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Written by:
Bill Wood
RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com
RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com
10/15/2008 - 12:03 PM
Los Angeles, Calif.
Close friends Rhys Millen and Tanner Foust each went home with championships after the Formula D finale last weekend. (Bill Wood photo) » More Photos
Last weekend at Irwindale, Vaughn Gittin won his first Formula Drift event on the same night Tanner Foust became the first to successfully defend a Formula Drift championship.
The beauty of sport and life is sometimes found in the elegance of results. Like last weekend at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, where Vaughn Gittin won his first Formula Drift event on the same night Tanner Foust became the first to successfully defend a Formula Drift championship.
Such elegance minimizes losers at the end of the night.
Even Rhys Millen, the 2005 Formula Drift champion, was the top qualifier after a frustrating season, only to lose to controversial judging in the first round. The quick defeat didn’t take away his third-place finish on the season and his emergence later with his second Tires.com Triple Crown bonus prize of $10,000, a custom Fender guitar, and a hand-blown glass trophy. The big check is key here after GM and Bridgestone, two of Millen’s largest sponsors, dropped him for next year, decisions that came in the wake of the nation’s economic chaos and the Wall Street upheaval.
Still, it’s elegance that minimizes losers at the end of the night.
The Bay City Rollers once said Saturday night was for “Dancin' to the rhythm in our heart and soul.” That’s drifting on so many levels including Gittin’s level last Saturday night. There’s a groove in JR’s mouth that perfectly fits a victor’s bit. When he gets both aligned, he doesn’t lose.
Gittin is the only American to win a D1GP event, but his failure to win in Formula D was a glaring omission on his résumé. His eighth-place finish on this season was even more so. Gittin was blessed with Ford money this year but Ford doesn’t pay to finish eighth unless you’re
After thanking his sponsors from the top of the podium, Vaughn added, “We are coming out swinging with a 2010 Falken Tire/Ford Mustang for the 2009 season.” He needed to taste that champagne, expensive or not. I could see it in his eyes and feel it in his grip when we shook hands in mid celebration.
It’s that elegance thing again!
Tanner Foust (Bill Wood photo) » More Photos
Like when Tanner Foust fought off the competitive crowd all year to keep his crown without factory sponsorship and a very tired and battered Nissan 350Z, a gift from Nissan’s media pool three seasons ago, maybe one of the last giveaways Nissan could afford for drifting or anything else. Even with their Rockstar sponsorship, Tanner and team owner Steph Papadakis may do more with less than anyone else in the Formula D paddock. They even have the smallest hauler of all the championship contenders!
Keeping a championship is no small task in any sport. Keeping it with no factory support is even more impressive. Keeping it while the sport is growing and attracting more talent should be given more lights and sirens than it gets. For some reason, though, Tanner isn’t the largest star in the Formula D galaxy. Up to now, Rhys, Sam Hubinette and “JR” Gittin are the anchors of that constellation. Championships have a way of changing perceptions, though.
“This is a game of keeping up with the Joneses, like with any sport,” Foust told me before the finals Saturday night, “and the Joneses were doing some crazy stuff while we were coming into the third season with the same car. With AEM’s help and Papadakis’ help, we were reliable with the car again. That was the key.”
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