JTP Wins my Heart

Justin Thomas Pawlak has restored my faith in professional drifting. Tonight’s Irwindale event contained both the worst and best parts of competitive professional drifting here in the United States. After watching a DNF from Conrad Grunewald and Chris Forsberg due to car trouble and absolutely horrible driving from Mitsuru Haraguchi, I was wishing that I had headed down to the Los Angeles Coliseum to watch USC take on Arizona. I was starting to wonder what was happening to Formula Drift. It felt like FD 2004 all over again. Spins, crashes, car failures, and racing.

Antonio Alvendia recently touched on this over at SpeedHunters when he said, “I wasn’t the only one who noticed it… just maybe the only one who outspoken enough to say what’s really on my mind. As we watched the tandem battles in the Formula D Top 16 eliminations at Infineon Raceway this past weekend, the lead car brake checking the following car seemed like the new fad in Formula D - almost everyone was doing it.”

I think that Antonio may have been exaggerating a bit to make a point, but I do agree that focus has moved away from running the most gangster line possible with big smoke and big speed. Just like all the passing and crap we had in 2004, drifting was feeling a bit too much like racing.

Drifting is not racing, and head to head battles are not about beating your opponent. Tandem battle is about achieving a new personal best and pushing your opponent to match it.

Drivers advancing down the ladder of 16, not because they ran awesome, but because their opponent makes a mistake just plain sucks. Watching the steady flow of fans out of the grandstands long before the nights competition came to a close tells me that they get it. Watch Team Orange, or the Drift Alliance when they run tandem for some of the best examples of drivers pushing each other to be better. Watch the fans as they watch a good tandem battle, their reaction will let you know that you are in the presence of great drift. Quality drifting is about hitting the track and giving 110%. When you watch good drifting, it’s really hard not to smile.

Tonight Justin Thomas Pawlak WAS drifting. It’s been great watching Justin grow and a driver, and it was great seeing him put together a Cinderella evening. Drifting in the country may just have a chance. Driving the FC RX-7 that he won Top Drift Battle #1 with back in February of 2006, Justin didn’t give his opponents the opportunity to do anything less then drive like madmen.

In the round of 8, Justin and Tanner Foust ran the tightest tandem of the night and the judges called for a “one more time.” With Tanner leading on the first pass of the OMT, Justin went into the inner bank a bit hot and connected with the 350z of Foust in full drift. Justin earned a zero, giving Tanner a substantial lead going into the second pass. At this point, many drivers would make the focus of their lead lap to force a spin out of their opponent. Not JTP, he ran his lead lap like the accelerator had been welded to the floor, showing the crowd that remained, how drifting is meant to be done. The night ended with Justin standing 3rd on the podium, but first in my eyes.