About Us
A Few Words About the Founders of BRG
Photo Credit: tdmphoto.com
Luis Moreno
President and co-founder of Border Racing Group
Email: borderracinggroup@gmail.com
Luis Moreno started competing in NHRA drag racing competition back in 1968 in the Modified Production class in a 1960 Chevrolet Corvette built to BP NHRA rules. The Corvette had a Chevrolet Camaro Z28 302 cubic inch fully-built, balanced & blueprinted engine built by Traco Engineering in California. (Traco Engineering built most of the engines that were competing in the original SCCA Trans Am road racing series including the Z28 engines for the Roger Penske Trans Am team with Mark Donahue handling the driving duties.) The little 302 Z28 engine was producing 440 horsepower at 8,000 rpm with 395 ft. lbs. of torque at 7,200 rpm. The MP Corvette had a Chrysler Dana 60 rear-end with 6:17 final drive gear ratio and was launched at 9,000 rpm and shifted at the same rpm. It ran the quarter-mile at 10.65 sec. at 137 mph.
I left NHRA drag racing in 1972 and was just occasionally drag racing on the street late at night (for money) for another five years.
I got my first exposure to SCCA autocrossing in 1979, but I did not start actually competing in autocross until 1983. I converted my 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 from a drag racing machine into an SCCA B-Street Prepared autocross car. I ran the Z28 for 2-years in autocross competition and when Volkswagen released a 1983 VW Rabbit GTI – I immediately purchased one off the showroom floor and started competing in the D-Stock SCCA autocross class.
Then in 1984, I learned that Honda was introducing a little “Pocket-Rocket” in the form of a 1985 Honda CRX Si 2-dr hatchback. I went to my local Honda dealer right away to place a deposit on the very first CRX Si to be delivered to the dealership. The salesman and the sales manager were not even aware of this Honda sport hatch to be released in the fall of 1984. The first three CRX Si’s arrived at the dealership on the car transporter and I immediately purchased the “blue-colored” example fresh off the truck.
Ron aptly described my frustration of having to compete against the likes of Porsche 911 machinery and the venerable “lightweight” Lotus Elan sports car in A-Stock. My poor little CRX Si was totally and absolutely outclassed in the A-Stock category and had no business being placed in that class! After a year of being “beat-up” in A-Stock I then turned my attention and focus to convert my CRX into the new C-Street Prepared class. You already know the story of Ron and I competing in CSP.
I’ve held all the various club positions within the Pan Am SCCA (Activities Director, Marketing Director, Regional Executive, Assistant RE, etc.). I have also been the (unofficial) Pan Am course designer since 1986 until 2017.
I am very excited to be able launch (with the assistance of my longtime friend and competitor, Ron Collins) a fully independent solo (autocross) club with an affiliation with NASA.
We will strive to bring back the “fun-factor” and excitement that has long been missing in local solo competition.
Hopefully everyone that comes to participate in our solo events will walk away with some exciting memories and with a big smile on their face. So come on out and run with us!
Ron Collins
Webmaster and co-founder of Border Racing Group
Email: bluelacyseo@gmail.com
Ron attended his first autocross in November, 1982 with a stock 1979 Fiat X1/9, which ran in D Stock. Ron didn’t do that well in his first outing, but became hooked on the sport of autocrossing.
In 1984, after the SCCA introduced the Street Prepared class, Ron started modifying his X1/9 to the rules of the new class. Around that time Ron’s good friend Luis Moreno bought a new 1985 Honda CRX, which the Solo Board promptly put in A Stock. The car was completely outclassed and Luis started modifying his Honda for Street Prepared. This started a friendly rivalry between Luis and Ron. Both cars were in CSP, one a front-engined FWD car, the other a mid-engined RWD car. Ron was able to win two divisional titles in CSP with his trusty X1/9.
Having success at the local and divisional level, Luis and Ron decided to attend their first Pro Solo event in Dallas, Texas. Both quickly found out that their cars were not street prepared enough. Practically all the cars in SP3 were super fast and way beyond the speed of Ron and Luis’ cars were producing. In polite terms, both men felt these cars were pushing the street prepared rules.
by 1988, Ron saw that the X1/9 was not as competitive in CSP (soon after, the X1/9 was moved to DSP) and decided to build the X1/9 into a Prepared car. After looking at the restrictions imposed on the X1/9 in Prepared, Ron decided to build the car for D Modified, which was dominated by the lightweight Lotus cars.
Three years later the car was finished. Although not nationally competitive, Ron was able to win a SCCA Divisional in Mineral Wells with the DM car.
Having built a Street Prepared and Modified car, Ron found little information on modifying these cars for autocross competition. While building the DM car Ron started writing a book detailing what he had learned about building a competitive X1/9 car. In 1990, the “Fiat X1/9 Performance Handbook” was published and the sales of this book helped pay for the building of the DM car.
Ron retired from autocrossing in 1997 and the X1/9 DM car sat in his garage until it was sold in 2000 to a fellow autocrosser.
Sixteen years later Ron got the autocross bug again and starting autocrossing his 1994 Mazda Miata R Package in E Stock and introduced his 17 year-old son to the sport. It didn’t take long for his son to start beating Ron in the Miata. But, it was OK, they were both having fun.
In the years Ron was active in the sport, he has held the position in the Pan American Region of the SCCA of Solo Director, Activities Director, Newsletter Editor, Webmaster, and Regional Executive.
