The Forum Wars presented by Royal Purple Synthetic Oil was filmed back in 2009 and we’ve been patiently waiting to tell you how the Speed:Sport:Life crew faired on the show. With some sponsor help, a little luck and some really sticky Hoosier tires we were able to come out on top. In our minds we really had no other option than to win. With a website name like Speed:Sport:Life and a column titled Racer Boy it just wouldn’t have been right to lose.

The Forum Wars is featured in one minute segments on the Speed Channel and full episodes are viewable online. Check out Episode One at www.forumwars.tv.

As racing usually goes, it was the last minute when we got everything together in regards to parts and sponsors. Because the show was pitting specific automotive forums against each other we couldn’t go as Team Speed:Sport:Life. Since I was going to be piloting my 24 Hours of LeMons co-driver and friend Steve Kuhtz’s Ford Mustang Shelby GT we decided to represent StangNet.com. The website sent us some stickers and t-shirts which arrived overnight shipping late on the day we were suppose to be leaving. Coincidentally, it was the exact same time the Hoosier tires, the Carbotech brake pads and the I/O Port Racing Supplies 5-point harnesses arrived. The only thing that didn’t arrive last minute were the sharp new Speed:Sport:Life stickers made by Figstone Graphics. But not everything made it on time, a pair of Piloti driving shoes arrived the day after the show was filmed.

So late into the night we worked on the Shelby and filled the fresh Hoosiers with nitrogen courtesy of a tank setup we got from Capital City Motorsports. With no sleep, Steve and I trailered the “street legal” Shelby to Irwindale Speedway in Southern California.

Our competition on the show was a So Cal drifter, Richard Seville, driving Doug Rodriguez’s 350Z sponsored by Bardabe Performance Development, Gspec, Specialty-Z, and Tokico struts. These guys were at SEMA when they got the nod that they would be on the show and they smartly ran around SEMA hooking up parts to do battle with us.

Just like my Piloti driving shoes came one day too late, a set of fresh shoes for the Z car didn’t arrive in time. So Richard had to run on an old set of road race tires. This single factor was probably the largest advantage that gave us the win. We had a sticker set of Hoosiers and they simply didn’t.

Before we could race each other we had to talk trash in front of the cameras a bit. This wasn’t my first time around a race track, but it was definetly my first time in front of a camera… and it showed. This was the “reality TV” portion of the series, which I hoped did not end up being manipulated in the editing room to make me look like more of a douche bag than I already am.

Finally it was time to get down to business and do some racing, both an 1/8 mile drag race and a road course event. I could sit here and type all day about how the competition itself went but I’ll let the wonders of television give you the tire smoking details at www.forumwars.tv (Episode One).

When all was said and done, we kept good on our self appointed titles. The names Speed:Sport:Life and Racer Boy can still be used with pride.

Photos by Jeff Balliet and Steve Kuhtz.