Does Anyone Feel the Same Way I Do?

This is my first post so, here it goes.

I love that drifting is getting popular in the US, but I fear it will lose its spirit of sportsmanship and respect. Even though it is competitive, people have a respect for each other because they are fellow drifters. Now, a lot more people are getting into drifting, that is both good and bad. Unfortunately, youthful IDIOTS are trying it, crashing, and complaining. Because of this, I also fear that the media will treat it like they do every other thing people get hurt doing (skateboading, etc.) I just hope it doesn't be treated like a trend, and lose the sportsmanship factor.

Do any of you feel the same way?

damn dude, you just summed up how ive been thinking for the last months or so....

im more so worried about track days becoming full of ego's, no more friendlyness.. people forget we are all there for the same reason, to get our cars sideways and have fun doing so, i hope it stays this way

Hopefully it won't turn into what street racing is now...

I was gonna say drag racing, but people are actually quite helpful to fellow racers...

I think that the animosity you're sensing, at least at the top levels, is coming from the factory and big contract guys who aren't there "for the fun of the sport", but are there because now it's their job and their job to win.

Take a look at NHRA Pro Stock. A full field of 16 cars is usually covered by maybe 3 tenths of a second. The Pro Stock guys 'effin HATE each other. Warren Johnson, Jeg Coughlin, Greg Anderson, Mark Pawuk, Scott Geoffrion, all of em are bitter rivals who have triple mortgaged their souls to get the guy in the other lane to go up in tire smoke or break engine parts.

It's this way because the purse barely covers the car. Winning is the only way to keep the team alive for the next round.

And guess what, with a Formula D event paying 5K to win, and a competitive car costing about ten to twenty times that to build, you get a lot of very hungry guys wanting that win. As more pros are born, competition will intensify. Amateur attitudes are for amateur drivers.

There's an old saying in short track racing that's very applicable. "Wreck 'er or checker." Drive balls to the wall and don't leave a single scrap on the table for your opponent, because that'll always comeback to bite you.

drifting was never meant to be competitive though.

started out as just a fun hobby, then the amatuer competitions and D1 were created. that changed all that, but even D1 and BM Hai competitions (and other such smaller ones) aren't FIERCELY competitive. the guys still go out for the MAIN focus of having fun and doing what they love, and doing it with other people who are hardcore enthusiasts of the hobby/sport/whatever.

now Formula D and all the other "americanized" competitions show up, and the main focus is "win win win". fuck sportsmanship, fuck fellowship, fuck having fun. if you can't win, why come out? that's the attitude that i've come to grasp from it. and people, such as Millen and Hubinette, who have never taken an interest in drifting before, are now drifting only since, and because, it became popular, and are signed on with huge corporate-backed teams, drifting in huge american cars that were never meant to drift.

the thing about F-D is that only those corporate-backed teams CAN have a chance at doing well. Hubinette is winning every one, because the REAL enthusiasts can't afford to trailer their car around to every single event on the calender, or afford to fix it after every event etc.

so there's my stand-point. once again, comment if you will, but don't expect to change the way i look at things. it's not an easy thing to do.

drifting was never meant to be competative?


from my experience... if more than one person is doing something, there is competition.

the hoby of "drift" maybe, as an automotive ballet... not as a blocking technique used since the dawn of car...

'scuse me for pointing this out, but Hubinette and Millen both were involved in drifting before their respective Mopar and Pontiac contracts. They looked at drifting and thought "hmm, a fun alternative to rallying and touring cars, maybe I should go compete there."

Guess what, when racing drivers get into motorsport, they go in it to win. There is NOTHING else in motorsport the equal of a victory. You want to just toss your car around sideways, fine. Stay amateur. But don't show up at a pro event and then bitch about how nobody is interested in having fun. Pros make their living on their racing, and drifting is a motorsport through and through.

Hell, this board was lit up months ago defending 'til it was blue in the face that drifting was a legit motorsport. What kind of hypocrites are we to then say (when the pro competition is too much for pussy amateurs) that drifting "isn't meant to be a competition".

Christ, grow a pair and get a sponsor. Stop acting like a bunch of children and talk to the evil guys in the suits because if you put Tide or eBay or Preparation H on the side of your race car THEY'LL PAY THE BILLS!

everyone is sorta right, its just that local hometown events should be seperate from competition events, hometown drift session = no sponsored shit, competition events, anyone whos ready to battle =), hometown are just new drifters and beer after drifting kinda thing

bah... hubinette sucks

We had our first drift event (in australia) about 6 months back and it was absolutely awesome, everyone was so friendly and the host company flew a heap of D-1 drivers from Signal to demonstrate at the end of the event, these guys are so damn friendly, one even ran up to the girls doing a sexy kind of dance during the half-time and started dancing like them and having a good time.. THATS what its about, WHETHER OR NOT ITS NOW A GLOBAL MOTORSPORT COMPETING FOR A PRIZE AT THE END, EGO'S ARE LEFT AT HOME, it was never about coming first, thats for circuit racers of all kinds, not drift, its not a race, its more of an exhibition sport... If the 'opposition' pulls off a really nice lap, go and tell him you thought it was awesome, check out his car and be nice, dont sit there despising him because your lap sucked ass compared to his.

Thats MY two cents, which everyone is entitled to. So please, dont come back at me with nasty comments, id prefer it if you came up with something intelligent to say :D

all I'm gonna say is, if I could get a sponser for my car I would do it in a second so I have no problem with big teams... the whole sport has grown from the competition, and there is a better market for parts and better parts because companies are competing for your money so they need to make the best parts possible

true, there is nothing wrong with sponsers and commercialisation (if thats even a word), just keep being friendly :D

Dont wanna correct you or anything, but I think you were looking for commericalism* lol nifty made up word though.
Commercialisationioneded (extra letters make it better)

And thank me for adding nothing useful to this conversation.

Actually no.

Sponsors and commercialism is in every sport. Motor sports and so on. Why else would you see Mc Donalds banner hanging on the side of a Hockey game?

Without commercialism cant have money. No money no super tuned cars. No super tuned cars no Drift events. So on and so forth.

Haha get sponsored by 7-11. Never seen there logo on any cars.

hahahah that'd be interesting.. i was thinking of getting sponsored by a heaps of sex shops, dildo companys and condom manufacturers, i think they'd go for it too, considering all the blokes and what not that would see the car

7-11 actually sponsored a lot of road racing efforts in IMSA back in the 80's, mostly Ford factory efforts like this Mustang GTP.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1984/Laguna_Seca-1984-05-06-007.jpg

and this IMSA GTO class Mustang that was driven to many victories by Lyn St. James and Bill Elliot.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1985/Watkins_Glen-1985-07-07g-0007.jpg

Holy heck. Thats crazy. I wonder if there any low name companys that sponsored motor events. Lets see, AM-PM?

Oh, oh, how about athletic companys, like Reebok and Nike and such. Have they ever sponsored motor sports?

hahahahah thats a classic, i wonder if it had an ethnic driver, in aus, all 7-11's have an ethnic behind the counter, dont know why.. but ive never walked into one that had an aussie working there, true story :)

hahahhahahhahahahah, same here theres alot of Arabs for some strange reason I thought it was a stereotype turns out its 75% of the time true. 7-11 is world wide? Crazy, gotta love them Big Gulps. Aye Too New To Know, get AIM!

nah, i prefer msn :) you got it?

take it to PM's, boys.

and the thread back on topic please.

So I heard about the latest Olympic stuff.... What do you guys think?

^^hehehe what was the topic again?

My apologies suislide :)

im pretty sure its all been said and done anyway, of course its going to get popular, everything does, and then comes the companys, and the dollars, and products and sponsors and all that..

just stay true to it, i guess the best way to approach it is to keep the friendly attitude going no matter WHO joins the sport, be it smart ass punk kids, FF attempters, or whatever.. be friendly and it'll stay friendly :)

thats my last two cents on the topic :D

I like the comparison of skateboarding to drifting, which holds a lot of truth. People who see other people doing it and then try it for themselves start on a very similar learning scale. There is a inherint respect for those above you and almost an obligation to help futher along others. You see another car or another person on a board and you give 'em a nod. You both know what goes in to what you do, and have a mutual feeling towards what you do.

I like the comparison of skateboarding to drifting, which holds a lot of truth. People who see other people doing it and then try it for themselves start on a very similar learning scale. There is a inherint respect for those above you and almost an obligation to help futher along others. You see another car or another person on a board and you give 'em a nod. You both know what goes in to what you do, and have a mutual feeling towards what you do.

I agree, and I think Drifting will be exploited like skateboarding though, thus, bringing the wrong type of people to doriftu-do. I thank God that I'm going to live in Japan soon so I wont see the selling out of drifting, but when the dust clears after a few years, and all the posers, wannabes, and punks leave drifting for another "Xtreme" (it will be dubbed that term by the media) sport. The only ones left on the touge and tracks will be the tried and true drift enthusiasts.

Ugh, do you see the posers putting up the money to compete professionally? Do you see them participating at club track days or amateur drift events?

Where do you see them? You see them packing into the grandstands at Formula Drift and D1GP events PAYING THE FUCKING BILLS. Every ticket, DVD, or bit of merchandise that can be sold to these people guarantees that there will be more events held in the future. Like them or not, if it weren't for the "exploitive" crowds there wouldn't be any professional drifting in this country or Japan. Enthusiasts are great. They make sure that there's always a following, they serve as historians, and if they themselves don't compete they often either assist those that do or introduce others to the sport. But the number of slack-jawed "That's mad tyte yo!" spectators far overwhelms the number of diehard enthusiasts. And unless diehard enthusiasts are willing to cough up arm & a leg fees to keep the sport alive, they'll just have to accept that there will be dimbulbs at D1 this december that think Ueo is the coolest because he drives an 86 like Tak.

hahahahah thats a classic, i wonder if it had an ethnic driver, in aus, all 7-11's have an ethnic behind the counter, dont know why.. but ive never walked into one that had an aussie working there, true story

whats your problem with ethnics, skip?

*rolls eyes*.. never said i had a problem,i merely stated that every 7-11 i've walked into has an ethnic behind the counter... simple..

KEEP ON FU#^ING TOPIC!

true(about drift and 7-11's) most of these people at the stadiums wh watch the drifters were people who tried it. these are the people who are real j-asses or are respectful to them.just other half just like the show.by the way. its not what car you have, its how you use it.

Well as for as the drifting I just hope that it stays the same and the big corporations dont take over.And there aint nothing wrong with drifting big american cars my Z28 does just fine against a AE86 or a 240sx.

After only reading about three or four of your replies I must say that most of you are right. The sad fact is it's the people who really have a love for something and enjoy it that have to suffer in watching it fall apart to hell. For some reason it's the way things are. well gotta jet later

This thread is old, let it rest already. DONT BRING BACK OLD THREADS!

This thread is old, let it rest already. DONT BRING BACK OLD THREADS!
so why dont they close it to replys aggghhhhhhhhhhhhh. im sorry im slow. :-))

i find the cnocept of drifting to be more as a fun factor rather than a competitive thing. it may be used in races but even the guys that do togue racing have sportsmanship qualities when they are done racing

This thread is both old and dog tired. The whole "it should be fun" argument is well and good for amateur competition. For professional competition, it's a worthless attitude that won't net wins which in turn get the team paid.

I once asked Chris Forsberg, who is now off of Motorex's Formula Drift team and is driving an S15 for Falken, if he ever considered circuit racing and what he felt about circuit drivers who were interested in drifting. Here was his response.

I have only seen a few circuit drivers be able to step over to drifting. Most of them cannot grasp the actual style of drifting and think it is just oversteering around a turn. I myself want to stay with drifting, it is so much fun and I don't like the constant competitive attitude involved with racing.

If I were Falken Tires, I'd have fired him on the spot. They're investing money and company resources into him to promote their product through victories in competition, ergo he is paid not to have fun but to win.

If he's going to go out there and say "I don't like competition" then he might as well quit.