Allstar/Bridgestone Civic Team annouces it 2009 show schedule

Being a marketing race division includes both getting exposure on and off the track. This typically includes promotion events where the public get to meet the drivers as well as having the car at car shows and meets where people can get up-close and personal with the race car and its drivers. Its with great excitement that we announce our schedule for the rest of 2009. We look forward to shaking some hand and meeting the fans who are interested in getting into our genre of racing.



EXTREME AUTOFEST 2009-
Automotive Lifestyle Supershow

In its 9th year, Extreme Autofest (EAF) continues to provide young enthusiasts a destination for automotive lifestyle excitement. EAF’s giant car show consists of hundreds of competing sport compact, muscle cars, exotics, lowriders, and S.U.V. vehicles. EAF events also include lifestyle attractions such as a bikini contest, DJ‘s, a fashion show, musical performances, and breakdancing, to help satisfy the youth markets large appetite for entertainment. EAF provides an opportunity to reach thousands of young consumers who are interested in vehicle personalization, music, fashion, and electronics.

Extreme Autofests’ demographic is primarily a younger audience who are tech-savvy,
impressionable, and trendsetting individuals. They have ample disposable income and are
ethnically diverse consisting of a mix of Caucasian, Asian, African-American, and a large
Hispanic audience. More than 90% of them use the internet, primarily as a social tool.

• Age Group: 18-34, Average Age: 22
• Marital Status: 81% Single, 19% Married
• Gender: 83% Male, 17% Female
• Internet Users: 98%
• Ethnicity: 38% Hispanic, 32% Asian/Pacific Islander, 15% Caucasian, 9% African-American, 6% Other






2009 SCHEDULE for Allstar Bridgestone Civic Team

July 26, 2009 Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA Estimated Attendance: 10,000+ Dec 30 – Jan 3, 2010 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA Estimated Attendance: 100,000+ (5 day event)


Events will be advertised and promoted thru traditional and non-traditional media. Viral p
marketing is our key marketing strategy in reaching our core demographic (youth market).

• 50,000 Flyers per event distributed by Street Teams to local retailers and hangouts
• Official Event Website featuring event details as well as contests & giveaways.
• Postings, Comments, and Bulletins on MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and other social networks, as well as web banners on various forum communities.
• Email Newsletters sent to over 50,000 opt-in emails for each event.
• Radio advertisements: Exclusive .60 second event commercials on top local market radio stations.
• Radio promotions: On-air sweepstakes and contests, ticket giveaways, etc.

Here is there next shows flyer:

June 14 Championship event

We run in the morning and the weather is very pleasant. Warm enough to not have to worry about if the tires are warm enough and not the typical scorching weather. The course has some interesting elements that we don't see very often - like a full loop that circles back on itself. It's also very narrow in certain places, which takes away from any opportunity we might have to choose a better line.

The event runs like clockwork and neither Jason nor I are very fast today (I'm 8/10ths behind 1st place). We are close, but not really in the running. Todays course is more increasing radius big sweepers whereas yesterday was primarily big decreasing radius sweepers. It just doesn't feel like the grip is there today, which is a shame given yesterdays performance.

Jason finishes the day in 7th and I'm in 3rd. Still a decent showing for the Bridgestone RE-11 tires. Next event we'll have new tires to play with.

June 13 practice

Boy, time sure flies when you are having fun. It's overdue to update the blog. Prior to this practice event, it feels like forever since the last event and I've been itching to go out driving for a long long time.

Jason and Jon have been playing with setup and I'm anxious to try out the new settings. We are just about out of tires and practice on our 150+ run Bridgestone RE-11 tires. The car starts out feeling a little twitchy but pretty fast. Times are very good, we are running around 1 second faster than the other Civics. Our times put us very close to some STX cars. We end up making some changes to the car that we weren't expecting, but the car ends up going faster. Jason likes the way the car is set up also.

In the afternoon, we put on the 'race' tires, which already have 130+ runs on them also and clock the fastest Civic time for the day. Woohoo. Hopefully the tires will hold out for tomorrow.

The rest of the car is working very well. The down time has been very helpful for Jason and Jon to get the Civic back into tip top shape. Looking forward to a good day on Sunday.

Allstar/Bridgestone Drivers @ Mazfest 2009

On a sunny Saturday in California the Allstar/ Bridgestone drivers were given a chance to represent the Time Attack Division of the Allstars as well as Mazda at MazFest 2009. We were chosen among a large group of drivers to represent the team. The final team consisted of 2 Pro Drivers Mike Forest, Jonathan Colin, a Drifter Colin Frost, and us. The night before we had a quick team meeting at the Allstar Garage to go over the logistics of the next day an bonding a bit with the drivers. All goes smoothly as we fit into all of our safety gear smoothly and learn the ins and outs of the emergency procedures of the race cars. The cars we would be pilioting would be the Allstar Mx-5's there are 2 distinct setups on the cars one for more drift style and one more grip. For complete stat on the car look here. We leave the shop in great anticipation of the next day.

The next day comes quickly and for the first time in a long time we are not required to show up at the break of dawn. Instead we are asked to come at a relaxed 8am. We arrive to the pits at the California Speedway all setup with both cars already being prepared by the crew chief and his staff. Wierd to not have to really do anything but get suited up and walk around and talk to people. We attend the drivers meeting and we are given a silver band which will let us run as uch as we want in any group we want. Only limitation is that we follow the rules of wach of the groups. i.e in the novice group we shall not pass!!! So we rest during that group and run all the rest of the sessions.

Over all the day was great and having a full staff on hand was great. So a big thanks to the Allstar Garage Staff is needed as well as all the lovely Allstar Spokesmodels who without them would have gotten our usual "race sunburn". Lastly thanks goes to the Allstars and Mazda for giving the opportunity to race some great cars and get some big track experience.

Here are some pics from the day:


Here are the 2 cars ready to head to grid.




Suiting up...earplugs, check!! this this is WAY louder then our civic!!!








Jenn and I with "our pose"


Interview by Q for an up and coming project




The Drivers and the Spokesmodels

May GRA event at Auto Club Speedway

With the rotation of the run groups, we are now the first run group of the day. This means that we have to be there early to walk the course, register and do everything else.

It gets light earlier now and I still end up leaving at O dark 30, before the sun rises. This gets me in to the Speedway by 6:30AM. It's already light and some folks are busy setting up. Jason hasn't arrived yet, so I have a few minutes to socialize.

Once Jason arrives, we unload the Civic and go for our course walk. The car had already been teched from the Saturday practice. Interesting course. Three slow turns and the rest are sweepers of some sort. All the left hand sweepers are fairly large with a decreasing radius exit on all of them.

Jason has had his fair share of mechanical problems with the car this week and a lot has been done to the car in the last two weeks to repair an aging car. It is very unusual for Jason to still be working on the car on Friday - usually everything is done and the car is loaded and ready to go. (Thanks Jason!) Jason and Jon have also been experimenting with some fine tuning on the car and both of them are very excited about the changes.

Jason ran the car in practice and did a little more tuning. There should not be anything dramatic about the changes and I'm looking forward to driving the car. Their excitement is rubbing off on me.

Keep in mind that this is the first time that we have raced in Fontana since the beginning of the year and I've never driven the car on RE-11's at Fontana. Based on Jason's experience yesterday, the car feels good and should allow us to put power down earlier in the turn and should feel good in the sweepers.



While waiting to take our first runs, Jason is in the car and I'm expecting this car to feel VERY nice. Jason goes out and takes his first run with one cone near the start. I didn't see any drama and from what I could see, the run looked uneventful.

My turn. I'm strapping in and thinking about what Jason has said. I get to the first fast right hand off camber sweeper going up the hill. Instead of grip and maybe a little understeer, the car starts 4 wheel drifting. The comes a tight, slow left hand turn. One wheel locks up and the car starts rotating - ok, I've been here before, I get on the gas to stop the car from spinning. No spin, but not much front grip either. Now comes a really fast right hand bumpy sweeper. Jason was able to feed in the power and go to the floor. I go through the turn with quite a bit of throttle modulation and end up washing out to the left side and it feels like I just missed the cones. Now for a slower left hand turn. With the speed that we have been carrying, I start lifting as I enter the turn and the tail starts rotating before I get on the brakes. No problem, I'll just get back on the gas. But there was a problem - there was no front grip. Once I started accelerating again, the car was washing out and would not turn anyway and I end up DNF'ing the run. The next big left hand sweeper finds the tail rotating a little again. I make it through this turn uneventfully. The slow right hand turn is one that I bounce my way through the turn and there isn't much grip either. Now we build up some speed to come in to a decreasing radius sweeper. The car starts rotating on corner entry again, making for a hairy decreasing radius turn. With all the sliding and pushing, my time ends up being in the 62 second range.

The rest of the runs for both of us are relatively uneventful. The spectators are entertained because the lead appears to be changing with each driver that completes a run. Now that I know what to expect, the tail never rotates quite as much anymore in the turn. The push never goes away and I end up in the 59.4xx, but am not able to go any faster.

At the end of the day, we finish 4th and 5th respectively. I'm frustrated with my inability to find speed today. I guess I need more seat time. It is nice to have lots of competition though.



A very big thanks goes out to Moe of Hyper16Valve for coming through with critical spare parts for us in a very short amount of time so that we didn't have to miss this event. If you need an EF mechanic, I highly recommend Moe.


Fun Pic of the day...
Caption (Bridgestone or NOTHING!!)

Allstar/Bridgestone Drivers go to the Long Beach Grand Prix

It was a beautiful day in Southern California and the team packed up for a fun day at the races. Josh from Bridgestone/PTSC was also in town for the race so we got to spend some time with him away from our race scene which was definitely fun times. We also had the rare opportunity to bring our families to the event which was a real treat for them since it was the first time for all of them to come to an all access pass to every area including the pits and the paddock where all the teams would prep their cars and the drivers could be seen walking around.


Here is the view for one of our friends 12th floor condo looking at the last few turns right before the front straight, we spent most of the actual LBGP race watching from up here away from the 180 degree track temperature.



The Firestone Support truck, they change all the tires for the races and are the official tire of the LBGB.



On of our friends Jeremiah swappin tires and looking good at the same...



Pit Row....tires galore!!!



Firestone Hospitality Tent









Stephen getting ready for his first press conference



The Firestone Firehawk, Bridgestone needs a mascot!









Thanks to Bridgestone for helping us have a great weekend with our families and special thanks to Josh from giving us the Presidential Tour of the in and outs of the pits of LBGP.

Until next year!!!

April 5th CSCC/Team BLEW Champ event

It's a beautiful day to go racing. Our class is not scheduled to run until the very last heat at the end of the day, so it's one of those rare occasions when I get to sleep in instead of being up at the crack of dawn.

It's bright and sunny at El Toro when I arrive. Jason is already on site with the Bridgestone tent set up in a very good location, right by Tech. There is plenty of time so we get to relax and hang out with folks for a nice change.



Lunch time rolls around and we get registered and go for a course walk. It's a nice long course, very typical for El Toro. There are some very fast sections and some slow sections. The course designers were also kind enough to leave in a few elements from the ProSolo last week. Good. We can try to do those elements better this time.

As we continue to experiment with car set up, we had discussed some new things to try for this event. I'm excited. I think that the changes for today will help the car feel better. We prepare the car with our new set up and settle down to wait for our turn to race. The sun is out and the tent is a very popular spot for many people.

As usual, I never look at the entry list and Jason tells me that both Leslie Cohen AND Gary Thomason are entered to race in our class to run Civics. Both Leslie and Gary are National Champions and usually run the PAX class instead. The surprise was that Ken wasn't running in our class. Leslie we already know drives like Ken and is incredibly fast. She will be driving her Civic on the 225 Toyos. Gary is the oddball. He's going to be driving Ken's Civic on the 225 Toyos also. He's usually seen cruising around the autocross course in his Porsche GT3. He's a multi-time National Champion, so even with Ken not running in this event, the bar has been set very high. It's a good time to try out our new setup.



It's finally our time to run and our run group is very slow with many delays - many novices, instructor runs, inexperience folks etc. Oh well. Nothing to do but relax. No point getting worked up about this. It's out of our hands at this point.

The course is fast in sections and slow in others as expected. There are quite a few sections that we will be at the top of the RPM range for the Civic. Jason takes his first run and confirms that the car feels better. I take my run and the car does feel good in the handling department, but we are plagued by what has been an intermittent problem, usually only seen at PCA events - the car starts hesitating and doesn't want to rev past 7000 RPM, which it usually does very happily. This continues for all of our runs where we are not making full power in the very fastest sections for several seconds. Not much else we can do except to focus on our driving and make the best of it.

It's a busy day for everybody. The delays in grid are also frustrating as we sit and wait, wondering what's happening as there has been no explanation on the PA. There were many DNF's and something like 101 cones hit in our heat. Jason had 1 rerun because Palero decided to single handedly destroy the course right in front of Jason - something about a big lens chasing him.

Anyhow, with the way the grid worked out, both Jason and I end up being the last to take our runs and other than the hesitating, the car feels really good. I have an idea of where Leslie and Gary are time-wise, but it's still a matter of being able to execute. I go take my last run and come back with a cone, but a time that puts me 0.05 seconds behind Leslie and 0.04 seconds in front of Gary. Despite the cone, I'm very happy. I'm confident that we are finally approaching the right setup for the car and that we will be able to compete straight up against the wider Toyo's. Summer should be even more interesting as it gets hotter and the other tires get chewed up faster.



Go Bridgestone. Jason has also been tireless working on the Civic to get it to, and keep it running in tip top shape. Thank you Jason for another amazing job setting the car up! Jon, thank you for your help too. Both of us appreciate your expertise.

2009 El Toro ProSolo Sunday

Both of us arrive early to walk the course one last time, then off to get ready as we run 1st heat again. It's a cold morning, somewhere around 50 degrees and overcast. It doesn't look like the sun will come out in time to help warm up the ground or the tires.




I'm up first and I'm lined up against Marco in a Subaru 2.5RS. With the cold temps and me not launching properly, I watch Marco open up at least one car length on me before we reach the split where we go off on our own. Grrr! The same thing happens on the right side and I'm going for everything now. I come back and hear the crowd cheering as the announcer says that I've moved up into 2nd place. It's not over yet, so I'm lining up again and this time I'm paying a lot more attention to a correct launch. It looks like this time, I'm no more than 1/2 a car length behind Marco by the time we split - I'm happy about that. I go faster on my last left side run and I'm happy about that, but looking at the posted results, I have 2 mystery cones on my time that I didn't hear announced when I returned from my run. Grr, deja vu. The same thing happened to my Saturday morning left side run. My second right side run is wasted as we have too little fuel and I experience fuel starvation while on course.



We add some fuel and Jason gets to make his Sunday runs. He posts a good left side that puts him in the 44's, but there is a late cone call. There is no improvement on the right side, but he does improve the left side for his fastest left side of the weekend.

Things are moving much faster now and before we know it, Julie is up to make her runs. With some encouragement, she is now pushing harder and ends up moving into the last trophy spot in L1. Congratulations Julie.



The best compliment I heard all weekend was how Julie loved how the car handled the way Jason has built it. She wants what we have! We also know they will continue to stay on Bridgestone tires.

By the end of the event, Julie has finished in 6th, Jason has finished in 8th (on the result sheet, that would give him 8 88) and I beat Kyle to 2nd place by a very small margin of 0.005 seconds over two days of competition.




The tire wars in ST are going strong with the leader board made up of Toyo, Bridgestone, Kumho and Dunlop tires.

2009 El Toro ProSolo Saturday

We arrive nice and early, get teched and walk the course one last time. This is a great course that combined all the elements - technical without being visually difficult to see, fast in sections and slow in other sections. You had to get it all right in order to do well.

Just as we are finishing our walk, we receive a phone call to see if we'd be open to Julie Avard driving our car so that all the ladies can be in single driver cars. Julie is currently on Bridgestone tires at home, so this should be a good fit.



With the lower car number, Jason starts off as first driver in the morning. He has good times on both sides and ends the morning session the faster of the two of us. With the combination of starts and a few minor delays, the morning session doesn't end until around 1:30pm. It seems to be the trend for me so far at these events. I end up dirty or red lighting on one side so I'll only have decent times for one side. For this event, it was the left side that was giving me grief. I'm in 4th place by the end of the morning.



In the afternoon session, the faster driver goes first, so Jason goes out and takes his runs. He improves on the left side, but not on the right side. With the runs being back to back, the time goes by very quickly. The RE-11 tires are holding up to the heat of back to back runs very well, getting up to operating temperature and staying there without the need for cooling. My afternoon runs come up and my focus is to get a clean left side so that I'd have a decent time at least. My first left side run is an alien run that would have put me within 1/10 of Ken on the left side, but I cone it away and end up standing on a clean 2nd left side run. The right side dips into the 43's for a decent time.

Julie takes her runs and it's getting late. I have a feeling that they will not be able to finish all their runs before it gets dark. Everybody is hurrying to try and get all the runs done before it gets dark. Julie has not driven in a while. She's not pushing the car, so we encourage her to push harder. The tires are not getting up to 150 degrees, but staying in the 120 degree range.



When the Saturday results are posted, I'm in 3rd place and Jason is 6th. Both of us are still within striking distance of trophies.

I'm very tired. There seems to be very little down time at a ProSolo. The course will be the same for tomorrow, so we pack up and go grab dinner. We can walk again in the morning.

A look at the ST competition

So here is a quick wrap up of the ST competition here in So Cal.


Of course there's the "Allstar/Bridgestone ST Civic" Driven by Stephen Yeoh and Jason Flores


The "Pro Parts/Centric Parts (Wong-mobile) Civic" driver by Jeff Wong and Nicole Nagler


The "Power Honda Performance (Pedo-bear) Civic" driven by Jon Lugod and Michael Palero.


The "Team Toyo Civic" driven by Ken Motonishi and Lily Liu


The "Jue Motors/Whitehead Constructions Civic" driven by Kyle Williams and Paul Whitehead


The "I-Speed/Kartboy/SCNAX Subaru" driven by Marco Vasquez


The "JLB Motorsports (Rios-Mobile) Civic" driven by Sebastian Rios and Shauna Rios


Lastly we have the "Metrosexual Teal-Blue Civic" driven by Steve Ekstrand, Tadd Ekstrand, Stacy Miller and pretty much anyone else who needs a ride in ST!!!