This event was the legendary Import Showoff: Season Finale, produced by Ken Miyoshi and Mainstream Productions. Held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, it was the climax of the 1998 “Showoff” tour.
Because this was the tour finale, the competition was significantly fiercer than the June show in San Mateo. This was the event where the Southern California (SoCal) heavyweights defended their turf against the NorCal and Arizona crews.
Key Winners & Standouts
While a complete list of all 50+ sub-category winners is lost to the pre-social media archives, several cars cemented their “legend” status that day:
- Best of Show (Overall): RJ DeVera and his White RO_JA Honda Prelude (BB6). This car is arguably one of the most famous imports of all time. At Del Mar ’98, its combination of clean lines, high-end JDM parts, and the debut of the “RO_JA” brand aesthetic made it unbeatable.
- Best Honda / First Place Civic: Ken Henderson or “Big” John (Team Emotion/Team Hokori). This era was dominated by the Team Emotion crew, who swept many of the Honda categories with their high-gloss engine bays and perfectly executed wire tucks.
- Best Engineering: The Bergenholtz Racing CRX. Before it was a full-blown dragster, the Bergenholtz brothers displayed their wheel-ie-bar equipped, orange CRX, which bridged the gap between a show car and a serious 10-second drag machine.
- Best Toyota: Usually a battle between the Supras of the era, but Todd Kaneko’s widebody Supra was a perennial winner at the 1998 Mainstream shows due to its aggressive stance and high-horsepower 2JZ-GTE build.
The Atmosphere at Del Mar ’98
- The “Showoff” Culture: Ken Miyoshi’s shows were different because they prioritized “JDM” (Japanese Domestic Market) styling—clean, functional, and authentic—over the “Wild” or “Rice” styles seen at other events.
- Team Battles: This was a massive day for Team Macross, Team Emotion, and Street Image. If you weren’t flying a team banner, you were essentially invisible.
- The Models: This show featured the “original” trio that defined the era: Francine Dee, Kaila Yu, and Sung Hi Lee. Their autograph lines were often longer than the lines to see the cars.
Technical Trends from the Finale
- Wheels: If you weren’t rocking Racing Hart Type-C or C2s, Volk TE37s, or Work Equips, you weren’t in the running for a trophy.
- The “JDM” Face Swap: This was the year the “Integra Type R” front-end swap (J-spec long headlights) became the absolute requirement for any serious Acura builder.
- Audio/Video: 1998 was the first year PS1 consoles and small LCD screens were integrated into passenger-side dash pads and headrests for “extra points.”
