The Driver

I’ve always liked cars, ever since I was driving Hot Wheels on my city carpet. I taught myself how to do basic wrenching on my first car, a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am coupe, got into drag racing with my 2007 Ford Mustang, and in spring of 2016, I went to my first Open Track Day. I’ve been hooked ever since, now running in my heavily modified 1991 Mazda MX-5 Miata.

I have progressed from a novice intimidated by everything on-track, to an instructor for Summer Track Days, teaching others not to be intimidated and to drive safe, smooth, and fast.

This marks my second year competing in #GRIDLIFE ((Track Battle: Street Mod)).

The Car

1991 Mazda Miata, with a 1.8L motor swapped from a 1995. The motor was custom-built by Immortan Automotive (Ypsilanti, MI) in 2020, featuring Wiseco pistons, Manley rods, and a Boundary billet oil pump. It has been since turbocharged with elements selected from Flyin’ Miata and Fab9Tuning, a Garrett GT2560R turbocharger, FlowForce 640cc injectors, a MegaSquirt MS3PNP ECU, and a tune by Pure Tuning (Toledo, OH), running E-85 and about 16 psi boost.

Aero from Nine Lives Racing, suspension served by Xidas from Supermiata, brakes from Wilwood, and brake pads from Cobalt Racing (Ann Arbor, MI).

Livery was designed by Rob Wilkinson at Syndicate, and applied by WrapDetroit (Livonia, MI).