Drag Racing in Puerto Rico, early '90s

[ismaelg]

Hello,

Back in our local forum (Scalebuilder.com) a fellow member posted some pictures of drag racing in Puerto Rico from the late 80's early 90's. That reminded me I have pictures from that era.

You see, drag racing in King of motorsports in Puerto Rico. If it moves we drag race it. In fact, there are some heated arguments that the import drag racing scene started in Puerto Rico over 40 years ago, not in California.

These pictures are from the summer of '91. It seems like only yesterday, but that was 17 years ago. I was starting to get into photography and this was likely the first motorsports event I photographed with my then new Pentax K-1000, which I still use. You'll see some pictures are good and others, well, I was learning.

This is one of the oldest dragstrips in Puerto Rico and it is still in operation. It also has a road course. Right now there are at least 4 fully NHRA certified 1/4 mile dragstrips, plus a few 1/8 strips.

I made a Fotki album and I have just found more pictures I'll be slowly scanning and posting.

Here is the link:

Puerto Rico International Speedway Fotki album

and here some samples:

Hope you like them.....

Thanks,

[cruz]

Thanks for the pics Iz, I don't have a doubt that this import thing started in the Island, I remember going to a lot of those races myself!!!!

[3men2s]

when you go to the web and type import history this is what it says:

[edit] History

Car modifying has been very popular among youth in the United States, especially in Southern California, since the days of hot rods in the 1950s and 1960s. There is significant evidence indicating that import drag racing first started in Southern California in the mid-1960s, with Volkswagen Beetles, Sit-up-and-beg Ford Populars and Austin A40 Devons including documentation of quarter-mile passes published in Hot Rod Magazine as early as August 1965. The island of Puerto Rico also has a long history of pioneering import drag racing in the mid 1970s and 1980s, and it is still a huge sport on the island. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, front wheel drive vehicles, at first Datsuns and later mostly Hondas, gained popularity in Southern California. Young Asian American street racers played a particularly important role in the development of the early street racing scene. Many enthusiasts in southern California also began to modify their compact Japanese cars, following similar trends that originated in Japan. Arising from the street culture, import racing venues eventually arose and huge drag racing events at Palmdale, California often packed in over 10,000 spectators per day. Racers like Stephen Papadakis, Ed Bergenholtz, and Myles Bautista dominated the first import drag racing circuit IDRA (Battle of the Imports) in the mid 1990s. Show car clubs became a huge factor within the import scene: Southern California had Team Macross 7, Team Kosoku, Northern California had Z.Team Yossi, while the east coast had the Jade Crew (still active to this day). This Japanese racing scene can be seen in the anime series Initial D, which focuses mainly on mountain pass racing and Wangan Midnight which deals with high-speed expressway racing.