It’s been quite some time since I posted here. Heck, this part of my site was offline for many, many years. But after what all has transpired o’er the past few weeks… it seemed fitting to fire up this side of the fence. After all… blogs still rule.
About 10 days out from GRIDLIFE Atlanta, Gregg Bucell called me and told me my application for GRIDLIFE had been approved. I was like… but I didn’t apply! I felt pretty reluctant to do it for several reasons. The main one being that I haven’t driven like that in a LONG long time. 2010 was the last time I drove Road Atlanta… and I haven’t drifted anything that fast since. I maybe get to drive once or twice a year, but ne’er as fast as Road Atlanta.
The second was financial. It’s been a slow start to the year work-wise. 27 year old me woulda sent it… while 47 year old me was trying to be more responsible. Gregg talked me into it… explaining that it was 50% for me… and 50% for my friends and family that want to see me charge down that hill again. I told him I couldn’t argue with that… and knowing how psyched Tyler woulda been was a major deciding factor. But the car needed work, and all of the safety stuff was from 2005. It would all need updating too. So it was on.
I picked up a new Circuit to replace the outdated Evo. I decided to just pull the passenger seat for the weekend until I can update that seat too. It was strategic in a sense, because I only wanted to focus on my driving without distractions.
I got the car on stands to get to work updating the 5-point harnesses with 6-points. Gregg sourced me a new pair of Sparco harnesses. I went ahead and pulled the wheels for fresh tires.
I got all of my wheels out of storage and stopped by Gran Turismo East for tires. I cannot stress it enough how amazing Kieran is… and how none of this weekend would have been possible without him and his continued support. He is seriously the best!! I truly could not do any of this without him.
I love this old poster in the shop of Road Atlanta from way back. It’s so cool knowing the history of that place… and it made me feel extra excited knowing that we would soon be getting to go drift there.
Back at the house… it pained me to pull this old sticker from the car… but I did save it. This car is truly a time capsule.
It took way longer than I’d expected… but I got the new seat mounted and new harnesses installed. I had to relocate the hand brake to fit the new seat. I’m tempted to redo that whole hydro setup altogether. I planned on re-doing the driver-side floor board… but ran out of time.
The car had a wild oil leak… which turned out to be the o-ring where the dipstick meets the oil pan. That was WAY more complicated than it shoulda been to replace. I didn’t really document this because I just wanted to be done.
I replaced the upper/lower intake boots while I was in there… and while I was doing that I broke this stupid vacuum connector:
In typical BMW fashion… I tried my damnedest to find one locally, but could not. No dealerships had one in stock. None. I hail mary’d tryna find one at Pull-A-Part early Wednesday morning and saw this thing:
There weren’t any connectors… but I did scoop a fresh set of amber tails and an emblem for cheap. Not what I intended, but glad I found.
I had to overnight that $2 connector from 4 different vendors just to increase my odds of getting one on time. In the meantime I had to ziptie a temporary fix just so I could get the car on the trailer in time for tech. The car would not start and run without that vacuum hose connected.
All loaded up for Road Atlanta.
Made it in time and passed tech with flying colors.
I pitted with the ol’ Koruworks crew for the weekend… which made me VERY happy.
Austin was my pit crew for the weekend… and was MVP for SURE. More on that later.
I got a PROPER aluminum vacuum connector just in time.
We had MANY wristbands.
Drivers meeting.
My parents came out which meant the world to me. Their love and support is everything… and they’ve always been THE most loving and THE most supportive!! It was so great to get to share this weekend with them.
It was go-time… and I was a nervous wreck. It had been 16 years since I’d driven Road Atlanta… and I just don’t get to drive at this level anymore. It was an overwhelming and intimidating place to be trying to knock the rust off.
Knowing I had updated all of the safety bits in the car was a huge relief though. For a long time I haven’t taken the safety stuff very seriously. I don’t know if it’s wisdom with age, or what… but I’ve turned a corner on that and want to take it seriously moving forward.
It was so crazy to be gridded back atop that hill. E’en crazier to be surrounded by SO many BMW’s. That is quite a difference between way back when and now.
I totally fumbled the first few attempts. I was SO in my own head that I wasn’t concentrating properly. I hit the windshield wipers at one point. Spun the keyhole. I was scared out of my mind. Once I got past the first turn it was like riding a bike. But that initial entry was going to take some work.
After the first session… I was a mess. Anxiety was spiraling, and I honestly felt like I’d bit off more than I should have. That Road Atlanta was NOT the place to be remembering how to drive at that level.
Austin, though… did something I will never forget. After that first session he asked if I needed anything… that he wanted to run to the house real quick. Unbeknownst to me… he had convinced GRIDLIFE to let him run. So between sessions he ran home and got tires, came back and put his car through tech… and then he pulled up behind me in line for the second session. It was an audible sigh of relief from inside my helmet. Austin has been in my rearview running my door thousands of times. It was exactly what I needed to realize “you’ve been here before… you’ve got this”. And from that point… it was ON.
Each run got better and better. I kept biting off just a little more with each run… and things were starting to come back to me. I opted out on drifting the full course, because I just wanted to get back to the top of the hill to practice the old FD layout. And Austin was behind me every time. It was THE BEST. I also truly enjoyed grip racing that track. It’s such an incredible place!!
This photo that Travis shot is everything. My Dad with the thumbs up… and Austin right behind me as we barrel into the keyhole. Everything I’ve done in life is in pursuit of making him proud. This is such a special moment.
The love of my life.
I made some DriftMechaniks helmet visors for the homies. The only way to get one is gonna be to drive together. I surprised Sebastian and Gregg with theirs, which was super special! Austin got one as well, DUH.
We took a stroll through the FD pits.
And a quick stroll through the GRIDLIFE pits.
Ashley and I with Kieran and Austin. I could NOT have done any of this weekend without each of them! REAL TALK.
Sunset 10/10. I picked up a HANS from Jim Downing himself. It’s a bit of a story… but it was his personal HANS… and the last one at Downing Atlanta. I feel honored to have it and to be the one using it. Now that I’ve used a HANS, I won’t ever NOT use one. I honestly cannot believe I’ve gone this long without one. In my humble opinion, they should be as mandatory as helmets out on-track.
After the halftime show was over it was time to watch the big boys… so off to the Rowdy VIP.
Rowdy VIP… of course… wouldn’t happen without Marlow.
I’m happy I got to see Tuerck on his farewell tour.
This was Ashley’s first time experiencing Formula Drift… AND Road Atlanta. I’m o’er the moon to get to share this world with her. She is my favorite person, and I love that she appreciates all of this as much as she does!!
The level pro drifting is at these days is absolutely mind boggling compared to how it was back in the day. It is WILD. It’s almost unrecognizable in a strange way.
The questionable calls ain’t changed a bit though!
The finals were James Deane vs. Vaughn Gittin, Jr… with Vaughn coming out on top.
And that about wraps up my weekend at Road Atlanta. This was easily one of the best weekends of my life. I felt very emotional, and felt like I really overcame something to get back out there and bomb that hill again. I felt like Tyler was out there with me cheering me on and helping me through.
It was everything. The friends… the family… it was all just… everything.
One things is for sure… I will move mountains to do this again next year.
Every drift video needs headbanging. It just feels right.
For years now, I’ve always seen photos of the mystically bearded man standing right up against the wall at Long Beach as drift cars blast, smash, and crash right by him. His unflinching courage and never-back-down attitude always had me wondering… “WHO IS THIS MAN?!?” Now, thanks to Will, Skylar, Josh, and Hert… we no longer have to guess. He is indelibly awesome, and has easily solidified himself as a part of American driftlore.
Where do I even start with this trailer? When I first met Justin and Joe, I remember thinking “these guys have the right attitude”. In case you’re wondering what I mean by that… well… watch the trailer. It hits the nail on the head. This duo obviously loves what they are doing, make a point to have fun doing it, and best of all… don’t take themselves too seriously. Like anyone with a passion for what they do, they have developed their craft and come into their own. The style in this trailer is off the charts, and fun exudes it from every angle possible. It embodies the chaos and energy I love about this crazy sport, while offering a unique look at all if it through the eye and lens of these two. I am so proud of these dudes. SO proud. Needless to say… I cannot wait for this DVD to drop.I don’t think I ever posted this up… but back in April of 2011… I helped them out with an animated intro for their videos. Justin sent me the logo, which was hilariously fun to animate. I even played the riffs to try and make even more over-the-top. Definitely a blast to work on… and I would love a crack at animating their new t-shirt design!
I was unaware of the video game called Trackmania, but I happened to stumble upon an awesome replica of my car made for the game! Looks like the ‘Forza Painter’s Pack’ I made got put to use!
Special thanks to user ‘nickrod808’ for taking the time to make the replica! It looks awesome!
Made a super-last-minute decision to make a pilgrimage to Englishtown for East Coast Bash.
The last time I was there was 4 years ago to shoot Slide America, and I didn’t have time to pull my car off the trailer to drive. With Will and Josh in attendance to shoot for Keep Drifting Fun… it seemed all-the-more fitting to get back there for some driving. I’ve been telling Petty I was coming back for 4 years… so it was time to make due on that.
We showed up around noon on Sunday. This track is so amazingly awesome that I was instantly bummed I wasn’t able to get there on Saturday. So many configurations… none-of-which are bad. I instantly felt at home on this track. The more I drove it, the better things felt. I had such a blast… and cannot thank Petty enough for having us up! Towards the end of the day I felt a weird vibration in the car, and decided to call it a day before I blew something up.
The next day we took the car to Roots Factory in Coatesville, PA to give it a once-over. I didn’t feel like cracking open the diff-carrier… but it seemed like something wasn’t quite working with the diff. It had more play than usual, and you could turn the wheels against themselves if you pulled hard enough. Byron noted that my car looked right at home at this shop.
My buddy Brad Hettinger had already basically stripped his down to a shell in less than a day’s time. We decided to take a funny picture for his build-thread..
The next day we saddled up, and drove about an hour and a half from Hater Dan’s house in Pennsylvania to a top-secret locale for an OG underground hoodrat sesh. What went down inside this warehouse was UN. REAL. Rob Fleming met us, as well as a few local rippers, for a crazy closed-door session that lasted several hours. UN. REAL. Will and Josh piloted the KDF van to the location to document things. They wound up with some of the craziest shots I have ever seen in drifting. MASSIVE thanks to Dan for hooking this insanity up. Keep an eye out for the Keep Drifting Fun DVD to peep what went down!
After that madness settled down, we headed back to Pennsylvania, only to re-pack and head back to Jersey for Gardella Racing’s ‘Throttle Thursday’… which brought out a bunch of FD pro-drivers… many of which (including myself for a li’l while) kicked around skateboards and braved the park on BMX bikes. This was my first time inside a skatepark since 1998… and I was REALLY scared! (more on that in a minute…) We all had a good time, including our jump-session in the foam pit (01:35 in).
The advent of the foam pit was definitely after ‘my time’ in skating. I had never been in one, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I will say this much – they aren’t exactly as soft as you think. Whatever you do… DO NOT open your mouth, or else you get tiny bits of gross sweaty foam in it. UGH. Once I got up on that railing to jump… it was a good bit higher than I originally thought. Either way, I had to get in on a front-flip to complete the night.
Next up was Formula Drift New Jersey. The folks at NOS Energy were awesome enough to let us spring an impromptu booth-space in front of their bunker so we could help sell Will and Josh’s tees. Josh looks asleep in this picture.
Tony brought by some of the new DA American Steel Tees that I designed. They turned out SICKKKKK. These are available in the Slide Style™ store now!.
Alex caught me red-handed in this photo. After my shattered collar-bone in September of 2007… I swore I would never step foot on a skateboard ever again. I was actually banned by friends and family. After nearly three years, I finally caved. I totally understand how people who try to quit smoking feel. For three years I’ve been getting the ‘urge’ to skate like a smoker’s spiral into a nicotine-fit. I have to say… it feels good to ride again – even if I am riding like an old man scared for his life..
A couple funny jump-shots that my buddy Larry Chen snapped while I was wearing Lihnberg’s wig. If you haven’t been to Larry’s site, DriftFotos – CHECK. IT. OUT. Dude is a madman behind the lens – an amazing photographer for SURE. Plus he likes jump shots, which is RAD.
After FD, we headed south to Baltimore to meet up with the Drift Alliance crew to go see Hall and Oates in concert.
I never thought I would go see Hall and Oates… but we had a blast. It’s so smooth! SO SMOOTH.
After Baltimore, we made a quick stop in Philadelphia to get some proper cheesesteaks & pretzels with Will, Josh, and Andy Laputka. On the way back to Atlanta we made a minor detour to Manhattan. After an all-night drive back down the East Coast, we made it back home. What an astounding trip, and an incredible few weeks up North.
SUPER HUGE THANKS to my buddy Dan Bailey for letting us crash at his place for so long, and for the amazing hospitality.
One thing I have always loved about motorsports is the paradigm of the sacrifices involved to conquer personal achievements along the way. One achievement that has eluded me for 6 years has been to successfully navigate the drift-course at Road Atlanta… specifically the entry into 10a, and linking the downhill section tracking out of the horseshoe back down to 10b (sans-manji).
Perched at the top of the hill talking to my buddy Joshua Herron… I couldn’t help but ponder all the years of bad luck, broken parts, STUPID limp-mode, ecu problems. I’ve basically been cursed. Seriously.
The duration of practice would unfold in much the same manner as the past… cursed. Even with a fully-functioning hydraulic e-brake – I still wasn’t acclimated to the point of total comfort. I even had another close call with a flat-spin in the narrow patch of grass between the track and the wall. My Yokohamas had SO much grip that they rocketed me right towards the wall. It scared me so bad I threw up in my mouth.When qualifying came around… we cranked the tyre pressures up around 60-65, and with some advice from Eugene, I came flying into 10a without my normal flick to set the car up. To my surprise… IT WORKED.
With the entry checked off my list, all I had to do was get the car back down the hill out of the horseshoe. My buddy Mike Peters had called me a week prior and given me some advice on my line to help me do this. To my surprise… IT ALSO WORKED.
Back down the hill I went, with just enough wheelspeed, momentum, and RPMs to get within reach of 10b. It would take a massive handful of that e-brake… but it would work.
To say that I was excited would be a MASSIVE understatement. Hell… Cloud-9 still doesn’t quite describe it. I had been fighting this track for 6 years… and with the help of all my friends, Matt Foerst, Kieran O’Brien, Eugene Chou and Mike Peters… I was able to finally break my Road Atlanta curse.
I ended up qualifying 8th, and was paired up with Jason Giovanni from Florida for top 16. On my lead-run… Jason straighted out, and on Jason’s lead-run… I straightened out. I think it should have gone OMT, but it didn’t – and Jason moved on. I was still so excited about my qualifying runs… that I didn’t even care that I got knocked out.
I don’t expect everyone to understand what a special moment this was for me. Tons of dudes rip this track every year with little trouble. I never thought this 3300lb car could get it’s 180 horses to push it through the track like this. I had it drilled into my own head that I couldn’t… and with the help of my friends… I did it.
I was able to hang out with all the DriftMechaniks/Team Rowdy dudes and just have a good time. These dudes are the best on the planet, and I dare anyone to attempt to prove otherwise.
This was a day I will NEVER forget.
EVER.
I had a great opportunity to design Ryan Tuerck’s hero card for Gardella Racing. In addition to the card, I was also tasked with redesigning the Gardella Racing logo. Overall I am pretty stoked with the result!
I would definitely love to wrench on more projects like these… so any of you FD teams in need… HOLLER.
A couple weeks back, my buddy Clint Davis gave me a shout about a feature he wanted to do for the Longshots section of Import Tuner. This section is normally reserved for automotive photography, but Clint wanted to switch things up a bit, and feature some video content.It is VERY flattering to be featured in a tuner magazine for my endeavors behind the keyboard instead of behind the wheel.
It is even more of an honor to be paired up on the same page with my ‘Keep Drifting Fun’ buddy, Will Roegge!This feature really turned out cool, and is available on newstands nationwide. Thanks Clint!!!
If you didn’t know… this Hobo ain’t your average hobo. He ith a cultivator of fine beards, exquisite cinematography, and wondrous colour grades. Joshua “Hobo” Herron just dropped his ’09 demo reel on the world… and no, he didn’t upload it from a freeway off-ramp holding a sign that says “Why lie? I need a beer”.Bask in the omnipresent talent exuded in this three-minute sampling of work. Then, when you are done… hire this man so I can enjoy more visuals of this caliber.
I just stumbled on this old Jtuned snap from FD Atlanta in 2005. This was a big day, as it was the first time I would qualify to drive in the professional arena – and what better place to do it, than on my home turf in front of friends and family. It is crazy to think how insanely stock the car was. It has come a LONG way since then. I suppose I have likely evolved as a driver as well.
This was a very memorable day for me. Drifting was fun, and still so pure. The professional element was all new and exciting.
Perched for attack.
Matt Foerst and Michael Sarol watching as someone hit the kitty litter.
Hanging out with Matt and my buddy Dennis Mertzanis.
Erin Sanford trying to diagnose fuse issues.
More diagnosing and attempted repair at the line.
