Over the past few years, the drift scene in America has been changing. Underglow is back. Chrome is back. Flames and metalflake paintjobs glitter at little tracks across the country. After years of watching, we’re finally making a pilgrimage to the epicenter.
We’re headed to US Air Motorsports Raceway in Shawano, Wisconsin, out past Green Bay if you’re driving up from Chicago.
It’s a rollercoaster kind of big karting track, the kind of which that has become ultra popular with an increasingly popular style of drifting: ultra-low cars, loud as hell. (Pat’s Acres in the Pacific Northwest, The Grange in SoCal come to mind as others.)
The first Final Bout was held at US Air, and now Super D is hosting its “Midwest Trial” there this weekend.
Final Bout was the event that brought back team drifting to the States, matching cars emphasizing looks and excitement, going retro to the 1990s and 2000s, with cars looking like they fell out of a Video Option DVD. The look spread like a meme, and the kind of events and cars seen here are growing more popular here in the States and echoing back out into the rest of the world.
I’ll be tagging along with the Faction/Front Street Drift Club out of New York. (I am hollywood’ing in via a plane, not taking a 15-hour nonstop road trip like they have, unwisely.) If you’re gonna be there, come say hi. I’ll be the guy lugging around a rather large medium format camera, taking pictures of the weirdest engine swaps. If you’re not going to be there, change your plans. Find event details here on Super D’s Facebook page.