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On the Road with Jim Liaw
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Oct 21, 2024
Welcome to JC Whitney's "On The Road" Podcast! Stay ahead of the curve, hit "Subscribe" and keep up with the latest! On this episode of "On the Road," we're joined by Jim Liaw. He stopped by to talk about bringing drifting to the United States, and his work as General Manager of Performance Racing Industries. Follow Jim on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/JimLiaw/ #JimLiaw #PRIShow #formuladrift 00:00 - Introduction 00:28 - What introduced Jim into drifting? 3:17 - The impact of Drifting on the Car Parts Industry 5:49 - EV Future in Drifting 6:29 - Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Show 7:42 - The Biggest Challenge Bringing Drift Culture to America 12:35 - The moment Jim knew Formula Drift Would Be Successful 14:04 - Day in the Life of a GM of PRI 16:10 - Jim’s Defining Moment in a Car
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0:00
Hello and welcome to J.C. Whitney's On the Road
0:08
I'm your host, Angel Salableyn. And today we have Jim Lowe in the studio
0:13
Jim, how you doing, sir? I'm good. All right. Thanks for having. Yeah, yeah. Glad to have you here. You know, you're the guy when it comes down to Formula Drift in the United States
0:22
You introduced it to us. So let's talk about that a little bit more. Sure. So first question, what or who introduced you to Drift
0:29
I wouldn't say there's like a specific person or entity that introduced me to drifting
0:36
You know, we were doing a lot of work. I mean, I grew up, you know, Southern California culture
0:41
All my friends were into import cars and that was kind of the scene that we're in
0:45
And even in like professional life, you know, where I was working
0:49
we're just kind of surrounded by Japanese performance companies and doing a lot of work with them
0:54
And so really I think it's like that community of that kind of bridged the U.S. car culture
1:00
and Japanese car culture, especially the guys that were modifying import cars here
1:05
And that kind of community of brands that came from Japan really showed and showcased a lot of what's going on in Japan
1:13
And even amongst all the different kind of sub-genres or whatever of Japanese performance, drifting was fairly new
1:21
And so it was really them that kind of said, hey, have you guys seen what's going on
1:27
Have you seen, you know, here are some videos, because obviously there was no internet at the time
1:31
Here's some videos and some articles of what these cars look like and what they do
1:35
And that immediately sparked interest because it's such a visual sport, right
1:40
Whether you understand it or not, whether it's for competition or for demonstration, like just the car control
1:46
and kind of the artistic part of the driving was really appealing
1:51
So that goes into the scoring system within Formula Drift, which is style
1:56
going to the visual aspect of it, how much style do you have
2:00
Sure, you can flip a car around, but can you send it from, you know, 100 yards prior to the turn or whatnot
2:06
And then balancing that out with, you know, we have to think about like in the early days
2:13
okay, they were 3,000, 2,800 pound, 300 horsepower cars kind of semi-built
2:18
probably, you know, what you compare to what you take out on the weekend. You know, fast forward 20 years
2:24
Now you're talking about purpose-built, low 2,000 pound, 1,000 horsepower, really built race cars
2:31
And how do you control that and making sure that you can showcase car control
2:35
that I can put my car where I'm told to put my car, and then add the nuance what's different than any other judge sport is
2:43
now I got to mimic or intimidate, depending on if I'm in a lead or chase position
2:48
of when I'm in competition with another car with me. So am I showcasing some individuality and style and some uniqueness and aggressiveness in my driving
2:58
Okay, but can you make sure that you're not going into the wall and going off track
3:02
Okay? And then can I do that while driving, leading, or chasing another driver trying to do the same thing
3:09
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so it also seems like the introduction of that sport created a full industry to support the needs of that, right
3:20
So like steering racks and all of these specialized equipment to enhance that sport from when it started 20 years ago to now
3:27
Our timing was just, it wasn't purposeful, but it was really fortunate
3:33
Because, you know, when you talk about specialty parts made for drifting, absolutely
3:38
I think the sport, the series created an additional kind of industry of skews and parts and specialty makers
3:48
and like you said, steering racks and angle kits, things like that. But also it expanded what current part makers were making, right
3:56
As drifting got more advanced and the cars became more powerful, a lot of the technologies were learned and brought over from off-road racing
4:06
from drag racing. These are like I said, 1,000 horsepower race cars. There's a lot of torque
4:11
Things break. Do I need, you know, drive shaft technology that's been implemented in 1,000 horsepower drag
4:18
cars are now being brought over to drifting cars. The way that you modify suspension and similar
4:26
to, you know, a rally or off-road car, you have to have some travel, but you also have to make
4:31
sure that you put kind of power to the ground. So there's all these things that hopefully as a
4:35
result of the sport and the series, it's enhanced existing companies and their ability to say
4:42
well, yeah, I make this part. And I was serving it for one audience, oh, I don't need to do something
4:48
different or change it or even modify it but there's a whole another audience
4:52
that now needs what I what I've made yeah what I produce for this market yeah
4:57
yeah totally Formula 1 is big on that too like Formula 1 produces all these things
5:02
and so Formula drift is I feel like falling in the line with that especially as
5:06
we move forward to like an EV future right how do we how do we make these
5:11
electric cars do the fun stuff that these you know internal combustion engines
5:16
were doing for us all these years and we, you know, we're not, the series is not tier one, right
5:21
It's not Formula One, it's not NASCAR. But because it is a nice bridge between your enthusiast aftermarket hot rodders trying to tinker and do new things in your garage all the way to hey it a new sport that trying to tinker innovate and do new things
5:42
there's just a lot of innovation that happens and there's a lot of you know to your point about
5:47
like EV is it in the future probably has it come yet in bits and pieces is a series open to it
5:56
Absolutely. So it's really kind of in the hands of, okay, you the builder, you, the team
6:03
are you ready? Are you innovating? Are you producing something that can adapt that? And is it a
6:10
combustion engine and EV power plant on the track together or are they separate classes? That's
6:17
you know, to be seen. Yeah. I mean, that would kind of segue into what you do at PRI, right? You know
6:23
figuring out what those regulations look like and, you know, figuring out. what the sanctioning looks like for that
6:28
Yeah, and with PRI, there's no other trade show like it. I mean, the organization is bigger than just the show, but that's one of the pillars of it
6:36
And in the show, there's nothing like it. There is no all racing, multi-racing genre B2B event in the country, let alone we're probably the
6:48
biggest in the world. And so what happens there, similar to, you know, what I was talking about with drifting cars
6:55
and their need to, you know, kind of bring and bring technology over from different other disciplines of racing
7:02
when you walk the PRI show, that's exactly what it is. There is a cross-pollination of would somebody that is hyper-focused in drag racing ever go to a dirt track race
7:14
or to an off-road race and look and learn from what's going on
7:18
They would have to go to a lot of different events and races and different parts of the country
7:22
in order to be able to absorb and see the new developments
7:27
the new parts, a new technology that happens kind of under one roof over three days
7:31
You can see that cross-pollinization and the ability to see and learn from each other
7:37
That's the really unique part about the PRI show. What was the biggest hurdle for you and maybe the people that you were working with
7:44
when bringing that drift culture on over to America? Hurdles to bring drifting to America
7:50
I mean, there's probably a, a few, amongst like the hardcore, you know, the purest of the group, the Japanese started it
8:00
And so there is always this like shadow casting over the series to say, are you on par with
8:07
are you equal to, are you lesser than what's been done in Japan
8:12
And luckily over two decades, it's shown that it has been, you know, whether it's the globalization
8:18
of the series and the sport and bringing in, you know, factory teams from two
8:22
and Ford, whether it's international drivers from all over the world coming here
8:27
we're fortunate to be in a very sports-centric sports-marketing environment in the U.S
8:37
And a lot of countries speak and understand English. So when the Internet grew and social media grew and we're able to live stream and be on social media
8:45
that caught on fire. So the ability to evangelize what formula drift is and what drifting is
8:52
really sparked, you know, like wildfire. But initially, getting kind of passed
8:57
that shadow of, are you second, are you lesser dent? Took definitely a couple of seasons to get past
9:06
And then conversely, now you're in the US. It's a new genre of motorsports
9:14
So you gotta kind of fight that battle of being the new kid on the block and fighting for sponsors and competitors
9:19
and getting time at the track and schedules and so forth. But also it's that, again, that unique sport
9:27
It's 1,000 horse prior race cars that are judged subjectively. It's hard to understand, really, right
9:36
For people that have watched for decades, the history of people like the IndyCar that's been a century long
9:43
where you're used to start to finish racing, whether it's down a straightaway or on an oval or multiple turns or
9:52
through a trail in the desert, it's a start to finish race and it's a timed race
9:57
Drifting doesn't have that. And so there is a learning curve to get past in terms of we're not only new in the kind of
10:06
the business environment and, you know, just in the sporting environment, but new also in
10:12
the type of competition it is. We had Johnny Lieberman from the inevitable on here and we were kind of like talking about that
10:19
talking about how sports and especially you know sports or even forms of automotive industry that
10:28
aren't the norm EVs drift have to break through this fourth dimension to be accepted and that's
10:38
kind of acceptable in my mind yeah like if someone were to take an american sport or an american whatever
10:44
and then they start owning it wouldn't we be like are they good enough for this right right and
10:49
So having that, I feel like elevates the competitiveness. And if we didn't have people there saying
10:56
are you good enough? Maybe we wouldn't push to test ourselves. You know, it's like a love hate, right
11:01
Like you don want to be the underdog but there something that helps kind of feel the drive when you are the underdog to be able to prove that well look hey you know drifting has a audience that skews younger like no other racing series in the world
11:19
no matter how big they are. The connection to youth, the social media footprint, the engagement is no other
11:27
And there's something unique about that. And yeah, you want to, you know, score that as a win
11:33
like, hey, we did something that or have something that somebody else doesn't have
11:37
Yep. But obviously, at the same time, you're still kind of fighting the, well, you know, bigger audience or at a, you know, get preference at the track or, you know, first go-to for corporate sponsorship
11:52
They look at a NASCAR team or NASCAR or, you know, IndyCar or whatever it is
11:56
And you got to kind of, hey, like, fight for attention like, hey, look at us
12:01
We're here too. and we're viable too. Yeah, I think, you know, what he had mentioned, we kind of agreed on was, like
12:06
once people understand the metrics, once people understand, like, hey, this is how we're basing this sport on
12:13
or even going into the hot riding community, EV hot riding. This is how we hot ride these EVs
12:18
Once that is bridged, people start to pick up onto it, like the youth in America have and across the world
12:24
and, you know, Formula Drift now from 20 years ago is formula drift now
12:29
Right. You know? Yeah, was there a moment that you could tell? that formula drift endeavor was going to work
12:34
Was there a moment like, hey, I'm, I don't know. You know, we were talking about that hurdle, right
12:40
And then that moment where it was like, yeah, we started Formula Drift
12:46
We had a small marketing company at the time. And we started Formal Drift as something that we just thought
12:52
would be part of our marketing portfolio. Hey, we have a couple of these events
12:58
and we have these projects and these clients, and this is kind of the, under our, you know
13:02
you know, marketing umbrella of things. I'd say that moment would have been probably towards the end of season three
13:09
where we grew it from four rounds of seven and it just consumed everybody's time
13:17
and for good and bad, right? Time from just from a bandwidth, you know, suck the wind out of the room
13:23
But also that's where the revenue was coming from. And so that was a time where we said, all right, I think we really have to
13:32
to, you know, what's the priority list of things? And the agency work was not. And that got shelved
13:40
And we thought we would go back. We never went back, but that got shelved. And we said all time
13:45
energy was on the series. And so starting towards the end of season three and starting season
13:52
four, no other agency projects or clients or any of that kind of stuff do we take on or what we
13:58
continue to do. We did 100% formula drift. What's the day in the life for a GM, especially the GM of PRI
14:07
What's my day look like as general manager, PRI? I wear a lot of hats and do a lot of things
14:14
I think, you know, I always relate. And I came in kind of embracing the role as I'm the bridge between the team and really
14:26
the leadership team, you know, the team that's kind of on the ground during the work and
14:30
putting the show on and putting out the magazine and so forth, and the leadership team that comprises of multiple departments across multiple businesses
14:39
within underneath the CMA umbrella, and PRI is just one of them
14:43
We've gone through some, you know, transition post-pandemic and we're kind of back to where
14:51
we were pre-pandemic, so that's good. But yeah, I think my day is filled with a little bit of everything, but really where I
14:59
where I kind of get the most of it is when we start seeing progress in the work, when we roll out
15:05
putting forth like new campaigns and trying new things. And it's not very different events or events
15:12
So putting on the PR show and put on, you know, a round series is very similar in that sense
15:19
And so there's a lot of satisfaction kind of getting the adrenaline rush of like getting there
15:24
And obviously the anxiety and the stress, pulling it off and then seeing the team kind of come together
15:29
and everybody chipping in and putting on a great event. It sounds like the juice was definitely worth the squeeze, you know
15:35
Yeah. Hit that wind, man. You just got to keep on pushing. You know, if you don't have interest or the passion
15:42
I think there's many times, whether it's, you know, my former drift days or even now
15:49
whereas like if there's no passion there and you're just kind of, you know, clocking in and clocking out
15:55
some of those hurdles would be really difficult to get past. some of those really busy, stressful, contentious times would be really difficult to plow through
16:05
Do you have a defining moment in a car that inspired you early on in life to help you pursue the path that you took
16:14
There's two, like, intangible moments that really just, like, kind of pierces your soul a little bit, is I started liking cars, and my friends were modifying cars, and I was just about to get my license
16:26
So it's like, oh, what's this, what's that? Why did you do this
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And really, like, novice. And then I saw the 88 BMW M3 the first you know the unicorn E30 M3 And something about the lines look different than a lot of the current sports cars of the time Something about its boxiness it wide body flares
16:50
the lines, it just looked different. And it just like, this is cool
16:56
What is this? It's different. And it's just kind of drew me to like
17:00
okay, there are a lot of unique vehicles like this and you can fall in love with them for different reasons
17:10
And how do I surround myself with this? And that was like the first draw into car culture
17:20
And in my like early professional days, my family, you know, they're not into cars
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They're not into racing. So I didn't really get that. There's no multi-generational
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There's no pedigree. There's none of that. And so when I was working, one of the events I got to go to
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because being Southern California, like, hey, go to the Long Beach Grand Prix as a part of work. I explain to everybody, like, when we go there
17:42
like I kind of get really giddy for people that go with me for the first time. Like, right here, this overpass bridge that you walk over or that you walk under
17:52
the sound reverberates. And I can remember the first time walking in, it's the back straight on seaside
17:58
It goes from turn seven or turn eight to turn nine. And this is the heyday of cart, IndyCar
18:05
There's four manufacturers, four engine, providers, they're pushing high horsepower, and you could distinctly hear the tone and the difference
18:14
of each engine going 200 miles an hour down the backstray, and the sound is the visual feeling
18:21
is so overwhelming. And then that was kind of the next part, I need to be in racing. I need to be
18:27
in motorsports because this is awesome. Whatever, however they created this mini city within a city
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and these race cars, how they got here and what they're doing, like, I don't know any of it
18:37
but I want to be a part of it. Yeah. Yeah, I want in. And you're in, man
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All right. So how can the people stay in touch with PRI and what you guys are doing over there
18:48
Yeah, so PRI is best known for the show, right? It's a performance racing industry
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It's an annual mid-December trade show, Indianapolis. It's the racing capital of the world
18:58
It's all things racing under one roof. If you are in racing, whether you are building a car, you're racing a car, you're organizing a racing event
19:06
you are supplying parts and services for the racing community from software to hard parts
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and you've never been to the PRI show, you have to go. And take all of the preconceptions out of your mind that it's very heavy circle track or very heavy drag racing
19:23
No, if you're into racing, you need to be there because you're going to get something from it
19:27
You're going to learn something, or you're going to enhance your business or what you're building simply by being there
19:34
But with that said, you know, PRI is besides just those three days that we're in Indianapolis under, you know, at the convention center, it's an association that really advocates for racing
19:45
We launched a membership program that you're buying into community, right? You're buying into community. But also there's benefits that we provide you as part of that. And you're joining a community that supports and, you know, advocates, protects motorsports. And whether it's
20:04
tracks and governmental policies that are going to affect tracks or affect your ability to
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you know, take a street car and modify to go racing on the weekend or whatever activities
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that happen in and around the racetrack. Yeah. That's what we're advocating for
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That's what we're watching out for because it's for all the community. It's not just drag racing
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Whatever happens at the dragstrip can eventually affect what's happening at the road course
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what's happening on the offer of course and so on and so forth. And that's what PRI is about
20:38
Look up what the membership is about. Consider joining and be a part of the community. And if you've
20:42
never been to the show, go to the show. Yeah. So that membership, is there a specific name of
20:46
that membership? Is it the PRI? Yeah, there's different. Yeah. It's just it's a PRI membership
20:51
whether you're, there's a category for if you're a business and you want to join as a business
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and there's a list of benefits for that. If you're an individual, starting price is a $40 annual
21:00
membership and same thing you get a list of benefits as part of that membership and there's other you know
21:07
higher tiers if you want additional benefits beyond besides that but it starts at 40 for the year yeah
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super affordable if anybody wants to go to your social and find that information or your website can
21:20
provide that for that yeah everything pri related is on performance racing.com so you can find out about
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the show you can find out the magazine you can find content there we have you know
21:30
videos that go and talk about the people in the industry. And of course, if you want to sign up for membership
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it's there and it lists and talks about all the benefits that you get. Magnificent
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Magnificent. All right, Jim, I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me
21:45
And so if you guys have any questions, please drop it in the comments down below
21:50
And we'd love to answer anything you have, and we'll get to you as soon as we can
21:54
Appreciate you dropping by and stop by next week
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