i go to the dragstrip every other friday night with the import boys. not ricer boys. true import racers. they ran everything from crx gutted with b18 gsr engine with laughing gas. To eagle talons with 400hp! they do almost all their own work. blow more motors and use more junk parts then i do, and ran 11, 12, and 13 with their daily driver everytime. we all go and have fun. V8 guys and 4bangers.

It's that 1 out of 20 import guys that are ricer. And destroy the rep of all of them with big fart cans, body kits, and huge wings. 

it's cool that your pals are fast.  I think the fact that your around nice cars makes it seem like the losers a fewer and farther between.   Where I am the nice quick imports are few and far between,  but there are a ton of huge wing 5 inch exhaust, fake roll cage having turds.   

your right, the ratio more like 1 in 5. around here the hang outs are all the fast guys. the big wings come and get laughed at ,and leave. i guess being around 60 or 70 cars about being fast 1st and looks later if at all. make it feels like all of us (race guys) are a dime a dozen.

Where I live Id say about 50/50. Hey import guys, clear tail lights and yellow plug wires dont make you a "tuner"

But I really do respect the serious ones. Theres a guy in town with a Mitsu 3000 GT that will blow my pontiac off the road, and he does it without the neon and huge wings. I got to ride in it once and it was scary fast, were talking 190 on the interstate!!

come on, really? 190? i call that ####, no on the interstate, maybe not ever uless hes got a boosted turbo car running on 110 octane. plus, i dont think the speedo even reads that high

IN my neck of the woods, I would say those stats are almost reversed.  Almost totally poseurs.  I do admire the real tuners.  

Same around here.  I see one fast import for every 50 slow posers.  They're just as bad as the guys with 305 Irocs with air shocks though.  Although at least they look good...  To me it's like rap music, no matter how "good" the rapper is, it's still going to sound like #### to me.  Imports aren't any different.  Not to mention theres guys who do cam swaps and port heads, and run 15's.  I'll take my roots blowers and big cubes thank you very much.

AMEN to that from another domestic guy. Too many that have no clue and so few that do.  

There are so many junk rice cars around here, but there are a handfull of real import guys. One of them is building a supercharged, rwd civic hatchback and there are like three guys with stock looking hondas, hubcaps and all, that are boosted and run 12's on street tires. V8's still own though.  

theres a difference between ricers and tuners. ricers think yellow stickers are fast, tuners realize that a stock cam on a 1.6 liter engine will give you no performance, a ricer think the bigger the turbo the faster it goes. a tuner knows that the size is dependent on the exhaust pressure and size of the engine. there are vast differences. too bad there are so many ricers. no real tuners

typical ricer example

I had to look at this one for a laugh, what this guy did with his cash:

http://buffalo.craigslist.org/car/105966983.html

It seems taken care of, but c'mon

Man, what i could do for a car with 20 grand!(compared to...)

Where I live, most of the ricers are high school kids who get too much allowence from daddy.  Heck, my son has a friend who likes cars, but he just can't get past the neon and bling to see what the car really is.  Yea, there are a handfull of people who know how to make em go, but most are all fart cans and noise.  I love it when some 17 year old throws revs at my 87 350 Iroc (and no it don't have hydraulic shocks).   I'd think these guys would get embarrassed after awhile.  To each his own.....  

"Yea, there are a handfull of people who know how to make em go, but most are all fart cans and noise."

Not really any different from 25-30 years ago.  Most street machines were just ordinary small-block coupes or pony cars jacked up on air shocks and with raspy glass-packs.  Even most of the genuine high school muscle cars and pony cars were just worn-out, stock, base-engined, automatic transmission rides.  Only occasionally did you see somebody who knew how to build and tune or who had access to a Boss 302, LS-6, Six-Pack, 428 CJ or other top-line muscle legend.

T.Ted knows what he's talking about. (The meds must be working!)

NOW---big wings   THEN---universal fit spoilers

NOW---Japanese stickers that dont say anything   THEN---Gas, grass, or a$$ stickers

NOW---Rap annoying the old folk   THEN---Zeplin annoying the old folk

NOW---6 inch chrome exhaust tips   THEN---Chrome side pipes

NOW--- 20" spinners   THEN---12" wide wagon wheels with knock offs

NOW---Why upgrade my brakes?   THEN---Brakes?

NOW---thinks their 15 sec. Honda is fast   THEN---thought our 15 sec ford was fast

No, I guess were not all that different after all.

Around here, the VAST MAJORITY of the imports/ricers/whatever, are 14 and 15 second toilets. There are some that drop into the 12s-13s, but they too have a "ricer persona" about them as well, so they too are classified as toilets in my opinion. Hate to say it, but the a$$ clown teenagers that pimped the ricer movement along with their Red Baron wings, 6in fart pipes and "tight" wrap graphics wrecked it for all the legit "import tuners" that may be out there. I read somewhere that the entire import scene is on the downturn anyways, so one day this will all be old news. If it weren't for Speedvision and DIY showing some ricer stuff, this phenomenon wouldn't even be on TV these days. By the way, I love that "ricer mechanic" that hosts the DIY show....talk about a Fast and Furious reject.