I can’t express enough how thankful I am for the sponsors, racers and spectators that came and supported the L.A. Outlaw FWD Invasion. This is my thank you thread, we’ll do race recap thread since this is going to be a very long read. LOL. But they deserve it so I appreciate if you take the time to read it.


I’ll start off with the sponsors since this wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for their generosity and the products they donated for the racers. They believed in an event that would help showcase the racers that help push the products they manufacture. Having only a couple months to gather all the sponsors, I was coming into it thinking that asking for assistance would be the hardest part. Surprisingly, it was actually the easiest part of the whole preparation. I would have never thought that a simple phone call or email would yield the results that I encountered.

My main right hand man, Randy, who helped with so many things such as contacting sponsors and helping run the event played a great part in the preparation. We became a 2 man team on a mission to put on something for the racers for them to make it worth it to come out and race. We were thinking of all the contacts we had from companies and Skunk2 came to mind since we have been getting involved with them a lot lately. So we pitched our idea to the guys at Skunk2. I honestly tried not to expect anything because I know that some companies have many reasons for not giving assistance, from not being financially able, to budgets have already been allocated, etc. And as a manufacturer myself, I do understand their position and respect what decision they make. So when Skunk2 was excited to be part of it, I was shocked and proud to have a big company like them to be on board with our event.

I can’t thank enough, the powers that be at Skunk2 that believed in us. Thank you Aaron, Brandon, Tony and everyone else there that played a part in the decision of helping us out. The news of Skunk2 was already a great one and we didn’t even know how they wanted to help out. So when they offered to donate about $9000 in Skunk2 product, my jaws dropped. That move right there, showed that companies want to give back to our industry. When a company is big, we forget that they are individuals too and also fans of racing, not just 100% corporate and only looking at spreadsheets and sales numbers. Skunk2’s assistance shows where we as racers, consumers, enthusiasts and shops, should put our efforts in supporting those that support us. Their generosity is an example of their commitment to the industry and the racers. Not a final thank you, but another one just because they do deserve it 1000%. Thanks Skunk2!

Like I said earlier, the phone call and emails to these companies was the easiest part. I started contacting companies 1 at a time throughout the first 4 weeks of preparation. The event was still about 10 weeks away so I didn’t feel the rush yet. I emailed a brief explanation of the event to my contacts and 1 by 1, they all would call or respond back with responses of wanting to be on board with us. I thought to myself, dang, 10 contacted, 10 approved. Wow, this is amazing. The responses were overwhelming. It was one company after another just saying how excited they were for something like this to happen in Southern California. All I keep getting in response was… “So what do you want”. And all I can say was, “whatever you guys would like to help the racers out with”. Next thing I know, I was getting a calls back. Hondata approves $2000 gift certificates. Avid Racing approves $1500 worth of products, RC Garage sends us their billet tensioner kits, Arias Pistons gives $1000 in gift certificates, and it just kept adding up.

Fellow racers started contacting me as well. Jerry from Jerry Built mentions it to Luis at Clutchmasters and they were on board immediately. They end up giving us a Clutchmasters FX500 clutch kit to each class winner. The support from racers was great and they all wanted to help find assistance from companies and contacts they know. I was at the IDRC race in April and saw Tyler Hara there. I was talking to him on what we were trying to do and he offered to refer us to AEM. Next thing I know I was emailing AEM back and forth and within days, I had $1500 worth of AEM products in our hands. I thank Jerry and Tyler for giving their time and effort to help me put my foot in the door with those companies and giving us the chance to tell them what we could all do together for this event.

The list goes on with all the companies and there are some cool stories about talking with these companies too. I had known Marty from Turbosmart for awhile and we’ve done business with them a lot in the past. Our race car is sponsored by Turbosmart and we use all their wastegates and BOV. We had already been talking more with them lately since we’re developing a new turbo setup for mid-year that plan to use all the new Turbosmart parts that were just released for 2011. So 1 day, I call Marty and mention the race. He’s a drag racer himself so he was gung-ho about hearing what we had going. He also puts together an Outlaw VW class here in Southern California so he was excited to be part of it. He was on board immediately. So I ask, what are you wanting to give out. We’re chatting on the phone and I’m listing the products as he is telling me. (2) Hypergate 45mm Wastegate, Race Comp BOV, $400 in gift certificates. I was happy with the list he gave. Then I asked, are you sure you want to give that much? Haha. I honestly, wasn’t expecting that much, so I asked how he wanted it distributed. I suggested, 1 wastegate to winner, BOV to 2nd, Top mph another wastegate. He’s like nah man, you can’t give 1 wastegate to the winner. I said, why not? He replies, don’t turbo guys use 2 wastegates and 1 BOV nowadays? So you need all 3 given to the winner. Then I said, “oh ya. Haha”. You’re right. LOL. Its just great that companies are willing to help when given the opportunity to give back for a good cause.

Our race car is also Torco Oil sponsored so I decided to contact them and pitch them the race. They were immediately on board with it and with this, they just asked me what I wanted to give out. I made a list of 8 cases of SR5 and SR1 20W50 oil, MPZ engine assembly lube, shirts, and hats. When I came to pick up the stuff, our contact with Torco said, are you sure this is all you want? You don’t want more? Haha. Deep inside, I was shocked. I was thinking to myself, this is about $2000 worth of oil and products. I felt bad asking for more since we already get cases of oil from them for our race car. This was already generous enough. I declined their offer and I loaded up. I know I keep saying this, but Torco’s generosity keeps reinforcing in my brain that companies want to give back for a good cause.

I can keep going and going with the convos with sponsors but I have to cut it short because I can end up writing a novel about it. I just want to thank these sponsors that I haven’t mentioned above:

Arias Pistons: Beeri, Elmer and everyone at Arias that gives us 100% support for our race team and this race. We appreciate the donations you gave for the racers this weekend. Elmer and sons, thanks for the help in the pits, scales and for being my driver this weekend. LOL.

Darton Sleeves: John, thanks again for always being by our side with the race car and the support you gave for this race. John/Darton is a great supporter of our racers and they go out of their way to help and actually be at these races to support. You’re a great friend and I appreciate all that you do for us as a team and your belief in what we want to do in making a difference in this industry.

Synchrotech: David and staff is another great company and individuals that are 100% dedicated to give back to their customers/racers. I’ve known David for awhile and we talk in person often. So you can tell the enthusiasm from a person and I can honestly say he is genuinely eager to be part of giving back to this industry like many of us. Support Synchrotech as they are a company that is 100% behind us all the way.

RC Garage: RC is a friend who’s shop is in AZ. He has been manufacturing these B-Series Billet tensioners and I spoke to him about exposing his great product to the masses. He’s a car builder and racer himself and he approached me wanting to give some products out to the racers. He was eager to give something back to the racers. Check out the RC Garage billet tensioner kits as it is a great product. Thanks RC for your support.

Laskey Racing: Thank you Mike for helping with the donations to the racers. I can’t forget what you said in our conversation. You said it’s not much but you wanted to be part of something great and give back to the racers. I said, the value doesn’t matter since it is all going back to the racers. Its your generosity that counts whether you could give $10 to 10,000. I would give the same appreciation to any value amount just because I value the fact you even considered wanting to be part of it. Thanks again Mike for those Laskey Racing fuel rails. Best of luck with the new product line for Laskey Racing.

Evolution Industries: I started working with Evolution Industries many years ago before they got into all the manufacturing with the Honda products. Not many know much about Evolution Ind. But they have been in the manufacturing business for I believe about 30 years. It’s a 30,000 sq ft place just filled with CNC machines and other machines that I have no idea what they do. LOL. I mentioned them about the race and they were immediately down with it. We thank Evolution for the donations of products.

FCSrace: Everyone by now should be using the FCS fuel cell. LOL. It’s a great product that FCS offers and I feel should be a standard with race car builds these days. Thanks Jason for the support to the racers. I’m also glad to have your team and car be part of the race. Let’s do this again.

M&H and The **** .com: John and Michael Hashim have been great friends for years. And when I contacted them about this race, they were supportive 100%. The Hashim family has extended their generosity in helping me for years and now this event. M&H/MandHtires.com and The **** .com provided us with cash bounty for best R/T. The racers appreciated that and I personally thank you guys for the support. Everyone should check out The **** .com, it is a motorsport community of resources for different things. Its also a great social network site to communicate with other racers. Thank you The **** .com for your donation.
(Sorry it sensors the web address since it maybe a competing website)

Tilton Racing: Another one of our team sponsors and a company we have dealt with for years. I thank Tilton for giving some product for the bounties and appreciate their support and presence in sport compact drag racing.

Avid Racing: Avid is a great supporter of drag racing and good to have their presence out here in Southern California. Thank you Avid for the support on our event and providing bounties for the racers.

AFI Turbo: The event was spread through the grapevine in its early stages of planning and the guys at AFI contacted us and wanted to be part of it without even knowing much about the event yet. It was great to see companies like this give us the trust and belief in what we wanted to do. Thank you AFI for the new billet products to give away to the racers.

GPRAuto: Thank you for the coverage in photos and video of the event. Your added give away of shirts and the SoCal Street scene video was cool too. Another example of just fellow friends and racers wanting to give back what they can. Appreciate you wanting to be part of the race and we hope to do more things with GPR Auto in the future.

Makspeed: Thank you Myles for being at the race. Good to see you out there and I hope you will join us in racing again soon. The first drag race I went to was seeing the old CRX with the front mount sticking out the bumper. I still have that picture too. It would be good to see you side by side at the track with us soon.

Exospeed Racing Wheels: you you guys are cool too. Haha.

Media Support: Olga, Rommel, InsideImport.com, Nick(Ososik), GPRAuto, Brandon(Skunk2), Clutchmasters(video), and the Exospeed photography team(Ron and Kris). I thank you all for the coverage of the event. I know we’ll have 1000s of pictures by now all put together. Haha. Can’t wait to see them soon.


The Racers:
All the racers/teams that participated: It wouldnt be an event of course without you guys. The crews who spent sleepless nights and long days to get the cars ready. I commend all of you for making it to the event.


All the racers/teams that still tried to make it even down to the last minute at the track. The Utah guys, I know you all wanted to be out here with us but the unfortunate stuff that happened last couple days, before the event sucked. I still thank you for making the effort to come out. Javier Loarca, it was unfortunate for the whole tech thing to not go through. Next time, I know you're a contender. Miller, I know you guys tried and kept the car out here. We welcome you and any other East Coast racers to compete with us anytime. TB, the last minute problems was also unfortunate. I know you worked it to get out here to give the all motor guys a run for their money. Fernie/FN Werkz, man you already had a long week of problems but still tried to make it happen. Thanks for trying and bringing the whole crew out to the event.





I know its kinda of a long thank you thread, but when people have extended their generosity as much as all these companies and individuals have, it should be shared with everyone. They all deserve their applause and bows for what they have given back to the racers because they really didnt have to. Coming from myself, Randy and the rest of the Exospeed team, we thank everyone again for being part of this.

All I can say to end this is $26,000 in cash and prizes was Given out yesterday. I can proudly say, all our sponsors and racers made that happen. Its the biggest amount given to 2 classes like this EVER! Thank you!

 

Geat job Wil - glad we could help

 

It was an awesome event, I know I was glad to see it go down first hand and the level of dedication of everyone involved was inspiring. Congrats on putting this together for the guys who have worked hard to keep racing and I can't wait to see what you have planned next!

 

Good job Wil!

 

You did a great job Wil! Thanks for your dedication to our sport to organize a place for us to race! I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the event and it was awesome talking to everyone out there! Can't wait for the next one

 

We were at IDRC (or somewhere like that) and Will says to me "hey Marty, I want to put on this event and....". I just said "hold up Will, you know I am in. Just get me the details later and lets get back to racing!".

Will is a great guy and we will continue to back him and whatever he has going.

Congrats on a great event brother!

Marty

 

You too Randy. Couldnt have done it without you.


Marty, Mike and David. It was some great competition! Sunday was the weird with the weather but Monday was crazy. The excitement of competition pumped us all up. We have some great pictures to show you guys. I can't believe the people that came out to hang out with us. Racers I havent seen at the track in years. I'm still writing the full event recap and we'll have it up ASAP.

 

Looking fwd to the Next one!!! xD

 

 

Thanks to Wil, Randy and all the sponsors for putting on the event, it was awesome.

 

it was a great event..cant wait till the next one...Thanks Will for letting me be apart of it.....

 

Good job Wil and it was all done before 12 oclock!!! hahaha

 

wil goood job man. we gotta find u a scooter i believe you almost walked the soles off your shoes. lol cant wait to see what you plan next.

 

we are glad to be apart of the first la invasion event.

we like to thank all our supporters.

turbosmart what can i say, they have been so great to us! the staff over there is so superior to other companies ive delt with for over 15years, we couldnt ask for anything better. great product, we beat the living **** out of them and keep going. the new comp gates are so compact we actually made a ton more room to keep things cooler and working great!

exospeed, wil has been die hard since the early 90s. he loves this sport almost as much as we do! front ends, and wheels perform like they look. great! nothing fits better!

webcamshafts you guys rock! found some serious 4 digit power in your cams nothing can compare.

s&w racecars amazing pre bent cage, great staff, scott is the man! thank you for all the support and great fitting product! we are cert'd for 7.50s without a sweat.

supertech performance *****, and martin are great people been around for years and there products stand up to the abuse. we have been using supertech products for over 8 years now with great success !

richewerks electronics riche, great wiring service for mil spec affordable wiring (if there is any riche is it!) lol everything woks flawless and looks great.

bmcrace.commanifolds been holding up great! made some serious power with an addition of a bw turbo, and a pair of webcams, this is the serious power package! thanks james for all your support and friendship.

rc engineeringjohn and the whole staff over at rc, you guys rock! why change what works flawless! lol rc has been doing injectors for longer then most companies combined. i trust in rc and think you guys should too!

arias pistons elmer, nick and the whole staff over at arias we thank you for the support. we cant make reliable power without arias! best pistons in the world! p.s were on the old 5 year piston making power! thats reliability!

darton sleevesjohn, thank you for supporting us with the mid's they are rock solid with rs machine service! they stay round! aka da big man! well have a special t shirt request from ya. lol