Kazuo Ota is the owner and operator of RGO, a tuning shop whose name stands for Racing Goes Ota. His garage is well-regarded within the street racing community for its mechanical skill, notably being responsible for tuning the powerful Mazda RX-7 driven by the character Masaki, as well as a light blue Nissan R33 Skyline used by Ota and his employee Yamanaka. Ota's expertise and experience have made him a familiar figure to other prominent racers, including Jun Kitami, and he is known to scoff at anyone who claims they can catch the legendary Devil Z.

In terms of personality, Ota is portrayed as a dedicated and knowledgeable mechanic who has built a respected business around his passion for high-performance vehicles. His role in the story is largely defined by his position as a tuner and shop owner, supporting the racing scene from behind the scenes. His family is deeply involved with the garage; his wife Yoko is described as the one who controls RGO, while his teenage daughter, Rikako, studies under his wing and has been tinkering with engines since middle school. Despite her youth and inexperience, Rikako is learning the trade and eventually becomes capable of assembling the engine for the shop's demo car and even working on the Devil Z itself. It is established that she is slated to inherit the shop from her father in ten years' time. The character development for Kazuo Ota remains static, as he functions as a consistent presence representing the skilled craftsmen who enable the Wangan racers' pursuits. His notable abilities lie in his mechanical aptitude and tuning knowledge, which have earned his shop an infamous reputation for building and maintaining formidable machines like Masaki's RX-7.