his story of how he came
Speaker 1: to the United States, how he got into drifting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a story about where he came from nothing,
Speaker 2: having moved from Japan, coming to the US, winning a
Speaker 2: championship and more than that, he raises gript driving, has
Speaker 2: done Pike's Peak, which is a famous mountain course in
Speaker 2: Colorado Springs, and he's.
Speaker 3: Just so zen.
Speaker 1: You know, he just has this piece about him and
Speaker 1: it's very hard for him to talk about himself and
Speaker 1: maybe that's the Japanese thing. But having this conversation to
Speaker 1: hear his story, you learn about why the community respects
Speaker 1: him so much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think a good takeaway is to treat
Speaker 2: others with kindness.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you'll be able to surround yourself with
Speaker 1: the people that that will help you pursue your dreamy. So,
Speaker 1: without further ado, mister Dai Yoshihara, So let's talk about
Speaker 1: your your origins with drifting. Yeah, can you tell us
Speaker 1: how you started and where'd you learn it? Like, where'd
Speaker 1: you fall? In love with it. How you became a
Speaker 1: professional jurist driver.
Speaker 4: It's kind of long story, but uh, you know, I'm
Speaker 4: from Japan and I was one of those street racer
Speaker 4: back in the days. But also I've been always looking
Speaker 4: up to US culture ever since I watched Top Gun,
Speaker 4: like back in that was eighty six, but I watched
Speaker 4: the movie like maybe early nineties. But anyway, it's like
Speaker 4: those are two like my interests, like driving and you know,
Speaker 4: US culture. Right after Fast Inferiors in Japan spoke compact
Speaker 4: culture was kind of popping. It's kind of like a
Speaker 4: us DM custom cars, not just like a you know,
Speaker 4: like drift cars or anything like that. It's more like
Speaker 4: Honters and so basically the cars from the past and furious.
Speaker 4: So around that time, I was like really into that.
Speaker 4: And then I met the guy from the US and
Speaker 4: who did the car show in the US at the time,
Speaker 4: and he's like, oh, maybe drifting will be the next thing,
Speaker 4: And I took me to the Japanese Mountain Road.
Speaker 1: He really liked it.
Speaker 4: A few months later he invited me to compete in
Speaker 4: the US drifting competition.
Speaker 1: That was my beginning. So can you give us your
Speaker 1: history of your first car. Were you always into cars
Speaker 1: growing up? And like where did you learn how to drive?
Speaker 1: Because and also togay for the listening audience, can you
Speaker 1: first let's explain what togay is.
Speaker 4: Okay, So togay is basically a mountain roll. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I will stay tokay as a Kenyon road, I guess.
Speaker 4: So my first car was eighty to eighty six Corolla
Speaker 4: and yeah, I always wanted to, you know, get a
Speaker 4: car ever since I was a kid. So as soon
Speaker 4: as I get a driver license, I already had the car,
Speaker 4: which was two hundred bucks. And then just every now
Speaker 4: I just put like ten ten liter gas because gas
Speaker 4: is the most expensive thing, you know, at the time
Speaker 4: for me, So just put like a ten litter which
Speaker 4: is like four garrow maybe, and then just drive mountain
Speaker 4: all night until it gets empty and then come back.
Speaker 4: So that's how I practice myself, maybe like a year
Speaker 4: or so.
Speaker 1: So you're self taught pretty much. Really, Yeah that's crazy.
Speaker 4: Yeah wow, Well but I watched a lot of videos.
Speaker 4: One of the popular one is the Drift Bible from
Speaker 4: ka Who is who is people called drifting?
Speaker 1: Maybe you guys can explain who he is? Kg Suchiya
Speaker 1: is he's actually in Tokyo Drift yes, all right, so
Speaker 1: he is essentially known as the drift King. And he
Speaker 1: started driving the A eighty six when he was young.
Speaker 1: And there's a manga called Initial D very famous manga,
Speaker 1: and it's about this character Takumi that lives in the
Speaker 1: Togay mountains and he delivers Tofu and he was a
Speaker 1: consultant on this manga. And that's why this you know,
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five eighty six Hachiroku Corola A eighty six
Speaker 1: has become the grandfather of drift cars, right, and so
Speaker 1: Suchiya san is still alive, and he would be like
Speaker 1: the Michael Jordan of drifting. All right, that's a very
Speaker 1: good way to say. Yeah, I mean, did he inspire
Speaker 1: you to get the A eighty six? Was he like
Speaker 1: a hero of yours? Yes?
Speaker 4: Yes, I mean at the time I didn't really like
Speaker 4: it was like more like no choice because it was
Speaker 4: super cheap. It's not like this is a car I
Speaker 4: wanted to drive back in the days, right, But now
Speaker 4: this is still my favorite cars just because that's the
Speaker 4: car I learned how to drive. But yeah, so for sure,
Speaker 4: suggestn't helped a lot of people to you know, knowing
Speaker 4: this car, it's so different and be inspired.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Now where are you from in Japan?
Speaker 4: I'm from Tokyo but east I'm sorry, west side of Tokyo,
Speaker 4: which is a little bit countryside in a way, so
Speaker 4: it's pretty easy to access to the togi which is
Speaker 4: a canyon roads.
Speaker 2: Which toga would you drive?
Speaker 4: I have a few different, but it's called those togi
Speaker 4: and then old that me.
Speaker 2: So is that like saying Mulholland canyon out there much?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, so there's a few in the area, so
Speaker 1: just go there, like and.
Speaker 2: Would you drift or would you just drive really fast?
Speaker 4: I did drift specifically in the beginning. Now is it
Speaker 4: Are there a lot of police up there? Yeah? I
Speaker 4: don't know if this kind of touchy subject, but because
Speaker 4: I think we should say like no street driving, right absolutely,
Speaker 4: But yeah, back in the days there's a.
Speaker 1: Lot of cops.
Speaker 4: But you know, we of course run away, and here
Speaker 4: in japan's a little different like here, I think it's
Speaker 4: more more crazy, but Japan, like if you run away,
Speaker 4: then I don't think most police will really chase you
Speaker 4: too hard because it's it gets dangerous for the driver
Speaker 4: and then other people as well, right, so they just
Speaker 4: let you go you know where. But also we never
Speaker 4: really do, you know, when you have a lot of
Speaker 4: traffic with a lot of people around. So I mean
Speaker 4: there's a you know, a few people do that too,
Speaker 4: but most of the time I try to pick most
Speaker 4: like like quiet like thing around no home, so trying
Speaker 4: not to like, you know, kissed people off kind.
Speaker 2: Of thing, not to like disturb the piece.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's very Japanese. Yeah, I guess you're
Speaker 1: breaking the law, but you're doing it. What drew you
Speaker 1: to start drifting opposed to like drag racing or track racing,
Speaker 1: track driving? Like what was the thing that called to
Speaker 1: you to become a drifter?
Speaker 4: So before I get a driver's license, I got a
Speaker 4: I was riding a motorcycle. In Japan, you get the
Speaker 4: license driver's license when you get eighteen, but you you
Speaker 4: can get a motorcycle license at sixteen. So those two years,
Speaker 4: I was riding a motorcycle and I was riding on
Speaker 4: the mountain one night and then I just saw the
Speaker 4: call is drifting coming at me, which is kind of
Speaker 4: kind of scary, but it was so cool to see that,
Speaker 4: and from that moment, I'm like I have to do this.
Speaker 4: So that's how I got into it.
Speaker 2: Was that car in a eighty six.
Speaker 4: No, I can't remember what was, but it was super
Speaker 4: cool moment, right, So and then I started like watching
Speaker 4: those videos and kind of like study the culture.
Speaker 1: What did your parents think about you getting into cars
Speaker 1: and pursuing this like journey and.
Speaker 4: Yeah, of course they were like a typical parents, so
Speaker 4: they didn't like it at all.
Speaker 1: A long time. What were they hoping you were going
Speaker 1: to do with your life, just.
Speaker 4: Like the regular stuff, like, you know, go to the
Speaker 4: college and you know what got I don't know, like
Speaker 4: some cool big company or something like that.
Speaker 2: What did your parents do for work?
Speaker 4: Actually, my dad was working with his brother who had
Speaker 4: the used car dealer. Okay, so he likes cars as well,
Speaker 4: so he kind of understood. But at the same time
Speaker 4: he was key telling me like just get the you know,
Speaker 4: normal job and kind of things.
Speaker 1: So, so, how did they feel about you coming to
Speaker 1: the United States and giving up your life in Japan?
Speaker 1: I mean, for the for our listeners too, I'd love
Speaker 1: you to maybe share like that journey of how you
Speaker 1: ended up in America, right, because it is like an
Speaker 1: almost an American dream. Success story.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, so kind of back to what I told
Speaker 4: you guys, I had one chance to come to the
Speaker 4: stage to compete for drifting. So actually a guy named
Speaker 4: Kim Yoshi who had the car show back in the days,
Speaker 4: and he you know back in the days. Of course,
Speaker 4: I didn't have money, so he got me a ticket
Speaker 4: to fly here, and he got me a place to stay,
Speaker 4: which is his house. And then I did one competition
Speaker 4: and I did pretty good. I got like top eight,
Speaker 4: So that kind of opened up my opportunity. And back
Speaker 4: back then, I was working for used car dealer in Japan,
Speaker 4: but I thought that was a good opportunity. So after
Speaker 4: that I quit the job and then I started coming
Speaker 4: to the States, but of course I didn't have a visa,
Speaker 4: so I have to stay here for like two months
Speaker 4: and go back to Japan. I was basically back in
Speaker 4: a fall at what it was, I was twenty four
Speaker 4: and then slowly getting sponsors and stuff, and maybe a
Speaker 4: few months after a former drift just started. So that
Speaker 4: was back in two thousand and three, and then Formula
Speaker 4: D was started at the two thousand and four and
Speaker 4: I got sponsors and the team to compete for the season.
Speaker 4: So that was kind of a second chance, and I
Speaker 4: just keep back in forth and yeah, it's a long
Speaker 4: story show. Four years after I finally got a visa
Speaker 4: and then around that time, finally I was able to
Speaker 4: make some money. And so that's kind of like when
Speaker 4: I'm like, Okay, this is my this is going to
Speaker 4: be my career. Until then, I wasn't even sure. And
Speaker 4: then back to your question, my parents are like, what
Speaker 4: the hell you're doing. They understand that I like cars
Speaker 4: a and I like the US, but they didn't think
Speaker 4: it's going to be a career. So it was kind
Speaker 4: of tough time to be honest.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So when you say sponsors, like, because I have
Speaker 1: no experience on like what it takes to get a sponsor, right,
Speaker 1: And do they pay? Do they give you a salary
Speaker 1: so you're able to like pay rent and eat or
Speaker 1: do they just pay for your racing season to maintain
Speaker 1: the car? Like how does that work? Especially when you're
Speaker 1: starting out right to do a race, it's going to
Speaker 1: cost you, right. So I was driving for a team
Speaker 1: the team called Pacific RIM. So some are just the part.
Speaker 1: For example, like the tires.
Speaker 4: I was sponsored by Yokohama Tire back in the day,
Speaker 4: so they surprise tires and then some company give you
Speaker 4: some budget as well, so those are like the beginning
Speaker 4: of the drifting. And then I think slowly the dollar
Speaker 4: amount got bigger so that the left doorver will be
Speaker 4: the team owners salary.
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, so you're not making money really for
Speaker 1: a long time, a long time. Now, Yeah, there are
Speaker 1: professional drifters today actually making a good living.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't say all of them. Maybe in the States
Speaker 4: is still one of the biggest series, so I think
Speaker 4: maybe half who we're making some money.
Speaker 1: So then how do they actually stay competitive with the
Speaker 1: guys that are making money? What do they do?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so that's kind of like a tough part of
Speaker 4: you know competition, right, because if you're good, you get
Speaker 4: more support, so yeah, you can get even better. But
Speaker 4: if you don't have a supports, it's hard for you
Speaker 4: to improve for you know, doing a practice and getting
Speaker 4: better cars. It just everything is cost you, right. I think,
Speaker 4: you know a lot of new guys and watching the
Speaker 4: Formula drift drift these days, a lot of new talented
Speaker 4: driver and they're doing good. So I think eventually they're
Speaker 4: going to get bigger sponsors, and then that's how you
Speaker 4: kind of rotate.
Speaker 1: I guess.
Speaker 3: Mm.
Speaker 2: A lot of drivers also on top of driving, do
Speaker 2: they not also run their own businesses to try to
Speaker 2: help supplement the cost, right.
Speaker 4: Right, So I think that's a lot of a lot
Speaker 4: of people like that. If they have a shop, they
Speaker 4: have a brand, and that's kind of like, yeah, offset
Speaker 4: some of the cost of doing the race.
Speaker 1: So when you moved over to America, did you experience
Speaker 1: America being what you thought it was going to be
Speaker 1: in your head? Yeah, I guess so, yeah, Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was it easy transition. No, no, because I couldn't really
Speaker 1: I mean, I still I'm not really good at English,
Speaker 1: but even worse back in the day, so it was
Speaker 1: hard to even communicate. Just to go to drive through,
Speaker 1: you know, it took me a while to order some
Speaker 1: stuff that I wanted to But yeah, it was really
Speaker 1: cool to be here.
Speaker 4: But at the same time, I think at one point
Speaker 4: also I realized, you know, Japan is such a cool
Speaker 4: country too, Like you know, sometimes you kind of like
Speaker 4: look back and kind of see from the outside.
Speaker 1: It's like a different perspective.
Speaker 4: And yeah, I remember, like one time I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: maybe I should go back to Japan.
Speaker 1: How come we never went back.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know why, but yeah, that was like
Speaker 4: one of the phase. And then after a while, I'm
Speaker 4: now I'm more comfortable in a state. So it's been
Speaker 4: like fourteen fifteen years since I moved to the states.
Speaker 1: Now and you started a family now right right?
Speaker 3: Right? Yeah?
Speaker 1: How many how many kids?
Speaker 3: Ye?
Speaker 1: Two boys?
Speaker 2: How old are there?
Speaker 1: Eight and a five?
Speaker 2: Are they into driving?
Speaker 1: Not really?
Speaker 4: No, you know, And I'm not really trying to push
Speaker 4: them to do it neither. And again it's you know,
Speaker 4: it's an expensive hobby and it's really hard to make
Speaker 4: living out of it, So I don't want to push them.
Speaker 4: If they want to do it, I would try to
Speaker 4: support as much as I can, but it's not cheap.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the saying is in racing, it takes a big
Speaker 2: fortune to make a small one.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But you know, die, you're fairly still very young. Like
Speaker 1: why did you retire? Like how old are you? Like
Speaker 1: forty forty five?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean that is that like way beyond like the
Speaker 1: prime of a drift drivers? Like is that why you retired?
Speaker 1: Like I don't understand why you retired. When you announced
Speaker 1: your retirement, I was like, where's it going? That's I
Speaker 1: gonna do.
Speaker 4: So I retire from Formula Drift, one of the biggest
Speaker 4: drifting series in the world, and I've done since day
Speaker 4: one and it's been eighteen years for me, so you know,
Speaker 4: I'm doing the same thing for a long.
Speaker 1: Time, and I kind of wanted to change it up.
Speaker 4: So, I mean, I still love drifting driving wise, but
Speaker 4: the format of competition.
Speaker 1: You knows, there's.
Speaker 4: A lot lot of stuff going on like sponsors and
Speaker 4: judges and everything. So I kind of wanted to stay
Speaker 4: away for a little bit at least and see what
Speaker 4: the other opportunity. So, for example, I did a movie
Speaker 4: as a stunt driver last year and then with you. Yeah,
Speaker 4: that wouldn't happen if I was still competing in the
Speaker 4: Formula dred because you know, like we're on a shoe
Speaker 4: for like a few months, yeah, and you.
Speaker 1: Can be out for that long.
Speaker 4: Like, once you're into this in a series, you have
Speaker 4: to commit, right.
Speaker 2: And bless your heart, you were telling me when you're
Speaker 2: out there that you go straight from the movie to
Speaker 2: then go back for Sema for a car that you built,
Speaker 2: to then go to another project, right right. Definitely keeping
Speaker 2: busy with with a lot of things yeah.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, those are actually kind of new thing to me. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: how was your experience like working on a movie? It
Speaker 1: was super cool.
Speaker 4: One of the coolest experience as I had, especially that
Speaker 4: was a racing movie, so like on the truck, driving
Speaker 4: with a lot of people, and every single day on
Speaker 4: the race car and getting paid.
Speaker 1: That was super dope. People think, like, you know, they
Speaker 1: watch a movie, they think, like all the driving stuff
Speaker 1: must be so fun, but there's a lot of waiting around.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it is kind of boring at times.
Speaker 2: So the sayings, hurry up and wait right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I think this movie was one of the
Speaker 4: fun one because this was my first movie.
Speaker 1: I've done many commercials, but.
Speaker 2: This was your first movie.
Speaker 1: Yeah for the movie?
Speaker 2: Yeah, really, I don't know that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that was super cool.
Speaker 4: But I worked with a lot of the movie industry
Speaker 4: stunt drivers, the guys that done so many like Fast
Speaker 4: Inferiors and all the big movies. But they say this movie,
Speaker 4: the one we did was really fun to do because
Speaker 4: not so much waiting. Pretty much every day was driving,
Speaker 4: so and once we were off, like a couple of
Speaker 4: days off and just don't even go to the set.
Speaker 1: We had some free times and stuff like that. Did
Speaker 1: you get to drive in the movie?
Speaker 2: I did not?
Speaker 1: You didn't, no.
Speaker 2: I so how they shot it? And I imagine they've
Speaker 2: done things similar for Fast was there was a cage
Speaker 2: on the roof of the car and there'd be a
Speaker 2: driver on the roof controlling everything and the gas steering
Speaker 2: and put and then I'm an actor in the driver's
Speaker 2: sept and I can't see in front of me because
Speaker 2: they have like screens to protect light from being too
Speaker 2: harsh on the face, and a bunch of cameras and
Speaker 2: I'm turning the steering wheel trying not to get nauseous,
Speaker 2: acting like I'm driving when there's actually a driver on
Speaker 2: the roof of the car.
Speaker 1: How did that feel? Actually?
Speaker 4: I was curious about that, especially you know how to drive. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it seems like it's hard to act because you don't
Speaker 4: know what really the car is going to do.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: It was definitely nauseating, And there'd be times where the
Speaker 2: director would be like, all right, someone's passing you on
Speaker 2: your right, and because you can hear everything, the director
Speaker 2: in our case, Neil blomb Camp, was saying, yeah, but
Speaker 2: maybe it wasn't natural and racing for someone to pass
Speaker 2: you on the right in this turn, so you'd still
Speaker 2: be acting that's the job. But as a driver, you're like,
Speaker 2: but no one would pass me on the right. This
Speaker 2: doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: It was like perfect casting to have Amelia in that movie, right,
Speaker 1: But it's frustrating that you don't get to actually drive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: did you tell them you drive?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: They trust me. I tried to let them. I wanted
Speaker 2: to drive the cage car. I wanted to be on
Speaker 2: the roof and get to drive, do donuts, no matter.
Speaker 1: Something for the listening audience. A cage car that you
Speaker 1: want to kind of explain what that is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's basically where the driver's sitting on the roof.
Speaker 2: Nowadays throttle and break. It was an automatic car, so
Speaker 2: throttle and brake are now it's called drive by wire.
Speaker 2: It's basically electronics, so they can move the pedals wherever
Speaker 2: they want on the car and it still does the
Speaker 2: same thing as if it were in the car and
Speaker 2: someone's just driving on top of the roof with steering wheel,
Speaker 2: and you have a steering wheel that doesn't really do
Speaker 2: anything on the inside.
Speaker 1: And they have to make like seven versions of the
Speaker 1: car because they you know, they if you need like
Speaker 1: a rear view, they cut the back of the car,
Speaker 1: They cut the roof of the car. Sometimes the cars
Speaker 1: like lift it up onto like a frame and then
Speaker 1: the camera's on the floor to get all these reactions right.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because people, you know, they meet me
Speaker 1: and they go because of the fast and fears movies,
Speaker 1: they just assume that I'm this, i'mute, like I.
Speaker 2: Can drift, and then what do you mean you can't?
Speaker 1: But the movies make it look like I know what
Speaker 1: I'm doing right, But it's all pretending. So I mean
Speaker 1: for the listeners out there, it's like, you know, they
Speaker 1: do a great job with the special effects to make
Speaker 1: us look like, you know, we know what we're doing.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think, you know, stunt drivers they
Speaker 1: do not get the credit that they deserve because when
Speaker 1: you see the cars actually drifting on the track or
Speaker 1: on the on the togay. I mean, there are real
Speaker 1: people like yourself driving and putting their you know, lives
Speaker 1: at risk. So I always try to give the people
Speaker 1: that make us look good, you know, the credit. We
Speaker 1: had Samuel Hubinet, he was my double for Tokyo Drift,
Speaker 1: you know, and he would always have a wig on
Speaker 1: and they put all this like brown makeup on him
Speaker 1: to make him look like me. But he's the one
Speaker 1: that made me look like Han look great at drifting,
Speaker 1: you know. So you know, thank you for what you're doing.
Speaker 1: And you guys deserve so much credit.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah, you guys are put in your lives
Speaker 2: in danger.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know there's this, there's these conversations about you know,
Speaker 1: people talking about how hard it is to pursue your dreams, right,
Speaker 1: and that the idea, the notion of like the American
Speaker 1: dream is over right, that you know, it's impossible to
Speaker 1: like pursue your dreams today, right, And for those people
Speaker 1: that have those type of like complaints like you are
Speaker 1: a perfect example of the American dream happening, right, And
Speaker 1: if you were to give advice or share some of
Speaker 1: your philosophy of how you approach things in your life
Speaker 1: and how you go and attack it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's very hard, right. Even like myself, I didn't
Speaker 4: really have like specific goal I want to be here
Speaker 4: so I want to do this. I was like super
Speaker 4: lucky to know a lot of people that who were
Speaker 4: able to help me. At the end, I was I
Speaker 4: got to the you know the spot that I wanted
Speaker 4: to be, which was I'm super fortune. But I guess
Speaker 4: you got to be out there and you got to
Speaker 4: tell what you want to do or you know, many
Speaker 4: people as possible, and promote yourself in a way because
Speaker 4: you can't really achieve by yourself.
Speaker 1: You got to tell people what you want. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: not saying like begging to help.
Speaker 2: But surround yourself with good people. Yeah, not be afraid
Speaker 2: to share what you're trying to do. You must have
Speaker 2: had different mentors throughout your life.
Speaker 4: I guess yeah, yeah, but I have. I always have,
Speaker 4: like a lot of good people helping me for some reason.
Speaker 1: But what I mean for some reason?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: What is the reason? I mean? I know it's hard
Speaker 1: to talk about yourself die, but you're going to help
Speaker 1: the listening audience kind of find a template or a
Speaker 1: road that they could follow to pursue their dreams. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: how did you surround yourself with these good people that
Speaker 1: helped you?
Speaker 4: I don't want to say I'm lucky, but I guess
Speaker 4: you know, i'd be cool to those people. Try to
Speaker 4: be cool so that people can cool back to you. Right,
Speaker 4: That's one thing I've been trying to be nice to
Speaker 4: you know, all the people, I admit, I don't know
Speaker 4: if that's just the reason.
Speaker 2: You're also a championship driver. So there's more than networking, right,
Speaker 2: there's hard work that goes into it. Do you feel
Speaker 2: like you have a different front work ethic than others
Speaker 2: which helps you to be as successful as you are?
Speaker 4: When I won a championship was twenty eleven, which is
Speaker 4: a long time ago, so maybe the level was not
Speaker 4: as crazy as these days, which is kind of lucky
Speaker 4: for me, right, I was there in the beginning, like
Speaker 4: learning drifting as the series growing up.
Speaker 1: So so if.
Speaker 4: I even me compete now, there's no way I can
Speaker 4: do well.
Speaker 2: I think you're just really humble, am I?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know it's so hard to talk about yourself
Speaker 1: when I've gotten to know you over the years. Die
Speaker 1: and the people that surround you, you know, they have
Speaker 1: so much respect for you. You know, not only are
Speaker 1: you like easy to just hang out with and you
Speaker 1: know it's nice to like crack a beer with you
Speaker 1: and to shoot the ship and just hang out, there
Speaker 1: is this like reverence. There is this like wow, this
Speaker 1: is dye, you know, and I think it's like something
Speaker 1: and in the way that how you carry yourself and
Speaker 1: your kind of approach to like, you know, not only driving,
Speaker 1: but then your approach as a person. That's something that
Speaker 1: for any aspiring like professional driver or anybody with like
Speaker 1: a dream in their life. It's not just how you
Speaker 1: conduct yourself on the track, but how you conduct yourself
Speaker 1: in daily life.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: And something that I've always like really respected about you
Speaker 1: is this balance that you have with your family, you know,
Speaker 1: and like how did you like I know a lot
Speaker 1: of people when they career oriented, they just think about
Speaker 1: their career and they pretty much abandoned like their family responsibilities.
Speaker 1: Can you speak on that, like how you approach balancing
Speaker 1: your career and your family.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, it's been like almost ten years being the
Speaker 4: family man, so it definitely changed. Back back then, I
Speaker 4: was more focusing on my career. But also I have
Speaker 4: a really uh, well understanding wife, so that's a good
Speaker 4: help as well. She's basically dealing with the kid like
Speaker 4: twenty four seven. I mean, of course I help as
Speaker 4: much as I can, but it's it's really compared to
Speaker 4: her nothing. So I realized I have a really good
Speaker 4: understanding wife. Yeah, in this kind of career, that's kind
Speaker 4: of like a necessary way because you're always away.
Speaker 1: Yeah, has having kids changed you in any way?
Speaker 4: Yeah, having a kid, it's basically your priority, right So
Speaker 4: to me, in a way, when I was competing, in
Speaker 4: a way, I lost my hunger a little bit. So
Speaker 4: that's kind of part of the reason why I decided
Speaker 4: to quit competing inn FD as.
Speaker 1: Well, hunger for winning or racing. No, no, I shouldn't
Speaker 1: say that. It's Maybe it's different.
Speaker 2: Hunger to stay up at four o'clock in the morning
Speaker 2: making sure the cars.
Speaker 1: Got Yeah, maybe something like that.
Speaker 4: Like now it's a balance, right, Like if you if
Speaker 4: I was when I was single and when I was
Speaker 4: like hunting for the championship, but now I have a
Speaker 4: family and kids, so in a way, I couldn't be
Speaker 4: like as hungry or as like focused on this. Maybe
Speaker 4: that's a bad thing, but it's not a bad thing.
Speaker 4: I think that's a that's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2: Of course. Yeah, shows your priorities with your family, not
Speaker 2: with winning and racing.
Speaker 1: I mean that's what I might. I would say I
Speaker 1: have very few regrets in life, right, Like I try
Speaker 1: to live in the moment and just keep moving forward.
Speaker 1: But when I was in my thirties. You know, my
Speaker 1: wife had asked me, she said, you know, do you
Speaker 1: think we're going to have children? And I will never
Speaker 1: forget what I told her. I looked at her in
Speaker 1: her eyes and her parents. Her mother actually said that
Speaker 1: if you guys have kids now or a child now,
Speaker 1: I'll help you raise this child because I know you
Speaker 1: guys still have to go and pursue your career and
Speaker 1: you know, and and time is tight, money is tight.
Speaker 1: And I looked at my life and I said, do
Speaker 1: you think I came to like La or I'm staying
Speaker 1: in La to like have a family, Like I came
Speaker 1: here to like make it in Hollywood. And until I do,
Speaker 1: I am not going to have children. And that's why
Speaker 1: I have no kids. And I wouldn't say like I've
Speaker 1: made it, but you know, now the fact that you know,
Speaker 1: like I've had a career and you know, and I
Speaker 1: can afford to like raise a family, the fact that
Speaker 1: I don't have it. In hindsight, I go, this was
Speaker 1: like the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life
Speaker 1: having kids. Yeah, And I think about like legacy, like
Speaker 1: you go, what is my legacy? It's going to be
Speaker 1: being in a bunch of like fast and furious movies.
Speaker 1: Like I thought that was important, but today I realized, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's cool, but it's not every day I wake up,
Speaker 1: you know, and I have to like search for like
Speaker 1: a purpose to like continue. You know. I think when
Speaker 1: you have children, naturally, priorities change or focus change. The
Speaker 1: way you see the world changes. You know, for most people,
Speaker 1: you know, they have their head on straight right, and
Speaker 1: that's something that on a daily basis, like I'm looking
Speaker 1: for to go, like what is my reason to be
Speaker 1: alive on this earth? And definitely being in a bunch
Speaker 1: of fast and furious movies is not it?
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: And I have a wife that, just like your wife,
Speaker 1: would have been supportive even if we had no money,
Speaker 1: even if I was working at McDonald's. I mean, she
Speaker 1: would still support me pursuing my dream, you know. And
Speaker 1: you know, I share this with a lot of people
Speaker 1: that you know that are younger and say, well, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll wait till one day, but one day we'll show
Speaker 1: up and it's going to be too late.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: My wife, we can't have kids because she got cancer
Speaker 1: and that put her into menopause and life, you know,
Speaker 1: fucking punches you in your face and then kicks you
Speaker 1: in your balls, and then you wake up one day
Speaker 1: and you go, yeah, I might have this, but I
Speaker 1: don't have the stuff that is important. And a lot
Speaker 1: times I feel like completely like lost guys is really
Speaker 1: because and I that's why I search for people like you, right,
Speaker 1: and like ask these questions of like, you know, how
Speaker 1: did you change? Like and I can see that there's
Speaker 1: just this natural peace with you, you know, because I'm
Speaker 1: sure your children and your family give you like this,
Speaker 1: you know, like sure footing. They give you a foundation,
Speaker 1: you know, and they give you like this north star, right,
Speaker 1: which I feel like I don't have, you know. I
Speaker 1: meet you know, men that are good fathers and they
Speaker 1: walk differently than I do, you know, and I'm still
Speaker 1: searching for it, you know. And people say, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: why don't you adopt and stuff, But you know, I'm
Speaker 1: in my fifties now, and my wife she does not
Speaker 1: want to adopt because she doesn't know if the cancer
Speaker 1: is going to come back, you know, and she doesn't
Speaker 1: want to have a child go through this stuff like
Speaker 1: you know, with a parent. And it's it's really weird
Speaker 1: because I think about it and I go, you know,
Speaker 1: when I become older, right, and I become like a
Speaker 1: senior citizen, and let's say I get sick or you know,
Speaker 1: I can't even wipe my butt one day, like you
Speaker 1: know who's going to be there? Right, And that's really scary.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: That's why in many ways, like if my wife passes
Speaker 1: away before me, I don't really want to be around
Speaker 1: too long because I don't have a reason to be alive.
Speaker 1: And that's why I'm always searching. That's why the whole
Speaker 1: point of this podcast is to like find these answers
Speaker 1: because I don't have them, you know what I mean? Well,
Speaker 1: thanks for sharing that. Yeah, I mean I urge people
Speaker 1: out there if like they're afraid to have kids and
Speaker 1: they're using excuses like you know, I have to wait
Speaker 1: till I make money or I have this, and that
Speaker 1: one day it's going to be too late.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll admit that that's a weight on my shoulders
Speaker 2: about about having kids or not because I don't think
Speaker 2: I'm ready and I don't know what that ready is.
Speaker 2: I weigh those same options that I'm scared to get
Speaker 2: older or not have anyone someone to raise or take
Speaker 2: care of, and also to take care of me when
Speaker 2: I get to old, and it is the legacy of
Speaker 2: what you want to leave behind on this earth, because
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, like a lot of
Speaker 2: stuff that you think matters when you're young, like it
Speaker 2: really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 2: I fortunately still have time. I just turned thirty. I
Speaker 2: don't know look at that, but it's definitely something that
Speaker 2: as I'm getting older, I'm like, Okay, I need to
Speaker 2: put this on my radar if it's going to happen,
Speaker 2: and make sure I'm conscious of it, because I'd rather
Speaker 2: want the opportunity to have children and choose not to
Speaker 2: then want them and not be able to I think
Speaker 2: that's my biggest fear, so weighing that. So it's interesting
Speaker 2: to hear you talk about that being when your larger
Speaker 2: regrets in life. Yeah, because I fear that time going
Speaker 2: by too quickly and I'm so excited about what I'm
Speaker 2: doing today that as a guilder, that window closes or
Speaker 2: that door closes.
Speaker 1: And you know, outside looking in, like, how amazing would
Speaker 1: it be to have you as a mother? Really? I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, like what you represent just as a person, right,
Speaker 1: and you know, like you know how you approach your
Speaker 1: life and what you also represent to other women, and
Speaker 1: you know the car community, and you know, I think
Speaker 1: like if you had some daughters, man, they would be
Speaker 1: like they would have like a badass mom.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: So growing up I used to always think I'd want
Speaker 2: a boy, But now that I go older, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'd want to raise some badass checks.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Are you hard on your sons? Are you strictening still?
Speaker 1: I think so? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Are you going to make them by their for car?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not going to buy them.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Kind of back to like, you know, if you ask,
Speaker 4: like if my kids likes cars, I say, if they
Speaker 4: if they like it, I want to support, But financially
Speaker 4: I don't think I would. It's just the way, you know,
Speaker 4: my parents didn't help me, so I don't think that's
Speaker 4: the way to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So that's how that's my style in a way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think because seeing what happened to me growing up,
Speaker 2: I almost would prefer my children to want to learn
Speaker 2: the value of a dollar, to want to understand what
Speaker 2: hard times are and to have to go through it
Speaker 2: to ground themselves, because I'd be too scared of having
Speaker 2: someone who is just expectant of things.
Speaker 1: I'm with you on that one for sure.
Speaker 2: Like I like, I wouldn't want to expect a first car,
Speaker 2: to expect the new mom the Nintendo switches out and
Speaker 2: I have to get it, but you already have one.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It's like, well, if this is how much it would cost,
Speaker 2: this is how you'd have to work, This is what
Speaker 2: minimum wage is now, if you work to X amount
Speaker 2: of hours, how long until you could afford? This is
Speaker 2: this where you'd want your money to go? Or do
Speaker 2: you think it's better to invest? But it's also hard
Speaker 2: to do because I know they give you little puppy
Speaker 2: eyes and they're like book please.
Speaker 1: But who taught you that? Like fiscal responsibility, I.
Speaker 2: Had to teach myself when my dad took his life.
Speaker 2: I went to school the next day because I didn't
Speaker 2: know what else to do. You know, no one tells
Speaker 2: you those things. And I was actually sitting in a
Speaker 2: finance class, but I just had this very vivid thought of,
Speaker 2: oh God, like I don't have a parent to teach
Speaker 2: me these things. I don't have someone that I can
Speaker 2: go to who knows finances, Like I'm on my own
Speaker 2: when it comes to money. And then shortly after that,
Speaker 2: the principle came and pulled me out of class. I
Speaker 2: was like, oh my god, I just found out what
Speaker 2: had happened. And I started calling therapists and to come
Speaker 2: talk to me and all that. But that was a
Speaker 2: very pivotal point, was sitting in that class and being
Speaker 2: like I got to start learning because no one's going
Speaker 2: to teach me.
Speaker 1: That's good. You learned that really young.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm thankful for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I was I was raised like to be
Speaker 1: afraid of money, right, and as soon as like I
Speaker 1: had an opportunity to have some money, like I would
Speaker 1: spend it all. Oh really yeah, because I was raised
Speaker 1: in scarcity. You know, like my mother was so like
Speaker 1: afraid of not having money because you know, she was
Speaker 1: a war child from like the Korean War, so they
Speaker 1: grew up super poor. Like her idea of having like
Speaker 1: white rice was like a luxury, right, so you know
Speaker 1: she made sure like we had nothing, and like everything
Speaker 1: was about saving. But then saving for what, right, Like
Speaker 1: it's not we're not going on family vacations or anything,
Speaker 1: and it's you know, there's there's no purpose for that
Speaker 1: money except for just to hoard it. Because because you're
Speaker 1: living in scarcity. And then I remember in college they
Speaker 1: were giving out like these five hundred dollars credit cards
Speaker 1: to students just like this, and I spent that day,
Speaker 1: really and it took seven years to fix my credit
Speaker 1: because I didn't have the money to pay that back.
Speaker 1: It was just five hundred dollars. I mean five hundred
Speaker 1: dollars when you're in college is a lot of money, right,
Speaker 1: And it ruined my credit and it took seven years
Speaker 1: to fix that. And that's where you know, having a
Speaker 1: responsible like partner like my wife, who was raised with money,
Speaker 1: so she was not raised in scarcity, so she's not
Speaker 1: afraid of money, but she knows how to use money
Speaker 1: to make money, right, which that concept that never made
Speaker 1: sense to me.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: I think I'm the opposite where I'm actually very scared
Speaker 2: to spend money because I'm scared of not having it.
Speaker 2: But obviously for what I do, I also have to
Speaker 2: buy cars to modify them. And it's so hard for
Speaker 2: me to check out on sumit or wherever I'm buying
Speaker 2: my car parts or whenever I'm buying a car, because
Speaker 2: it's it's just so difficult to spend it.
Speaker 1: How about you die. Is it hard to spend money
Speaker 1: on your cars? H? Yes and no. Yeah. I guess
Speaker 1: I'm more like your site in a way irresponsible.
Speaker 4: Yeah. And my wife is opposite. Yeah, she's like saving
Speaker 4: and saving kind of thing. So yeah, maybe because of that,
Speaker 4: I have a good balance.
Speaker 2: So you spend until she tells you, hey, maybe you
Speaker 2: should put your money down a little.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I wish somebody had taught me like how to
Speaker 1: invest and how to spend money and what where to
Speaker 1: spend money when I was younger, because it took a
Speaker 1: long time. Like that credit thing, like people.
Speaker 2: That's a scary thing to have.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, people don't realize like how important credit in
Speaker 1: America is. I mean you're trying to like buy a
Speaker 1: house or trying to like go get a a new car.
Speaker 2: Credit card scared me. I didn't get a credit card
Speaker 2: until maybe five years ago. I debit or cash everything.
Speaker 2: So then when I needed the money to buy like
Speaker 2: a reliable priests to drive around, I couldn't get a
Speaker 2: loan for four or five thousand dollars because I had
Speaker 2: no credit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, credit, guys, is so important in this country, right,
Speaker 1: So what are you doing now that you've retired?
Speaker 4: So I still race cars and drifting demos. So for example,
Speaker 4: I'm going to a Formula drift event and then do
Speaker 4: ride along. And also I've been competing this series called
Speaker 4: TC America, which is a road racing series, and I'm
Speaker 4: doing the whole season.
Speaker 1: So this is like an amateur like it's a professional
Speaker 1: such per So you're still racing. Yeah, so that's what
Speaker 1: You're not.
Speaker 2: Retiring retired from Formula drift specifically.
Speaker 1: I just retired from forma drift. That's it. I'm still
Speaker 1: doing everything the same. I do pikes Peak. Okay, for
Speaker 1: the listening viewers that don't know what pike Speak is,
Speaker 1: can you share explain.
Speaker 4: Pike Speak is the hill crime race held in Colorado
Speaker 4: Springs once a year. It's one of the biggest hill
Speaker 4: crime in the world.
Speaker 1: Can you explain to me what the deal with pikes
Speaker 1: Peak is, Like, why why is this so famous and
Speaker 1: why is it part of like motor sport law and history.
Speaker 1: Why is it such a big deal. Pike Speak is
Speaker 1: one of the oldest race in the States, I think
Speaker 1: a second oldest or something. So they just did the
Speaker 1: one hundred times, so it's been over one hundred years
Speaker 1: and they used the street. Basically it's a like I
Speaker 1: said that toge the canyon road. They just closed that
Speaker 1: from nine thousand feet to the summit. The Pikes Peak
Speaker 1: is the name of the mountain and the summit is
Speaker 1: like fourteen hundred feet, which is pretty high, fourteen.
Speaker 4: To fourteen thousand. So yeah, because I think it's using
Speaker 4: the street, not the race druck. And then one of
Speaker 4: the oldest racing in the US. That's why I think
Speaker 4: the Pike Speak is one of the famous race in
Speaker 4: the world.
Speaker 2: I think too when cars were carb rated and there's
Speaker 2: so basically the elevation of air as you know people
Speaker 2: listening no, just as a reminders of the higher you
Speaker 2: get an elevation, the less oxygen there is. So it's
Speaker 2: also a test to the engineering the mechanics of the
Speaker 2: car too, because you can't just pull over and tune
Speaker 2: it for different oxygen or airflow as you get higher.
Speaker 2: So I think that was a big part of the
Speaker 2: difficulties of racing Pike's Peak. Am I right in saying that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 4: So that's one of the biggest challenge for the race.
Speaker 4: And also you have to deal with the weather and
Speaker 4: from the start to the finish like a big difference
Speaker 4: on the weathers and even like a temperatures and stuff
Speaker 4: like that, and you don't know until the day off,
Speaker 4: So there's a lot of like unknown boundaries compared to
Speaker 4: like a racing on the truck, and very often people
Speaker 4: die racing this. Back in the day, always hear about
Speaker 4: somebody like yeah.
Speaker 1: Going off, going off the class.
Speaker 2: I've seen videos of it.
Speaker 4: But now there's cars are a lot safer too, So
Speaker 4: I think square less than back in the days, I.
Speaker 2: Hope, assuming you have someone who did a good cage.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, the page is very important.
Speaker 2: Right, cage seats harnessed, But now you're looking at that.
Speaker 4: More exactly, so therese like a little detail. I start
Speaker 4: more paying attention because that's like saving my life.
Speaker 1: What makes a great driver die?
Speaker 4: In your opinion, I think that who can perform your
Speaker 4: best anytime you wanted to, Like you say, you kind
Speaker 4: of have to be in the zone and you can
Speaker 4: control that. That's very like internal thing I think, especially
Speaker 4: like a drifting, you only have a one shot. If
Speaker 4: you have a mistake in the one run, you're out.
Speaker 4: You have to like put you one hundred percent to
Speaker 4: the run. So put people who can provide that when
Speaker 4: they need to, which is like a strong inside. I
Speaker 4: think that makes you a great driver.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when young folks talk about, like, you know, like
Speaker 1: how hard things are in life, it's supposed to be hard,
Speaker 1: and just like you know, you know, in driving, it's
Speaker 1: like if it was easy, all these weekend warriors on
Speaker 1: the track would be doing what you're doing. Right, That's right,
Speaker 1: it's supposed to be hard.
Speaker 2: I do you think a lot of hard work has
Speaker 2: gone into where you are today, whether you talk directly
Speaker 2: about it or not. I don't think you give yourself
Speaker 2: enough credit. But I think a lot of people look
Speaker 2: up to you because you're a phenomenal driver, not just
Speaker 2: with drifting but with also road racing. Thank you, And
Speaker 2: that's not that doesn't you don't just wake up one
Speaker 2: day with that skill. You know, you got to learn it.
Speaker 2: You're self taught. You come from another country, and you've
Speaker 2: really built this successful family and business and career that
Speaker 2: you have.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting with you, Die is that you know,
Speaker 1: you're so resistant on talking about yourself, right, And the
Speaker 1: reason we wanted you as a guest is because there's
Speaker 1: this like patience with you. There's this like kind of
Speaker 1: you know, stoic, kind of zen to you, and it's
Speaker 1: you just do instead of talking, right, And I think
Speaker 1: that's why, like, you know, so many people in the
Speaker 1: community like respect you and look up to you. You know,
Speaker 1: when you bring up Die, there's never like, you know,
Speaker 1: a response of like I hate that fucking guy. Think
Speaker 1: I was full of shit? No, there isn't people respect you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I think the more people and you know,
Speaker 1: younger folks that are around you that are aspiring to
Speaker 1: like be like in the driving community or go into
Speaker 1: professional driving, you know, it's just to be patient, right
Speaker 1: and just you know, just keep doing instead of talking.
Speaker 4: I don't know, I guess I guess I don't have
Speaker 4: a confidence and I'm still searching you know, who am
Speaker 4: who I am? So maybe that's why I couldn't really
Speaker 4: talk about myself. And I really think I have a
Speaker 4: lot of what do you call it, right right moment,
Speaker 4: right people, right timing kind of thing. Just appreciating all
Speaker 4: the people around around, including you guys as well.
Speaker 2: Thank you, appreciate you, We appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Awesome