Tweet
So yesterday (Saturday the 14th) my fiancé Ashley and I took off for what ended up being a fun day in Long Beach. I wasn't feeling it too much though, that morning, as we were driving down the 405, I didn't have anything really planned for coverage, had one too many the night before, and wasn't looking forward to having to get my credentials at the Hilton which was about a mile from the track, did I say it was early? After getting our passes we embarked on another journey which I like to call "how to get screwed the least", it involves zigzagging your way through the streets of Long Beach in an attempt to find the cheapest expensive parking. We finally found parking for 10 bucks at 24 hour fitness which didn’t end up being that far from the Hilton that we started out at. The walk from the parking lot was fine, it was the inebriated walk back that sucked (I'll get to that).
So we finally make it to one of the gates, the weather was temperamental as the sun would make you take off layers while the slightest cloud cover would make you put them back on, and in the background was the rhythmic whine of steady up and downshifting of the Atlantic Champ Car series cars qualifying. I approach the gate, hand the bag checker my pack and she has me open the main pocket, she laughs when she sees the sum of my professional equipment consists of a Sony Mini-DV Handycam and charger (it might be small but it gets the job done, ya know? ya know?). Once in, me and Ash go around the perimeter of the track seeing the cars in action, let me tell you, the speed as to which these cars accelerate and decelerate is astounding and no matter how many times I have seen it, it's hard not to be hypnotized by the precision driving of these seasoned pilots. After the Atlantic cars qualified we bee lined our way straight to the nearest beer dispensary and spent half my paycheck on 2 beers...it's gotta be illegal to charge 9 dollars a piece for a cup of anything, but we got em and a few times after that as well.
Making our way to the convention center, I see Alex Pfieffer with his girlfriend sitting outside the main vehicle entrance of the center hanging out with some friends, I walk over, introduce Ash, and exchange hellos, Alex admires our beers and we say goodbye for the time being.
Walking in there's a half pipe demo going on with Dave Mirra and some other pro BMX’ers and vert skaters (Dave Mirra, Alex told me, won the celebrity exhibition race earlier that day). Moving along I see what I was there for all along, the drift cars, they were lined up in opposite facing rows and had tons of spectators admiring them. The first car I spot is Chris Kregorians, the Ninja Turtle green and orange 350Z with a little Ninja Turtle character attached to a toy green connecting rod sticking out of the hood (unfortunately the connecting rod sticking out of the hood foreshadowed some bad luck to follow). I see the drivers were all doing autograph signings and JR as usual was being fun and animated. I walked on and figured it was as good a time as any to start taping, so I videotaped most of the cars, got a few quick interviews and some candid moments with Taka Hiro and Yoshi's mechanic and personal friend Owen Orrego, Chris K, Samuel Hubinette, Jim and Ryan from Formula D, as well as a quick clip of Ross Petty who to my surprise was driving his old red tribal print FD (you might remember got him to the top 16 in the Fontana D1 event a few years back). Another surprise was that JR was there not in his works Mustang but his old school 240sx coupe that started the dream so many years ago, just to be sure I yell “JR, is that your OG 240?” “Yeah man, that’s it”, done deal, he keeps it real. Additionally I’d say if you haven’t checked out Chris Forsberg’s 350 up close and personal, you should, just for how bling it looks, there are more sparkles on that car than there are stars in the sky, makes you realize drifting is definitely a labor of love especially when at any time something can go wrong sending you and your car, with the pimp paint, into the wall. The drivers participating in the demo were the usual suspects, and some unusual ones who hadn't participated the year before, this is good, as it means a lot of the levels of newer drivers are increasing, which in turn means the sport, as a whole, keeps getting bigger and better.
The format of the exhibition was interesting, Formula D did a team drift exhibition, 3 cars comprised each team and each team was given a color. This was all complimented by a voting system to where the spectators could text in who their favorites were and I suppose determine the winning team. I however did not care too much about finding out who won as I was more interested in having fun with my coverage.
Suddenly it's a few minutes to show time and the cars are pushed out of the convention center and staged in preparation for the demo. I got video of the staging and of each of the teams with some likely inaudible commentary by yours truly. Once the event started it was not to the track we all looked on to, but away from the track with our heads crooked up at a 45 degree angle watching the large Jumbotron monitor that loomed overhead. And yeah, I got some ghetto bootlegger style footage of the drivers that I taped off of the Jumbotron. As I said earlier, Chris K met with some problems and pitted in after a lap or 2 with some unknown break in the motor and Taka Aono also came in due to some worn belts which had come loose and ended his day. From what I could see there was a great reception to the action on behalf of the crowd, and the drifters as usual put on a great show. I'll have the video clip up as soon as I get around to editing the hours worth of footage into 10 minutes for you all.
After the drift exhibition, me and Ash who were now joined by our friend Stephanie left the event and headed up Pine street where we found this great Spanish food restaurant called "Alegrias", though I felt the portions were tiny, the food was excellent and I recommend their Paella Oceano (a mix of Spanish rice, and an assortment of various seafood), also, I highly recommend their Cadillac Margaritas not so much for taste, though it wasn’t bad, but for sheer heavy handed strength. After lunch we made our way back to the event to find that the doors had already been closed and an ornery security guard (there were a lot of those) who didn’t care that I had a press pass and politely told me to get the hell away from the door. I did the next best thing, I walked around the side and we all snuck in.
Back inside I met up with Owen and being led by his buddy and now my buddy Edo (sp? sorry) found ourselves at the Sam's Auto Body after party, there was more beer, (the good kind, the free kind) and some great food which made me feel sad I already ate as it consisted of pita bread, beef and chicken kabob and other cultural dishes from I am guessing the Armenian side of things. There was also a live band of friendly musicians who complimented the overall laid back and positive atmosphere of the party. We made our way to the back, got a couple beers, and met up with some of the boys from earlier who consisted of Ross Petty, Alex Pfieffer, JR Gittin, Tony Angelo, the birthday boy Ryan Tuerck, Chris Forsberg, and Chris Kregorian. Everyone from earlier seemed to be there and conversation was casual and easy going. I never had a chance to just chill with some of the guys off track and it was a good time to see how down to earth everyone was and that the obnoxious plight of ego hadn't infiltrated it's way into this crew.
So in all, though it started in a funk, my day ended on a positive tip, the action was loud and exciting, the company was great, and it was awesome to spend the day and share this part of my life with someone I love. Now if I could only get rid of this hangover...
So we finally make it to one of the gates, the weather was temperamental as the sun would make you take off layers while the slightest cloud cover would make you put them back on, and in the background was the rhythmic whine of steady up and downshifting of the Atlantic Champ Car series cars qualifying. I approach the gate, hand the bag checker my pack and she has me open the main pocket, she laughs when she sees the sum of my professional equipment consists of a Sony Mini-DV Handycam and charger (it might be small but it gets the job done, ya know? ya know?). Once in, me and Ash go around the perimeter of the track seeing the cars in action, let me tell you, the speed as to which these cars accelerate and decelerate is astounding and no matter how many times I have seen it, it's hard not to be hypnotized by the precision driving of these seasoned pilots. After the Atlantic cars qualified we bee lined our way straight to the nearest beer dispensary and spent half my paycheck on 2 beers...it's gotta be illegal to charge 9 dollars a piece for a cup of anything, but we got em and a few times after that as well.
Making our way to the convention center, I see Alex Pfieffer with his girlfriend sitting outside the main vehicle entrance of the center hanging out with some friends, I walk over, introduce Ash, and exchange hellos, Alex admires our beers and we say goodbye for the time being.
Walking in there's a half pipe demo going on with Dave Mirra and some other pro BMX’ers and vert skaters (Dave Mirra, Alex told me, won the celebrity exhibition race earlier that day). Moving along I see what I was there for all along, the drift cars, they were lined up in opposite facing rows and had tons of spectators admiring them. The first car I spot is Chris Kregorians, the Ninja Turtle green and orange 350Z with a little Ninja Turtle character attached to a toy green connecting rod sticking out of the hood (unfortunately the connecting rod sticking out of the hood foreshadowed some bad luck to follow). I see the drivers were all doing autograph signings and JR as usual was being fun and animated. I walked on and figured it was as good a time as any to start taping, so I videotaped most of the cars, got a few quick interviews and some candid moments with Taka Hiro and Yoshi's mechanic and personal friend Owen Orrego, Chris K, Samuel Hubinette, Jim and Ryan from Formula D, as well as a quick clip of Ross Petty who to my surprise was driving his old red tribal print FD (you might remember got him to the top 16 in the Fontana D1 event a few years back). Another surprise was that JR was there not in his works Mustang but his old school 240sx coupe that started the dream so many years ago, just to be sure I yell “JR, is that your OG 240?” “Yeah man, that’s it”, done deal, he keeps it real. Additionally I’d say if you haven’t checked out Chris Forsberg’s 350 up close and personal, you should, just for how bling it looks, there are more sparkles on that car than there are stars in the sky, makes you realize drifting is definitely a labor of love especially when at any time something can go wrong sending you and your car, with the pimp paint, into the wall. The drivers participating in the demo were the usual suspects, and some unusual ones who hadn't participated the year before, this is good, as it means a lot of the levels of newer drivers are increasing, which in turn means the sport, as a whole, keeps getting bigger and better.
The format of the exhibition was interesting, Formula D did a team drift exhibition, 3 cars comprised each team and each team was given a color. This was all complimented by a voting system to where the spectators could text in who their favorites were and I suppose determine the winning team. I however did not care too much about finding out who won as I was more interested in having fun with my coverage.
Suddenly it's a few minutes to show time and the cars are pushed out of the convention center and staged in preparation for the demo. I got video of the staging and of each of the teams with some likely inaudible commentary by yours truly. Once the event started it was not to the track we all looked on to, but away from the track with our heads crooked up at a 45 degree angle watching the large Jumbotron monitor that loomed overhead. And yeah, I got some ghetto bootlegger style footage of the drivers that I taped off of the Jumbotron. As I said earlier, Chris K met with some problems and pitted in after a lap or 2 with some unknown break in the motor and Taka Aono also came in due to some worn belts which had come loose and ended his day. From what I could see there was a great reception to the action on behalf of the crowd, and the drifters as usual put on a great show. I'll have the video clip up as soon as I get around to editing the hours worth of footage into 10 minutes for you all.
After the drift exhibition, me and Ash who were now joined by our friend Stephanie left the event and headed up Pine street where we found this great Spanish food restaurant called "Alegrias", though I felt the portions were tiny, the food was excellent and I recommend their Paella Oceano (a mix of Spanish rice, and an assortment of various seafood), also, I highly recommend their Cadillac Margaritas not so much for taste, though it wasn’t bad, but for sheer heavy handed strength. After lunch we made our way back to the event to find that the doors had already been closed and an ornery security guard (there were a lot of those) who didn’t care that I had a press pass and politely told me to get the hell away from the door. I did the next best thing, I walked around the side and we all snuck in.
Back inside I met up with Owen and being led by his buddy and now my buddy Edo (sp? sorry) found ourselves at the Sam's Auto Body after party, there was more beer, (the good kind, the free kind) and some great food which made me feel sad I already ate as it consisted of pita bread, beef and chicken kabob and other cultural dishes from I am guessing the Armenian side of things. There was also a live band of friendly musicians who complimented the overall laid back and positive atmosphere of the party. We made our way to the back, got a couple beers, and met up with some of the boys from earlier who consisted of Ross Petty, Alex Pfieffer, JR Gittin, Tony Angelo, the birthday boy Ryan Tuerck, Chris Forsberg, and Chris Kregorian. Everyone from earlier seemed to be there and conversation was casual and easy going. I never had a chance to just chill with some of the guys off track and it was a good time to see how down to earth everyone was and that the obnoxious plight of ego hadn't infiltrated it's way into this crew.
So in all, though it started in a funk, my day ended on a positive tip, the action was loud and exciting, the company was great, and it was awesome to spend the day and share this part of my life with someone I love. Now if I could only get rid of this hangover...