Formula Drift - The Formula - Super Street Magazine

Can Formula D Save Drifting?

By Terence Patrick, Photography by Henry DeKuyper, Jonathan Wong, Terence Patrick

What about the future? For Ryan, pacing the Formula D events at a rate for everyone to regularly compete on a physical and financial level is the key. There's really no point in trying to organize 40 events nationwide if half the drivers are either rebuilding a car or just can't afford the travel costs. Drivers and sponsors also have to stay loyal to whichever event they choose to be a participant in. Everyone knows what happened to drag racing after it got too big for its britches. Even if not all drivers can support themselves through drifting exclusively, the sport has catapulted many drivers onto other things; for instance, stunt driving, which many of the drivers participate in for major Hollywood films. Others have done television hosting or commercials for major sponsors (some have even become fashion models for particular magazines). Jim is confident that if drifting's sporting element can be seen by a bigger audience, particularly through the mainstream media, everything will fall into place. If one goes by crowd attendance, the season opener in Long Beach is a positive sign for great things to come for Formula D and drifting. Which brings us back to the beauty of when certain events happen in a certain order...