ProAm events are rapidly growing in the U.S. 5 years ago, these events attracted just enough drivers for a Top 16. Now with the sport of drifting growing in every way possible, even the smallest grassroots events are hitting capacity.
The USDrift 2015 ProAm season kicked off on Sunday 05/03/2015 at Virginia International Raceway. Part of a 2-day smorgasbord of motorhead events at VIR, the StreetDriven tour HyperFest rocked festivities on Saturday followed by practice, qualifying, and competition for USDrift on Sunday. USDrift calls itself “The Toughest Grassroots Series on the East Coast” and we were there to see how the competition is stacking up for 2015.
READ THE FULL 2015 TOP DRIFT ROUND 1 ARTICLE HERE!
With a vision of expanding their Formula Drift Pro Am licensing program, Vegas Drift has created the Southwest Drift Series, which gives many inspiring grassroots drivers across the Southwest the opportunity experience what competition is all about. With future events scheduled in Colorado, Vegas, and New Mexico, Round 1 of the Southwest Drift Series came to a successful conclusion this past Valentine’s Day at Wild Horse Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona.
One thing I find really cool about drifting besides the cars and the smoke and the tandems, are the places they’re built. Now that I have a camera, I find absolutely no problem with barging into a shop to take some photos of the vehicles being prepped for carnage, provided I know the people of course. That took me out to North Hollywood to see my buddy Jef Groff. I met this cool dude in Top Drift this year and absolutely fell in love with his car. Working around a BMW all year sort of gave me a soft spot for them, and for good reason too!
Joe Tardiff is a man amongst men. It was Top Drift round 3 when I met him, and from then, on it has been great knowing him. Whenever I see him, he’s never upset. Not once have I seen the guy get mad at anything at the track. Calm. Cool. Collected. Smiles. These are only a few of the many words that come to mind when I think of him. I had the opportunity to get a quick interview with Joe on his lunch break, and I must say that it was a pleasure.