July 15th 2006 – Las Vegas, NV
Story and Photos by Aaron Ekinaka

Las Vegas Motor Speedway was the battleground for the world's top drift drivers to meet again for another round of exciting sideways action. D1 Professional Drift Japan teamed up with the National Hot Rod Association to bring together two of the fastest growing motor sports competitions in one event. Spectators had the unique opportunity to view both sport compact drag racing and world class drifting back to back. However, the majority of my time was spent at the drift arena because it featured non-stop action throughout the day and into the night.

We arrived for the final day of competition in Las Vegas only to be met by scorching 115+ degree heat. The fans weren’t deterred by the weather through, packing into the stands eager for the qualifying round to get underway. The course was a basic setup yet still taunted drivers with its own set of hazards. As the event unfolded, it became clear how much environmental factors played a role in how aggressive the drivers could take their lines and hit the clipping points.

The long backstretch transitioned into a sweeping left turn then back into a hard right in front of the judges podium. Most of the event’s drama occured in this tighter right turn. The final turn in the back was a full 180 degrees to the left, but ended about halfway through as the judges would lose sight of the cars exiting the track.

The conditions proved to be very challenging for the drivers as the 150 degree surface track temperature sent several experienced drivers into the wall during the qualifying rounds. Team Orange's skyline smacked the wall right in front of the judge’s stand, bending a rim and requiring the vehicle to take a trip to the pit hooked up to a tow truck. Later in qualifying, another car spun backwards into the wall completely disabling the vehicle and sending the driver to the hospital for cat scans. Despite the dangers, there was still plenty of high speed action as the drivers came around the first turn pushing speeds of 120 miles per hour or more.


Front runner in D1 point standings, Yasuyki Kazama spun early in qualifying, pulling the front clip off of his Nissan Silva, but he returned with flying colors to qualify with a perfect 100 score. Also able to nail a perfect 100 was Tanner Foust in the AEM 350z. The beginning of the sweet 16 elimination rounds was full of showboating, complete with random donut battles between drivers and Kazama’s rodeo style burnouts in front of the judge’s stand! Even with the light hearted crowd pleasing antics of the drivers, the serious competition was about to get underway.


When all was said and done, Toshiki Yoshioka in his AE86 Toyota Corolla took the win over Nobushige Kumakubo in the Team Orange RWD Impreza, as if to prove that power is not always everything in professional drifting. Kumakubo was up tight against Yoshioka in the pursuit round, but apparently this was not enough to take the victory.

Off the track, there was plenty of action in the adjacent car show put on by Sony Xplod and Scion. I could hear the Sony stage provide the beats as I meandered down long narrow aisles full of showcars. Scion had a heavy presence in the lot with several rows of show tC’s and xB’s at the entrance. Each car was ready when the sun went down with strobes and various ground effect lighting kits.

Still, this event offering something for everyone, however; everything from Mitsubishi Evos to a gigantic Pink Hummer H2 on 23’s. Las Vegas Subaru made a respectable appearance, displaying a dozen highly modified Impreza RS’s, WRX’s and STi’s. Big ups to the owner of the black STi with the intake cut through his left headlight housing, it was something I had never seen done before!

The D1 event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was an all around awesome event. The drifting was nail-biting exciting as always and the next round of competition will surely be just as action packed. Hopefully next year if there is a stop in Vegas, it will be during a cooler month, but with a limited amount of stops in the US, I’ll gladly sweat in the stands to watch.

Las Vegas D1 Drift Grand Prix results:

1. Toshiki Yoshioka (Hiroshima, Japan) Toyota Corolla
2. Nobushige Kumakubo (Fukushima, Japan) Subaru Imprez
3. Kensaku Komoro (Niigata, Japan) Toyota Corolla
4. Kazuhiro Tanaka (Ibaragi, Japan) Nissan Skyline
5. Daigo Saito (Kumamoto, Japan) Toyota
6. Vaughan Gittin Jr. (Annapolis, Md.) Ford Mustang
7. Hideo Hiraoka (Tochigi, Japan) Nissan Silvia
8. Takahiro Ueno (Kanagawa, Japan) Toyota Soarer
9. Ken Gushi (Okinawa, Japan; resides Calif.) Ford Mustang
10. Hiro Sumida (Anaheim, Calif.) Nissan Silvia


To contribute to a discussion about the D1 / NHRA event in Las Vegas, NV click here.

To see a gallery of all the pictures taken at this event, click here.