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WOOD: Things Lost in the Fire
For Tuner culture, the things lost in the debris left by the explosive fires of NASCAR and Sport Compact drag racing, are sponsor support, driver identity and driver skill, says Bill Wood
Bill Wood  | http://www.speedtv.com  |  Posted October 09, 2007   Los Angeles, Calif.

There's a new film opening in a couple weeks called "Things We Lost in the Fire." It stars Halle Berry as Audrey Burke and Benicio del Toro as Jerry Sunborne. The story is about Burke surviving a fire that took her husband of 11 years. In her battle back, Burke invites into her life Sunborne, a former drug addict and friend of Burke's husband and the two of them, plus Burke's kids, struggle to put their lives back together.

"As they navigate their grief and work together, they discover the strength to move forward," the junket notes said.

In a Tuner reality, let's say the things lost in the debris left by the explosive fires of NASCAR and Sport Compact drag racing, are sponsor support, driver identity and driver skill.

As the Tuner world navigates the debris and struggles to work together, it's discovering the strength to move forward in sponsor support and driver skill. As those two areas grow, the driver identity is emerging.

For example, we've seen the days of Sam Hubinette and Rhys Millen, the only two champions the young Formula Drift series has known. However, this weekend at Irwindale Speedway, the "House of Drift," a new champion will emerge bringing with it a new face, because Hubinette and Millen are distant in points.

Personally, I hope Tanner Foust drinks the champagne after the game. He's the Formula D points leader and one of the top four drivers in the Rally America championship. That's not to mention his X Games Rally Racing gold medal and emerging fame in the Tuner underground as one of the most dynamic stunt drivers in Hollywood.
McQuarrie started down the road to notoriety setting the Buttonwillow Time Attack track record with this drift-prepped Nissan S15. (Bill Wood photo)

But watch for Tyler McQuarrie. He won't be a contender for the Formula D crown at Irwindale – he's 10th in points – but he will be a contender for the event win. McQuarrie's drift skills and his explosive JIC Magic/Hankook Porsche 911 drift car have the ability to turn the field into debris this weekend after months of behind-the-scenes development.

"I've been hearing for almost a year now about how the Porsche is not going to work," McQuarrie told me this week. After showing speed and drift potential at the Porsche's debut at Infineon in August, the oval track banking and speed at Wall Speedway last month in New Jersey proved the car's championship pedigree fits drifting. Tyler qualified first in New Jersey and finished fourth with a small mechanical problem.

"After the success at New Jersey, now people are almost scared at Irwindale because it's a similar track. The high speed oval really suits the Porsche."

Speed is influential at Irwindale. It proved to be a decider two years ago when Vaughn Gittin Jr. became the first American to win a D1GP event by keeping his foot to the floor in his then supercharged Mustang GT to hold off far more skilled competition.

McQuarrie's resumé includes the NASCAR Southwest series, where he finished fifth in 2004 at Infineon Raceway, as well as SCORE off-road in the Baja 1000 and USAC 410 Western Sprints. Next year he might return to another one of his roots – road racing – when he fits in ALMS and Grand Am KONI Challenge GS events into a crowded schedule of drifting and Time Attack. It's what the Tuner World is about, developing drivers. Tyler says a sponsor is supporting him into all these disciplines.

"The top 15 drift guys in points are very good drivers," Tyler said. "They just need to slow down their inputs to smooth out the car. Right off the bat drift drivers struggle with that."

He said something I found eloquent in describing the differences and similarities between drifting, Time Attack and road racing: "In racing and Time Attack you're trying to minimize your time spent past the limits of the car. In drifting you're trying to minimize the time spent under the car's limits."
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