Formula D - Heading the Wrong Way?

[OH240SE]

Originally posted by Topics II
Ohh sorry for using the bandwith, let me fetch some of the real formula d drivers now.

Typing with this cynicism doesn't help bro, I was merely asking for driver's opinions. Good thing atleast one of you will say something, I'm waiting for the rest to chime in. Dont take it personally, i'm sure ur frustrated with everyone else on here.
Get the rest of ur driftalliance.com buddies to voice an opinion on this thread. Thats all we wanted, opinions of the actual drivers.

[Ghost of Duluth]

If you build a fanbase by adding crap like stupid celebs, useless fools who parade around and get fans by hurting themselves and wasted efforts at car shows, then that fanbase will ALWAYS expect that and you can never get away from it. Once a turd, always a turd. If you pile all of that into an event, then you aren't attracting a Drifting crowd, you are attracting a car show crowd, big boob crowd and a trouble making crowd. oh and

Will ryan dunn attract non drifting crowd, possibly sparking interest? yes. will they cause problems? probably. will slipstream have to pay for those problems caused by wanna be jackass fans? they are running the event , not you so probably

Mikespeed, are you serious with that post? You think slipstream is the only one that will pay for that? If you do then you are narrow minded. The whole sport will pay for that, for some fool and his cronie fans acting stupid. See, the regular people as you so like to quote, will not blame Slipstream for any stupidness, they will blame Drifting because it is Formula DRIFT not the Slipstream Cup that they see on the moniker. So they will read the paper or see the news and think Drifting is bad, not Slipstream. Also, correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the name Formula DRIFT? Not Formula car show, model strut and the Jackass showdown that one would be going to see.

As for R1chard, you are pretty interesting. Registered on a Drifting site just to cal everyone Dorks. Well that kind of makes you a Dork too eh? Yeap, would say so. So leave.

People, you cannot compare Drifting to the NBA, it's not that big. But in it's infancy, the NBA didn't have big booty shaking contests to gain popularity. Nascar didn't have Rump dances to promote it's sport. Also if you go see WRC, but you catch some of the other races, you aren't deviating from anything because you are still watching RALLYE goofball. You aren't going to a Rallye event to watch scantily clad women do the butt dance or get your Lowrider truck dynod, you go there to watch Rallye and regardless of class, you are watching Rallye. So that arguement is just plain retarded. It's funny how no one can come up with a valid arguement but sinks to personal attacks. King R1chard had to insult the entire Drifting culture to try and get his point across, so we have moved away from personal attacks to entire culture attacks. Where are they going from here? Who knows. I'm sure it will get better. As for him getting his Drift Alliance buddies to come here, don't bother. Get Ryan or Alex to post, neither of them seem prone to rapid outburst flowered with personal insults.

Bottom line is this, a Drifting event should be Drifting. If you don't like it, don't go see it. If you want Car Shows, go to a car show, if you want big butted women, go to the strip joint, you can see more there anyways. Yea it might get a bigger fan base faster if all thats there but who cares, who needs it. Oh yea, forgot, the money hungry people who don't even Drift need all those people there. Funny how alot of you are defending someone and people, who don't even do your sport and would rather see it bastardized to make them a proifit but you will never see a dime. You aren't even classified as a sellout cause you won't even get paid. They love you guys because you are the best type of Prostitute, the free one.

[OH240SE]

HERE HERE!

[nissanguy_24]

Man what to say on this.. Ghost, Fient, WeaponX, Justin, and many more have already made such good arguements

It seems the only counter arguement to this is "Drifting will make more money with this stuff and money is good.... for drifting" Well that or some kind of personal attack.

Let me ask you guys something, we all know drifting isnt known by the vast majority of americans and understood by even few... but honestly does it need to be? Im sure theres susy q homemaker somewhere that couldnt describe a hockey game to you... So does hockey put on a vacuum cleaner show or something to attract her? no not really they just put on hockey shows, maybe she will see one on tv and get interested.

Drifting is drifting, if you dont belive drifting can be successful on its own then it will never be successful. We can not change what drifting is. IM sorry to tell you guys this but if someone doesnt think cars sliding around is cool then we do not need them at a drift event and they will never be into drifting. Thats just a fact of life.

If you turn drifting into the lowest common denometer it will suck. And most importantly it will not be drifting.. if its not drifting then whats the point? if you think hot import nights, i mean really think HIN will be more successful then a straight drift even then hold both. Well then again you guys are buddy buddy right? so i assume you do hold both.

I chuckled at the bit earlier about the drift life style being abunch of us sitting around watching videos then going and driving. Its great because its so true. THis lower common demonentator crap is awful, The general import scene has already been painted this way. Oh i like late model import cars so i also must like hip hop and degrading women and flashy lights, oh and neon and show cars and talk like im a wanna be 'gangsta' this stigma is already on the imported car scene.

Not only is that untrue how it is, Many many people like different types of music and styles, but in the drifting scene its even more different. You think the guys drifting domestics are going to be into that? You think the guys drifting Nissans are going to be into that?

The answer is the same for both questions, that answer is this, "There may be some but most will be into all kinds of different things" Honestly and by doing this your turning off the only other demographic we want respect from, the long running hot rod and domestic scene. Honestly if you showed them what drifting was like they would enjoy it, I think slipstream has failed to do that. Instead we get models and car shows and DJs.

And the jackass guy is the absolute worst thing to happen to drifting ever, we already have this false image (of no fault of slipstream and vision im sure) that we are immature and wreckless. So we will counter that image by having a guy who makes money off doing wreckless things and hurting him self there.

doesnt make alot of sense.

With all that said i have to say to my fellow posters i am really proud of not only the unity you guys show but also maturity. We have people here repersenting the series who are way less maturity then this forum's "bunch of kids who whish they could drift" You guys have done good, The more you keep it civil and they dont then the more it hurts the.

[AlexPfeiffer]

I dont even want to post. I'm sure its going to start more flaming. I mean come on. I just read threw this whole thing and you guys are ruining this forum. You say you want to hear what the drivers have to say but then everyone that does drive gets flamed on. How does that work? Makes you all look like idiots expecially when there are the same 5,6 people posting over and over again. And most of the time its just to argue the same thing. This post started yesterday and is 8 pages long already? WTF, at least wait a day to post on the same subject again. Stop getting so worked up about something you have no control over.

I'll post my feelings on the subject if you guys shut up and stop drowning the posts.

[Feint]

Originally posted by AlexPfeiffer
I dont even want to post. I'm sure its going to start more flaming. I mean come on. I just read threw this whole thing and you guys are ruining this forum. You say you want to hear what the drivers have to say but then everyone that does drive gets flamed on. How does that work? Makes you all look like idiots expecially when there are the same 5,6 people posting over and over again. And most of the time its just to argue the same thing. This post started yesterday and is 8 pages long already? WTF, at least wait a day to post on the same subject again. Stop getting so worked up about something you have no control over.

I'll post my feelings on the subject if you guys shut up and stop drowning the posts.

No offense,but one of the drivers started attacking people that didn't even attack him.I don't care who you are,you don't take it out on other people.Responsibilities come with being a driver and having sponsors,they should be excersied.

[AlexPfeiffer]

Go read again, how bout Ali?

[Feint]

Weapon X
Originally posted by Weapon X
No thanks, it's the sound of the cars sliding that keeps me excited, why should those two idiots be there?

Topics II
Well not all people are excited about the cars sliding... and those guys are 10 times cooler than your sister.

Topics II
Ohh sorry for using the bandwith, let me fetch some of the real formula d drivers now.

Maybe I'm failing to read these quotes properly.But in my eyes that just reinforces what I stated previously.Even though a lot of us disagree with Ali,at least he didn't bash anyone else,especialy people that didn't attack him.

[pita bread]

several posts will be removed if this thread continues to go off topic

[AlexPfeiffer]

My point was that there are only a couple recogiseable drivers posting there opinions and you guys give them crap about it.

It seems like you guys just need to argue over something. The topic doesnt matter. But everytime one of these posts start on this board, it goes on and on and on with the same things writen over and over again from the same people. And when you do have a new voice come in, the heat gets turned on and the flames start burning.

I dont think you people on this message board realize that your just making yourselves look bad and loose respect from us drivers or industry people that have an opertunity to help you out and give back to the comunity. After reading this post, even though i agree with alot of your aguements, i dont want to help any of the people on this message board out. You have lost respect in my eyes for the way you portray yourselves.

[nissanguy_24]

Originally posted by AlexPfeiffer
You have lost respect in my eyes for the way you portray yourselves.

We feel the same way about alot of the Formula D drivers. The fact is opinions are always respected on here, Childish attacks are not.

It seems to be the only thing we have done to warrant these attacks is dare to dissagree with the current drifting dynasty.

Professional drifting will continue to loose its soul in america if it continues down this path if insulting its true fans and pursueing fans who like flashing lights and models. We only comment on it because we care.

Your right we dont have any control over it, aparently formula D doesnt care enough about its fans to give us any control over it. However we will never be silenced and we will continue to voice our opinions on it wether it pleases you or not. Because in the absence of control we still have our voice. And we will use it over and over and over again. If that means we loose credibility in your eyes, well i think i can get to sleep tonight anyways.

And we are making our selfs look bad? once again i think ill live if you dont like it. However you on the hand looked very very bad until administration deleted a few of the last post.

If you dont like the forum then you are welcome to leave, honestly no one here is twisting your arms to get you to post. We often enjoy your comments but if we have to then we will do with out. But you need to realize something, there is a difference between "flamming" which i would define as childish insults and goofy message board pictures and a honest debate. If the so called "new voices" cant hold up there end of a debate then that is simply there problem. Not us being mean or hard on them. you mentioned Ali earleir. no one attacked his post, he was honest and mature, some dissagreed with it, but thats what having an open exchange of ideas means.

[Formula D]

OK guys, I guess it is time for an "official response". I know it can be hard to see things from the inside out as you guys go through your daily lives enjoying, doing what you do and seeing what is out there as far as drifting content. We had reservations about promoting some of the things you see out there on some of our flyers and this is actually the first time this season we have gone outside of our general motif. Our promotion and series has always been about developing our commited drivers and continuing to bring drifting to new places in the states as much as we can afford to and to do it properly. Lets establish a few facts real quick. Slipstream is a company that is owned by two guys and we have a very small base of employees. We are a small company and we work our asses off everyday and weekend to do this. This is what we love. The little we take in goes right back into the series. We have not corporate funding and are not owned by any major company. Yes we did bring in the first D1 and it was something we are very proud of. Now let me tell you that Sunpros did nothing but provide the name which quite honestly was nothing that it was after August 29th. We did most everything from top to bottom. We announced D1 at SEMA a year prior and you know how many people came to the press conference? Maybe 10. The majority of the questions were negative ones like, "Are you concerned that this will fail because the industry is so FF based?" Etc etc. We did not care. We knew this could succeed. We spent a year pushing D1 everywhere and with everything we had and when the day came it was a great event. You know what is funny is that Bucky was at D1 and so was Ryan but most you guys don't know that. I wont go into it but when we got the amount of sponsorship that we did and the event was sold out do you think Sunpros re-up'd with us again the following year? No. Why you ask? Think about that for a second. Now we are not trying to compare ourselves with D1. We don't want to be anything like the model they have. Just not our plan. Yes D1 had two succesful events, one of which we did. Both were in CA the captial of drift and both were in the same venue and the last one in my opinion was running off momentum from the previous August D1. And for their other events? Yes, other events like the one in Miami and the Candian one. One of them was very poorly attended and the other cancelled. I bet most of you did not even know they occured. Ya they were driver search events. I acknowledge that. Anyways, so we started FD. And you know what we have been blessed with 3 awesome events. Each growing with attendance after another. For a first year series with no "Super Star D1 drivers" going to places that barely even know what D1 is for that matter I think that is saying quite a bit. We wanted to build an American championship for the guys we are betting on. Guys like Alex, Andy, Chris, Tony, Vaughn, Gush, Forsberg, Sam, Rhys, Dai, Hiro, Vaughn, Calvin or anyone for that matter even D1 drivers after this year maybe. I would do anything for these guys (personally or professionally) We really truly believe these guys are the future of this sport and if you could see the level of progression from event to event you would agree. Anyone of them or anyone that wanted to enter our series could call this office today and make a recommendation or ask a favor and we would listen. It would be selfish of us to make these guys travel from city to city to be watch by a few hundred people. How does that help them at all? All these guys are so passionate about drifting if they could they would quit everything they are doing and just drive. Most of them can't do that and so they continue on driving when they can. I want our events to be a platform to help these drivers and anyone that is commited to be able to drift more and work less. Take drifting skill to that next level. For our finale have we gone outside out regular promotion to hopefully kick some *Censored**Censored**Censored* and bring these guys in front of a few more fans, hell ya we have. It would be selfish of us to think that the X amount of orignal fans are the only ones that should be allowed to watch drifting. It's all the same argument that has been played to death on this board. The fact remains the same that we have always put drifting, drivers and fans first in our series. We are not out spending time selling merchandise or making DVD's and not paying our drivers any royalties. We are out putting on events, trying to get more people to know all of the guys I listed above. Drifting has always been priority number 1. It will remain priority number one whether or not a few of you don't understand the full play and the entire scheme of things that is ok by me. Having Bucky Lasek or Ryan Dunn or some chick DJ's does not taint drifting. Those promos were not even promotions that we were sending out to our core market. Those were speciailaty promotions we were doing to hopefully get more people aware of this final event. Do you guys not tell people about drifting because they are not cool enough to know or that they will wreck drifting by attending an event? I would never deny anyone what I have experienced from drifting just because they drive an Acura or wear Billibong clothing. Our series is not changing, we are just doing more to bring more to everyone. Things like bringing in a radar gun on a jumbotron to calculate the speed of the drift entry, etc (This will be at Irwindale FYI) to helping drivers with travel expenses and other items. If you guys even knew the uphill battle we faced this year and the *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* we have had to go through to even make it to this point.....

Ok , i'm out of breath.....

[Feint]

Originally posted by AlexPfeiffer
My point was that there are only a couple recogiseable drivers posting there opinions and you guys give them crap about it.

It seems like you guys just need to argue over something. The topic doesnt matter. But everytime one of these posts start on this board, it goes on and on and on with the same things writen over and over again from the same people. And when you do have a new voice come in, the heat gets turned on and the flames start burning.

I dont think you people on this message board realize that your just making yourselves look bad and loose respect from us drivers or industry people that have an opertunity to help you out and give back to the comunity. After reading this post, even though i agree with alot of your aguements, i dont want to help any of the people on this message board out. You have lost respect in my eyes for the way you portray yourselves.

It's mutual.You don't know how much respect I had for Chris,I've been supporting the guy's efforts even before he was a name around here.I was excited to see him get picked up by Signal,I was glad a guy like him was able to get recognized by one of the most reknowed tuning shops in Japan.Signal doesn't just point their finger at anybody,so when they chose Chris,I couldn't agree more with it.Hell,I remember hoping to see him at a local Signal event (before he left).I looked up to Chris.You know why? Because he came off as a regular guy with a love for drifting.He was just one of us who got the chance to really take off,and was even noticed by some big names in Japan (which is really the guys to impress).He seemed like a guy you could approach and respect,because he's just like anyone else here.

I never personally attacked him,but the influence of sponsors is painfully obvious.If you don't return the favor and keep them pleased,you don't have them...period....That puts limits on what can be said without damagining those relationships,making this obvious was taken as offensive.I went head first into a touchy subject,that can be understandable.But the attack on other fans,that's not right.I've lost respect because of that.I'm sorry.but the Japanese drivers aren't attacking their fans,and the majority of American drivers aren't eitheir.

After reading this post, even though i agree with alot of your aguements, i dont want to help any of the people on this message board out. You have lost respect in my eyes for the way you portray yourselves.

I'm certaintly not sitting here with my hands out begging,I have morals.Your choice to be the professional and look past your differences with others,put them aside,and try and be a leader.Or just completely retract and forget about everyone else who's trying to get to where you are.

I'm sure the majority would be grateful to recieve any help from a professional,but I'm definitly not begging for it.I can live without it.It's not the end all be all.But I admit,you've probably taken the most time out of all of the American drivers to respond and listen to us,we're thankful for that.

['97 S14 SE Turb]

One big issue I see from the regulars here is that they expect the drivers to like all the fans.

The fact is, the drivers are still the same guy from couple of years ago. They owe it to their own skills and dedication to get where they are at.

They don't owe the fans anything. It seems like people on this forum expect something from the drivers. That's stupid...

You guys (fans) didn't get them where they are at currently. This is not American Idol, where the fans vote to place them. No, this is a driver skill demonstrated sport. Fan popularity doesn't do that much.

[Feint]

Originally posted by Formula D
. And for their other events? Yes, other events like the one in Miami and the Candian one. One of them was very poorly attended and the other cancelled. I bet most of you did not even know they occured. Ya they were driver search events. I acknowledge that. Anyways, so we started FD. And you

Ironicly,I'm quite familiar with them.The first event was at the homestead in Miam,while the Toronto event held registration on June 6th while DriftXtreme and Signal Auto performed demo's at Mosport International raceway,hosted by Driftnation.The judges for the Toronto event were to be ドリキン and ノムケン.Due to lack of sign ups,they canceled round 2 and decide to run a Driftbattle 1 event,where Moto P and Ryan Hampton were to be driving instructors.Also due to raised insurance costs and lack of sign ups,that was also cancelled.

Not all of us just follow the big name events.