Drifting started off as a weird driving tactic of a Japanese race car driver, and turned into one of the fastest growing sports. How did this happen and where did it start? The most common origin of drifting is the story of Kunimitsu Takahashi. Kunimitsu also known as “kuni-san” was a motorcycle racer, lemans driver, and grand prix driver. The guy did it all. With all that racing under his belt, he still managed to accidentally invent one of the fastest growing motorsports of this generation. Drifting! Kuni-san was widely known by fans for his unorthodox driving, he would hit the apex of turns under a controlled slide. His reasoning was to hold speed through the turns, but a nice side effect was the spectacle. His driving became a sensation, and an inspiration for young boys.
Tsuchiya Keiichi “Drift King” – The first of many to copy Kuni-San’s Style
Tsuchiya Keiichi, also known as “Drift King” was one of those young boys. He saw Kuni-Sans racing style and turned it into a craft. The Drift King would go on to his own racing career with this controlled chaos driving style. He would then go on to release a short film called Plupsy, a documentary showcasing drifting through the mountainous passes. This is where the hidden Japanese gem caught flame and spread like wildfire. It even went on to inspire the hit cartoon Initial D, which for many across the world was the first exposure to the drift scene.
Across Japan race tracks banned this drifting thing that they didn’t understand. Fortunately It didn’t stop there.Track drivers turned into street racers and the underground drift scene was born. Up and down the mountain roads, hoards of people in their tuned cars battled each other. This scene grew so large, that people were bound to notice. Thats when in late 2000 Tsuchiya alongside Daijiro Inada (Founder of Option Magazine) started the first ever drift competition D1.
Just 3 years later the first competition was brought to the west in what was then called drift invasion. Drifting came to the united states in form of a D1 event in California at Irwindale Speedway. It was an absolute hit, the track was fully packed to capacity. This turned into a spin off competition series called Formula Drift. Which brings us to today, Formula drift is now extremely popular. The series spans across the states with 8 rounds of extremely competitive driving. Drifting has been ushered into the mainstream.