Formula Drift: Big and Getting Bigger

[AF News Desk]

For those of you wondering whether or not drifting is still a "big thing," AutoWeek has your answer with their coverage of this weekend's season eight finale.

As it turns out, even as the economy has dwindled, the interest in professional and competitive drift as steadily increased, holding events around the world with crowds that have gained in size each year.

The story from AutoWeek:

Originally Posted by By Mark Vaughn - AutoWeek, 10/9/11

Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Drink Nissan 370Z battles Rhys Millen in the
Hyundai Genesis Coupe at the Formula Drive event in California on Saturday.
Photo and Cutline by Mark Vaughn/AutoWeek

Lateral gee whiz: Drifting stronger than ever

Formula Drift--the automotive competition based on fast cars, loud engines and graceful, crazily sustained tandem powerslides that look like high-horsepower automotive ballet--finished its eighth season with a thrilling final round before a record crowd in Irwindale, Calif.

Going into the seventh and final event of the 2011 season at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Daijiro "Slide or Dai" Yoshihara of Tokyo lead the series with 470 points in a Nissan 240SX S13. But Kalamazoo's Justin Pawlak in a Mustang, Irishman Darren McNamara in a Saturn Sky and American Chris Forsberg in a Nissan 370Z were all close enough to win the title, too.

"Irwindale is one of my favorite tracks," Yoshihara said before the rounds began. "If I can keep leading the championship going into the last round at Irwindale--it's not going to be easy--I think there's a lot of chance that I can take the win and I can take the championship."

Turned out he was half right.

After two days of qualifying that saw Yoshihara ranked fifth in the final 32 entries, he entered the sweet 16 in strong position to take it all. He was pitted against Okinawan Ken Gushi in a Scion tC. But there was almost no breeze Saturday night in Irwindale and so there was nothing to blow the prodigious tire smoke off the track. In the resulting blinding fog Yoshihara hit Gushi and was out.

"I couldn't see him," he said after climbing from his car.

That opened up a number of possible scenarios. If Pawlak, Forsberg or McNamara won the event, they'd win the championship, too. They didn't. Halfway through the evening Yoshihara won the title.

"It's great," he said, after his team had hoisted him onto their shoulders on the grid.

That took care of the championship--the rest of the evening was a matter of battling for the final round win.

It came down to the last two "battles." Forsberg was fighting for a podium finish against Irish champion Darren McNamara. In the two-lap round McNamara won the first lap but then uncharacteristically crashed in the second. Luckily for him McNamara also crashed, though that wasn't apparent to Forsberg right away.

"I didn't even know he'd hit until I saw Mac's car towed away," said Forsberg.

Was he disappointed? "No, I'm totally psyched."

First and second would be decided between Americans Tyler McQuarrie and Rhys Millen. Millen spun halfway through the first lap and then, perhaps intentionally, looped it after the end of the second lap. The judges gave the win to McQuarrie, with Millen second. Quite an evening.

But the real winner here might have been the sport of drifting itself, specifically as put on by the enthusiastic team of organizer and sanctioning body Formula Drift. This was the biggest year for FD ever. The Irwindale event had between 10,000 (most estimates) and 15,000 (one unscientific estimate we heard) in attendance. The regular parking lots filled up pretty quickly and another had to be found nearby. There was strong sponsor presence from Shift 2 Unleashed, NOS Energy Drink, Mazda, Discount Tire, Mobil 1 and tiremakers Cooper, Falken, Hankook and Nitto.

"We're still growing after eight seasons," said Formula Drift co-founder and president Jim Liaw, whose low-key yet inspirational leadership is, in our opinion, reminiscent of a young Wally Parks. "Our demographic is young, educated and extremely tech savvy."

"It's grown even in a terrible economy," said car- and engine-builder Ron Bergenholtz, a major player in the import drag racing scene who, with his brother Ed, made the transition to drifting several years ago. "When the economy powers back it'll be even better. This is the youth market. Companies, if they want to reach the youth market, this is where they have to go."

"When I first started I had to explain to people what drifting was," said spokesman John Pangilinan. "I don't have to do that anymore."

Formula Drift has had events in Abu Dhabi and Qatar and it sanctions a series in Southeast Asia. Series such as Pro Drift in Europe and DMCC in Canada act as feeder series for Formula D.

"We like the audience, we like the mix," said Steve Shannon, vice president of marketing for Hyundai Motor America. "There's a huge appetite among people of this age for some kind of motorsport."

The 2012 season will likely begin in the streets of Long Beach, California a week before the Toyota Grand Prix. See www.formulad.com for updates.

[ [ [ [ [ [ [ [ OUR VIEW ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ]

This is great news in general for drift fans and motorsport fans alike. Why, you ask? Because it means despite there being a strain on the economy, people are still willing to support motorsports, which is a good sign for the future of motorsports.

It also means there is a bright future for the still relatively-young drifting circuits out there. I would be lying if I said I didn't talk about drifting with my friends while in high school or think about how cool it would be to take a drift car out for a few trips around a track. Hopefully that continues to be true with the current and, from what it sounds like, future state of professional drifting.