Super Honda Meet - Season Closer at Irwindale Speedway

Oct 16

What I had originally thought to be a heads-up, race-what-you-brought, winner-takes-all, long-time-coming grudge match between two cousins, turned out to be something far greater than I had imagined.

Unbeknownst to me, the shoddy clips I took of the EF about 14 years ago uploaded in the previous post were what had inspired Thiem Pham to finally finish his 1990 EF, a project he had embarked on some time ago, likely when he bought the car, and arrange this epic gathering.

For the headline event, in one corner, we have Thiem Pham, in his built-not-bought, all-motor, four-banger 1990 Honda Civic EF (EF) versus, in the other corner, Derek Jesson, in his mostly-stock V8 2011 Lexus ISF (ISF), which features more than double the displacement of the EF at 5.0L vs. a pinky-up, gas-sipping 2.0L, and double the cylinders! And, the ISF is 21 years newer!

In the days leading up to the event, there was a healthy amount of playful banter and smack talk. It was funny to bear witness to either side doing what they could before race day to give themselves the edge.

Thiem wanted to complete this build as he had originally designed many years ago, essentially picking up where he had left off. The ECU on the EF wasn’t re-flashed/ re-tuned with newer, more current software and was left on Chrome. However, he did spend countless hours tinkering and performing general maintenance, since the car had essentially sat in storage for the past 14 years. He also installed brand new 24.5” M&H Racemaster slicks and various suspension components. Finally, as the cherry on top, not one, but two, drag-specific corner-weighting sessions were added in the eleventh hour, the first one requiring a handle of Tito's, several cases of beer and perhaps ten dudes with the second one completed by none other than Rob at CHEWERKS.

The ISF underwent fluid changes, severe weight reduction (I had never seen no junk in the trunk prior to this) and had rear tires swapped to a fresh set of ever-so-slightly wider Michelin Pilot Sport 4S to maximize the contact patch. I distinctly recall Derek sweating moments before lining up because the track official warned him that street tires typically don’t hook at the strip. Sounds like someone must’ve been slipped a 20 to get into Derek’s head!

Although the main event was a great race, whose outcome could have easily gone either way, one could not easily tell from the photos that the outcome had very likely been determined from the start. The EF caught the ISF out of the hole with a blazing RT of 0.067 seconds compared to 3.068 seconds. Down the strip, the EF posted an ET of 8.298 seconds at a trap speed of 87.58 MPH vs. the ISF with an ET of 8.419 seconds at a trap speed of 85.09 MPH! Honda - the power of dreams.

For me, the takeaways were catching glimpses of moments between passes to soak it all in - family, friends, Uncle Nick, catching up with old and new friends, gathering, seeing, drinking, eating, watching the kids and adults play, feeling the toy hauler sway and rock with life, track officials shutting down the charcoal, friends grabbing emergency cookware needed to cook in the kitchen, the kids horsing around, the kids laughing, the adults laughing, “Shot!”, the sounds of race cars idling, staging, barreling down the strip in the background, breathing in the smell of cigarettes, race fuel and exhaust gasses.

These days, I find myself often wondering when “the good ol’ days” are and if I can see when “the good ol’ days” are happening. If this wasn’t a “good ol’ day,” I don’t know what is!

It’s truly a privilege to have been present, to have served as a spark of inspiration and also to have been granted credit for doing so.

Special thanks to Thiem for bringing everyone together and for having Random Exposure as a sponsor, alongside all of the other great sponsors, in no particular order:
Team Apokalypse, KG Race Engines, SP Tools, AutoInk, N.T.D. Electronics, A-To-Z Auto Body

All-in-all, a successful and memorable event for the books! Looking forward to the next!

Headline Event Video Clip filmed by Loanie Bui:

Headline Event Photos: