I had already thought of doing this "you ask me" type of interview after the ITR Expo series. Then, Jay said that he wanted to interview me. So, I put a slight twist on it and had others ask me one question with Adam Jabaay doing the intro. Here we go..
How do you write an introduction for an interview with someone, when the interview will be published on that same person's blog? You call them a weirdo. Brad Adams is a bit of a weirdo, and that's why we all know who he is. His oddities make him memorable, personable, enjoyable to talk to(usually), and even sometimes crabby. He's a family man (dang he and Brandy made a hilariously cute kid). He's hard working and you should be his friend(or at least laugh at his antics from a distance). He probably wants to be your buddy too, unless you're annoying. And if you're annoying, he'd probably still give you a high five and make you feel like a winner...........while wearing a giant American flag shirt.........and a Facebook "LIKE" foam thumb.Brad loves racetracks. Brad reads books about driving(we all should). Brad pays attention to details about prep on his car, but he OBSESSES about prep to his mental driving game(we all should). He reviews his session footage after every day on track(yeah, we should do that too). He wants to maximize every day on track, but I don't get the impression that he's doing it because he wants to be "the fastest guy"(if he did, he wouldn't play with a 135 whp Civic on a budget). Passion drives his constant self-improvement. He loves the social aspect of the track weekend too, and that's something we all can learn from. Before I started hanging out with Brad, I didn't know many people at ITR Expo....I was very social at West Michigan Honda meet, but I was a bit of a wallflower at the "cool kids" meet(as I saw it then) of Expo. Loudmouth Brad sort of helped me to come out of my shell a bit at the Expos I have gone to since getting to know him. I've come to realize that the social aspect of this hobby is one of the best parts of it. If you're not making at least a couple new friends every time you're at a racetrack, you're doing it wrong. I got to know(at least a little bit) so many people during the few days that Brad and I spent loading my truck up with crappy Hondas and going to VIR for NSXpo, that it was shocking. He talks to everyone, laughs about anything and everything. He even stayed awake for our entire 14 hour drive to VIR, ON SHEER EXCITEMENT.
Go to the racetrack and have fun with your friends, but dont forget to make a few new ones. Because if you dont, you're missing out. And if I'm there, come say hi to me. I give free high fives, and many times, I'll even work on your car. Lets all be buddies.
What was your first car and what ever happened to it?
Me: My first car was actually a truck. I think it was a 1994, but it was a 5 speed, 4 cylinder S-10. Basically, my mom and step-dad picked it out. My mom made it a point that my first vehicle was a manual. I was pissed!! We would go out on the country roads to learn and she was probably the worst teacher there was. If I killed it or rode the clutch, I got RIPPED!! But, that’s my mom, we recently joked about it and she might have almost peed her pants. With her, I never got the hang of it. But, one day, I had to drive to my dad’s. I popped in a Tupac cassette and you could picture me rollin’! That was the day that I really learned to drive that thing.
I did a lot of stupid stuff with it. There was the thing that I called the berm. Basically, after the corner, I’d have two wheels on the steep hill and two on the road. I learned to shift without the clutch in it and I could also roll from a dead stop in fourth gear. Haha.
My freshman year of college, some guy pulled out in front of me in the rain. I T-boned the crap out of him. The truck was totalled, we bought it back, but sold it. My step-dad found me a 1992 Civic hatchback. He said that I always liked this yellow one in a Lowrider Magazine. Anyways, I liked the manual at this point and it was an automatic, but it was perfect for me travelling with my bike!
What got you into racing or into cars in general?
Me: I always enjoyed IndyCar racing given where I am from. But, cars, I honestly don’t know. I remember in college playing some game on Xbox that was fun to mod/race. That kind of sparked it. But, I remember a specific day at the skatepark and Justin Day said that I should put a B series in my car. He wasn’t the first to tell me this, but my reply was “People who put money into cars are idiots!” Ha! Look who is the idiot now. Anyways, I got a summer job at the dealership where I met Justin’s brother, Travis George. Travis told me about Honda-Tech and well, the rest is history. So, my best answer is Travis telling me about H-T is what “got me into it”.
What has been your favorite car to drive on track?
Me: I haven’t driven many cars on track. So, my easy answer would be The Brapmobile.
What is your favorite track that you have driven?
Me: I wish that I could say Mid Ohio. But, after going to VIR, that’s my number one. So much of everything there and I had to adapt to a lot of stuff quick.
What do you enjoy most about racing or the car community in general?
Me: The people that you meet and the places you see. I learned that through BMX. In a day’s time, I probably text just as many out of state people as I do in state. When we went to Disney, Matt DiMare and I tried to set up breakfast at a Cracker Barrel. If it wasn’t for the track or ITR Expo in this case, I wouldn’t have that contact that lives over a thousand miles away. Or when I went to
Lyda Heng: You were looking to sell your hatchback awhile ago. Are you still going to sell it? Why were you trying to sell it in the first place and what car were you looking to replace it with?
Me: Well, if someone wants to buy it for the right price, yeah! Haha. The reason that I put it up was there was a Honda Challenge 4 “EG” hatch up for sale. Wheel to wheel is the main direction that I want to go. And, the only logical financial thing to do would be to sell The Brapmobile for an already built race car.
Mike Sayers: With your beard and crazy t shirts it seems that you have taken a page out of Jordan Taylor’s book. What other drivers inspire you in your racing and daily life?
Me: That question is awesome. I enjoy JT’s stuff, A LOT. He posted something the other day where someone said that he was bad for the sport! Lol.
I have actually mellowed out over the years. Brandy is pretty reserved, so that kind of rubbed off on me(I know someone is laughing). Plus, with Bailynn being born, I calmed down a bit more then. I would say the “weirdness” started sometime in middle school. I didn’t like wearing jeans, so I wore Zubaz and it kind of went from there. I’m sure some of my classmates have pictures. But, I would wear rain boots with very short shorts and some sort “wild” shirt to school, amongst other sorted outfits. In high school, I knew someone who delivered pizzas for Papa Johns, so he gave me a delivery bag. I used that bag as a backpack as well as a Teletubbies and T-Rex one in high school. The list could go on forever. Haha. I just don’t take myself too seriously. I like to have a good chuckle every now and then, even if it is at my own expense.
As far as drivers inspiring me, Ryan Eversley is the one. He drives for Compass360 in Conti, so there is the Honda connection. But, the amount of charity work that he does with the Children’s Tumor Foundation is staggering! He is very down to earth, too. I met him after qualifying, I believe, at Indy and we had a good ten minute chat in the middle of that busy day for him.
Tall Kyle: What's up with this crazy beard that we have been seeing lately?
Me: You had one, too, so you should know. The past several years, it seemed that I got sick after shaving off my “No Shave November” beard. So, this year, I kept it and let it go. I actually trimmed the sides, but no social media proof. Brandy wants me to trim the rest, so I’ll keep that for awhile. Haha.
Steve LaClair: How bad were you shitting bricks proposing to Brandy in front of 100+ friends? And what was the contingency plan if she said no?
Me: I was actually most concerned about her finding the ring. It actually stayed at the track the whole time before the banquet. Mind you, I ran the PCA event the weekend before, so that was 4 days at minimum without her finding it.
Proposing at the banquet wasn’t that bad at all. I kind of “zone out” in front of big groups like that. You yelled “Speech” as I was walking up, I thought my cover was blown then. Haha.
A lot of people don’t know that the plan was devised in less than a week. I would say that only 5 people knew the plan going into the event. I actually went and bought the ring the morning that we left for Mid Ohio while she was at work.
As far as a back up, no need. She wasn’t going to say no. LOL!
Matthew DiMare: Which do you prefer better? Karting or track time?
Me: Rental karts are super fun, especially when you can get the speed up in them and slide around.
There is the local slick track that is super slow, but super fun, just ask Jason Morse!
I’d still have to say cars because I can still scare myself.
I’ve not had my TaG kart on track yet, but from the drives around the neighborhood in it. My answer might be different shortly. Haha! Those things are gnarly once you’re in that powerband!
Abbymael Rodriguez: What are your top five Expo moments?
Me: 1. Having the family there at Expo12 and proposing to Brandy.
2. The trip to Expo11 at CMP and the trip to Expo13 with Travis. No better way than traveling with friends.
3. The last day at Expo12 and my last cooldown lap around the track. Just soaking it all in. It was my fourth day in a row there, I had just proposed to Brandy, and that track is what really got the “itch” started.
4. After Expo10 having some of the regulars calling me a “sandbagger” for being in beginner. For my self esteem, it kind of told me that I was headed in the right direction.
5(Tie). Karting at CMP during Expo11. The Mansfield Reformatory tour during the Expo13 banquet. At Expo12, Adam Jabaay had been out in their LeMons CRX. When I would pass, he would normally flip me off. I catch it going into the Keyhole, so I was going to get one in on him. I pass the CRX on it’s passenger side. I leave about six inches between my mirror and the CRX mirror. I look over and it is Jeremy, I didn’t know him that well at the time, but the look on his face was priceless!
John Thornton: If you could own one supercar what would it be and why?
Me: Porsche 991 RSR. I don’t know if that’s a supercar, but I’d have super fun with it.
Christian Shipp: Brap and newleaf., what’s the source of these?
Me: Brap, if I remember right, was a play on words between a co-worker/BMX buddy and I on Facebook probably 5 or 6 years ago. How it carried over into the track community, I have no recollection. The nickname has stuck and is what I normally go by in the paddock.
The whole newleaf. thing stemmed from BMX. A good buddy, Travis Leach, started eleventeen. Our other good friends’, Darcy and Shelby, parents owned a sticker company. We made stickers and if people asked for them, we gave them out. We had people in
Chris Sanford: Do other people you come in contact with that are not car people think you are absolutely nuts for spending the time and money on the car and racing?
Me: Most of our close, non-car friends know what I do, but I don’t think that they fully grasp what really goes on. I assume that most people think that you spend some extra cash on parts and go drive on a track just like going to the store. Haha. I’ve actually thought about putting a seat in on the passenger side and giving some ride alongs at Putnam. I think it would give a lot of people an appreciation of what really goes on. Brandy got a full dose of it one time. I got her to go with me to an autocross test and tune. After my third run, she was out for the day because she felt sick. Haha. Obviously, the nature of autocross can do that, but on track, hitting a brake zone at 100mph+ might scare a few people.
Jay Haire: What car do you want next?
Me: After driving Saurabh’s Miata, I think that platform might be next!
Jon Walker: You have been road racing your Civic for (x) amount of years, why have you kept it in relatively the same/stock form for so many years? And, what reasons do you have for not taking your passion to the next level, i.e. racing SCCA or Honda Challenge?
Me: 2010 was my first year in the hatch, so 4 years in it now. I did one event(WMHM09) before that which was in my daily driven ’92 Civic EX sedan. It was completely stock besides the Azenis tires, Si wheels, HP+ brake pads, and Motul RBF fluid. The hatch wasn’t done and I was pretty pissed because, at that time, I thought it was all about the car. Luckily, I got a great instructor in Adam Penn. We got moving in the sedan and I learned it was more about the driver than the car.
Really with the hatch, I have only changed brake and tire compounds. I’ve switched spring rates, barely, and added a small OE bar. I like to keep working on myself before the car. I can add this or that to the car and make it “faster”. But, if I have never reached the full potential of said set up, what is the point. Have I driven the car hard or well, yes, do I think that I have reached the full potential, eh, there is more left, always. Haha.
A lot of people will ask me about the LS trans. I got screwed on a used trans, long story short, it was a LS trans, and I had a USDM ITR diff ready to be used. I didn’t know at the time that the USDM diff wouldn’t fit in the JDM B16 trans. So, LS gear stack it was. Yes, it suuuuucks, as you can hear in my videos, but it has taught me “momentum” driving.
Wheel to wheel racing, besides LeMons, has eluded me. Hopefully, it is in the near future, obviously financially dependent. But, yes, the "bug" is real.
Ryan “Teal” Kristoff: Where(track or event) have you learned the most about driving or about yourself?
Me: Definitely VIR during NSXpo. VIR is wild, way different than what we have here in the
Ryan Conley: Do you have any good online dating tips for me?
Me: I haven't had to resort to such a thing. Spencer always posts funny Tinder pictures, so I think it would be at least a nice comical experience. I think Steve LaClair uses ChicksWithBikes.com, so he might be a good reference. But, I've got nothing. Good luck though!
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