We lost a 3rd gen pioneer on Friday - Kevin Wyum died on Friday.
I remember Kevin's exploits in Turbo magazine, and meeting him at Willow Springs. I bought my FD in late 95, and started tracking it the next year, so it must have been around 1996-97. He was definitely a very smart guy and clearly someone that could set a goal and blaze a path to achieve it.
I've still got some of those innovative ASP parts around the car & house-- I'll bet that if he'd finished med school, he would have come up with some kind of twin-turbo artificial heart
Rest in peace Kevin.
I've still got some of those innovative ASP parts around the car & house-- I'll bet that if he'd finished med school, he would have come up with some kind of twin-turbo artificial heart
Rest in peace Kevin.
Very sad to hear. I remember giving him a call one day in college between classes to just pick his brains on his designs and theories.; brilliant with these cars and full of enthusiasm. He's a pioneer that will be very much missed. My condolences and best regards go out to his friends and family.
R.I.P Kevin!!!
He was a great guy and very smart! Its very sad he is taken away. I am sure he is in a better place now. My condolences to his family and friends. He was very helpful and a pioneer to this community. Memories from the "rx7 big list" come into my head right now and i get sad...
He was a great guy and very smart! Its very sad he is taken away. I am sure he is in a better place now. My condolences to his family and friends. He was very helpful and a pioneer to this community. Memories from the "rx7 big list" come into my head right now and i get sad...
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From: CA
Kevin Wyum - a look back
Most of you don't know me. But I knew Kevin.
First off, let me say that this is a tragic loss. I feel so bad for his wife and kids. He bragged about his fair-haired daughters everytime I talked to him. I'm sure they will miss him like crazy. So sad. Not sure how many of you remember Trev Dagley -- his death in his FD was also tragic. I felt so bad for his dad, who had bought his own FD and was encouraging Trev along. I hadn't talked to Kevin in a few years and it is amazing to hear what he'd accomplished lately. I knew he was smart and a self-starter but a magna *** laude neuroscientist this late in life? Heck, I can't even spell that. If you read on, you'll realize why it is somewhat difficult for me to reconcile that Kevin with the one I spent a stinky week with.
I've made a few friends through the RX-7 community. Kevin was but one. This was in the majordomo "big list" days. I haven't owned an FD since 2002. But I bought a red one new in 1993 and autocrossed it. Then sued Mazda under lemon law and bought a used CYM with the settlement. I rolled that one and bought a black non-runner that I swapped all the CYM bits onto.
I hate to sound like an old man (I'm not actually that old) but some of you reading this weren't even alive when I bought my first RX-7 and met Kevin. It's hard to rationalize now but back in 1993 there was no commonly accessed world wide web. Digital cameras were practically non existent. You couldn't "google" for help with your car (there was no google). There was e-mail and those of us who were racing and "improving" our RX-7s sent subscribe e-mails to the big list majordomo and that put us in contact with like minded, and sometimes not-so-like-minded friends (who remembers Tuck and John Duff?). This was in the days when we were all trying to figure out why cars were catching fire, what was going on with the recalls and TSBs, what we could do about the chipping paint on our new cars, etc. The e-mails taught us how to unlock our radios, debug turbo issues, tie-wrap vacuum lines, recalibrate our temp gauges, and, most importantly, how to find this crazy drag racer in Minnesota who had developed a giant FMIC and was supposedly running mid-10s in his stock motored black FD.
Of course, some people didn't believe him. And that started a typical online fight. And I guess it was from that challenge that Kevin decided to run in the 1996 Brock Yate's One Lap of America, because that year Brock had announced that he was added 4 drag race venues to the event, which is typically all road courses. Kevin had developed his FMIC and his straight-through exhaust under the name ASP Racing (his real company was Apartment Service Providers) and figured he could use the One Lap to promote his wares.
By the way, as an aside, in later years I bought a lot of stuff from Brian at M2 and I have no experience with Pettit but let me say right here and now that Kevin was the first designer of the FMIC that so many of us bought. He build the duct mold in his garage. I bought mine from him before he decided to partner with M2 becuase it was too much hassle. And I forget the details but Kevin felt that Peter Farrell had wronged him somehow.
Anyway, back to the One Lap of America...
Kevin wanted to do the event because of the drag races, but he didn't know squat about how to make a turn -- he was an old Buick Grand National turbo fan -- that's how he got into the RX-7. So he put a request out for someone who could road race and wanted to share his car with him for the event. I was racing a Swift in SCCA Sports 2000 at the time and thought I was hot stuff. It sounded like fun so I voluteered. My wife thought I was insane. I was going to fly across the country (I live in So Cal) to meet up with some guy I met via the Internet (this was 1996 so there was a web by now) and drive over 4,000 miles in one week, racing his car. Yep. And it worked out OK.
He made a few calls and put some totally untested springs and shocks on the car, slapped on some Bridgestone S02s (he ran drag slicks normally), and pronouced the car ready to race. Of course, being a turbo tinkerer he spent a lot more time on engine mods (lots) than he did on dialing in the suspension (none).
I flew to New York and we met for the first time. Kevin was a really nice guy. He was talented and didn't suffer fools but we got along great. Good thing too, because we spent the next 8 days together in his car.
Truth is, a lot of stuff didn't do smoothly: the car handled like a pig at first, the motor ran hot, he had the oil metering hooked up wrong and it kept running worse throughout the event as the plugs fouled (until it broke down completely at the side of the highway in Tennessee at 2:00 AM), he brought WAY too many tools and spare parts (which we had to load and unload twice per day at each track), the rollbar didn't allow the seat to go back (I'm 6'2" -- he was much shorter), he forgot to put air back in the rear tires after one of the drag events (10 psi) and I tried to lap VIR or Summit Point (I forget) with insane oversteer, etc.
He pounded Mountain Dews like there was no tomorrow and wouldn't drink water ("it had no taste"). He chain smoked (in the car). And he stunk! Well, we both probably did. Look at his pants in this picture and you'll realize why I have a tough time imagining him as a neuroscientist. That was at Watkins Glen next to another RX-7 team BEFORE the start of the event!
We didn't do great. We finished 14th overall and 8th in class GT1, the fastest class. The other two 1993 RX-7s finished 70th and 87th. But our goal was top 10. I didn't know any of the tracks and put the car off course a couple times. The drags ended up being 1/8 mile bracket drags and the car didn't run great. But it was an experience and many of the list members met us along the way with race fuel. A whole group, including Tuck (who was such a wuss-*** he used a fake name), and John Duff (who was super nice and brought donuts). Tuck is on the left, I am the tall guy in the ASP Racing hat, Duff is on the right. I am so sorry that I don't remember everyone else's name.
You can read the whole story if you want (remember -- that is a 14-year old site design and crappy photo scans per-digital camera -- be nice). I put some newer scans up here.
Years later, when I couldn't figure out a boost problem, Kevin flew out to my house (from Minnesota) and stayed with me to help figure it out and convert my car to non-sequential.
To my knowledge, Kevin never proved his10-second quarter miles or truly backed up his claim of the World's Fastest RX-7 but he always had plans for improving the car and himself and that's more important anyway. My condolences to Kevin's family and friends. It is a tragic loss.
P.S. Thanks to Jim Kim for bring this news to my attention.
First off, let me say that this is a tragic loss. I feel so bad for his wife and kids. He bragged about his fair-haired daughters everytime I talked to him. I'm sure they will miss him like crazy. So sad. Not sure how many of you remember Trev Dagley -- his death in his FD was also tragic. I felt so bad for his dad, who had bought his own FD and was encouraging Trev along. I hadn't talked to Kevin in a few years and it is amazing to hear what he'd accomplished lately. I knew he was smart and a self-starter but a magna *** laude neuroscientist this late in life? Heck, I can't even spell that. If you read on, you'll realize why it is somewhat difficult for me to reconcile that Kevin with the one I spent a stinky week with.
I've made a few friends through the RX-7 community. Kevin was but one. This was in the majordomo "big list" days. I haven't owned an FD since 2002. But I bought a red one new in 1993 and autocrossed it. Then sued Mazda under lemon law and bought a used CYM with the settlement. I rolled that one and bought a black non-runner that I swapped all the CYM bits onto.
I hate to sound like an old man (I'm not actually that old) but some of you reading this weren't even alive when I bought my first RX-7 and met Kevin. It's hard to rationalize now but back in 1993 there was no commonly accessed world wide web. Digital cameras were practically non existent. You couldn't "google" for help with your car (there was no google). There was e-mail and those of us who were racing and "improving" our RX-7s sent subscribe e-mails to the big list majordomo and that put us in contact with like minded, and sometimes not-so-like-minded friends (who remembers Tuck and John Duff?). This was in the days when we were all trying to figure out why cars were catching fire, what was going on with the recalls and TSBs, what we could do about the chipping paint on our new cars, etc. The e-mails taught us how to unlock our radios, debug turbo issues, tie-wrap vacuum lines, recalibrate our temp gauges, and, most importantly, how to find this crazy drag racer in Minnesota who had developed a giant FMIC and was supposedly running mid-10s in his stock motored black FD.
Of course, some people didn't believe him. And that started a typical online fight. And I guess it was from that challenge that Kevin decided to run in the 1996 Brock Yate's One Lap of America, because that year Brock had announced that he was added 4 drag race venues to the event, which is typically all road courses. Kevin had developed his FMIC and his straight-through exhaust under the name ASP Racing (his real company was Apartment Service Providers) and figured he could use the One Lap to promote his wares.
By the way, as an aside, in later years I bought a lot of stuff from Brian at M2 and I have no experience with Pettit but let me say right here and now that Kevin was the first designer of the FMIC that so many of us bought. He build the duct mold in his garage. I bought mine from him before he decided to partner with M2 becuase it was too much hassle. And I forget the details but Kevin felt that Peter Farrell had wronged him somehow.
Anyway, back to the One Lap of America...
Kevin wanted to do the event because of the drag races, but he didn't know squat about how to make a turn -- he was an old Buick Grand National turbo fan -- that's how he got into the RX-7. So he put a request out for someone who could road race and wanted to share his car with him for the event. I was racing a Swift in SCCA Sports 2000 at the time and thought I was hot stuff. It sounded like fun so I voluteered. My wife thought I was insane. I was going to fly across the country (I live in So Cal) to meet up with some guy I met via the Internet (this was 1996 so there was a web by now) and drive over 4,000 miles in one week, racing his car. Yep. And it worked out OK.
He made a few calls and put some totally untested springs and shocks on the car, slapped on some Bridgestone S02s (he ran drag slicks normally), and pronouced the car ready to race. Of course, being a turbo tinkerer he spent a lot more time on engine mods (lots) than he did on dialing in the suspension (none).
I flew to New York and we met for the first time. Kevin was a really nice guy. He was talented and didn't suffer fools but we got along great. Good thing too, because we spent the next 8 days together in his car.
Truth is, a lot of stuff didn't do smoothly: the car handled like a pig at first, the motor ran hot, he had the oil metering hooked up wrong and it kept running worse throughout the event as the plugs fouled (until it broke down completely at the side of the highway in Tennessee at 2:00 AM), he brought WAY too many tools and spare parts (which we had to load and unload twice per day at each track), the rollbar didn't allow the seat to go back (I'm 6'2" -- he was much shorter), he forgot to put air back in the rear tires after one of the drag events (10 psi) and I tried to lap VIR or Summit Point (I forget) with insane oversteer, etc.
He pounded Mountain Dews like there was no tomorrow and wouldn't drink water ("it had no taste"). He chain smoked (in the car). And he stunk! Well, we both probably did. Look at his pants in this picture and you'll realize why I have a tough time imagining him as a neuroscientist. That was at Watkins Glen next to another RX-7 team BEFORE the start of the event!
We didn't do great. We finished 14th overall and 8th in class GT1, the fastest class. The other two 1993 RX-7s finished 70th and 87th. But our goal was top 10. I didn't know any of the tracks and put the car off course a couple times. The drags ended up being 1/8 mile bracket drags and the car didn't run great. But it was an experience and many of the list members met us along the way with race fuel. A whole group, including Tuck (who was such a wuss-*** he used a fake name), and John Duff (who was super nice and brought donuts). Tuck is on the left, I am the tall guy in the ASP Racing hat, Duff is on the right. I am so sorry that I don't remember everyone else's name.
You can read the whole story if you want (remember -- that is a 14-year old site design and crappy photo scans per-digital camera -- be nice). I put some newer scans up here.
Years later, when I couldn't figure out a boost problem, Kevin flew out to my house (from Minnesota) and stayed with me to help figure it out and convert my car to non-sequential.
To my knowledge, Kevin never proved his10-second quarter miles or truly backed up his claim of the World's Fastest RX-7 but he always had plans for improving the car and himself and that's more important anyway. My condolences to Kevin's family and friends. It is a tragic loss.
P.S. Thanks to Jim Kim for bring this news to my attention.
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 30,807
Likes: 648
From: FL-->NJ/NYC again!
Wow, major blast from the past Jeff. Thanks for sharing.
P.S. I always imagined that's what Justin 'Tuck' Cordesman from Darkside Research would look like.
P.S. I always imagined that's what Justin 'Tuck' Cordesman from Darkside Research would look like.
Wow, thanks for posting up your stories Jeff. Sure brings back more memories.
For what it's worth, you guys did a fantastic job in the One Lap. And given the thousands of miles/hours of testing that you were able to put in before the event
finishing 14th overall is even more remarkable. I remember searching for daily updates on how you guys were doing-- I really enjoyed pulling for guys that I knew in the unloved (by C&D) Mazda!
I'm pretty sure that Kevin & Trev are bench racing as I type...
For what it's worth, you guys did a fantastic job in the One Lap. And given the thousands of miles/hours of testing that you were able to put in before the event
finishing 14th overall is even more remarkable. I remember searching for daily updates on how you guys were doing-- I really enjoyed pulling for guys that I knew in the unloved (by C&D) Mazda!I'm pretty sure that Kevin & Trev are bench racing as I type...
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 599
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From: Austin, TX
Jeff,
Thanks for the touching story. I'm sure that will mean a lot to his wife and daughters, when they have a chance to read it and reflect on his life.
Kevin and I had talked rotaries for years but hadn't caught up in a real long time.
My condolenses to his family.
Best wishes,
John
Thanks for the touching story. I'm sure that will mean a lot to his wife and daughters, when they have a chance to read it and reflect on his life.
Kevin and I had talked rotaries for years but hadn't caught up in a real long time.
My condolenses to his family.
Best wishes,
John
