Naniwa Tomoare – PRIVATE RUNNERS STREET FAMILY

The word kanjo/kanjozoku is now a house hold name. When I first seen what it was in an Option mag around 98/99 I was hooked. When JDM Insider dropped their video in the early 2000’s I was set; this is how Honda Civic’s should be hooked up.

Park Baker did a translation of one of the first articles of Kanjo racing from a 1983 issue of Option, found here.

For those who don’t know, way before Civic’s and other small Group A style cars ran the kanjo, it started off with older Japanese 70′ & 80’s cars and bikes. BOB Racing and Lupin to name a few teams. Late Riser as a bike crew, too.

After that era of new beginnings, newer cars came out to treat Loop 1 as an outlaw playground. The Civic (AH, EF, EG) paved the way for the weapon of choice on Loop 1 (respects to the AE86 & S13 as well). It serves well as a “short range fighter” due to it’s nimbleness and light weight.

Wangan/Cannonballing were more for rwd high horsepower vehicles. Cars of that stature would have a difficult time maneuvering Loop 1 due to it’s tight turns and most of all traffic. A kanjozoku stated that higher power cars would have a difficult time getting up to high speed and full power on the Loop and won’t be able to stop in time when traffic gets thick.

Now that kanjo is a household name, know about it’s beginnings. Many kanjozoku’s started off as bikers and would crowd the Loop, later they would move on to cars and treat the loop as a outlaw road course. Now it’s simply a place for them to have an adrenaline rush. As the article Option posted, the holidays were really a car holiday for them to go out when no one else was on the road. Perhaps you should do the same, a homage to the OG’s. Of course do it in a safe manner, go cruising. Peace.

Category: Naniwa Tomoare

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