Scene: Formula D Round 4 – The Gauntlet; Wall Speedway, New Jersey - Event

Round 4 of the 2011 Formula Drift season welcomed drivers to New Jersey to get their GTL on. And by GTL I of course mean gnarly tandem laps. In the wake of a random onset storm the track was turned into a makeshift lagoon but fortunately dried out in time for competition. Despite the decent weather there were still wrecks-o-plenty on the forecast.

The NJ stop usually dishes out its fair share of casualties and this year was no different with many contestants making contact with the aptly named Wall Speedway. I could go on to list all the drivers seduced by the Armco but I’d rather focus on the most epic wreck of the event: John Russakoff vs The Wall vs Matt Powers. During their top 32 pairing Russakoff failed to properly initiate his drift and slammed into the barrier with so much force it broke his left front wheel through the firewall, nearly breaking his leg, and subsequently tossed his car back on track at which time his Hachi-Roku forcefully removed Power’s driver side door.

But there was plenty of glory to be spread out amongst those drivers fortunate enough to bring their cars home in one piece. Dai Yoshihara sailed smoothly into 3rd place thanks to Ryan Tuerck shredding his Camaro during the final four rendering it unable to continue. The main event featured a battle of American muscle provided by the Falken Ford Mustang of JTP up against the Hankook Chevy Camaro of Conrad Grunewald. When the smoke cleared Conrad found himself on the top step of the podium for the first time in his Formula Drift career.