I suspect New York Times Puzzle Wizard Will Shortz was once again showing his weakness with slang when he edited this week's über difficult Friday crossword. Otherwise, he's definitely screwing with car enthusiasts by employing a bit of clue misdirection.
Should you open up todays New York Times and breeze past all the filler and to the most important section you'd see another challenging Friday puzzle. And should you, like reader TheCityGame, know that "Han" is the largest ethnic group in China and "Olga" is the first name of Boris Pasternak's mistress Ivinskaya, then you'd see clue #5 ACROSS, which is a "drifting type," and immediately think "HOON."
It's right there for you. "H-O-?-?" can only spell "HOON" when you're talking about drifting. The word has spread, due in no small part to our assistance, to at least semi-popular culture.
Nope. It's a trap. The correct answer is "HOBO."
Clever, Shortz. Clever.
(Thanks to Julia A. for the scan!)