(This WEEKEND) Champ Car to Feature top FD drivers in Demo

[Formula D]

DRIFTING EXHIBITION ADDED TO BRIDGESTONE GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY
Professional Competitors from Formula Drift Championship Staging
Crowd-Pleasing Exhibition on Saturday and Sunday

MONTEREY, Calif. (Sept. 8, 2004) - Following a successful debut at last
May's Road & Track U.S. Sports Car Invitational, some of the top competitors
in the fastest growing form of motorsport - drifting - will be putting on an
exhibition for fans attending this weekend's Bridgestone Grand Prix of
Monterey at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Seven drivers, all of them competitors in this year's inaugural Formula
Drift professional championship, will be putting on half-hour demonstrations
for fans at the end of the day on Saturday (5:30 p.m.) and Sunday (4:15
p.m.). The drifting exhibition is sponsored by Racing Revolution Synthetic
Oil

The sport of drifting began around the mid-1960s on windy, mountain roads in
the Nagano area of Japan. Today's version of the sport involves drivers
intentionally and skillfully putting their cars into a controlled slide (or
drift) at high speed through a marked course.

Following is a list of the drivers participating in the demonstration:

Tony Angelo, Long Beach, Calif.
Endless/Vivid Racing/Rockford Fosgate Nissan 350Z
East Coast King of Drifting moved to Long Beach to be near the center of the
sport

Chris Forsberg, Long Beach, Calif.
Motorex/DRFT/Yokohama Nissan 350Z
Finished 3rd in inaugural Formula Drift Championship

Vaughn Gittin Jr., Glen Burnie, Md.
Falken Nissan 240SX Coupe
Voted one of the most exciting drivers in Formula Drift, finished 9th in
final standings

Ken Gushi, City of Industry
Gushi Auto/Rotora/Yokohama Nissan 240SX Coupe
17-year-old winner of the $10,000 winner-take-all Road & Track U.S. Sports
Car Invitational at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May.

Alex Pfieffer, Walnut, Calif
R-SR/Yokohama Honda S2000
Finished 3rd in Formula Drift season finale in Irwindale, ending the season
10th in championship

Calvin Wan, San Francisco, Calif.
Falken/Discount Tire Nissan 240SX Hatchback
Voted Most Improved Driver and finished fourth in Formula Drift Championship

Andy Yen, Temple City, Calif.
Autolink/Yokohama Nissan 240SX Hatchback
One of the most popular drivers in Formula Drift, he finished 13th in the
inaugural championship

Daijiro Yoshihara, Japan
Pacific Rim Apparel/Yokohama Nissan 240SX Coupe
Finished 2nd in the inaugural Formula Drift Championship

More information on this weekend's Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey is
available online at www.laguna-seca.com. More information on the Formula
Drift Championship is available online at www.formuladrift.com.

[Octagon]

Now is not the time for Formula Drift to ally itself with a dead-issue series like CART Champ Car. This won't bring any exposure to the series worth having.

It would be far better to capitalize on the Speed World Challenge's open arms or even a Grand-Am/NASCAR road course alliance (the number of people at Watkins Glen or Sears Point for those races dwarfs any CART crowd) as opposed to becoming one more sideshow for Paul *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored*ing Gentilozzi.

[Formula D]

We already work and have done stuff with World Challenge and we hope to continue that. One thing to think about is that those races you mentioned don't compare to the numbers of the LBGP or other similar races. Not to mention the exposure the network of Spike potentially brings. Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. Our boys just want to get out and continue to drive. This is a great opportunity for them to drive on a world class track

[my 1 88 u]

will it be aired on tv?

[Formula D]

Wish I could tell you but I don't know yet.
R

[raemi]

thats awesome. too bad i wont be till late next week...

[tululu]

how come no hachi's were invited for this weekend's demo?
just thought more variety the better........

[NismoSigma]

Originally posted by Octagon
Now is not the time for Formula Drift to ally itself with a dead-issue series like CART Champ Car. This won't bring any exposure to the series worth having.

It would be far better to capitalize on the Speed World Challenge's open arms or even a Grand-Am/NASCAR road course alliance (the number of people at Watkins Glen or Sears Point for those races dwarfs any CART crowd) as opposed to becoming one more sideshow for Paul *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored*ing Gentilozzi.

WTF? Champ car owns, its like american F1, without the speed or the notable drivers and teams. BLASPHEMY!

[TwistedByDesign]

^^^true, but Champcar is in heavy decline the last 8 years and it is now looking like they are on the upswing with business. The poor thing is the tv ractings, the good things is the crowds that show up for the races. I think it is a wise move.

[Octagon]

Champ Car is the world's fastest spec series. Plain and simple. One engine, one tire, one chassis (unless you count the no-longer in production Reynards that occasionally show up). It's spec and it's ridiculous.

It's also become a dead end for American up-and-comers in open wheel (you think A.J Allemendinger or Townsend Bell will end up in F1?). It BETRAYED it's roots in the short tracks that spawned it, having abandoned the drivers it once served.

Naturally, you guys probably can't recall greats like Tom Sneva and Gordon Johncock. These were the men of Indy, the greats who started out in sprints and modifieds, then went on to win at the biggest spectacle in racing, world conquering heroes who raced with the likes of Andretti, Foyt, Fittipaldi, and Rahal.

But CART distanced itself from USAC. CART forgot the youths who were still racing in the very fields around Indianapolis. If CART had stayed true to Indy's roots, men like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Timmy Richmond, Kenny Irwin, and many MANY others would have pursued every open wheel driver's greatest dream - winning the Indy 500.

In chasing away the sprints, Silver Crown, modifieds, midgets, and other such cars, CART told its fanbase - the very people who live in the shadow of Indy - that it no longer wanted them there. It started feeding on F1 leftovers like Teo Fabi and Nigel Mansell, sending our boys to race (and get killed in - in the case of Tony Roper and Kenny Irwin) NASCAR stock cars.

Since then, CART has gone into receivership TWICE, has lost three directors/CEO's, has been removed from the NYSE, and is now run by a backmarker team owner who did not even compete until two years ago (Paul Gentilozzi) and a bigmouthed arrogant promoter who has no previous ties to racing (Kevin Kahlkoven).

CART is a waste of time, a waste of space, and a waste of funds. A top CART team is enough wasted funding and sponsorship to run four Speed World Challenge teams, one two car ALMS LMP team, one three car Grand Am DP team, or god knows how many Formula Drift teams.

CART is not in an upswing. Car counts are dangerously low, there are only two drivers with any reasonable expectation of victory (Paul Tracy of Forsythe Racing and Sebastien Bourdais of Newman/Haas), no new teams are on deck, no new sponsors are coming, no drivers beyond Toyota Atlantic, no new engine or chassis suppliers (and Lola is talking about scrapping their CART chassis to better produce their new LMP1 and LMP2 chassis) and no new race dates.

Again, CART is a dead issue. With the IRL set to go road racing next year (St. Petersburg, Watkins Glen, and Sears Point/Infineon) the remaining CART midpack teams (and more importantly, CART midpack sponsors) will see even less of a reason to stay in the series.

And don't even get me started on how much Gentilozzi and Kahlkoven have screwed over the Trans-Am.

[TwistedByDesign]

^^^wow, youre pretty knowledgable, do you post of trackforum?

[Octagon]

I'm new to this site, actually, but I'm one of the moderators over at Automotive Forums. I'm pretty much their resident short track expert (Dad and I had a column in RPM Racing news out of Latrobe, Penn that covered the midwest pavement weekly stuff) and have been around racing since Dad first took me to the now defunct Cloverleaf Speedway when I was 14 months old.

I like to consider myself a combination historian/technician/driver. In that respective order. Work on 'em for a living, read up on them for fun, and drive 'em for lots of fun.