By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

Why do the truly great ones among us always get taken prematurely? It is with a heavy heart that I report the death of Shaun Carlson. He passed away on October 4, 2009. Earlier this year Shaun was diagnosed with Brugada Syndrome and as a result he received a pacemaker. At this time it is unknown if this was a contributing factor to his death. You can read more about this and his career as an NHRA Pro Stock driver here.

But Shaun was much more than a Pro Stock driver, he was a journalist and photographer cutting his teeth at Truckin’ magazine and later helping Turbo make it’s legendary mark on the dawn of the Sport Compact era. I always wanted to shoot like him, he could make a car look absolutely beautiful in a studio decades before Photoshop replaced raw talent. Then he revealed another side busting out a single cam CRX with Jason Whitfield. This car had an unparalleled amount of fabrication and paint job that screamed mid-nineties 909 mini-truckin’ style (and I say that with the utmost admiration).

Shaun soon outgrew the journo game (he actually had more to offer the world) and he took his Nuformz fabrication shop public. His B-series block guards were revolutionary. And then came Steph’s yellow EK Civic hatch that stood the FWD drag world on its steelies. Shaun essentially built the world’s first tube-chassis FF drag car with Steph Papadakis forever changing the game. Thinking back, I must admit to being honored to see that car make its first pass at Battle in Palmdale in ’98 I believe.

In 2000 Shaun dropped a Ford Focus on the SEMA Show that was quite possibly the pinnacle of his tuning and fabrication talents. The car was eventually reskinned as an SRT-4 and was the start of a long relationship Shaun had with Mopar Racing.

Shaun was never given a real shot in Pro Stock, which may have been a good thing since – while he was no slouch behind the wheel, always able to cut a great light – his true talents are on the fabrication side of things. This led to a team ownership of the Mopar drift team where he and driver Samuel Hubinette captured two FD Championships. After trying to polish a turd in the way too-long wheelbased Charger Shaun’s latest, greatest work, a Mopar drift Challenger has yet to smoke a tire in competition. I don’t know if that car will ever run or for that matter if Samuel will run the Viper at this season’s FD finals but hope both come to pass.

I’ll miss Shaun’s infectious grin, his style, which as of late included a Mohawk and his wild ways, which we had in common. But most of all, I’ll miss his work and the impact he had on this sport, which may never be duplicated. Here’s to you, Shaun Carlson.

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

This just in! You heard it FIRST from MotorMavens.com!!! Some of our readers may remember Luke Loneberger’s Chevy LS1 turbo-engined S14 from our All Star Bash and Megan Racing Competition stories. Well, apparently we were just given the green light to release the big news that we’ve been keeping under our hats for the past couple months! Los Gatos, California based Luke Loneberger will be building Conrad Grunewald’s new competition car for the 2010 Formula Drift season – a brand new Chevrolet Camaro SS, with Hankook as the tire sponsor.

Apparently all of Conrad’s work as a driving instructor at Skip Barber Racing School and his unmistakable presence when driving the Tanaka Racing Corvette in Formula D last year has finally paid off. Let’s also not forget – Conrad isn’t a stranger to the Formula D podium! We have photos to prove it!

Thanks to Andrew and Conrad from CG Racing, we’re able to present you with these sneak peek photos on MotorMavens.com!

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Although there’s nothing funner than traveling around shooting pictures of cool cars, I have to admit I’m looking forward to the break I’ll have this weekend after five consecutive weeks of events. Perhaps my Miata will get a much-needed wash? Maybe a drive in the hills? Anyways, before the end of the week, I wanted to wrap up my Formula Drift Sonoma coverage with one more batch of random photos from the event. Continue reading at Speedhunters.

—Mike Garrett

By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

The cloud of controversy continues to float over drifting like so much Schleprockitude (judges, can I get a ruling on this word?). This weekend at the latest Formula Drift event at Sonoma, the drama continued.

This season we’ve seen D1 take its lumps over the behavior of a certain team (rhymes with orange) and FD has been dealing with the legality of certain cars in a sport already stacked with such an eclectic mix of hardware. And yet, through it all, one man and his online outlet have raked through the muck to tackle these tough issues. And that man is Wrecked Magazine’s Joey Redmond. Joey does not provide any dramatic montage vid clips, nor artsy imagery and flowery prose, not even harsh critiques of stance and wheel offset. No, this guy delivers the goods and is quickly becoming the Walter Freakin’ Cronkite of the drift world, only with more breathing and less grammar (hey, Joey, spel chek, yo!).

Wrecked is the only outlet to break the news on the ruling on yesterday’s top 32 battle between current points leader Chris Forsberg and Calvin Wan. Click here, here or here for more on this matter.

As a fan of drifting and Formula Drift I hope this can get worked out. As a wannabe I’m a huge proponent of the skill and stones these pro drifters have to fling a car sideways at near triple-digit speeds inches away from another car doing the same thing. I’m also a huge fan of the great show put on by Formula Drift. Which begs the eternal question, is drifting a motorsport or a show? The top 16 are running today, check out StreetFire.net for video from the weekend and the Wrecked Magazine blog for more hard-hitting reports.

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

Continuing our MotorMavens coverage with more images from Seattle, I think we should put the Top 32 drivers and points standings aside right now so we can all focus on the real reason why this year’s trip to Seattle got me so hyped. The Pacific Northwest has a really strong grassroots drifting scene, and the Evergreen Pro Am really stood up to the hype, or lack thereof. That’s right, I said lack – I don’t think these Pro Am drivers get enough attention.

Pro Am drivers are the unsung heroes of professional drifting. Most of these guys don’t have any sponsors to help with travel or car building expenses. Many don’t even have much coveted tire sponsorships. However, they persistently and repeatedly show up time and time again to all the track events, paying their dues and showing what they’re made of.

It just so happens that the Evergreen Pro Am drivers impressed me; not just because of their hard work and dedication to drifting, but because their cars have style… and it’s the cars that get me hyped. I think I’ve seen enough stripped out ghetto built, busted up drift cars to last a lifetime. So let’s shine a light on the cars and drivers of the Evergreen Pro Am. This is real drifting! Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens

By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

Before I begin you should know that as the executive editor of StreetFire.net I love me some drift montage videos. And it should be noted that I did not ask the question presented in the title of this entry – believe it not, it was one of the filmmakers who produced these videos. I will protect his identity to spare him from the potential of a beat down with a sock full of P2 cards, some pursuit bars from a fixie, or whatever it is these artistic types use to submit beat downs.

With all of this in mind allow me to present the first (and potentially only) StreetFire Fab Friday Formula D Film Festival. I have three short form videos all from the some of the biggest names in drift video filmmaking (these guys are bigger than ever, its the monitors that got smaller!). All were shot at the latest FD Seattle stop. Our first submission is from Will “Cheesecake” Roegge, arguably the Quentin T of this genre. He also gets to go first because we worked together and he knows where the bodies are buried. Hit the jump to see a couple more deep and moody clips from FD Seattle and vote for your favorite in the comments. Or you can just tell us you hate these kinds of videos.

Continue reading "Has the Artsy Drift Montage Jumped the Shark?" »

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

I’m sure many of you have been waiting for my photos and stories from Formula D Seattle, so I apologize to our readers for uploading these kind of late. It’s been a pretty hectic weekend. There was plenty of drama at Formula D on Saturday, and I apparently added to it by pissing off the Formula D safety steward while grabbing a quick shot of Dai Yoshihara’s smashed Lexus IS350 as it was getting loaded up onto a tow truck and pulled off the track.
It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, the Formula D/SCCA guy Randy Hembrey got pissed off at me and pulled my hard card on Saturday (competition day), which allows me to get track access for shooting photos. This was definitely a problem, as I was expected to produce good images that weekend (I was shooting the event for clients, who helped pay my way to get up to Seattle). I had a hell of a time trying to get photos for the rest of the day, especially without access to the hot areas, but I still managed to get some photos somehow. So here it is… Formula D Seattle through my eyes. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

Here’s a real dope R32 Skyline 4door that came from British Columbia (that’s Canada, to those of us who are ignorant Americans). More photos of this car coming soon! It’s so cool that you can register a car like an R32 Skyline, A31 Cefiro or C33 Laurel and just drive it on the street, legally in Canada. What the hell are we still doing living in Southern Cali, anyway? (Who am I kidding, I love Southern Cali…) Continue reading and view more photos on Motormavens

By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

Round Five of the 2009 Formula Drift series at Seattle’s Evergreen Raceway is a done deal. There were some upsets, carnage, a great crowd, the sweet smelling Falken girls (don’t ask how I know this) and most important of all, no rain. In practice before the event even began Dai Yoshihara hit the wall. Hard. Hard enough to totally total his discount Tire IS350. Hit the jump to see who won as well more news from Seattle.

Continue reading "Formula Drifting in Seattle" »

By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

Formula Drift’s Round Five has officially kicked off at Seattle’s Evergreen Raceway. Ryan Tuerck rode the banks of the bullring with greater speed and angle than the rest of the field to put him in the number one qualifying spot. Other big news surrounded the protest of Tanner Foust’s tC that was broken by our boys at Wrecked Magazine. Hit the jump to see the complete list of qualifying results with video! And we’ll be back with more from tomorrow’s main event at Evergreen including more video coverage.

Continue reading "Formula Drift Seattle Qualifying Videos" »