THE founder was absent, and that was just too bad. It would have been profoundly nice if he were around.
It would have made an added impact on the participants and all those involved in it again, as well—from the lowly paddock mechanic to the racers, all the way to the men and women behind the event’s staging, like Toyota big guns Murase-san, Jose Ariel Arias, Rommel Gutierrez, Sherwin Chua Lim, Jing Atienza, Jade B. Sison, Jigo Vidanes and Toyota dealers association President Rene So, among others. Seeing him around—perhaps, even flagging off the first race of the day—would have made hearts pound faster, if only for emotional reasons. After all, he was proud to say that he had anchored his stint here as Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) president for six years by fathering the Vios Cup.
I refer to Michinobu “The Rocker” Sugata, whose passion for car racing saw fruition with the inception of the Vios Cup in 2014.
That was the first thing he said to me when I asked him about what was his most memorable moment, contribution to the industry, while he was TMP president from 2010 to 2016.
“The birth of the Vios Cup,” he said. “Humbly, I might have made gigantic strides sales-wise and reputation-wise for Toyota but for me, the successful launch of the Vios Cup is what I will cherish the most.”
I saw that sweet smile on his lips when the Vios Cup was first flagged off two years back.
I also saw that same sweet smile when he joined the races himself, grinning from ear to ear, as he boarded his racing car like a boy riding his dream bicycle for the first time.
Had he been around for the Vios Cup 3 last weekend at the Clark International Speedway in Pampanga, Sugata-san would have joined the races again—and flashed that infectious smile of his as an undying symbol of his passion for car racing. Do you know that as proof of his love for racing, he made sure that his first automobile would be a sportscar—the 86?
The truth is, Sugata-san had wished to be here for the Vios Cup’s blast-off stage for Season 3.
Now stationed back in Japan following a long-overdue promotion in rank in the Toyota Motor Corp. in Tokyo, Sugata-san asked permission to be in Clark. Unfortunately, it was turned down by top management.
You were country president already of the world’s No. 1 automaker and you still get a no for an answer on an official, worthy, mission?
You can just imagine how dejected he must have been. To say his heart was broken is an understatement.
Good thing, the Japanese culture shuns resistance, an impulse to rebel. If Sugata-san’s case happened in a Philippine setting, perhaps, that rebuke, turning down permission to join the Vios Cup, might have been met with a brutal rebuttal: Resignation.
Like me, Ray Butch “Elvis” Gamboa, the host of Motoring Today (the country’s longest-running motoring TV show), was also shocked to hear about the thumbing down of Sugata-san’s request to join the Vios Cup at Clark.
But, on second thought, maybe his new position has become so pivotal at this stage that TMC Japan couldn’t afford to lose him even for just a day? And besides, over there in Japan, the boss is always right—seemingly?
“I think, I can agree with you on that,” Elvis said. “We all know that Sugata-san is a team-oriented fella, and his perceptions are always essential to company projections.”
But for Sugata-san, it is not the end of the world. As template for his racing brainchild, there are two more Vios Cup races scheduled for the year.
Race 2 has been tentatively set in Alabang for another street circuit race in April, similar to Cebu’s event last year. And the third and final Race 3 is, hopefully, in Bacolod in May, possibly after the May 9 elections.
So, despair not, folks. I think Sugata-san will not allow the entire season to pass without having graced one of them. Maybe the concluding races? His bosses in Tokyo will just be too happy to oblige—if only for sentimental reasons.
Meanwhile, here are the winners at Clark for the Vios Cup Race 1: