U.S. Drifting Title Lures Sideway Racers

By SHAV GLICK

Aug. 27, 2004 12 AM PT

Drifting, the motor-racing craze imported from Japan, will determine its first American champion Sunday at Irwindale Speedway.

Formula D, as drifting sanctioned by the Sports Club of America is known, has run three previous events, and the one at Irwindale will conclude the inaugural series.

Drifting has attracted sellout crowds at Irwindale since it was introduced locally in 2002. It is more like figure skating on four wheels than racing, but because cars sliding sideways, seemingly out of control, can be breathtaking, it has tremendous popular appeal. Results are based on execution and style, rather than speed, although it takes plenty of speed to slide a 450-horsepower car sideways through a marked course.

When it first appeared in the U.S., competitors were almost exclusively Japanese, but in the last several years, American drivers have emerged, much as they did in motocross after it was introduced here by European riders.

However, a Swedish ice racer, Samuel Hubinette, has won all three American Formula D events and will be heavily favored Sunday.

Hubinette, known as the “Crazy Swede,” drives a tricked-up Team Mopar Dodge Viper.

“I am really looking forward to drifting at Irwindale Speedway this weekend on one of the best courses for speed, angle and cutting tandem drifting action,” Hubinette said.

“The support we’ve received from our sponsors, the series and the fans has been unbelievable. I have been so blessed to have been a part of this period of growth for drifting.”

The sport originated on mountain roads in Japan about a decade ago when young daredevils took their cars out and slid them around hairpin curves illegally. Similar to the way street drag racing was legalized on racing strips in this country, drifting was taken out of the mountains and into Japanese racetracks and stadiums.

Hubinette has won this year at Road Atlanta, Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and Reliant Arena in Houston.

The leading American is Chris Forsberg, 22, a Pennsylvanian who recently moved to Los Angeles. He drives a Nissan 350Z and took up drifting after watching Japanese videos.

“I’d never done any organized racing, but when I saw the animated Japanese cartoons of drifting, it looked kind of cool so I starting doing it. The Japanese set a standard, but [Americans] are catching up. It’s more difficult than it looks.

“Irwindale is a perfect place for watching drifting at its best. The fans are real close, the track is only 30 feet wide, and the outside is lined with concrete walls. That makes for more excitement. As far as the drivers are concerned, it’s pretty intense, driving going in there about 70 to 80 mph and then spinning very close to the walls.”

Entry speed is so important in determining the skill value of drifting cars that it is measured with a radar gun. Most Americans, Forsberg said, have a similar style -- a high drift with high horsepower in a very light car. Leading Japanese drifters have developed more sophisticated maneuvers.

Competition will start at 3 p.m. Sunday. Japanese professionals Seigo Yamamoto, Ucchi Utsumi and Tarzan Yamada will judge the events and give drifting demonstrations.

Southland Scene

Jason York, who surprised the sprint car faithful when he nosed out favorite Cory Kruseman in last week’s USAC/CRA main event at Perris Auto Speedway, will return Saturday night, hoping for a repeat win. It was York’s first victory in a non-winged main event. The son of former Ascot sprint car driver Pat York, Jason has been campaigning winged cars in Northern California and won the Silver Dollar Speedway championship in his hometown of Chico in 2000.

Another win Saturday night would be a nice birthday present for York, who will turn 33.

Kruseman will not be there, but York will be racing Perris regulars Rip Williams, Damion Gardner, Mike Kirby, Troy Rutherford and Tony Jones.

Before the night’s racing begins, the second annual Legends of Ascot Reunion will be held at the speedway. Honorees include drivers Billy Wilkerson, Dean Thompson, Sleepy Tripp and Johnny Moorhouse, officials Rusty Espinoza and Ed Hudson, car owner and mechanics Bruce Bromme Sr. and Jr., and engine builder Ron Shaver.

Racing will start at 7 with a Legends of Ascot trophy dash.

After a four-week break, VRA 360 sprint cars return to Ventura Raceway on Saturday night. Points leader Tom Stansberry padded his lead last week with a win at Bakersfield. Also on the 5:30 p.m. program will be senior sprints for drivers 45 and older.... Harley-Davidsons will join speedway racers Saturday night on the tiny Orange County Fairgrounds track in Costa Mesa.

The Nextel Cup has its “Chase for the Championship,” but no less challenging for competitors in NASCAR’s Grand National Divisions are the races to get invitations to the second annual NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway on Nov. 11-13. The top 15 drivers in each of the GN West series and the Busch North series will be invited.

Austin Cameron, last year’s winner from El Cajon, is second to Mike Duncan of Bakersfield in West standings. Other Southern Californians in the top 15 include David Gilliland of Riverside, fifth; Tim Woods III of Chino Hills, eighth; Nick DeFazio of Newport Beach, 11th; Gene Woods of Ontario, 12th; and David Eshleman of Fontana, 13th.

The next race is scheduled Sept. 6, Labor Day night, at Rocky Mountain Speedways near Salt Lake City.

Festival of Speed

Ernie Nagamatsu, the Los Angeles dentist who owns the legendary 1959 Old Yeller II Buick Special, is in England again for the annual Goodwood Revival Meeting Races and sends word that the Brits honored 100 years of U.S. road racing at the famed Festival of Speed earlier this year.

One of the features was the Ak Miller Oldsmobile Special that Miller built in Whittier, using a 1949 chassis, a 1926 Ford body and an Olds V-8 engine, to run in the Carrera Panamerica road race. The car, known as “El Caballo de Hiero” (the Iron Horse), was driven at Goodwood by its owner, Sam Jackson.

In an emotional experience, retired Gil de Ferran, the 2003 Indy 500 winner, drove the McLaren-Ford MP used by his close friend and fellow Brazilian Ayrton Senna in the 1993 Formula One season. Senna was killed in a racing accident May 1, 1994.

“I miss the guy terribly, but the opportunity to drive his car was fantastic,” De Ferran said. “Just seeing his name on the side of the car was very moving. But I would have been happy to just sit in the car, so to drive it was fantastic.”

Nagamatsu will drive Old Yeller in the Sussex Trophy race next weekend. Joe Diloretto of Long Beach will race his historic Dolphin Sports Racer.

This Week

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP

Sharpie 50

* When: Today, qualifying (TNT, noon); Saturday, race (TNT, 4:30 p.m.).

* Where: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (oval, 0.533 miles, 36 degrees banking in turns).

* Race distance: 266.5 miles, 500 laps.

* 2003 winner: Kurt Busch.

NASCAR BUSCH

Food City 250

* When: Today, race (TNT, 5 p.m.).

* Where: Bristol Motor Speedway.