That was before the "kids, don't try this at home" warnings, and soon, street racers were perfecting the technique on public roads. And the perfect roads in Japan are the narrow, winding mountain passes — the touge (pronounced approximately toe-ga-e). One of the first men to take an interest in and perfect Takahashi's techniques was Keiichi Tsuchiya, now known as the Drift King.

Tsuchiya came from the people — not from a wealthy Japanese family. As such, when a video displaying his skills on the touge was released in 1977, his popularity skyrocketed. He earned a professional racing drive, moving through the ranks to compete in everything from Japanese Formula 3 to NASCAR (the Suzuka Thunder exhibition races in Japan), to nearly winning Le Mans in 1999 (driving the Toyota GT-One).

In 1988, he teamed up with Daijiro Inada (founder of Option magazine) to organize one of the first track events specifically for drifting.

But if the roots of drifting reach back into the 1970s, why hasn't it yet reached North America?

For starters, North Americans, at the time, didn't know how good certain imports were for drifting. As a result, finding a straight, late-model Toyota Corolla GT-S, Nissan 240SX, Toyota Supra, or Mazda RX-7 can be difficult.

Second, once you've got the car, how the heck do you get it to slide? Books, videos and professional instruction abound on the topic, but there are a few basic techniques.