NASCAR drivers take on pro drifters at Irwindale
NASCAR drivers don't usually like to experience extreme oversteer in their racecars because it usually means they're spinning out of control and about to hit the wall. Tomorrow, however, a brave group of NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers will fight their instincts in a drift battle against some of the top D1 drifters at Irwindale Speedway, the site of this country's very first professional drift event in 2003. All of the proceeds from the event, called the Mopar D1 All-Star Duel presented by ShiftIntoGear, will go to the Kasey Kahne Foundation.
Kasey Kahne himself will be among the eight NASCAR drivers drifting it out at Irwindale, along with Bill Elliot, Robby Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Chris Cook, Greg Biffle and Casey Mears. The professional drifters, meanwhile, will be lead by none other than Samuel Hubinette, a.k.a. the Crazy Swede, and also include Ken Nomura, Toshiki Yoshioka, Voughn Gittin, Rhys Millen, Tanner Foust, Hideo Hiraoka, Takahiro Ueno and Tatsuya Sakuma.
Chris Cook, professional racer and part owner of the ShiftIntoGear professional driving school, will be responsible for educating the NASCAR drivers in the fine art of drifting before flying off to compete in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Kentucky Speedway this weekend.
We sure hope ESPN or some show is on hand to capture this event. Regardless of whether or not you're a fan of drifting, it's going to be fun to watch.
[Source: Irwindale Speedway]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Miyoshi 6:05PM (8/30/2006)
Dynamica Darift!
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laserwizard 6:27PM (8/30/2006)
Drifting is a contrived effort at taking mediocre talent and giving them a spotlight. It is a shame that NASCAR drivers will stoop to this level. I guess with the advent of Ricer Burner admission into NASCAR, there really isn't any low NASCAR or its drivers will do.
If drifters were good drivers, they'd have been hired by real race teams.
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Michael Kilpatrick 7:06PM (8/30/2006)
While I agree that drifiting is a bit silly, your quote that "If drifters were good drivers, they'd have been hired by real race teams." is a bit off base.
While I don't know of most of the drifters, Tanner Foust is a professional rally driver as well as a professional stunt driver. He is currently leading the Rally America championship in his class. Him and Rhys Millen, are in fact both accomplished rally drivers, and they both did the stunt driving for The Dukes of Hazzard, and F&F:Tokyo Drift. You may recognize the name Millen as being quite a famous family racing name. In fact, Rhy's father, Rod Millen, still holds the record for the fastest run ever up Pikes Peak. If you had tuned into the X-Games a few weeks ago, you would have seen Rhys and Tanner competing. So, I think you should perhaps do a little research before you make comments like that.
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Ignorance Kills 6:52PM (8/30/2006)
Let's see you drift laserwizard, then again you're probably not even up on that level.
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sr20de 6:52PM (8/30/2006)
Yeah, #2- and if street ball players were good basketball players, they all would play for NBA teams.
What is a "Ricer Burner"? Dumbass.
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Saracen 6:53PM (8/30/2006)
"{Drifting is a contrived effort at taking mediocre talent and giving them a spotlight. It is a shame that NASCAR drivers will stoop to this level. I guess with the advent of Ricer Burner admission into NASCAR, there really isn't any low NASCAR or its drivers will do.
If drifters were good drivers, they'd have been hired by real race teams."
Spoken like a true ignoramus.
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Jack_brack 7:17PM (8/30/2006)
Drifting is pretty lame in my book. It's along the same lines of figure skating and gymnastics. Not to say that it's easy...I think all these activities are extremely demanding and difficult. But any sport that has such a heavy basis on showmanship and allow judges to determine the outcome shouldn't be called a "sport"...maybe "judged competition".
In any event, I think it's pretty open minded of NASCAR. More open minded than some on this board. Rice Burner? Veiled Racist comment much?
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JayP 7:20PM (8/30/2006)
I'd rather see Junior Johnson at this event. You know he's gone opposite lock on that old Ford getting chased by the law. There's alot of dirt roads in North Carolina.
I'd pay to see that.
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RacetrackOwner 8:47PM (8/30/2006)
Stock-car circle track racing pretty much *is* drifting, non-stop, and without all the crappy tire-wasting smoke and fanboy-cultivating nonsense. Both types of "racing" are an embarassment.
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JC Whitless 12:28PM (8/31/2006)
Foust is an interesting guy. I catch his review of new cars all the time w/ my Ondemand digital cable.
He drifted a Magnum.
I don't get the whole drifting gig, but it looked damn cool...
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epp_b 10:30PM (8/30/2006)
["Dynamica Darift!"]
Wow, you should be banned from Autoblog for that...
["Drifting is a contrived effort at taking mediocre talent and giving them a spotlight. It is a shame that NASCAR drivers will stoop to this level. I guess with the advent of Ricer Burner admission into NASCAR, there really isn't any low NASCAR or its drivers will do."]
Too be honest, I can't decide who's actually stooping.
["Drifting is pretty lame in my book. It's along the same lines of figure skating and gymnastics. Not to say that it's easy...I think all these activities are extremely demanding and difficult. But any sport that has such a heavy basis on showmanship and allow judges to determine the outcome shouldn't be called a "sport"...maybe "judged competition"]
Exactly. No sport where you need to be judged on your "style" is actually a sport. Period.
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spdracerut 11:29PM (8/30/2006)
Drifting is extremely difficult which is why they are 'professionals'. By the same token, you could say that NASCAR is a "contrived effort at taking mediocre talent and giving them a spotlight". Hell, all they do is turn left. Anyone can do that... and they don't even have to control a slide!
Seriously though, don't knock it until you've tried it. I bet you couldn't make it halfway through a 90 degree turn.
And by the way, I'm not a 'fan' of drifting as I much prefer time spent on a road course, but I do know to respect it.
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Ford Mustang 12:22AM (8/31/2006)
I respect drifting because i know it takes a good bit of practice and talent to do the things they do, but with that said i feel drifting is a very lame sport. I've tried watching it, but could never get into it because i just don't see where the sport aspect of it is. It's like ballet, it's not a sport.
As for this Nascar promotion, i'm not sure what they are trying to acheive with this. Are they expecting drift fans to instantly become nascar fans because a nascar driver tried to drift?
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Alfonso 3:27AM (8/31/2006)
Man, this is for charity. It's an exhibition of fast cars and skill, get over arguing and enjoy it for what it is. I know I'll be cheering the drivers on in those stands.
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Benny 7:49AM (8/31/2006)
It is close minded people like many of the people above that make it difficult to succeed in introducing something new. Is diving not a sport, due to it being judged? Why is it in the olympics then....quick you better complete to the IOC so you can have everything that isn't a race from start to finished removed from society.
If you gave drifting a fair chance, you'd understand the immense skill levels involved. A few V8 Supercar drivers have had a try at drift and didn't realise how hard it is to do.
Open your minds. If the world was run by people with such idiotic and close minded views, everyone would still have slaves, women would have no rights, and black people would be treated as nothing. I feel sorry for people that think in that manner.
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mike 9:42AM (8/31/2006)
I tried watching drifting on the tube. I get the whole style thing, but still can't figure out if it is racing or not. If it is for style points, then jolly! I'll watch them burn up tires with really high hp and bald tires for a few minutes, but that gets old pretty quick for me, unfortunately. If it is racing, then the first person across the line wins, right? So the racers should take the fastest line, stop spinning tires, and get there.
If it is not racing, but a style contest, then how come (at least when I was watching) the first person across the line was the winner each time?
So is it a(n extended) burnout contest like I see at the local car shows, or a race? Don't try to tell me it is both, because minimum slippage wins races, not max burnage...yeah, burnage works...
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porker 9:42AM (8/31/2006)
NASCAR, having abandoned its Southern roots, is desperately attempting to find new butts to put in the seats. From the ricer look-alike "Car of Tomorrow" to the allowing of toyota into this American sport, NASCAR is catering to what it wrongly perceives as its newest crowd of fans. One need only to look at California (NEVER sold out a race) to see what is going to happen when NASCAR loses most of us diehard fans next year. Sorry, but real race fans don't support the ricers. This "drifting" show is just another ploy by NASCAR to hide the fact that it's lost its fan base.
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JS 10:40AM (8/31/2006)
This is fantastic. I think that more "motorsports" should challenge NASCRAP drivers to their sport. Dont get me wrong, NASCAR drives really fast and in alot of traffic which is no easy task but I think this is very smart of the promoter to involve a big name like NASCAR into a slightly lesser know sport. I see NASCAR v. Rally Drivers or NASCAR v. World Challenge Drivers...I like the idea of cross-sport competition to see who can really drive and who just has a big R&D budget.
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Corey W. 11:14AM (8/31/2006)
Exactly. No sport where you need to be judged on your "style" is actually a sport. Period.
I'd have to agree on this. I've watched drifting and besides spending most of the time choking on tire smoke, I just couldn't get into it.
I'm a true enthusiast, so I love all forms of racing. In my view, the point is to get through the course as quickly as possible. For example, dirt track racing, awful lot of drifting there, but you're doing it to get around the track.
The skill level is a moot point, it takes skill to be the best at anything, it's not about the skill level of drifters, it's about the point of drifting, what are you doing it for? Like some others have posted is this racing or some sort of "style" contest.
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david 6:40AM (9/01/2006)
Whats with the whole 'ricer' 'rice burner' hate? Just because you're not into japanese cars, or modified japanese cars, you shouldn't try to talk it down.
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