100… Does It Even Mean Anything?

My best buddy, Kazuhiro Kitamura.
The final round of the All-Japan Dirt Trial Championship. The venue: Akitakata, Hiroshima, the city made famous by its former mayor, Shinji Ishimaru.
Three years ago, he was just two wins away from an unprecedented 100 career wins… But after switching to a Toyota Yaris, he struggled with the setup, and two years went by without a single win.
This year he switched to a Mitsubishi Lancer, but the gears never meshed, and he came into the final round still without a win.

Me, exactly 20 years ago, in 2006.
Racing in Hokkaido forever was getting boring, so I thought: if I’m going to quit anyway, I’ll quit only after leaving Kitamura, the best in Japan, in the dust at an All-Japan event, even just once.
To win, all I have to do is use the same equipment and drive it exactly the same way. Easy.
Where did Kitamura live? How could I reach him? I knew nothing about him,
a guy who even back then was insanely fast and pretty much unapproachable. But I somehow got to him, got my hands on this car he had driven the year before, and entered the All-Japan series. This is a photo from that time.

We’re close in age, and that’s how our friendship began. Time flies: more than 20 years have passed since.
But far from leaving him in the dust, the more I got to know him, the more the gap between us drove me to despair. Two years after I started, I declared myself a loser and withdrew from the All-Japan series.

And that same guy called me, for the first time in a long while, a few days before this year’s final round.

‘Three years without a win. Maybe it’s time.. for me..’ he said.
Of course he’s torn..

So I told him:
‘Then quit… no, take a break.. for about three years.’

His mind is already made up.
He won’t quit.. no, he can’t quit..

Well, his dilemma is a luxury.
He’s only torn because he still believes he can win.

If you have no talent for driving, like me, you don’t even get to have that dilemma.
I truly envy him.

Go ahead and quit, if you can. That’s what I thought.

And then he went and won the final round.

Results here (in Japanese).
The Yaris on the top page of that link is the car he drove last year.
The EVOHOME sticker in the middle of the windshield is proof that we’re best friends.

That makes 99 wins.

One win away from 100.

There’s no way he can quit now.
In his winner’s interview, he declared he isn’t quitting.

As a loser, all I can say is that I envy him.

Still, who on earth was it?
Who took a guy who never clings to the past, who couldn’t care less about old glories like how many times he’s won,
and planted the number 100 in his head..

Right now, I’m far more curious about the next episode of 100 Days of Deception than about 100 wins..