The Chicken @ DUB Atlanta
What’s in a name?
The Chicken started out as most of my cars do. Some normal person owned it and decided to sell it and, at the time, it was a car I was interested in, so I bought it. This was the car that I took the 2000 NY Region SCCA STS class win in. It was the car I did my first track day ever in.
This car has a strange amount of history surrounding it. It has been in magazines, in newspapers and at shows and events all around the East Coast, from Miami to Connecticut. This car, although not an important piece, has been a fixture in the history of the sport of drifting in the United States.
Back in 2004 when I was living in Miami, DGTrials had started to work with a local cable sportscaster on some events at a small oval track. At the first of these events, The Chicken ended up catching fire underhood. This was a very typical fire for an SR20 — something flammable sprayed or leaked onto the turbo manifold and, as flammable liquids do when they meet very hot surfaces, ignited.
We got the fire out before any major damage was done, but most of the hoses and wiring harness underhood were destroyed. Being that there were less than two weeks left to the inaugural Formula D event (yes, the very first professional drift event in America ever), we decided that it would be a great idea to fix the car up and go to the races.
With an engine bay devoid of motor, wiring, or even brake lines, we began the rebuild on Wednesday night at 7:00PM. Friday morning at 10:00AM the car rolled onto the dyno at Secret Services so that Avoy could tune it. By 11:00AM Friday the car was on the road headed to Atlanta.
Now, just to give you some perspective: This car had not had a motor or wiring in it 72 hours prior, and we were embarking on a 1000+ mile round trip road trip that included a weekend of drifting. Let’s just say that if it werent for guys like Avoy, Matt, Caio, Tom, John and many many others, that this would have never happened, and the history of Drifting in the US might be very different.
Needless to say, discussion during the race weekend turned to the fact that the car did not have a name. Several other cars at Secret Services all had nicknames, and my car was no exception. After much deliberation regarding various stupid Japanese things to name it, Yakitori (焼き鳥) came up. Well, yakitori is just, essentially, fried chicken (technically grilled, but bear with me). The car had had a fire, and it burned up like fried chicken. So for a minute the car was yakitori, and then fried chicken, and then just the chicken. And the car is thusly named to this day.
Specs:
Right now the car basically has only a B-Magic body kit, a stock KA with a messed up clutch, a hybrid Supreme Performance/Megan Racing exhaust, some SilkRoad coilovers, a Sparco Rev seat, and some BBS wheels. It is entirely stock otherwise, and will eventually become a “show” car if I ever get around to it.