A memoriam for Sae Koo Kang (1974 – 2006), by Erik Jacobs
Sae Koo Kang passed in his sleep on Friday September 29th, 2006, from an apparent, sudden, and unexplained heart attack. Survived by his parents and his sister, losing a dear friend at the very young age of 32 we question why some go so early and others stay for so long.
I probably did not know Sae as well as some, only having met him in the fall of 2004 at the D1 tryouts at Homestead Miami Speedway. However, Sae was the type of person whom you felt that you have known forever from the moment that you met him. While he was only a few things to me during my relationship with him, as a friend and team driver for Finishline Motorsports, Sae was everything to everyone – a brother, a son, a racer, a ricer, a drifter, a shop owner, a team manager, a cousin, a confidant, a friend, a business partner, and, most importantly, an honorable human being.
Sae Koo Kang was a superhero among men. A pastor at Sae’s funeral service commented on how much Sae had lived in only 32 years – if you could hear the laughter that arose in the funeral parlor amongst friends. If there was one thing that Sae did best in life, it was living. Sae lived more in one day than many of us live in one week. And, no matter how much Sae promised he would do, or how much Sae took on, somehow, in the very end, what really mattered got accomplished.
There are so many good qualities that I could pen, but I think that the most important is that Sae Koo Kang was a genuinely good person. If you had met him just now, or had known him forever, you knew that he would do everything he could to treat you right.
Sae was never sad, never mad, and always had a strange grin on his face as if to say, “Just watch this.†And you know what? You did. You watched Sae live for everyone else first, watched him do all he could to give everyone a chance, watched him make the impossible possible, and watched him make the improbable come true.
Sae will be sorely missed by all who knew him or were touched by him in their lives. At the wishes of Sae’s parents, Finishline Motorsports will remain open and the racing team will continue its endeavors so that Sae’s dream may continue on through his associates, friends and family.
**End memorium by Erik Jacobs**
I own FinishLine Motorsports. We do many engine swaps and sell parts.
We are active in Formula Drift, D1 Grand Prix, and car shows like Hot Import Nights. I also do some marketing for JIC-Magic and some sales. We are merging our drift team with JIC-Magic for the '06 season.
New Team Cars s14 and Sil-80!!
