Inside Formula D: From the Beginning

October 7, 2013
Story By
Kristin Cline

In the early 2000’s drifting was relatively unknown in America, where slammed Honda Civics with huge wings and body kits roamed the streets. The US was slowly gaining drifting exposure though Japanese magazines such as Option and Carboy, along with the Video Option series being circulated amongst import car enthusiasts. Meanwhile, across the Pacific, drifting had already become part of popular Japanese culture and had its own professional series, the D1 Grand Prix.

Back in America, Jim Liaw was building a career in the aftermarket industry. After graduating from college he landed a job with Source Interlink, then IDRC, and then moved to Hot Import Nights where he worked to bring more on-track type content to their show car enthusiasts. Liaw had noticed a disconnect between race-inspired show cars and actual race cars – with show car styles being taken from racing, yet the owners had never been to an actual race track. At the same time, aftermarket companies would buy a booth at a show with no idea on how to present themselves. “For example, Honda was doing so well in open wheel racing and you’ve got all these young guys driving Hondas…but you never attempted to make that bridge to connect the two. If you could connect the two, you could have a life-long customer” said Liaw. With that in mind, Liaw, along with partner, Ryan Sage formed Slipstream Media, a marketing and consulting agency dealing primarily with the Japanese automotive aftermarket.

Photo courtesy of Slide Squad Around this time, D1 thought a US exhibition would make a good publicity stunt. Professional drifting had never taken place on US soil. Getting in contact with Liaw and Sage, they had a conversation and it was decided that Slipstream Media would be the US partner for D1’s event. Liaw and Sage spent nine months, promoting, pushing and educating drifting in preparation for D1GP exhibition at Irwindale Speedway.

August 2003, D1 made its US debut in front of a sellout crowd of 10,000 attendees. The event caused traffic on the street outside the race track; they were running out of parking space and didn’t have enough staff in the ticketing office. Friends who were coming to watch got pulled in and put to work. Liaw says that it quickly went from “Oh man, are people showing up?” to “Oh dang, I didn’t know this many people were going to show up…”

D1 coming to the US proved to be “total culture shock”…Japanese drivers that don’t speak English with cars the crowds had never seen in person before. However, “the minute that the cars got sideways, doing donuts…and it was the first time that I ever saw the bank being drifted on…it was like all the sudden, all cultural boundaries are down. Everybody in the stands loved it.” says Liaw, looking back on that day in August.

Despite the events success, D1 officials had no plans of continuing in the US at that time. Liaw and Sage saw the potential and wondered, “What can we do to continue?”, “We’ve already made this mark, how can we continue with this momentum?” They approached D1 about running a series in America, but there was no interest. Liaw and Sage wanted to respect their wishes, but needed to continue on what was started, telling D1 that “if you don’t, we’re going to.” At SEMA in the fall of 2003, Formula D was officially announced with plans for their first race in May 2004.

Photo courtesy of Formula Drift Tapping into their connections at race tracks, they secured Houston, Sonoma, Irwindale and Road Atlanta for the first season. When asked if they were turned down at any race tracks, Liaw says, “For the first three years, we were commonly turned down at race tracks. They would ask us, Are your cars even safe? Do you know how to hold an event? Are you insured?“

Photo courtesy of Formula Drift That first season had 4 events, growing to 6 in 2004, and 7 the next year. Although there’s been talk at adding another event for years, Formula Drift doesn’t feel that conditions are right for it – and at 7 events per year the series remains.

Formula_Drift_history_modified_program_2004

Photo courtesy of Formula Drift Catering drifting to an American audience meant making some tweaks in the process that D1 used. While people love to watch drifting, keeping it viable as a sport would take a lot of work. The first order of business was adding a rulebook and regulations. While rules may not sound very fun, what it does for drivers and teams is set out clear parameters – allowing it to be a true sport. SCCA rules initially provided a jumping off point for Formula Drift, who has since then moved onto something of their own creation. Jim says, “We may not be the first drifting series, I think we’re the second, but we’re more standardized with rulebooks and regulations.”

Photo courtesy of Formula Drift In the beginning, drivers came from the earliest grassroots drifting organizations – groups that were holding events in parking lots, race tracks, or wherever they could get permission to get their cars sideways. Cultivating a professional drift series means getting drivers that are up to this level of competition. One way organizers did this was to require an initial security deposit. This built good trust that the driver had significant enough financial backing to compete in an on-going, travelling race series and it also gave Formula D “insurance” that the driver wasn’t going to just come in and cause havoc. They eventually held yearly auditions, with local drivers competing over a weekend with professional licenses awarded to the top 8. As that didn’t provide sufficient levels for drivers and teams to develop the skills and sponsorships necessary to travel and remain competitive, Formula Drift now uses more of a ladder approach with drivers going through various stages before turning pro.

“Drifting is pretty easy, on an introductory level, [to understand],” says Jim, “For example, to appreciate what it takes to have a sub-4 second drag car you really have to understand the cars first before you can understand the racing, but with us, I think that you can go enjoy the racing, and then if you want to learn about the cars it can come. I think that’s a nice appeal for fans from the surface. You don’t need to be a car buff, but you can still appreciate a car that’s 1 cm from the wall billowing smoke out, 2 inches from the next car. That makes it visually so appealing for someone who’s just walked in.”

This quick initial appeal, paired with the success proved by the D1 exhibition and already developed relationships, brought on key sponsor partners from the start. Companies like Mazda, Circuit City, and EA Games helped to create momentum for the first Formula Drift events to roll. Over the past 10 years, Formula Drift has continued to grow in attendance numbers with sponsoring companies learning the value of investing in this youth-oriented crowd.

Even Jim’s parents have seen the light, changing from their initial assumption that Jim’s car-centric work was just about fun and one day he was bound to move into a “real” career. Jim recalls, “For me it wasn’t until maybe a couple of years in, they always come out and support the events, and I think they really saw the progression of the number of people being there. It was probably third year of Formula D when it just clicked…the place was packed and the friends of theirs that they brought out thought it was incredible that there was so many people. For them, it kind of changed from ‘this is a hobby of yours’ to ‘this is really serious and let me give you some business advice.’ The conversation completely changed.”

Now 10 years into it, Formula Drift shows no signs of slowing down. They continue to improve their strategy – partnering in new realms, gaining depth to execute an even better event, and refining rules and regulations as the sport evolves. “We’ve survived 10 years and we’re getting past the fad stigma,” notes Jim, “What our eye is on now is how to expand and how to properly do it.” -Kristin Cline and Andrew Modena Continue on to the second article of our Inside Formula Drift series, Irwindale Infographic.

Inside Formula D: From the Beginning

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