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Photos by: Editor Mark Gearhart
April is one of our favorite months of the year, and not just because it marks the end of winter and beginning of spring. April is the month where the skirts get shorter, the days get longer, and the Formula Drift season officially kicks off with competitors from around the world descending on Long Beach, California for the first race of the Formula Drift season.
This weekend the competition was stiff, with the heroes and villains of drifting battling it out for an early advantage in the seven-race season. Clawing his way onto the podium this weekend was 2010 Formula Drift Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. rocking the RTR Drift team Mustang, taking second place behind Daijiro Yoshihara.
With Formula Drift entering its 10th year in America, professional drifting has firmly established itself as a motorsport with a bright and popular future. Vaughn Gittin Jr. is the vanguard of the American drifting movement, taking home the 2010 championship title and remaining a strong contender for the past two years.
Top: Vaughn Gittin Jr. was a strong contender for first place until he ran through the clipping point on the hairpin, costing him points, and moving him to second place.
It was not a good weekend for Justin Pawlak who spun his Mustang after catching the second clipping point with the rear of the car, this smashed the nose of the car. Pawlak's team managed to get his car back on the track, but the damage was too severe and the Falken Tire Mustang was out of competition at the end of the round of 16.
Gittin was in good position to take home first place at the Streets of Long Beach, but going into the final turn he ran through the clipping point on the hairpin, putting him at a severe points disadvantage and essentially handing the victory to Daijiro. It was a hard loss to take, but Gittin didn’t even make it out of the Round of 32 last year, so this is a big improvement. Besides, he had a better day than teammate Justin Pawlak.
Pawlak had won the Streets of Long Beach the past two consecutive years, helping propel him to a 2nd place overall finish in 2011, and 4th place overall in 2012. But Pawlak got a little eager during the Round of 32, and on the second clipping point he caught the rear of his Mustang before getting spun around and smashing the front end.
Pawlak’s team was able to get the car back out for the second run of the Top 32, and ended up in the Top 16, but it was clear the 2014 Mustang was damaged beyond what even it’s capable driver could compensate for. Pawlak ended up finishing at the bottom of the Round of 16, missing a shift against Ryan Tuerck and ending his day early.
Even we media guys are not without our wanting for an autograph from the stars of this sport. Left and Center: Vaughn Gittin Jr. signs our project Wild E Coyote. Right: Justin Pawlak signs an HPI RC car, a replica of his Mustang. We are going to get a spare Mustang body to make a replica of our Project Wild E Coyote Mustang as well.
We found Pawlak still in good spirits though. We were able to get him to sign an HPI Mustang RC car bearing his Mustang’s livery, though he warned us against putting it up on eBay. Don’t worry Justin, that bad boy is going into the Power Automedia Vault of Very Cool Things. Vaughn Gittin Jr. was also kind enough to sign our full-sized 2011 Mustang Project Wild E Coyote on the RTR front lip and spoiler. Talk about a couple of class acts!
The next Formula Drift race will be at the Road Atlanta track in Braselton, Georgia, home of the very first Formula Drift event, on May 10th and 11th. Hopefully Pawlak can reclaim his mojo and get back onto the leaderboard alongside Gittin.
