Drift Invasion

It seems like a complete no-brainer: pack up the entire D1 circus and parade them in front of a rabid hoard of US fans. But it took Jim Liaw and his merry band of maniacs at Slipstream Global Marketing to turn talk into action. Since Yokohama (and its subsidiary, Advan) is the presenting sponsor of the D1GP, it only made sense for the tire maker to present this special D1GP USA. This little driftapalooza even garnered the approval of the SCCA, as the motorsports organization sanctioned the event.

There was plenty of room on the D1 bandwagon, and the vendor pavilion proved this point. But this pit row midway differed from other motorsports because of the drivers' laid-back demeanor and open accessibility. People were getting everything from posters and T-shirts to hipster mesh trucker caps and helmets signed by the drivers. It was a mob scene in the finest sense of the phrase. Jonny brought his stock of Sharpie Fine Points and set up shop, but he only signed one shirt, and even that kid kicked him in the shin for marking up his clothes.

At a normal D1 Grand Prix, anyone can attempt to qualify, but this special US event was an invitational open to only 16 designated D1 pros and eight American drivers who qualified at a D1 Driver's Search held earlier this year (see "Red, White, and Blushing," Oct. '03). To give you an idea of how intense the qualifying was, Signal's famed 180 Twins (see "Double Trouble," Sept. '03) didn't even make the cut. Signal driver Fumiaki "Drifter X" Komatsu must not have earned enough frequent flyer miles to make the trip so Atsushi Kuroi drove in his place, while Kazuya "Drifter XL" Bai assumed his usual position as part of the dynamic drift duo. In true Signal style, Bai and Kuroi were a big hit, both on and off the track.

Only three U.S. drivers made the qualifying cut. Rally god and all-around motorsports super stud, Rhys Millen, brought out his crazy Supra. America's sweetheart and own little Cinderfella story, Team Rotora's Ernie Fixmer drove a clean, white Sil-180. And Pacific Rim's Jerry Tsai must have been high from his own T-shirt ink because he let Daijiro Yoshihara go crazy in his show-stopping S13 conversion (see "Hot Wheels," Jan. '02).

The rest of the field was stacked with all sorts of guys with funny haircuts and weird accents (the Japanese drivers, not Jonny and Ricky). Taniguchi was the top seed with Ueo sliding up behind him in Second. A'PEXi built a replica of Youichi Imamura's famous white FD3S RX-7 starting from a US-spec chassis. The switch to left-hand drive must have had no effect on Imamura because he qualified Third. Other rock star drifters included Ken "Nomuken" Nomura with an exact replica of his Blitz R34 Skyline sedan (see "Four Play," May '03) and Vertex big boss Takahiro Ueno with a carbon copy of his beautiful carbon-doored Toyota Soarer, which we know as a Lexus SC 300 (see "Ring Around the Rosie," June '03).