Because I know people who are very close to SunPros (the production company for the D1 events and the Option Videos). The events are reaching the point where they are downright scripted. Some of the people that crashed at the D1 event in Irwindale did so because they were supposed to. A lot of it is just purely to create drama. It's becoming a lot like the WWF.

I did not say it was garbage in terms of the quality of the competitors -- these guys are extremely highly skilled drifters and also excel in other arenas of motorsport. They are generally pretty good guys too. I've spent time personall with Chunky Bai and Kuroi and Mad K, and know people who hang out with Nomuken.

However, it is garbage in terms of what it does to promote and further the sport. D1 is becoming a disjoint entity from the rest of drifting. Watch an actual D1 Option video, and you'll see how they try to create all this artificial drama. It's totally a ploy to sell videos.

Drift Tengoku is almost a separate entity, despite being sold and managed by SunPros. However if you compare the tone and the quality of the two productions, DT has a MUCH lighter and happier and more down-to-earth feel to it. Then go look at footage from stuff like Battle Magazine events or other local/small drift events. They're exactly how DG and Drift Association and the other "down to earth" groups run things. They're not concerned with sponsors or spectators or making money.

There are two sides to drifting. You can be a show, or you can be a drifting event. Tony and his cronies are trying to run a drifting show with kids who don't have the skill or preparation to play at that level, and it's going to get someone ELSE'S car destroyed, get someone hurt, or worse, killed. They use the guise of holding a "practice day" or "clinic" to cover the fact that they're just trying to build participation numbers for their competitions.

Come to Tampa, have a good time, we'll get something going in Miami real soon.