Ep18 Dai Yoshihara

Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Car Stories with Sun.

King and Amelia Hartford.

And today we get to talk to our dear friend Die Yoshihara, living legend, his story of how he came to the United States, how he got into drifting.

Yeah, it's a story about where he came from nothing, having moved from Japan, coming to the US, winning a championship and more than that, he raises gript driving, has done Pike's Peak, which is a famous mountain course in Colorado Springs, and he's.

Just so zen.

You know, he just has this piece about him and it's very hard for him to talk about himself and maybe that's the Japanese thing. But having this conversation to

hear his story, you learn about why the community respects him so much.

Yeah, and I think a good takeaway is to treat others with kindness.

Yeah, and then you'll be able to surround yourself with the people that that will help you pursue your dreamy. So,

without further ado, mister Dai Yoshihara, So let's talk about your your origins with drifting. Yeah, can you tell us

how you started and where'd you learn it? Like, where'd

you fall? In love with it. How you became a

professional jurist driver.

It's kind of long story, but uh, you know, I'm from Japan and I was one of those street racer back in the days. But also I've been always looking

up to US culture ever since I watched Top Gun, like back in that was eighty six, but I watched the movie like maybe early nineties. But anyway, it's like

those are two like my interests, like driving and you know, US culture. Right after Fast Inferiors in Japan spoke compact

culture was kind of popping. It's kind of like a

us DM custom cars, not just like a you know, like drift cars or anything like that. It's more like

Honters and so basically the cars from the past and furious.

So around that time, I was like really into that.

And then I met the guy from the US and who did the car show in the US at the time, and he's like, oh, maybe drifting will be the next thing, And I took me to the Japanese Mountain Road.

He really liked it.

A few months later he invited me to compete in the US drifting competition.

That was my beginning. So can you give us your

history of your first car. Were you always into cars

growing up? And like where did you learn how to drive?

Because and also togay for the listening audience, can you first let's explain what togay is.

Okay, So togay is basically a mountain roll. So yeah,

I will stay tokay as a Kenyon road, I guess.

So my first car was eighty to eighty six Corolla and yeah, I always wanted to, you know, get a car ever since I was a kid. So as soon

as I get a driver license, I already had the car, which was two hundred bucks. And then just every now

I just put like ten ten liter gas because gas is the most expensive thing, you know, at the time for me, So just put like a ten litter which is like four garrow maybe, and then just drive mountain all night until it gets empty and then come back.

So that's how I practice myself, maybe like a year or so.

So you're self taught pretty much. Really, Yeah that's crazy.

Yeah wow, Well but I watched a lot of videos.

One of the popular one is the Drift Bible from ka Who is who is people called drifting?

Maybe you guys can explain who he is? Kg Suchiya

is he's actually in Tokyo Drift yes, all right, so he is essentially known as the drift King. And he

started driving the A eighty six when he was young.

And there's a manga called Initial D very famous manga, and it's about this character Takumi that lives in the Togay mountains and he delivers Tofu and he was a consultant on this manga. And that's why this you know,

nineteen eighty five eighty six Hachiroku Corola A eighty six has become the grandfather of drift cars, right, and so Suchiya san is still alive, and he would be like the Michael Jordan of drifting. All right, that's a very

good way to say. Yeah, I mean, did he inspire

you to get the A eighty six? Was he like

a hero of yours? Yes?

Yes, I mean at the time I didn't really like it was like more like no choice because it was super cheap. It's not like this is a car I

wanted to drive back in the days, right, But now this is still my favorite cars just because that's the car I learned how to drive. But yeah, so for sure,

suggestn't helped a lot of people to you know, knowing this car, it's so different and be inspired.

Yeah, Now where are you from in Japan?

I'm from Tokyo but east I'm sorry, west side of Tokyo, which is a little bit countryside in a way, so it's pretty easy to access to the togi which is a canyon roads.

Which toga would you drive?

I have a few different, but it's called those togi and then old that me.

So is that like saying Mulholland canyon out there much?

Yeah? Yeah, so there's a few in the area, so

just go there, like and.

Would you drift or would you just drive really fast?

I did drift specifically in the beginning. Now is it

Are there a lot of police up there? Yeah? I

don't know if this kind of touchy subject, but because I think we should say like no street driving, right absolutely, But yeah, back in the days there's a.

Lot of cops.

But you know, we of course run away, and here in japan's a little different like here, I think it's more more crazy, but Japan, like if you run away, then I don't think most police will really chase you too hard because it's it gets dangerous for the driver and then other people as well, right, so they just let you go you know where. But also we never

really do, you know, when you have a lot of traffic with a lot of people around. So I mean

there's a you know, a few people do that too, but most of the time I try to pick most like like quiet like thing around no home, so trying not to like, you know, kissed people off kind.

Of thing, not to like disturb the piece.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's very Japanese. Yeah, I guess you're

breaking the law, but you're doing it. What drew you

to start drifting opposed to like drag racing or track racing, track driving? Like what was the thing that called to

you to become a drifter?

So before I get a driver's license, I got a I was riding a motorcycle. In Japan, you get the

license driver's license when you get eighteen, but you you can get a motorcycle license at sixteen. So those two years,

I was riding a motorcycle and I was riding on the mountain one night and then I just saw the call is drifting coming at me, which is kind of kind of scary, but it was so cool to see that, and from that moment, I'm like I have to do this.

So that's how I got into it.

Was that car in a eighty six.

No, I can't remember what was, but it was super cool moment, right, So and then I started like watching those videos and kind of like study the culture.

What did your parents think about you getting into cars and pursuing this like journey and.

Yeah, of course they were like a typical parents, so they didn't like it at all.

A long time. What were they hoping you were going

to do with your life, just.

Like the regular stuff, like, you know, go to the college and you know what got I don't know, like some cool big company or something like that.

What did your parents do for work?

Actually, my dad was working with his brother who had the used car dealer. Okay, so he likes cars as well,

so he kind of understood. But at the same time

he was key telling me like just get the you know, normal job and kind of things.

So, so, how did they feel about you coming to the United States and giving up your life in Japan?

I mean, for the for our listeners too, I'd love you to maybe share like that journey of how you ended up in America, right, because it is like an almost an American dream. Success story.

Yeah, well, so kind of back to what I told you guys, I had one chance to come to the stage to compete for drifting. So actually a guy named

Kim Yoshi who had the car show back in the days, and he you know back in the days. Of course,

I didn't have money, so he got me a ticket to fly here, and he got me a place to stay, which is his house. And then I did one competition

and I did pretty good. I got like top eight,

So that kind of opened up my opportunity. And back

back then, I was working for used car dealer in Japan, but I thought that was a good opportunity. So after

that I quit the job and then I started coming to the States, but of course I didn't have a visa, so I have to stay here for like two months and go back to Japan. I was basically back in

a fall at what it was, I was twenty four and then slowly getting sponsors and stuff, and maybe a few months after a former drift just started. So that

was back in two thousand and three, and then Formula D was started at the two thousand and four and I got sponsors and the team to compete for the season.

So that was kind of a second chance, and I just keep back in forth and yeah, it's a long story show. Four years after I finally got a visa

and then around that time, finally I was able to make some money. And so that's kind of like when

I'm like, Okay, this is my this is going to be my career. Until then, I wasn't even sure. And

then back to your question, my parents are like, what the hell you're doing. They understand that I like cars

a and I like the US, but they didn't think it's going to be a career. So it was kind

of tough time to be honest.

Yeah, So when you say sponsors, like, because I have no experience on like what it takes to get a sponsor, right, And do they pay? Do they give you a salary

so you're able to like pay rent and eat or do they just pay for your racing season to maintain the car? Like how does that work? Especially when you're

starting out right to do a race, it's going to cost you, right. So I was driving for a team

the team called Pacific RIM. So some are just the part.

For example, like the tires.

I was sponsored by Yokohama Tire back in the day, so they surprise tires and then some company give you some budget as well, so those are like the beginning of the drifting. And then I think slowly the dollar

amount got bigger so that the left doorver will be the team owners salary.

I guess, yeah, so you're not making money really for a long time, a long time. Now, Yeah, there are

professional drifters today actually making a good living.

I wouldn't say all of them. Maybe in the States

is still one of the biggest series, so I think maybe half who we're making some money.

So then how do they actually stay competitive with the guys that are making money? What do they do?

Yeah, so that's kind of like a tough part of you know competition, right, because if you're good, you get more support, so yeah, you can get even better. But

if you don't have a supports, it's hard for you to improve for you know, doing a practice and getting better cars. It just everything is cost you, right. I think,

you know a lot of new guys and watching the Formula drift drift these days, a lot of new talented driver and they're doing good. So I think eventually they're

going to get bigger sponsors, and then that's how you kind of rotate.

I guess.

Mm.

A lot of drivers also on top of driving, do they not also run their own businesses to try to help supplement the cost, right.

Right, So I think that's a lot of a lot of people like that. If they have a shop, they

have a brand, and that's kind of like, yeah, offset some of the cost of doing the race.

So when you moved over to America, did you experience America being what you thought it was going to be in your head? Yeah, I guess so, yeah, Yeah, it

was it easy transition. No, no, because I couldn't really

I mean, I still I'm not really good at English, but even worse back in the day, so it was hard to even communicate. Just to go to drive through,

you know, it took me a while to order some stuff that I wanted to But yeah, it was really cool to be here.

But at the same time, I think at one point also I realized, you know, Japan is such a cool country too, Like you know, sometimes you kind of like look back and kind of see from the outside.

It's like a different perspective.

And yeah, I remember, like one time I was like, oh, maybe I should go back to Japan.

How come we never went back.

Yeah, I don't know why, but yeah, that was like one of the phase. And then after a while, I'm

now I'm more comfortable in a state. So it's been

like fourteen fifteen years since I moved to the states.

Now and you started a family now right right?

Right? Yeah?

How many how many kids?

Ye?

Two boys?

How old are there?

Eight and a five?

Are they into driving?

Not really?

No, you know, And I'm not really trying to push them to do it neither. And again it's you know,

it's an expensive hobby and it's really hard to make living out of it, So I don't want to push them.

If they want to do it, I would try to support as much as I can, but it's not cheap.

Yeah, the saying is in racing, it takes a big fortune to make a small one.

Yeah.

But you know, die, you're fairly still very young. Like

why did you retire? Like how old are you? Like

forty forty five?

Yeah?

I mean that is that like way beyond like the prime of a drift drivers? Like is that why you retired?

Like I don't understand why you retired. When you announced

your retirement, I was like, where's it going? That's I

gonna do.

So I retire from Formula Drift, one of the biggest drifting series in the world, and I've done since day one and it's been eighteen years for me, so you know, I'm doing the same thing for a long.

Time, and I kind of wanted to change it up.

So, I mean, I still love drifting driving wise, but the format of competition.

You knows, there's.

A lot lot of stuff going on like sponsors and judges and everything. So I kind of wanted to stay

away for a little bit at least and see what the other opportunity. So, for example, I did a movie

as a stunt driver last year and then with you. Yeah,

that wouldn't happen if I was still competing in the Formula dred because you know, like we're on a shoe for like a few months, yeah, and you.

Can be out for that long.

Like, once you're into this in a series, you have to commit, right.

And bless your heart, you were telling me when you're out there that you go straight from the movie to then go back for Sema for a car that you built, to then go to another project, right right. Definitely keeping

busy with with a lot of things yeah.

So, yeah, those are actually kind of new thing to me. So, yeah,

how was your experience like working on a movie? It

was super cool.

One of the coolest experience as I had, especially that was a racing movie, so like on the truck, driving with a lot of people, and every single day on the race car and getting paid.

That was super dope. People think, like, you know, they

watch a movie, they think, like all the driving stuff must be so fun, but there's a lot of waiting around.

Oh yeah, it is kind of boring at times.

So the sayings, hurry up and wait right now.

Yeah, but I think this movie was one of the fun one because this was my first movie.

I've done many commercials, but.

This was your first movie.

Yeah for the movie?

Yeah, really, I don't know that.

Yeah, so that was super cool.

But I worked with a lot of the movie industry stunt drivers, the guys that done so many like Fast Inferiors and all the big movies. But they say this movie,

the one we did was really fun to do because not so much waiting. Pretty much every day was driving,

so and once we were off, like a couple of days off and just don't even go to the set.

We had some free times and stuff like that. Did

you get to drive in the movie?

I did not?

You didn't, no.

I so how they shot it? And I imagine they've

done things similar for Fast was there was a cage on the roof of the car and there'd be a driver on the roof controlling everything and the gas steering and put and then I'm an actor in the driver's sept and I can't see in front of me because they have like screens to protect light from being too harsh on the face, and a bunch of cameras and I'm turning the steering wheel trying not to get nauseous, acting like I'm driving when there's actually a driver on the roof of the car.

How did that feel? Actually?

I was curious about that, especially you know how to drive. Yeah,

it seems like it's hard to act because you don't know what really the car is going to do.

Right.

It was definitely nauseating, And there'd be times where the director would be like, all right, someone's passing you on your right, and because you can hear everything, the director in our case, Neil blomb Camp, was saying, yeah, but maybe it wasn't natural and racing for someone to pass you on the right in this turn, so you'd still be acting that's the job. But as a driver, you're like,

but no one would pass me on the right. This

doesn't make sense.

It was like perfect casting to have Amelia in that movie, right, But it's frustrating that you don't get to actually drive. Yeah,

did you tell them you drive?

Oh?

They trust me. I tried to let them. I wanted

to drive the cage car. I wanted to be on

the roof and get to drive, do donuts, no matter.

Something for the listening audience. A cage car that you

want to kind of explain what that is.

Yeah, it's it's basically where the driver's sitting on the roof.

Nowadays throttle and break. It was an automatic car, so

throttle and brake are now it's called drive by wire.

It's basically electronics, so they can move the pedals wherever they want on the car and it still does the same thing as if it were in the car and someone's just driving on top of the roof with steering wheel, and you have a steering wheel that doesn't really do anything on the inside.

And they have to make like seven versions of the car because they you know, they if you need like a rear view, they cut the back of the car, They cut the roof of the car. Sometimes the cars

like lift it up onto like a frame and then the camera's on the floor to get all these reactions right.

And it's funny because people, you know, they meet me and they go because of the fast and fears movies, they just assume that I'm this, i'mute, like I.

Can drift, and then what do you mean you can't?

But the movies make it look like I know what I'm doing right, But it's all pretending. So I mean

for the listeners out there, it's like, you know, they do a great job with the special effects to make us look like, you know, we know what we're doing.

But you know, I think, you know, stunt drivers they do not get the credit that they deserve because when you see the cars actually drifting on the track or on the on the togay. I mean, there are real

people like yourself driving and putting their you know, lives at risk. So I always try to give the people

that make us look good, you know, the credit. We

had Samuel Hubinet, he was my double for Tokyo Drift, you know, and he would always have a wig on and they put all this like brown makeup on him to make him look like me. But he's the one

that made me look like Han look great at drifting, you know. So you know, thank you for what you're doing.

And you guys deserve so much credit.

Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah, you guys are put in your lives

in danger.

Yeah, you know there's this, there's these conversations about you know, people talking about how hard it is to pursue your dreams, right, and that the idea, the notion of like the American dream is over right, that you know, it's impossible to like pursue your dreams today, right, And for those people that have those type of like complaints like you are a perfect example of the American dream happening, right, And

if you were to give advice or share some of your philosophy of how you approach things in your life and how you go and attack it.

Yeah, it's very hard, right. Even like myself, I didn't

really have like specific goal I want to be here so I want to do this. I was like super

lucky to know a lot of people that who were able to help me. At the end, I was I

got to the you know the spot that I wanted to be, which was I'm super fortune. But I guess

you got to be out there and you got to tell what you want to do or you know, many people as possible, and promote yourself in a way because you can't really achieve by yourself.

You got to tell people what you want. Yeah, I'm

not saying like begging to help.

But surround yourself with good people. Yeah, not be afraid

to share what you're trying to do. You must have

had different mentors throughout your life.

I guess yeah, yeah, but I have. I always have,

like a lot of good people helping me for some reason.

But what I mean for some reason?

Yeah?

What is the reason? I mean? I know it's hard

to talk about yourself die, but you're going to help the listening audience kind of find a template or a road that they could follow to pursue their dreams. Right, Like,

how did you surround yourself with these good people that helped you?

I don't want to say I'm lucky, but I guess you know, i'd be cool to those people. Try to

be cool so that people can cool back to you. Right,

That's one thing I've been trying to be nice to you know, all the people, I admit, I don't know if that's just the reason.

You're also a championship driver. So there's more than networking, right,

there's hard work that goes into it. Do you feel

like you have a different front work ethic than others which helps you to be as successful as you are?

When I won a championship was twenty eleven, which is a long time ago, so maybe the level was not as crazy as these days, which is kind of lucky for me, right, I was there in the beginning, like learning drifting as the series growing up.

So so if.

I even me compete now, there's no way I can do well.

I think you're just really humble, am I?

Yeah, I know it's so hard to talk about yourself when I've gotten to know you over the years. Die

and the people that surround you, you know, they have so much respect for you. You know, not only are

you like easy to just hang out with and you know it's nice to like crack a beer with you and to shoot the ship and just hang out, there is this like reverence. There is this like wow, this

is dye, you know, and I think it's like something and in the way that how you carry yourself and your kind of approach to like, you know, not only driving, but then your approach as a person. That's something that

for any aspiring like professional driver or anybody with like a dream in their life. It's not just how you

conduct yourself on the track, but how you conduct yourself in daily life.

You know.

And something that I've always like really respected about you is this balance that you have with your family, you know, and like how did you like I know a lot of people when they career oriented, they just think about their career and they pretty much abandoned like their family responsibilities.

Can you speak on that, like how you approach balancing your career and your family.

Oh yeah, it's been like almost ten years being the family man, so it definitely changed. Back back then, I

was more focusing on my career. But also I have

a really uh, well understanding wife, so that's a good help as well. She's basically dealing with the kid like

twenty four seven. I mean, of course I help as

much as I can, but it's it's really compared to her nothing. So I realized I have a really good

understanding wife. Yeah, in this kind of career, that's kind

of like a necessary way because you're always away.

Yeah, has having kids changed you in any way?

Yeah, having a kid, it's basically your priority, right So to me, in a way, when I was competing, in a way, I lost my hunger a little bit. So

that's kind of part of the reason why I decided to quit competing inn FD as.

Well, hunger for winning or racing. No, no, I shouldn't

say that. It's Maybe it's different.

Hunger to stay up at four o'clock in the morning making sure the cars.

Got Yeah, maybe something like that.

Like now it's a balance, right, Like if you if I was when I was single and when I was like hunting for the championship, but now I have a family and kids, so in a way, I couldn't be like as hungry or as like focused on this. Maybe

that's a bad thing, but it's not a bad thing.

I think that's a that's a wonderful thing.

Of course. Yeah, shows your priorities with your family, not

with winning and racing.

I mean that's what I might. I would say I

have very few regrets in life, right, Like I try to live in the moment and just keep moving forward.

But when I was in my thirties. You know, my

wife had asked me, she said, you know, do you think we're going to have children? And I will never

forget what I told her. I looked at her in

her eyes and her parents. Her mother actually said that

if you guys have kids now or a child now, I'll help you raise this child because I know you guys still have to go and pursue your career and you know, and and time is tight, money is tight.

And I looked at my life and I said, do you think I came to like La or I'm staying in La to like have a family, Like I came here to like make it in Hollywood. And until I do,

I am not going to have children. And that's why

I have no kids. And I wouldn't say like I've

made it, but you know, now the fact that you know, like I've had a career and you know, and I can afford to like raise a family, the fact that I don't have it. In hindsight, I go, this was

like the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life having kids. Yeah, And I think about like legacy, like

you go, what is my legacy? It's going to be

being in a bunch of like fast and furious movies.

Like I thought that was important, but today I realized, like, yeah, that's cool, but it's not every day I wake up, you know, and I have to like search for like a purpose to like continue. You know. I think when

you have children, naturally, priorities change or focus change. The

way you see the world changes. You know, for most people,

you know, they have their head on straight right, and that's something that on a daily basis, like I'm looking for to go, like what is my reason to be alive on this earth? And definitely being in a bunch

of fast and furious movies is not it?

You know.

And I have a wife that, just like your wife, would have been supportive even if we had no money, even if I was working at McDonald's. I mean, she

would still support me pursuing my dream, you know. And

you know, I share this with a lot of people that you know that are younger and say, well, you know, I'll wait till one day, but one day we'll show up and it's going to be too late.

You know.

My wife, we can't have kids because she got cancer and that put her into menopause and life, you know, fucking punches you in your face and then kicks you in your balls, and then you wake up one day and you go, yeah, I might have this, but I don't have the stuff that is important. And a lot

times I feel like completely like lost guys is really because and I that's why I search for people like you, right, and like ask these questions of like, you know, how did you change? Like and I can see that there's

just this natural peace with you, you know, because I'm sure your children and your family give you like this, you know, like sure footing. They give you a foundation,

you know, and they give you like this north star, right, which I feel like I don't have, you know. I

meet you know, men that are good fathers and they walk differently than I do, you know, and I'm still searching for it, you know. And people say, yeah, you know,

why don't you adopt and stuff, But you know, I'm in my fifties now, and my wife she does not want to adopt because she doesn't know if the cancer is going to come back, you know, and she doesn't want to have a child go through this stuff like you know, with a parent. And it's it's really weird

because I think about it and I go, you know, when I become older, right, and I become like a senior citizen, and let's say I get sick or you know, I can't even wipe my butt one day, like you know who's going to be there? Right, And that's really scary.

Right.

That's why in many ways, like if my wife passes away before me, I don't really want to be around too long because I don't have a reason to be alive.

And that's why I'm always searching. That's why the whole

point of this podcast is to like find these answers because I don't have them, you know what I mean? Well,

thanks for sharing that. Yeah, I mean I urge people

out there if like they're afraid to have kids and they're using excuses like you know, I have to wait till I make money or I have this, and that one day it's going to be too late.

Yeah, I'll admit that that's a weight on my shoulders about about having kids or not because I don't think I'm ready and I don't know what that ready is.

I weigh those same options that I'm scared to get older or not have anyone someone to raise or take care of, and also to take care of me when I get to old, and it is the legacy of what you want to leave behind on this earth, because at the end of the day, like a lot of stuff that you think matters when you're young, like it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

That's true.

I fortunately still have time. I just turned thirty. I

don't know look at that, but it's definitely something that as I'm getting older, I'm like, Okay, I need to put this on my radar if it's going to happen, and make sure I'm conscious of it, because I'd rather want the opportunity to have children and choose not to then want them and not be able to I think that's my biggest fear, so weighing that. So it's interesting

to hear you talk about that being when your larger regrets in life. Yeah, because I fear that time going

by too quickly and I'm so excited about what I'm doing today that as a guilder, that window closes or that door closes.

And you know, outside looking in, like, how amazing would it be to have you as a mother? Really? I mean,

I mean, like what you represent just as a person, right, and you know, like you know how you approach your life and what you also represent to other women, and you know the car community, and you know, I think like if you had some daughters, man, they would be like they would have like a badass mom.

Right.

So growing up I used to always think I'd want a boy, But now that I go older, I'm like, yeah, I'd want to raise some badass checks.

Yeah.

Are you hard on your sons? Are you strictening still?

I think so? Yeah?

Are you going to make them by their for car?

Yeah?

Yeah, I'm not going to buy them.

Yeah.

Kind of back to like, you know, if you ask, like if my kids likes cars, I say, if they if they like it, I want to support, But financially I don't think I would. It's just the way, you know,

my parents didn't help me, so I don't think that's the way to do.

Yeah. So that's how that's my style in a way.

Yeah, I think because seeing what happened to me growing up, I almost would prefer my children to want to learn the value of a dollar, to want to understand what hard times are and to have to go through it to ground themselves, because I'd be too scared of having someone who is just expectant of things.

I'm with you on that one for sure.

Like I like, I wouldn't want to expect a first car, to expect the new mom the Nintendo switches out and I have to get it, but you already have one.

You know.

It's like, well, if this is how much it would cost, this is how you'd have to work, This is what minimum wage is now, if you work to X amount of hours, how long until you could afford? This is

this where you'd want your money to go? Or do

you think it's better to invest? But it's also hard

to do because I know they give you little puppy eyes and they're like book please.

But who taught you that? Like fiscal responsibility, I.

Had to teach myself when my dad took his life.

I went to school the next day because I didn't know what else to do. You know, no one tells

you those things. And I was actually sitting in a

finance class, but I just had this very vivid thought of, oh God, like I don't have a parent to teach me these things. I don't have someone that I can

go to who knows finances, Like I'm on my own when it comes to money. And then shortly after that,

the principle came and pulled me out of class. I

was like, oh my god, I just found out what had happened. And I started calling therapists and to come

talk to me and all that. But that was a

very pivotal point, was sitting in that class and being like I got to start learning because no one's going to teach me.

That's good. You learned that really young.

Yeah, I'm thankful for that.

Yeah, because I was I was raised like to be afraid of money, right, and as soon as like I had an opportunity to have some money, like I would spend it all. Oh really yeah, because I was raised

in scarcity. You know, like my mother was so like

afraid of not having money because you know, she was a war child from like the Korean War, so they grew up super poor. Like her idea of having like

white rice was like a luxury, right, so you know she made sure like we had nothing, and like everything was about saving. But then saving for what, right, Like

it's not we're not going on family vacations or anything, and it's you know, there's there's no purpose for that money except for just to hoard it. Because because you're

living in scarcity. And then I remember in college they

were giving out like these five hundred dollars credit cards to students just like this, and I spent that day, really and it took seven years to fix my credit because I didn't have the money to pay that back.

It was just five hundred dollars. I mean five hundred

dollars when you're in college is a lot of money, right, And it ruined my credit and it took seven years to fix that. And that's where you know, having a

responsible like partner like my wife, who was raised with money, so she was not raised in scarcity, so she's not afraid of money, but she knows how to use money to make money, right, which that concept that never made sense to me.

Right.

I think I'm the opposite where I'm actually very scared to spend money because I'm scared of not having it.

But obviously for what I do, I also have to buy cars to modify them. And it's so hard for

me to check out on sumit or wherever I'm buying my car parts or whenever I'm buying a car, because it's it's just so difficult to spend it.

How about you die. Is it hard to spend money

on your cars? H? Yes and no. Yeah. I guess

I'm more like your site in a way irresponsible.

Yeah. And my wife is opposite. Yeah, she's like saving

and saving kind of thing. So yeah, maybe because of that,

I have a good balance.

So you spend until she tells you, hey, maybe you should put your money down a little.

Yeah. I wish somebody had taught me like how to

invest and how to spend money and what where to spend money when I was younger, because it took a long time. Like that credit thing, like people.

That's a scary thing to have.

Yeah. Yeah, people don't realize like how important credit in

America is. I mean you're trying to like buy a

house or trying to like go get a a new car.

Credit card scared me. I didn't get a credit card

until maybe five years ago. I debit or cash everything.

So then when I needed the money to buy like a reliable priests to drive around, I couldn't get a loan for four or five thousand dollars because I had no credit.

Yeah, credit, guys, is so important in this country, right, So what are you doing now that you've retired?

So I still race cars and drifting demos. So for example,

I'm going to a Formula drift event and then do ride along. And also I've been competing this series called

TC America, which is a road racing series, and I'm doing the whole season.

So this is like an amateur like it's a professional such per So you're still racing. Yeah, so that's what

You're not.

Retiring retired from Formula drift specifically.

I just retired from forma drift. That's it. I'm still

doing everything the same. I do pikes Peak. Okay, for

the listening viewers that don't know what pike Speak is, can you share explain.

Pike Speak is the hill crime race held in Colorado Springs once a year. It's one of the biggest hill

crime in the world.

Can you explain to me what the deal with pikes Peak is, Like, why why is this so famous and why is it part of like motor sport law and history.

Why is it such a big deal. Pike Speak is

one of the oldest race in the States, I think a second oldest or something. So they just did the

one hundred times, so it's been over one hundred years and they used the street. Basically it's a like I

said that toge the canyon road. They just closed that

from nine thousand feet to the summit. The Pikes Peak

is the name of the mountain and the summit is like fourteen hundred feet, which is pretty high, fourteen.

To fourteen thousand. So yeah, because I think it's using

the street, not the race druck. And then one of

the oldest racing in the US. That's why I think

the Pike Speak is one of the famous race in the world.

I think too when cars were carb rated and there's so basically the elevation of air as you know people listening no, just as a reminders of the higher you get an elevation, the less oxygen there is. So it's

also a test to the engineering the mechanics of the car too, because you can't just pull over and tune it for different oxygen or airflow as you get higher.

So I think that was a big part of the difficulties of racing Pike's Peak. Am I right in saying that?

Yeah, you're right.

So that's one of the biggest challenge for the race.

And also you have to deal with the weather and from the start to the finish like a big difference on the weathers and even like a temperatures and stuff like that, and you don't know until the day off, So there's a lot of like unknown boundaries compared to like a racing on the truck, and very often people die racing this. Back in the day, always hear about

somebody like yeah.

Going off, going off the class.

I've seen videos of it.

But now there's cars are a lot safer too, So I think square less than back in the days, I.

Hope, assuming you have someone who did a good cage.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, the page is very important.

Right, cage seats harnessed, But now you're looking at that.

More exactly, so therese like a little detail. I start

more paying attention because that's like saving my life.

What makes a great driver die?

In your opinion, I think that who can perform your best anytime you wanted to, Like you say, you kind of have to be in the zone and you can control that. That's very like internal thing I think, especially

like a drifting, you only have a one shot. If

you have a mistake in the one run, you're out.

You have to like put you one hundred percent to the run. So put people who can provide that when

they need to, which is like a strong inside. I

think that makes you a great driver.

Yeah, when young folks talk about, like, you know, like how hard things are in life, it's supposed to be hard, and just like you know, you know, in driving, it's like if it was easy, all these weekend warriors on the track would be doing what you're doing. Right, That's right,

it's supposed to be hard.

I do you think a lot of hard work has gone into where you are today, whether you talk directly about it or not. I don't think you give yourself

enough credit. But I think a lot of people look

up to you because you're a phenomenal driver, not just with drifting but with also road racing. Thank you, And

that's not that doesn't you don't just wake up one day with that skill. You know, you got to learn it.

You're self taught. You come from another country, and you've

really built this successful family and business and career that you have.

Yeah, it's interesting with you, Die is that you know, you're so resistant on talking about yourself, right, And the reason we wanted you as a guest is because there's this like patience with you. There's this like kind of

you know, stoic, kind of zen to you, and it's you just do instead of talking, right, And I think that's why, like, you know, so many people in the community like respect you and look up to you. You know,

when you bring up Die, there's never like, you know, a response of like I hate that fucking guy. Think

I was full of shit? No, there isn't people respect you. Yeah,

you know, I think the more people and you know, younger folks that are around you that are aspiring to like be like in the driving community or go into professional driving, you know, it's just to be patient, right and just you know, just keep doing instead of talking.

I don't know, I guess I guess I don't have a confidence and I'm still searching you know, who am who I am? So maybe that's why I couldn't really

talk about myself. And I really think I have a

lot of what do you call it, right right moment, right people, right timing kind of thing. Just appreciating all

the people around around, including you guys as well.

Thank you, appreciate you, We appreciate you.

Awesome

Toyota Corolla

About this episode

Original notes