I can’t even believe it, but Keep Drifting Fun won Speedhunters Video of the Year! What absolutely blows my mind is that it beat out Ken Block’s Gymkhana 5, amidst a long list of equally fantastic videos. Incredible!

I am still super honored to have been a part of this project. Both in front of and behind the camera. I’m so proud of what this simple phrase has matured into, and even more proud of all the people who helped make it what it is today (you know who you are). It is truly amazing.And in case you’ve been living under a rock…

No words. Just watch. Enjoy.
OR ELSE.

The date is fast approaching, and the time has finally come. Keep Drifting Fun. Fed up with watching fame, money, and sponsorship deals destroying friendship and camaraderie, I coined the phrase in 2008 in total frustration at the tail end of my professional drift career in this video. I saw too many people losing sight of why we got into this crazy sport, so as I made my exit from professional drifting, I wanted to leave with a message. Keep Drifting Fun. OR ELSE.

Little did I know at that time what an impact those three simple words would come to have on the sport (five if you include my threat). It is a simple message that has been embraced around the world… thanks hugely in part to none other than Will Roegge and Joshua Herron. After meeting the two of them, and collaborating with them on the Don’t Stop video and the DMGGMASD2 Video… Will and Josh told me they wanted to make a cross-country grassroots documentary in a Volkswagen Bus along the lines of Slide America. They told me they wanted to call it… “Keep Drifting Fun”. I knew if anyone understood the ethos, and could pull it off right, it was these two. And boy have they ever pulled it off. PROPER. I am incredibly proud of these guys, and VERY honored that they chose this message to spearhead the documentary into something invariably larger than the sum of all those involved.With the help of NOS Energy Drink, the world premiere of WR+Co’s Keep Drifting Fun will be right here in Atlanta on May 10th at the Midtown Arts Cinema… the Thursday night before Round 2 of Formula Drift up at Road Atlanta. There will be two screenings, one at 8pm, and another at 9pm. The entire thing will be available to watch FOR FREE online one week after. That’s right. FREE.

I am VERY proud to be a part of this in so many ways… and cannot wait for the premiere!In case you missed the trailer… it deserves a repost

Pure. Drifting. Awesomeness. I don’t even remember saying that.

Also… what Ryan Tuerck says in this trailer is SO right on. I am forever in debt to this crazy sport for all of the experiences and relationships with incredible people it has bestowed upon me. Real talk.

My excitement level went through the roof when Will and Josh sent me a link to the rough cut of this teaser! I could not wait to sink my teeth into some motion graphics for the piece. I was worried, however… that my schedule wasn’t going to free up to allow me the luxury. Lucky for me, it did! I was eager to try some new things, and help give the teaser a deservingly polished style with the graphics treatment. I am very pleased how they turned out, and cannot wait to work more with Will and Josh on the rest of the project! I am enthralled at the idea of expanding on what I did for this teaser and further developing it into something even stronger for the project.Hats off to Will and Josh for the shots/edit. I really cannot wait to see more!

It’s about time, right? I nearly killed myself making this documentary… so it sure feels great to see this up there. I also found out recently that the retail release that nobody ever saw is up on Netflix as well. It would be interesting to know who got paid for that. Regardless, it is awesome that such a large audience has access to it like that.

Be sure to visit the Slide America IMDb page and give it a vote/review!

The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of chaos and awesome. Round 2 of Formula Drift has come and gone… and with it came some SERIOUS life memories. At one point I think we had 13 people staying at my house. Every night it seemed like someone new. While I am glad things have returned to normal… I can honestly say it has left me slightly depressed! So many good times, I don’t even know where to begin. Race week started a bit early… when my good friends Will Roegge and Joshua Herron made an S.O.S. call to me. Their 1974 Volkswagen van had broken down a few hours south of Atlanta in LaGrange. The ‘Westy’ is their home-on-the-road during primary photography for their cross-country documentary, “KEEP DRIFTING FUN”.

After procuring Tyler’s trailer at midnight, Wes and Lieze and I rocketed southbound for a rescue mission. Halfway there we got a call that the van started… so we met up with them on the highway just to be safe.

The Westy wasn’t running well at all… so with cue from Eugene, we took it to Barry Palmer Auto for a diagnostic eval from an air-cooled guru. The van’s motor had no compression, and was in need of a transplant.

I picked up a new roof spoiler from paint at Jeff’s Auto Restoration to replace the one that flew off in-tow last year.

My tow-hooks came back from KILLIN’ EM. Fresh hit of satin black to hide the ol’ red. Thanks Scott!!!

Picked up a few miscellaneous parts for the car. Water temp sensor adapter from TRM and a new cabin AC filter. I also snagged a new OE radiator, spark plugs, and wiper blades (not pictured).

I re-worked the wiring for the back of my gauges… including some quick-disconnects for easier maintenance.

I got frisky with The Destroyer™ and pulled the front end apart.

So I could bake the lower light housings and hit the reflectors yellow. While the grill was off, I had Jeff hit the chrome bits with paint to match the body color… and I re-wrapped the Chevy emblem with black vinyl. I also installed a 3000K HID kit from DDM Tuning.

We adopted an awesome (outside) cat. Lieze named him Meow Meow.

I had Pho for the first time.

I gave the e46 a much-needed wash before taking her to the track…

and the next thing I knew I was being bombarded with water balloons by kids in the neighborhood.

Luckily my friends Drew Fishbein and Ross Fairfield were there to catch the action for their site OMGDRIFT!

Then Formula Drift came crashing back into my life full-force for FD Pro Am. I put my game face beard on for an amazing weekend… which I will leave for another post.

The day after FD was a Southeast Drift event at Turner (more on this later). Tons of FD dudes came out to shred with us local-folk.

Then the new 2.0L motor for the Westy arrived via freight.

We took the van back to Palmer Auto where Barry and Mikey took the reigns from there to get the van back running in tip-top shape. The larger motor with mechanical lifters will make the rest of Will and Josh’s voyage on the high-seas of FUN much better.

Slowly… all my house guests began departing to their corners of the globe… leaving behind some amazing memories and awesome times. Will and Josh were the last to return to the road in the Westy… headed north to Jersey by way of Charlotte, Richmond, Baltimore and Philly. With everyone gone, and my house back it’s quiet state, I’m left to reflect on how lucky I am. Not only has this crazy motorsport taken me places I never thought possible… it has also introduced me to some of the most creative, talented, and overall BADASS DUDES on the planet. And for that… I am truly honored and extremely grateful.

<3

Sit back, crank your speakers, and prepare your life to become the equivalent of a Maxell commercial, as the automotive-filmmaker’s dream team that is Will Roegge and Joshua Herron announce “Keep Drifting Fun.” This will be their first feature-length production about grassroots drifting in America. Over the course of this year, the duo will be taking to the streets of the U.S.A., living out of a van, eating mostly peanut butter. For obvious reasons (cough Slide America), I am insanely excited to see this come to fruition. It has been nearly four years since we shot Slide America, and as far as I’m concerned… it’s about damn time we get another dose of where grassroots drifting in America is REALLY at, in a current timeframe.In the meantime, enjoy this section of the video, from our members-only drift event in Nashville.

And remember… KEEP DRIFTING FUN.
OR ELSE.

Tyler sent me an awesome picture from Super Autobacs in West Covina, California. It is really rad to see the OG copy of Slide America on the shelf with the likes of Best Motoring, Mischief, and Getaway In Stockholm.

I came across these cool press kits I designed and had printed for SEMA back in 2006. We were looking for some company backing to help offset the cost of the documentary. I threw these press kits together extremely fast to make it back from the press in time for Vegas. Two years have passed since then, and now that I’m looking back on these… I think they turned out to be a slick piece of collateral.

The press kit starts out with a brief synopsis of what the project was about, and what our goal behind it was.

It talked about media partnerships, and what we had to offer as a marketing platform.

It overviewed unique impressions through all media outlets, and discussed partnership options for sponsorship.

Lastly, a DVD of the 1st teaser trailer was attached to the back inside cover via a cool gel disc holder.

Off all the prospective partnerships… the only one to step up and show faith in what we were doing was Exedy Racing Clutch. Most of the other companies were either turned off because of the street-drifting in the documentary, or fell under the “all talk, no action” clause that seems to plague the industry.

Regardless, these press kits are very cool, and will be something I will cherish forever. To me, these still mark the beginnings of this project… and are a small part of a larger picture of what this project later became.

We got the proof back for the Slide America disc art today. We are going to run the discs using both matte and gloss black inks. It will look like a spot UV, but with actual inks. I’m super excited to see how these turn out!

The magenta represents where the matte black will be screened.

After a year in the making – Slide America is finally complete!

I won’t lie… after completing the final author of the DVD, I watched the documentary the whole way through. Once the credits ended… something came over me, and I couldn’t help but cry. This project means the world to me. The fact that I had this crazy idea in my head to begin with… then to see it come to fruition, and transformed into the final product is simply amazing. Words can’t really describe the feeling of accomplishment now that it is complete. I feel like this documentary is really really different… and I think people will be surprised – this isn’t your stereotypical “import racing” DVD. I really feel like I am giving something back to the drift community… and that is a priceless feeling

I finished up the final cover for Slide America! This is the final artwork to appear on the DVD that drops in next month.

This is quite possibly the best 30 seconds I have EVER edited, and the raddest trailer ever made.
www.slideamerica.com

Slide America Trailer. from Andy Sapp on Vimeo.