D1 Grand Prix - Season Opener

With the winner ceremony tapering down for the night, the drivers' exhibition was far from over. To show the U.S. fans and drivers their appreciation, a full staged exhibition with all the drivers ensued. With a number of close calls followed by "oohs" and "ahs" resonating from the crowd, one by one a car would join in to do doughnuts in one big circle. In a hail of smoke it ended up with 10 cars doing a synchronized doughnut. As the sick-ass burnouts and trailing smoke filled the sky, Keiichi jumped up from his chair and began yelling "D1 Grand Prix USA!" and Tarzan Yamada and fellow drivers began to scale the Irwindale fences to hype up the crowd.

It was 10:45 p.m., almost 12 hours since I arrived at Irwindale Speedway. I lost my voice from screaming "One more time! One more time" in unison with the thousands of fans. My body and face were covered with a fine blend of molten rubber, while my skin burned bright red from sunburn. Throughout the entire event I stood there in the media box wedged between the hoards of photographers with the dumbest grin on my face as I had witnessed my first official D1 Grand Prix up close and personal. It's hard to describe what had just taken place in front of the thousands in attendance. Utter chaos and a frenzy of activities best describe the drivers and fans at D1. You could write a book on it, take thousands of pictures to capture the drifting, but the only way to fully digest the bulk of the dramatization was to be in attendance at D1. Until the next event, keep drifting off the streets and on the tracks.

Sunpros.Co.Ltd
Official D1 Grand Prix Sponsor

Video Option
www.v-opt.co.jp

Yokohama Tires
(714) 870-3800
www.yokohamatire.com

Slipstream Global Marketing, Inc.
949-252-9710
www.slipstreamglobal.com

By Scott Tsuneishi

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