Epic Year of Racing

I honestly do not know where to begin. The last two years I decided to get back into cars and wow what a ride. As a young kid growing up I always wanted to be a fighter pilot, I use to go to the Air Force base and watch all the jets take off by my house growing up. I always was addicted to going fast since I was young. As I got older going fast in a jet was just not going to happen so I became addicted to cars. I may not ever get to ride in a fighter jet but this year I have come as close as possible I do believe!

 

Every year I sit down towards the end of the year and think about what I want to do the next year, personally, business wise, and hobby wise. Last fall I decided I wanted to really start going to these big boy events and race some of these legends that you always see. I have worked so hard in my business life the last 5 years that I wanted to take some “me” time and really get out there and have fun.

 

I always saw all of these UGR videos and was in shock at how they dominated the competition and etc. You always hear negative stuff about them from time to time as well, but it was never from an owner of an actual UGR car. Always just someone with an opinion. You always hear, oh their cars don’t make the power, and blah blah.

 

I decided to just see what all of this UGR stuff was about so I sent them my car. I actually started with a bolt on but as I got more into looking at other people’s cars I know I needed more power. I talked with Kevin millions of times via emails, texts, and phone calls. I let him know my goals are to just go to Tx2k and race some really fast stuff on the street, I want to win the GA half mile, and I wanted to go to TI and be competitive. If I was going to take time to go to these events I wanted to have a chance at winning. So I ended up going with a full 2R build, no short cuts. I built the tranny and everything. I told Kevin I am pretty rough on the car so just give me your best stuff. I don’t really get into all the specifics with Kevin about the upgrades. I just tell him what I want to do and he makes it happens. I just worry about driving the car.

 

Throughout the entire build Kevin kept me updated. I have probably exchanged millions of texts with Kevin over the last year. Kevin is a great guy. UGR is the most professional company I have ever worked with. They are the real deal! I also never signed any document saying I would ever speak bad about them or if my car broke. I don’t really know where that got created but it is complete false.

 

When I got my car back I was in shock at the quality of work. It just looks so damn crazy. I would go in my garage every hour to just make sure my car was still there and I would just look at it. When I first got my car back I went and grabbed my vbox to make sure it was making the power they claimed. Sure enough my first pull on my 3rd setting set a street record for all kinds of stuff. Man I was thrilled! Car just sounded awesome, looked awesome, and was just fast as crap. I was so thrilled to ship my car to tx2k and go experience that for the first time.

 

So off to tx2k my car goes…. I literally didn’t sleep for weeks. This event had so much hype and anticipation that it was unreal. The first event was the roll race where I never turned the power up on the car because I was just nervous and wasn’t comfortable with the asphalt because it was really cold. I probably made 3 or 4 total passes at the tx2k roll race. I will admit once the racing started it became so much fun. Nothing like rooting on your friends and watching them compete. After the roll race it was where tx2k really begins in my head which is the street racing and Mullet’s Warehouse. Mullet’s place was like an iconic place to me because I have always seen it in all the videos. And boy was that fun!!! I put my car on that 4th setting and probably had one of the most fun nights of my life racing all the GTRs out at tx2k. My car did not disappoint either. It ran away from everything on the street, it wasn’t close.

 

I cannot thank Peter enough for putting on tx2k. What an event!!! He puts in a lot of time for all of us to go have fun. The event is crazy fun! I have never seen anything like it in my life. I felt like I was in a Fast and the Furious movie. Also a big thanks to Mullet. He was a gracious host and is one of the true good guys in life. He is awesome.

 

Also the treatment I got from UGR at the event was unreal! They would wash my car after every pass, ask me if I needed anything, give me some more gas, and etc. This was free! I felt like I had support from a professional race team. It was crazy! They were like this at every event this year.

 

So After tx2k I brought the car home to have a little fun with it before I decided to go to another event. Around town I got to race all my buddies and just have a good time with the car. I put a lot of miles on my car over the summer driving around town, doing pulls, normal every day driving, racing, and etc. Car is just a real blast around town. The LP cars have a lot better E Gear so the clutch is not bad at all around town. You can see me take off in some videos and it just takes off very nice. I never once had any issues with over heating or anything driving around town in the summer heat. Car ran flawlessly.

 

My next event that was really the one that I wanted to win for the past 2 or 3 years was my local half mile. These half miles have gotten crazy popular and I have always just been so attracted to them. Wannagofast does a tremendous job at running these. Blake and his staff do an A+ job running their event and they have just a wonderful location at GA. The weather conditions were not the greatest but everyone had to deal with them. Again I just wanted to win, I didn’t care what the mph was. I knew at elevation with a 6,000+ DA it was going to be tough to set any kind of record. I knew 215 mph would win the event. It was really nice because UGR knew how special this event was to me so they brought the entire pit crew down for support to make a nice video and just provide anything if needed. The track side support was unreal again. They would wash my car, gas me up, and whatever I needed. Sure enough my car after making some warm up passes ripped off 3 passes in a row, 218, 219, and 219. When we went 218 we were winning by 20 mph at the time. It was crazy. My car performed really well and dominated the event. Kevin actually drove the car on those passes and boy was it fun to watch my car fly by. I was tempted to make some passes after him but I decided to pack up the car and save it for TI. I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish at the event so I saw no need to beat on the car anymore.

 

So now it is time to go to TI…. Man this event is nuts! I just don’t even know where to begin. It has the fastest cars in the world there and some of the best drivers. I knew going into the event I had a great running car, and I had tons of experience with my car so I wasn’t worried about that part of it. It is just crazy when you walk through the pits and you see all the fast cars. From ASS lambda lambda lambda and the lambda lambda lambda and the omega mu mu, T1, ER, BL, Heffner, Nth, and etc, and of course UGR, the king of TI. You think to yourself, holy shit… Going to take a miracle to win this event. You have guys like Stacy, Mullet, Tag, Ivan, Tony, Leigh, Nick, Austin, JJ, Chris, Shin, Nola Stunna, Mike, OB, Reza, Kevin, KC and others (sorry if I forgot anyone, I am just familiar with those guys and platforms) driving some very fast cars. I was so excited to see where I stacked up against the best, which is crazy because the fastest car I have ever owned was my same car but with 700-800 whp lmao. Now here I am with this crazy UGR 2R car racing against these legends I have seen for years and years. I sat there all day Friday and watched all the cars make pass after pass so I had a good idea who had the fastest cars. Mullet and Stacy dominated the 6 speed event. Those two can really damn drive, holy cow!

 

I could have made some passes late Friday but figured I would just wait until Saturday to fire up my beast and make some passes. So I wake up Saturday morning and get to the airfield really early and I drive my car around on the street just warming it all up since I hadn’t driven it since the half mile and just having a talk with my car lol. Telling it to be good to me and I will be good to it lol. So hour later I go out there on the airfield and I don’t know even know what the hell I am doing to be honest, I as so confused with the light system and the flags but somehow managed to rip off a 194.xx mph pass taking off from 55 mph at the 2nd flag. I go back out there trying to get as many reps as I can before the KOTS begins and I ripped off a 193 mph pass. So at this time I am like ok I think I understand this system and I will save the car for the competition. Well I forgot I didn’t have an index pass so I go out there and I make a pass but I let out at around 180 because it felt weird when I hit the bump in the runway. So my official seed in the KOTS was based off my 177 mph pass which really messed up the bracket.

 

I got a first round BYE because we had an odd amount of cars, so that was nice. But after that I had a long road ahead of me. I had to race Kevin in the 2nd round, Shin’s Alpha 20 in the 3rd round, Austin’s ER/ETS 99 car in the 4th round, and lambda lambda lambda and the lambda lambda lambda and the omega mu mu in the 5th round. Every car was so damn fast. I knew it would take my best to beat them all. I was a little confused at the light so I didn’t even look at anything but the light. When that sucker turned green I just dropped the hammer and held on for my life and hoped I made it to the line before the other guy. Every car I raced was going 190+ all weekend. It was crazy. I came to TI to get a chance to race the best and boy did I get the chance. I was so happy with the way my car performed, it was so dead reliable and consistent. It went 190+ on each pass in KOTS. The race vs lambda lambda lambda and the lambda lambda lambda and the omega mu mu was awesome. I knew I was the underdog but I gave it my best. I actually went faster on that pass than I did all day with a 195.xx pass. It was actually the 2nd fastest pass of the day tied with Austin’s ER GTR. I was able to get out on lambda lambda lambda and the lambda lambda lambda and the omega mu mu early but as soon as I shifted into 6th it came around me at the finish line. Was probably one of the best races of the entire year to be honest. Glad we could put on a show for everyone with a 195 and 201 pass that run, it was crazy. Congrats to ASS for taking the KOTS title!

 

Battling for the KOTS trophy is one of the greatest experiences of my life. What a rush! So much fun! It was a lot of fun to go back out every round and see who was left! GTR Chat family hung in there great! Thank you so much to the TI staff and Amar for putting this event on. I hope to one day take home that KOTS title!!

 

Big thanks to Mullet for taking me under his wing and driving me around last weekend and telling me all about TI. TI has some great history that I never even knew about. Just some really cool stuff. Thanks Mullet! Was fun hanging out with all the other UGR guys and all the other guys at the hotel and at the airfield.

 

 

I have met so many people over the last year or two doing these car events and have the fortune of calling all of them my friends. These events are terrific. It is full of car enthusiast and everyone roots everyone on, nothing but total class at these events. There can only be 1 winner at these events but that doesn’t mean other cars are not great cars. Everyone has a great car and everyone puts a lot of time and hard work into their car.

 

The last thing I have learned is how great of a car Underground Racing has built me. It is a complete animal!!! It is a unicorn I think! It has been dead nuts reliable. I have put close to or over 5k miles on that car and build and it is still going strong. The only issues I have had is I had to resurface my clutch once, and I had to put a clamp back on a vacuum line one time. I also had to replace the front bottom piece on my car because when I hit the brakes at 180+ it scrapes. That is it!!! I have raced the fastest cars in the world on the streets and at events. I have come out victorious almost every time, it is just crazy to have this much reliability in a real street car. My car passes emissions and all. Just what a car! Underground Racing is no joke. If you are building a lambo, or R8 you would be an idiot to not send them the car.

 

I cannot thank Kevin, KC and their crew enough for all the things they have done for me. They have built me an awesome car, and I accomplished everything I wanted too. Also big thanks to everyone that I have raced this year, win or lose it was fun! What a year!

 

you haven't changed since the BMW days

 

Your hard work paid off, keep it up. hopefully I can join you one day!

Holy Wall of Text!

 

That was a great read Duhawks. Awesome to hear about your experiences and enthusiasm. I hope I get to see your (and Kiscos) cars in person someday! Congrats on your achievements and good luck in 2015!

Wow ... After a season like that ... I guess there's only one thing left to do ...

 

Enjoy your trip to Disney World with your family!!!

Awesome! I always enjoy reading your posts. You're a true car guy for sure, and I can tell you really live for this kinda stuff.

 

One day, soon, I will join the ranks with UGR. Everyday is another day getting closer and closer to a TT build.

 

Hope to get to race along side of you guys one day

 

Keep it up man, you're a class act dude for sure.

 

 

 

 

Your passion speaks louder than words! Great read!

Didn't once mention your best boost bro in your essay. We are no longer lambros!

"I'm dropping the hammer, Harry" lol. Congrats on an epic year brotha, it's almost like a fairy tale ending for ya. I love to see someone recognize their goals and be able to achieve them!

Congrats Dustin!

 

Any idea what you're planning for next year?

Great write up but no mention of gambling/Vegas experiences with UGR over past year? Time to head to Vegas soon... Sema time.

 

 

 

 

Also, it has been great working with you and great to get to know you as a friend. You did a hell of a job driving this year! Rookie of the year, no doubt!

Chapter 2:

 

It all started with a bolt on.... hoping for 700 whp..... Fadi..... LOL never forget when I actually met you. You gave me a lesson on your name. "It isn't fatty, it is fadeeeeeeE!" lol. Man thought I had them out there brother! Thought I had them! It was great, I think everyone slept on the light, they thought I was an easy kill lmao.

 

Chapter 3:

 

It all started with a $25 bet on black.....Now I have a roulette wheel at home and I get mail everyday from about 5 casinos lol. There is nothing that gets my blood pressure up more than gambling or racing. I have to say that KOTS got me going more than roulette. Had a ton of fun in Vegas with you and Grant. Always fun gambling with friends. Gets boring when your by yourself. RIDE TIL WE DIE.

 

Man... I almost Fred Lynned and Alfredo Griffined everyone this year lol. Only two people in sports to win rookie of the year and MVP of they year in MLB.

 

Had fun all year with all the lambo guys. Look forward to the many of years in the future.

 

Great read and congrats on the success!

Excellent read, I love seeing you guys get out there and enjoy these beast! I'm slowly building my 996TT, which should be ~700HP this spring and have a TTG as long term goal. Keep enjoying the car, keep winning, and stay safe

Thanks for sharing. It's great that you get the the ability to make your car enthusiasm morph into something tangible. Your car has done a lot for us as well. We see that UR builds them stout and real drivers drive them hard. Sounds like a perfect match. Good luck in '15!