Anthony Valentin, is the first official winner of the ROTM (Ride of the Month) contest. Though the contest was ran back in October, Anthony will be credited with the January ROTM. The reason why is because we decided to turn the ROTM contest into something a little bigger. Every January, we will be selling Eat Sleep DSM calendars. On these calendars, every ROTM winner with have their photo in the calendar for whichever month they won the contest.
In addition to the ROTM contest, we will also be having a Ride of the Year (ROTY) contest. How the ROTY contest will work is each ROTM winner in that year will be placed in a contest of their own. All 12 of these candidates will be voted on. The one with the most votes becomes the ROTY contest winner. Not only will this person have their car in the calendar for the month they won, but they will also have their car on the cover of the calendar.
Words by AJ Hunsinger | Images by Anthony Valentine
I have known Anthony Valentin for a few years now, though our friendship has been strictly through Facebook. It’s not often when you actually meet the people that you communicate with online on a daily basis, in person. If you get lucky, they at least live in the same state as you. But, we DSMer’s are spread out all over the place.
Some of us live on the east side of the DSM Shootout, some on the west. Some of us live in the rural mountains, others live in the big cites. That’s just how it is. But, in order for me to meet Anthony in person, one of us would need to leave our DSM behind and take a plane, or a boat. Anthony Valentine, lives in Puerto Rico.
[aj] Thanks for joining me today. Before we begin, I just want to say congrats on the Ride of the Month award. Start off by telling us who you are, where you’re from, and what you drive.
[Anthony] My name is Anthony Valentin. I am from Puerto Rico and I drive a 2g 1995 GSX.
[aj] What is done to your 2G as far as the basics like turbo, fuel, engine management, etc?
[Anthony] I have a 2.4 block with JE pistons and Eagle rods, MLS Evo III head gasket, 1g head, Ferrea valves and retainers, and 272 Kelford cams. 255 Walbro fuel pump, 1000cc. Dinamic injectors, a GT3076 turbo with Garret internals. All that managed by the wonderful black box ECU (hehe).
[aj] The good ol’ black box huh? Haha. So how did you end up with the car? What kind of condition was the car in when you got it? How did you get involved with DSM’s?
[Anthony] I had a nice Spyder and i was looking for a GSX for a long time. I seen this girl selling a 90,000 miles black GSX and I called her and offered her my Spyder as a trade. Her boyfriend said “Hell No” but she said yesss haha. The car was rough- bad paint and some mods, nothing too crazy.
I got involved with DSM when i lived in Harrisburg, PA. I had a well-built Fox Body Mustang with over 400HP. I was cruising one day and this 2g invited me to race. I said “hell yeah1, i will spank you easily!” Well, you know the rest haha. He beat the shit out of me! Since then, I went and studied the car (DSM), bought one, and it’s been 10 years working with them!
[aj] That’s an awesome! That should be how we all get into DSM’s! Truly a “if you can’t beat em’, join em'” story. So, you used to live in PA huh?
[Anthony] Yes. Harrisburg and York for 12 years.
[aj] Were you born up here or in Puerto Rico? How’d you end up in PA and then to Puerto Rico?
[Anthony] I was born in Brooklyn, NY. My parents took me to Puerto Rico when i was 3 years old so i was here for 25 years, then i moved to PA. My brother was living in PA so i went with him.
[aj] Ahh, alright. What is the car scene like where you live?
[Anthony] Man, this is crazy. We have this thing called “Fiebre”, just like Street Outlaws. We go every Sunday to this particular street and we fucking destroy our cars haha. This is our number 1 sport. There’s almost no one stock around here!
[aj] That’s insane! I remember hearing a lot about the Mitsubishi Mirage’s being like the Honda Civic of Puerto Rico as far as popularity down there. How true is that?
Man, those Mirage’s are the shit. They put 4g63’s in there and AWD swap them. You know the rest.
[aj] Yeaaaa buddy. Evo III twin!! Is it difficult getting parts in down there beings Puerto Rico is an island?
[Anthony] No, man. ‘We full’ of this car here. But sometimes we find them cheaper in the US.
[aj] Oh, wow. Any pros or cons to owning a DSM, or any modified car for that matter, being in Puerto Rico compared to the US?
[Anthony] It’s easy to build a race car in Puerto Rico. ‘We full’ of racing mechanics, dyno’s everywhere, plus, almost every Puerto Rican grows up working on cars. Next for the car is a kit of metanol and a nitrous kit with a 75 shot, just so I have it in case I need it. As far as how much money…..like 8K.
[aj] That’s awesome man. I’ve had a very little understanding of how Puerto Rico faired up, as far as the car scene goes, down there. Well, wrapping this interview up, when are you coming back up this way? I’d love to meet you in person someday. I live about 3 hours north of Harrisburg. I lived down there for a couple of years though, 45 minutes west of Harrisburg in a small town called Mifflintown. I bought a 93 TSi AWD down there off of a chick. Then I ended up moving in with her a month later haha.
[Anthony] Nice man. We may be going next year to visit my brother in law. He still lives in York. But you are welcome to come and vacation in Puerto Rico. My place is open for you my friend!
[aj] Hell yeah! Maybe I will make a trip out to see you. From the sounds of it, Puerto Rico seems like a pretty sweet ass place as far as the car scene side of things. Sounds like a place I can get into some trouble!
[Anthony] Yesssss!
[aj] Alright man, you have a good night and I will catch up with you later. Thanks for your interest in the Ride of the Month contest and again, congrats on the win.
[Anthony] Thanks a lot my friend!!!!
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