Never has there been so much anticipation before a drifting event. The drivers, teams and fans all had no idea what to expect at Irwindale Speedway this past Thursday night. The ingredients were simple enough; half a dozen NASCAR drivers, a dozen top drifters and a fleet of Falken drift cars. But, the resulting brief yet action packed event was impressive and beyond the expectations of many.
Top D1 Drivers Get the Crowd Cheering.
The event layout placed top NASCAR drivers on the inner 1/3 mile oval of the speedway while, the D1 drivers staged on the outer 1/2 mile oval. NASCAR drivers were mostly drifting solo during the evening but, eventually drifted in pairs (tandem drifting) towards the end of the night. A few of the drivers, including headliner Kasey Kahne ended up on the outer 1/2 mile oval before the night ended. The crowd of 7,500 stood when a few of the NASCAR drivers (and especially Chris Cook) became dissatisfied with the inner bank and made their runs on the much larger and faster D1 course. Cook also took the #43 “Shift into Gear” stock car for a rough drift lap. The action then moved to the outer bank as D1 drivers paired off for incredibly close and exciting tandem drifting. The event organizers even got creative with a routine tire change by having a monster truck perform for the still simmering crowd. Finally, 8 D1 Drivers drifted both of Irwindale’s big banks. The 8 car unison drift did nothing short of blanket the track and crowd with tire smoke.
Chris Cook Drifting the #43 Stock Car.
So who drove what? Chris Cook piloted the Peak Performance S14 240SX, Robby Gordon was behind the wheel of Rhys Millen’s Pontiac GTO (with which he later met the Irwindale wall), Casey Mears and Scott Wimmer shared the Falken FD Rx-7, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth shared an XMP/Falken 05′ Mustang and finally Kasey Kahne took the wheel of the Mopar Viper normally piloted by Samuel Hubinette.
Top Drifter Rhys Millen Gives Robby Gordon Last Minute Pointers.
Fans in attendance now understand that both NASCAR and Drifting are high-skill motor sports. Drifting fans saw how quickly NASCAR drivers could adapt to Drifting. Chris Cook in particular looked ready and willing to qualify for the ‘D1 Grand Prix’ professional drifting series. Loyal NASCAR fans saw some of their favorite drivers struggle to complete a course that, on any other Thursday night would’ve been occupied by amateur drifters completing the course with relative ease. None of this comes with much surprise however, the lingering question is: what’s next for NASCAR in drifting? It may be speculation at this point but, now that NASCAR has witnessed the potential of Drifting as a mainstream motor sport it’s only a matter of time before they become more involved in the sport in the future.
Things look especially promising when you consider how different the demographic of drifting fans is from that of NASCAR fans. Maybe drifting holds the key to the untapped 18-34 urban demographic coveted by advertisers so dearly.
retarded. drifting really sux
Comment by taka — September 1, 2006 #
now
Comment by taka — September 1, 2006 #
I think its cool, its better exposure for the sport then Tokyo drift. I take nascars opinion over some movies any day of the week.
Comment by cam — September 1, 2006 #
your too simple minded. drifting takes skills that normal drivers dont have. i’m not saying anything bad about nascar or anything, but what skills do you need to go fast? not that much, all you have to do is shift at the right time. drifting is much more difficult and in my opinion more fun to watch.
Comment by lazy — September 1, 2006 #
You need “a lot” of skill to go fast. You take a 3600lb stock car at 200 mph around a bank and you better know how to hang on to it. These guys have 1500lbs more to contol. It’s like a freight train. They drift without trying to, but to purposely upset these cars is completely unnatural.
Comment by poppin louie — September 2, 2006 #
“Lazy” Seems to be the one that is simple minded. NASCAR has a slew of skill sets that are much more than shifting at the right time. It tends to be a bit more than “shifting at the right time” at 125+ MPH. Drafting for one thing. A car with turbulence at high speeds is a whole differnt beast, from one sitting behind a set of cars.
Drifting isn’t above NASCAR; NASCAR isn’t above Drifting. They’re both motorsports that require they’re independent skill sets and instinct.
I think that any of the drivers that night, weather they were NASCAR drivers or Drifters would snub their nose at the others sport. Infact. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the Drifters were thinking about taking some laps around Irwindale in that Stock Car.
Needless to say, after that event, I perhaps won’t be so hasty as to change the channel when NASCAR hits the screen on my television set. And perhaps; just perhaps; Some of the NASCAR fans there that night won’t be so hasty as to change the channel when Drifting hits their T.V. Set.
Comment by C.B.Leslie — September 2, 2006 #
I was there and all I have to say is, they had eight great drifters that could compete(Rhys’ car couldn’t recover.) They could have easily put on a great Best of Eight competition. Full of great tandem and an actuall winner. I think toshi, Inadia and the fans could have easily judged it, being an exhibition it doesn’t have to be crazy technical. Other than no compition it was a great event considering it was for charity. And for the record this is my first charity event I have ever attended, so I think they did their job.
Comment by Erik — September 2, 2006 #
Please. From what I saw, a renegade group of drivers who had never set foot in one of these cars put up a fight against drifting’s best in ONE DAY? And yet these “professional” drifting drivers have spent YEARS honing their craft. Hmmm.
What are the chances that a drifting driver would qualify for a NASCAR race with one day of practice………?
Racing is racing. The ENTIRE motorsports community needs to mature and celebrate one another. There is no “best” form of racing, only what we, as individuals, prefer.
This event was a step in the right direction, to be sure, but we should be left with a sense of humility that these two vastly different cultures could come together.
Comment by Big Al — September 2, 2006 #
I am a NASCAR fan and I am a Drifting fan. The only problem I had with the event was that it wasn’t long enough.
Comment by Gardenracer — September 3, 2006 #
“retarded. drifting really sux”
wow, i dont see you out there tring to drift
stick to the sidelines and magazine racing chump
Comment by al — September 3, 2006 #
yeah fighting on the internet is like running in special olympics…i think you guys know the rest…who cares enjoy your sport for what it meens to you
Comment by jackass — September 3, 2006 #
Driftlive, your site is the best site for drift fans, I would love to buy a driftlive.com sticker and get more people on your site.
nascar owns motorsports, but drifting owns me.
Comment by driftwood — September 3, 2006 #
I am one of Kasey Kahne’s managers and I am one of the promoters that put this event on.
I want to thank everyone that came out and supported the event. Everyone had a blast and we made history. We brought two completely opposite motorsports together and everyone got along great and gained a lot of respect for each other.
Any drift fan that didnt think this event was great for drifting is a complete fool. We brought more exposure to drifting than any other event in history. We got a full piece about the event on the NASCAR pre race show on NBC with a couple million people watching.
The NASCAR guys and drift guys developed friendships and a great mutual respect that would never have happened without this event.
This was an awesome event and everyone that was a part of it knows how important it was to the drift scene. I had always been a fan of drifting, that is why I came up with this idea, but now I love it. I know we have turned a lot of NASCAR fans into drifting fans and that is good for the sport.
Oh yeah…to the guy who said that nascar drivers have no skills…you are an idiot. Think before you speak.
Comment by JacobChills — September 4, 2006 #
Hey Jacob, great event and congrats to Kasey on the win this weekend at California Speedway, looks like last week was a good one for Team Mopar. I look forward to more events like this in the future, and stronger involvement in drifting from new areas like NASCAR. I can do nothing, but help bring new fans to the sport.
Comment by DriftLive.com — September 5, 2006 #
ok hi hows it goin drifters and nascar fans? i just wanted to say i live in a small town in northern minnesota and up here, drifting isnt respected at all, its all about the power and size… i grew into drifting by traveling, its the best thing that ever happend to me. I constantly argue with my buddies about what requires more skill and it always boils down to nascar, well its not your driving style or the car you drive, its the feeling you get when your doing what you love, and if you can see that someone loves what there doing… why bother them? does nascar require more skill than drifting? i think brain surgeon beats both. there hows that for no bias?
haha later guys
Tyler
Comment by Tyler — October 6, 2006 #
Joa Driften is das beste auf der Welt ^^
Sry Guys iam German and why shold i don’t
thay on German ^^ Love Ya MY FRiEnDs ;D
Comment by dusan — November 21, 2006 #