Entering the Top 16, you could see how far the Formula D series, which until now was often dominated by the likes of guys from Drift Alliance, Rhys Millen or Sam Hubinette, has progressed. Nobody was an underdog here, leaving the outcome entirely to driver skill. More of the bigger names, like Vaughn "JR" Gittin, Chris Forsberg, and Dai Yoshihara were taken out fairly quickly while hometown favorite Michael "Bubba Drift" Peters lost to Tyler McQuarrie, even with a "one more time" run. Calvin Wan, behind the wheel of the Falken G35 (see our June '05 issue for the full story behind the build-up), had driven extremely consistently all weekend, but like many, fell victim to a dreaded spin (at the worst time, no doubt). The Formula D staff worked like machines to keep the crowd amped by working with a quick schedule, so by the time the Top 8 came around everyone was ready to go.
With the sun setting and a cool breeze trailing in from various directions, the Top 8 was undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend. This is where most of the action was, not to mention the toughest when it came to judging. Tanner Foust overpowered the Swede king Hubinette in the Mopar Viper with the McKinney S13 by maintaining an ultra-smooth line while Sam was swinging all over the place. Conrad Grunewald took control of the Motorsports Dynamic S14, normally driven by Hubert Young, and gave the little engine that could, Taka Aono's AE86, a huge run for his money, particularly since Taka's hachi had taken a nasty flip onto its side the day before during qualifying and on this round went straight for the wall, damaging the front left suspension and body heavily. Ken Gushi went head to head against Tyler McQuarrie with the Toyo Tires Mustang, showing off the brute force of the domestic's power alongside the strength of the 2JZ. But the most-watched tandem run of the Top 8 was between Falken's Seigo Yamamoto and Rhys Millen, a first-time pairing for those two in competition. Seigo pushed as hard as he could, but just could not overcome the GTO's dominating presence.
The Final 4, for those of you who care, was huge for two reasons: American cars (Gushi and Millen) versus Japanese (Grunewald and Foust) and four tire manufactures (Toyo, Yokohama, Dunlop, and Falken) going for gold. In the heated tandem between Gushi and Millen, the whiz kid narrowly edged out the RMR GTO while Conrad Grunewald took the win in fine form against Foust by consistently hitting the proper line. For Third place, although Rhys easily won against Tanner, he was kept out of the Top 2 for the first time in Formula D history. Gushi paired up against another first time Top 3 finalist, Grunewald, in what was the hardest call for us judges to decide upon, particularly since both drivers came with their A-game. With a very close first round and a "one more time," we gave Gushi the top spot and his first-ever Formula D championship (not to mention another win for the US team), which still has yet to be won with a Japanese car.