Doomo arigatoo gozaimashita, doomo arigatoo gozaimashita, doomo arigatoo gozaimashita.
Yasayuki Kazama was overcome with emotion immediately after his final round victory over the heavily favored Nobuteru "No One Better" Taniguchi at the 2004 D1 Grand Prix USA Professional Drift. He locked D1GP Godfather Keiichi Tsuchiya in a tear-filled embrace while repeating his words of thanks.
The scene was even more overpowering than that very special Saved By The Bell where Elizabeth Berkley became addicted to caffeine pills. It was this Hallmark moment-Kazama's, not Jessie's-that all at once defined the spectacular spectacle that is the D1GP. Here we have a Japanese underdog, a first-time D1GP winner in the first official US round (last year's event was exhibition only), overwhelmed with gratitude for the man who selects the best drifter of the day. Did we mention that Kazama drives for Kei Office, the same tuner that "Kei"ichi represents? And Taniguchi, one of the world's consummate drifters, was left as the runner-up-for the second year in a row. The stage of this US D1GP offered everything from an exciting new venue, favorites and long shots, politics, exhilaration, and heartache.
This drift series has always possessed traces of a TV reality show penned by the same people who sketch out those WrestleMania plots, but no one could deny that these are the best drifters in the world competing in a drift event of the same magnitude. Once again drifters, fans, and poseurs (us) alike swooped down upon Irwindale Speedway with unbridled fervor. It was a little chaotic and very crowded, but much like last year's event, no one cared. We should also send out a great big Super Street air kiss to Yokohama's Kim Hernandez; she hooked us up with the proper credentials after we started to cry when we couldn't get into the designated photo area.
The pits were buzzing with lots of action, most notably the tire wars between BFGoodrich, Falken, and Yokohama. Drifting eats tires, and the top drivers rely on good rubber to give them the feedback they need. All of this equals major hoop dreams for both the tire engineers and salespeople.
Drift RC car madness has officially hit the scene. Some of the best stuff we've seen has come from Yokomo. Taniguchi's HKS Silvia was even sporting the Yokomo logo, as the two companies have entered a partnership this season. The Yokomo booth at Irwindale had live in-car footage of NOB's Silvia.
Right after the driver introductions, Eiji "Tarzan" Yamada crashed the party in his Team Taisan Benihana Viper. Tarzan normally runs the Viper in the GT300 class of the JGTC, but with some minor modifications to the steering rack, he was able to drift the V-10 beast around the circuit in typical Tarzan style. As he stopped in front of the main stands, Keiichi and his boys yanked him from the car and carried him across the track. Then Tarzan scrambled up the fence Castroneves-style and ended the stunt back on the solid ground where he dropped his driver's suit to expose his stars-n-stripes boxers- and then his buttocks. The crowd went nuts. Later we attempted the same stunt, but the fact that we can't drift combined with our He-Man Underoos made for a pathetic display.
Something about the course seemed slightly different at this second annual event. By all accounts it looked to be exactly the same, but the front straight transition seemed to be giving drivers more fits this time around. The most violent qualifying incident came when Hubert Young totally totaled his Motorsport Dynamics/Falken Tires S14 240SX in qualifying.