2022 has gone by in a blink of an eye. It feels as if Round 1 of Formula Drift happened just a few days ago, with drivers going all out in front of a large audience in Long Beach. The action moved on to Georgia and Florida in May, New Jersey in June, Missouri in July, Washington in August, and Utah in September. This month, we're going back to the place it all began for drifting in the United States of America: Irwindale Speedway.
The Californian venue has been around for more than two decades now, as it opened in March of 1999. Four years later, it would host its most popular event to date: an international drifting event that would lead to the development of Formula Drift.
The venue has earned the nickname "House of Drift," and its popularity has reached beyond the borders of the United States thanks to the official series live stream and media efforts in general.
Irwindale Speedway has been on the calendar since 2004, on par with Road Atlanta. Evergreen Speedway and Long Beach are the only other two venues that come close to that legendary status, as they were added in 2006.
Rhys Millen was the winner of the first FD event at the House of Drift in 2004, a year before him grabbing his sole Formula Drift title. Chris Forsberg took top honors in 2005, a result that he has strangely not repeated since.
Photo: Larry Chen/Formula Drift
Daijiro Yoshihara scored one out of his eight career victories in Irwindale back in 2006, and it won't be the same this year without him on track. He has been part of the championship for many years now, but he has decided to move on to other projects after quite a long victory-free stint.
Tanner Foust was the first American driver to be crowned champion of Formula Drift in 2007, the same year he won the event in Irwindale. He would repeat that performance in 2010, and so he's tied with Vaughn Gittin JR., who climbed to the top of the podium in 2008 and 2018.
California was good to Ryan Tuerck in 2009, as he won both in Long Beach and at the House of Drift almost 13 years ago. For 2011, it would be Tyler McQuarrie to defeat all of his opponents for a well-deserved P1 in his Falken Tires Nissan 350Z.
2012 will go down in history as the year that Daigo Saito came over from Japan and dominated Formula Drift. He won in Palm Beach and Irwindale and went on to claim the Championship Title in a heavily-modified Lexus SC430.
Photo: Larry Chen/Formula Drift
But he didn't stop there. Even though he only has one FD title to his name, he won the races in Irwindale in both 2013 and 2014. And that makes him the most successful pro drifter ever to compete at this venue, at least until now.
Fredric Aasbo won his sixth-ever FD race at the House of Drift in 2015, and he would do it again in the last but final round of 2020. Matt Field rose to success at this location in 2016, with Piotr Wiecek stealing the show in 2017. Ken Gushi would score the last Japanese victory so far in Irwindale in 2019, while Aurimas Backchis closed the book with two victories: one in 2020 and one in 2021.
So, it seems that in 19 races held at the House of Drift, we've had 13 different successful drivers. But only six of them will have to add one more trophy to their name on the 15th of October. The only two athletes that can catch up to Daigo Saito are Fredric Aasbo and Aurimas Backchis.
And they both have what it takes to win this race. If the Norwegian Hammer finishes this last event of the season in P1, he has a good chance of grabbing his third FD title. But to become one of the sport's all-time greatest alongside James Deane, he needs to score at least 15 points more than Matt Field to cover the current gap.
Photo: Larry Chen/Formula Drift
Oddly enough, the Drift Cave athlete hasn't won any events this year, so he must be hungry for a top spot on the podium. Aasbo isn't the only driver Field has to worry about, though. Chelsea Denofa is currently 66 points behind.
If he gets P1 in qualifying and P1 at the end of the race, he could secure the 2022 title. But that would also require Field to be knocked out of the Top32 - which has not happened this year. And Fredric Aasbo would have to suffer the same fate as the current championship leader for Denofa to get his first title.
With three drivers still in contention for the coveted trophy, the battle for P2 and P3 is as intense as ever. Qualifying starts Friday, October 14, at 7.15 PM PST. And we'll find out who the 2022 champion is on Saturday, sometime between 7 PM PST and 9.45 PM PST.
If you can't travel to California for the race, you can still follow the action online for free. We'll be sure to report back as soon as the outcome is clear. Until then, we'll leave you with some photos and videos from previous years. That should help you work up an appetite!
The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S. Full profile
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