DVANZ

Just as the leaves are starting to change colors and a cool breeze begins to blow in the East, Doug Van Den Brink and the DVM crew were high-tailing it out West to have a little more fun before Old Man Winter got a hold of them. After a couple of weeks prepping his trusty Ford Mustang for battle, Doug was once again on the road for yet another solo trip across the United States in search of fame and fortune.

First stop on this tour would be “the town that never sleeps”, Las Vegas, Nevada for the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction. Doug along with his venerable partner Vaughn Gittin, Jr. were slated to perform another installment of their Ford Racing Drift Demos. As is customary for these events, Doug’s new car for this event would be a 2010 Mustang GT with the additional “RTR” performance package inspired by Vaughn Gittin, Jr. himself.

Like their Barrett-Jackson demos of the past, the pair of Mustang pilots performed multiple shows throughout the three-day event and left the crowds screaming for more. Once again, their Autosport Dynamics prepped “pony-cars” performed flawlessly and not a single guest was turned away without an autograph, t-shirt or poster…

In addition to all of these daytime activities, Doug was busy each night putting final touches on his Formula D competition Mustang for the events that were to follow. This proved to be more trouble than expected for when Doug and his car set-out for the long drive to Las Vegas, two new Camshafts had been installed in the engine but afterwards, the shop he normally gets the car tuned at was too busy to fit them in. Good news for Pro-Dyno who’s got all that work back home, bad news for Doug and his car as they had to find someone else to try and tune the car for maximum performance. As one can imagine with a car as unique as the DVM Mustang, finding a tuner (out of the blue) worthy of such a task proved impossible in Las Vegas. After spending a full day and a half at a local shop, the mighty Mustang’s engine couldn’t rise above 2500rpm’s before it started popping and coughing. Luckily Doug was able to get his trusty stead out of there before any damage was done.

From Vegas, Doug rolled on to “the city of Angels”…. Well, almost… save for a short period of “alone-time” that he spent in the middle of the California desert with his broken-down tow truck. It seems that one of the pulleys on the front of his Dually no longer wanted to take part in the trip and promptly unscrewed itself from the front of the engine. From there it jumped out the bottom of the engine bay and ran off screaming into the dusty, dry hills taking on it’s own solo adventure. Fortunately for Doug, a call to AAA and a few Vegas auto parts stores netted a new pulley being brought out and 5 hours later, the DVM motorcade was back in action and heading west.

On arrival in California, our weary travelers were reunited with their ol’ pal Doug Nagy who has been helping Van Den Brink at the Formula D events for the past year and a half. With a few phone calls made back East to the fine folks at SCT Tuning, the two-Doug’s made their way to Focus Sport in Anaheim, yet another tuning shop, in hopes of fixing the Mustang’s woes. After a full day of work, the collective group was able to get the Mustang running well enough to make it to the Formula D event but far from 100%. The motor turned out to be a full 150-pound feet of torque off it’s best mark. At this point, all fingers seem to be pointing to the new “custom made” camshafts, but proper analysis will have to be made once the car gets back home to the Carolina’s and into the hands of KT Engine Development and Pro-Dyno.

By all accounts this year’s Formula Drift season finale at Irwindale Speedway was the biggest and most widely attended event in history at the famed “House of Drift”. The sold-out crowd in attendance witnessed 45 teams vying for only 32 spots and of those 45 cars, only 4 drivers (Doug included) had no appreciable experience at the fast and tricky “roval”. With the fore mentioned engine troubles, Doug was forced to miss the Falken Tire test day on Monday which left him only Thursday to get both his car and the track figured out. A daunting task any way you slice it, Van Den Brink and his crew set out to get the car comfortable enough that Doug could feel confident in pushing the Mustang to its limits. “This is a real fast and hairy place”. Van Den Brink said. “The guys with years of experience here make it look so easy it just makes you mad. Then when you go out there and make a pass with one of them, you realize just how slow and off the pace you are”.

According to Doug, by some sheer form of luck, he was able to qualify the DVM Ford Mustang 26^th in the field after one last short practice session Friday afternoon. “We’re quick enough laying down the 3rd fastest trap speed coming into the infield section of the course but my lines are all over the place and I’m anything but smooth. We’ve got a lot of work left to do”. Van Den Brink said right after Qualifying. As is tradition in Formula D, a nighttime practice session for only the top-32 drivers is held Friday night after the post-qualifying drivers meeting. For many drivers, this “happy hour” is the most fun they’ll have all weekend. “I absolutely love this Friday night session”. Doug said. “All the pressure is off, you know you’re in the show for Saturday, the air is cool, the lights are bright and it’s just like race’n the “bullrings” back home. If I had my way, we’d only run at night”. Doug concluded.

Between the Friday night and Saturday morning practices, our DVM crew found a lot more speed and Doug started to find his lines. So much so, that folks around the paddock were starting to take notice and offer words of encouragement. Those encouraging words would definitely come in handy for as a result of Doug’s 26^th qualifying spot, he would once again be paired-up with series points leader Chris Forsberg. DVM followers will remember that Forsberg made pretty quick work of Doug earlier this year when the two met on similar circumstances at Wall, NJ. This time however, their battle could have mammoth consequences in the race to the overall series championship. If Chris could defeat Doug in this elimination round, besides simply moving on to the Sweet-16, he would clinch the 2009 Formula Drift Championship. If Doug defeated Forsberg, all bets were off as the #2 man in points Ryan Tuerck could then steal the crown should HE go on to win the Irwindale event. “My goals are two fold,” Doug said just before he climbed into the car to face Forsberg. “I plan on running Chris as hard as I possibly can. I’m not going to leave anything on the table. BUT, I am not going to be “that guy” who crashes the point’s leader out of his championship run. My approach will be aggressive but in control…”

As is customary, Forsberg being the higher qualifier lead the first of the two laps. Van Den Brink had too much wheel spin off the line, which gave Chris a two-car gap through the banking. This gap remained the same as Forsberg did his best to shake VDB as he hustled his Mustang though the course with as much speed as he dared. Though there was a bigger gap than he would have liked, Doug carried more angle and a more aggressive line through the corners than the Nissan driver. This gave Forsberg only the slightest of advantage over VDB.

On the second lap, Doug was able to get good traction off the line and barreled his red Ford into the banking with good speed. Unfortunately for Forsberg, at this same time, his car uncharacteristically stumbled leaving him with a 6-car length gap up to VDB’s rear bumper but taking a lower line through the banking allowed him to close in slightly. In an effort to catch up further while entering the inner bank, Chris who ran a shallow line which allowed him catch up to Doug completely. The crowd went crazy, as they had just witnessed what could possibly be the upset of the year. No one had expected this. After a long deliberation the judges delivered what many felt to be a very controversial call. “One More Time”, Formula D announced Jarod DeAnda yelled. The two combatants were somehow tied in the eyes of the judges and would have to run their two laps all over again. “I was worried there for a minute”. Forsberg’s Crew Chief, Kevin Wells would later say.

As is customary, Forsberg being the higher qualifier lead the first of the two laps. Van Den Brink had too much wheel spin off the line, which gave Chris a two-car gap through the banking. This gap remained the same as Forsberg did his best to shake VDB as he hustled his Mustang though the course with as much speed as he dared. Though there was a bigger gap than he would have liked, Doug carried more angle and a more aggressive line through the corners than the Nissan driver. This gave Forsberg only the slightest of advantage over VDB.

On the second lap, Doug was able to get good traction off the line and barreled his red Ford into the banking with good speed. Unfortunately for Forsberg, at this same time, his car uncharacteristically stumbled leaving him with a 6-car length gap up to VDB’s rear bumper but taking a lower line through the banking allowed him to close in slightly. In an effort to catch up further while entering the inner bank, Chris who ran a shallow line which allowed him catch up to Doug completely. The crowd went crazy, as they had just witnessed what could possibly be the upset of the year. No one had expected this. After a long deliberation the judges delivered what many felt to be a very controversial call. “One More Time”, Formula D announced Jarod DeAnda yelled. The two combatants were somehow tied in the eyes of the judges and would have to run their two laps all over again. “I was worried there for a minute”. Forsberg’s Crew Chief, Kevin Wells would later say.

On lap 3, Doug again followed keeping his distance fairly close to Forsberg’s rear bumper. Unfortunately the pair entered the banking at a lower speed than the previous laps and with this reduction in speed, Doug’s line throughout the bank was a bit unsteady which gave Chris a slight advantage over the North Carolina driver. When it was Forsberg’s turn to follow, he was on the gas early and followed the Mustang a little bit tighter than he had done before. Like the first runs, Doug again laid the Fords rear bumper within inches of the wall and with enough opposite-lock to reach the rack-stops going through the first transition. Again, Forsberg ran a shallower line with less angle insuring he’d stay close to Doug.

This lack of angle and shallow line unfortunately for Doug didn’t count as much as following distance in the eyes of the judges for after a short consult, they awarded Forsberg the win and with that the 2009 series Championship. “These were by far, the best 4 runs of the week for us and probably my best tandem follows I’ve ever done.” Doug said after he climbed out of his car. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Chris is a great driver and it was a blast sliding with him here at the track he knows so well. He’s truly one of the “good guys” in the sport, so much so that he even loaned me a pair of seats at this year’s season opener so I could get through tech. I will always be grateful for that act of sportsmanship and kindness and sincerely hope one day that I will be in the position to repay him in some way. He will represent our series well as the 2009 Champion.” Van Den Brink continued, ”To push him as hard as we did, and to dang-near beat him says a lot for what we as a team accomplished this week. My crew chief Doug Nagy did a great job of helping me get the car where I needed it to be and the car was once again as reliable as a Swiss watch. This was a great accomplishment for all of us at DVM.” Doug went on to say.

So with that victory, Chris Forsberg won the 2009 Formula Drift Championship and Ryan Tuerck, who later that night would go on to win the event, would finish second in the points with Team Falken Tire driver Tyler McQuarrie finishing the season in 3^rd place. All in all, it was a great night of drifting action with countless numbers of folks coming by the DVM trailer congratulating both driver and team on how well they performed. By anyone’s account, the night was truly a success for Doug and everyone at D’Vanz Motorsports.

With the 2009 season now in the books, we look forward to 2010 with a new found excitement and anticipation. DVM will stay out on the West Coast for the next two weeks as they do a little freshening-up on their red Mustang preparing it for two huge events, the SEMA and PRI shows. The SEMA show will take place in Las Vegas, NV November 3-6. This is the largest gathering of automotive aftermarket companies in the world where the “who’s who” from every form of car culture will be present. Like in 08’ the DVM Mustang will be all shined-up and put on display to represent the sport of professional drifting.

After SEMA, Doug and his Ford will head back to North Carolina for a short break before the run down to Orlando, FLA on December 10-12 for the Performance Racing Industries Show. This will be Doug’s 12^th trip to PRI and the 1^st time the Mustang will be put on display. The PRI show is a trade show for nothing but racing. From engines to tires, from production machinery to chassis components, if you’re into racing, then you’ll be at PRI.

Please continue to check back with us for more updates as they develop….

For anyone who is a fan of historical racecars, the summer vintage event at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI is more like a “pilgrimage” than an event. This year’s marquee car was the all-conquering Ford GT. Included in the amazing display were cars that won not only Le Mans but also world championships along the way. Accompanying Doug on this trip was the mechanical staff from AutoSport Dynamics. Headed up by Ian Stewart, the guys kept a close watch over the DVM Mustang and made sure everything was ready for each and every demo-run. As frantic as the schedule was, the group manager Mickey Andrade kept everyone on point and looking sharp.

One of the many highlights of the weekend was Doug’s opportunity to spend time with former driver and current TV race analyst David Hobbs. “Mr. Hobbs was every bit as kind as he appears on TV and it was truly an honor to meet him.” Doug said. “We also got to meet Brian Redmond and a host of other truly famous race drivers from many different categories and I simply can’t thank Fritz Wilke and all the folks at Ford Racing enough for including me in this event. I pray we get more opportunities like this because these are without question, once in a lifetime events.” Van Den Brink went on to say.

On the way back to NC, Doug made a stop off in Chicago for some “non-racing-related-time” if that can be believed. As many of you know, our boy Doug is a bit of a baseball fan. So much so that he makes a habit of taking in games whenever he gets an off night on the road where ever he might be. Normally these games are seen from the general admission seats that you get when you buy your tickets at the gate as you walk in. This night however was something special as one of Doug’s “bestest pals” hooked him up with front-row seats, no more than 20 seats down from the White Sox dugout! “Ok, so coming to a game is always cool, but sitting down “on the field” made you feel like you’re part of the game. Especially when a foul ball goes whistling by your head. The experience was really unbelievable”. Doug said. “Then just when I thought it could get any better than this, I witnessed something so “heart-wrenching”, it’s almost hard to describe. Right after the game ended, an older lady came down and sat a few seats away from us, as I just happened to be looking in her direction. After a quick “look around” to see if the “coast was clear” she pulled out a small jar from her purse, leaned over the rail and poured the contents out on the dirt… She noticed me watching her and quickly slid over next to us to explain that her sister was THE BIGGEST Sox fan in the world. She told us how she hadn’t missed a home game in years and had just passed away. Her last wish was to have her ashes spread on the field of her beloved White Sox…. If that doesn’t help put your world into perspective, noth’n will.” Doug concluded…

After a short rest back home, Doug was again back-on-the-road. This time he would be without his trusty companion. The Red Mustang he knows so well would stay at home while Doug would be driving a steed of a different color. For this Ford Racing demo, Doug would find himself in a brand new 2010 Shelby GT500 prepped by the Ford Mustang gurus themselves, Livernoise Motorsports. The target for this “assault” would be the EEA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, WI. For this demo, not only would Doug be hanging out with his usual partner in crime, Vaughn Gittin Jr. but the two drift aces would be joined by two “aces” of a different type. Enter one Kirby Chambliss and his colleague Michael Goulian, two of the very best aerobatic and air racing pilots in the world! So, what do you get when you combine two Shelby Mustangs, two aerobatic planes, 7000 feet of runway and a little old guy who goes by the name of Dynamite?

How about this:

 The “four aces” set up a stunt that pitted one plane and one Shelby head-on against each other and with enough runway starting out in between them so that the cars could get up to speeds exceeding 160mph. Then as the planes and cars came together in the middle, our man Dynamite set-off a 500ft. long wall of fire that rose over 150feet into the air. To see video of this amazing stunt click: http://www.fordairventure.com/wingvswheels.html  

After it was all over and everyone had caught their collective breath, naturally it was picture time and if you’re driving Shelby Mustangs there’s only one guy you’d want to have your picture taken with, none other than the legend Carroll Shelby himself. After the last photos were shot, Doug had this to say, “Ok, somebody pinch me to make sure this isn’t a dream. Not only did I just race side-by-side with an airplane, I played “chicken” with my boy Vaughn missing each other by only a few feet with a closing speed of over 320mph, a guy just tried to singe my eyebrows with 500ft of explosives and now, I just got to meet Carroll Shelby… This is just too much…”

All together, the team made 5 passes for the thousands of fans in attendance with one of the shows even taking place in a pouring rain… Next time you see Doug, ask him what happens to a car when it hits some big painted numbers in the middle of a runway when you’re traveling 160mph in the rain….

As can be imagined, this was a month Doug won’t soon forget and he is so very thankful to all those people behind the scenes who helped put these programs all together. “These events are so large in scope, I was just a tiny little part of them. Sure a few of us were out front for the crowds to see but without everyone behind us like Curt, Kerry, Skip, Kevin and all the rest pushing us forward, there would have been nothing to take pictures of… To all of those people, I can’t thank them enough.” Doug concluded….

Next up for Doug and his DVM Mustang will be a few local grassroots drift events here in the South in preparation for another trip out West where the two will once again take on the high banks of Irwindale Speedway in So. Cal for Formula Drift’s final event of the season. From there the car will stay out in California to be prepped for the Las Vegas extravaganza known as SEMA. Stay tuned for all the fun and adventure… We’ll keep Ya’ posted…

Just when you think there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, somebody shows-up with a spotlight…  With only 1 week before the New Jersey round of the Formula Drift championship, things weren’t lookin’ too good for the DVM crew. Then out of nowhere comes a call from a group of folks that are starting a very ambitious project in Charlotte, NC. After a very brief afternoon meeting, the deal was set and Doug and the boys were again “off to the races”.

The “players” in this game were the Metrolina Speed and Sport Center and Streetwise Drift. The Metrolina SSC is a new $50M multi-use motorsports facility being put together in North Charlotte. The project, headed up by Simon Weber and Charlotte based drift event organizers, Brian & Todd Phillips of Streetwise Drift..

“I’m very excited about this association for many different reasons.” DVM driver Van Den Brink said. “First-off, we now have the financial backing to go and compete at Wall Stadium. Secondly, the two groups involved in making this happen are really doing some exciting things here in the Charlotte area.” Doug added.

After a good test-day on Thursday, the DVM crew (along with the rest of the Formula Drift contingent) spent Friday watching the rainfall. For the first time in FD history, the day’s events had to be postponed not because of the rain but because of the racetracks inability to shed the water and the deep puddles that formed on it’s infield portions. The series normally runs “rain or shine” but when a couple of cars tried taking to the track, the puddles simply made it unsafe to continue and the FD officials wisely called an end to the day’s activities.

Saturday was a different story as the sun showed up and the air was again filled with more tire smoke than raindrops. What the Friday rain showers did do though was condense the entire weekend event schedule into one day. This meant the teams would not get their normal 2 hours “tandem-practice” session that they usually get Friday night. This loss of practice was really a detriment to Doug since that 2hr “happy hour” session was really his only opportunity to run in close proximity with the other drivers. This New Jersey event was the teams third of the season but with a disappointing result in Long Beach, the driveline failure in Atlanta (that kept the team from being a part of “happy hour”) and now the rain in NJ, Doug’s total opportunity to measure his pace with his fellow competitors came down to only the two laps he ran in the Atlanta “Top-32 eliminations”.

The way the schedule played out, the teams would basically go straight from “Top-32 qualifying” to “Top-32 eliminations”. This change made it great for the fans that got a great, action-packed show but for the teams it meant fast work and a super quick turn-around for the cars and drivers. In qualifying, Doug didn’t quite get the lap he had hoped for but still made it safely into the show in 23rd position. According to the judges, his lines were not bad, but his transitions, from one side to the other were not as “snappy” as they were wanting. He also slid a touch high in the flat sections so his overall speed wasn’t as high as it could be. “On the first lap, I was really high on the banking, right up next to the wall but I then went too deep into the “flats”, Doug said. On the second lap, I didn’t get up the banking like I wanted so my rhythm into the first half of the track was a little “jacked”. Luckily, I ran a good second half of the lap so I was able to recover a little and get a slightly higher score than on the first,” Doug concluded…

As in other sports that use a “bracket tree” to set their fields, Doug’s 23rd qualifying position would put him up against the #7 qualifier… Those of you that follow Formula D closely will recall the driver that came away from the Road Atlanta round victorious, none other than one of Formula Drifts “OG’s” Chris Forsberg. Like Doug, Chris didn’t quite get the qualifying run he was looking for but it’s pretty fair to say that currently, he is at the top of his game.  When questioned right before their battle, Doug said, “Drawing Chris is both good and bad. The good news is that he’s a super clean driver and you know he’s going to run hard. The bad news is, he rarely makes mistakes and has a ton more experience at this deal than I do. I think this is going to be fun”….

With Forsberg being the higher qualifier, he lead-off on the first lap. Doug dropped in behind but he gave Chris a little too much gap into the banking falling about 2-car lengths behind. That gap would remain the entire lap as Doug did a great job of carrying good angle and speed but just not closing-up on Chris like the judges like to see. Chris’s textbook run gave him the advantage going into the second lap.

With Doug now leading, he laid down a better lap with even more speed than the first. Unfortunately Forsberg was on his bumper the entire way and showed why he is one of the very best in the business. In the end, Forsberg would go on to advance and the DVM Mustang would be done for the day. After the runs Doug had this to say, “That was pretty much what I expected. Chris ran a great couple of laps and taught us a thing or two. I think our car was really good today, I just need to get more tandem experience at this level and we as a team have to do a better job of recognizing and communicating what I need to do during and between runs. Sure it’s disappointing that we didn’t do better but I also need to be honest with myself and recognize where I need to improve. We’ve got the tools we need to be here (Formula D), we just need to be here more often so we’re sharper as a group.”

All and all it was a reasonably successful weekend for the North Carolina based crew and one that they can build from. A HUGE THANK YOU must go out to Streetwise Drift and The Metrolina Speed and Sport Center for whom without their support, this weekend would not have been possible. Also our regular crew had some great additional help from Brian Phillips and Brandon Weber, both of whom were a great help over the weekend…

This association of Weber, Phillips and Van Den Brink (though only for this one event) hope to work together again sometime down the road but only time will tell. For this reason, the next Formula D event in Las Vegas, NV on July 10-11 will more than likely have to go on without the DVM Mustang. With any luck, funding will be put together that will allow Doug to return to FD competition soon. What we do know however is that next up for Doug and his Mustang will be another Ford Racing drift demo up at one of Doug’s favorite tracks, Wisconsin’s Road America where he and Vaughn Gittin, Jr. will be adding a little “smoke” to the Brian Redmond Vintage Invitational weekend… Lookout “cheese-heads”, here it comes…

Continuing on the “multi-part” theme, we pick-up the season as the team prepped itself for Atlanta, Georgia….

After the test at VIR the DVM Mustang was back in the shop where the boys completed the updates needed for their next event, which would be the second round of the Formula D championship at Road Atlanta Raceway. This would be Doug’s third “crack” at this hilly circuit and with mixed experiences the past two year’s, the team was determined to get a good result. The team would be tested once more. After a good day and a half of testing, a drivetrain “gremlin” would pop-up and force Doug to use only 2nd gear for his qualifying run. “I normally shift up to 3rd gear coming back down the hill but I just couldn’t risk it under these circumstances.” VDB said. “I hate to have the turn the motor as hard as we did, but luckily our Kenny Troutman built engine that’s Pro-Dyno tuned, once again survived the abuse and we were able to qualify 18th today”. Doug added. Right after qualifying Friday the team spent the evening on their collective backs replacing the offending components and by 9PM Doug was back in his seat running the car through it’s gears. 

After a good nights rest, the team was back at it Saturday morning double checking their “in the dark” handy-work from the night before. Being that Atlanta is so close to home, the DVM crew had a lot of support from fans and friends that came down from North Carolina for the event. “This year we seemed to quadruple our support up in the grandstands”. Doug said. “It was really cool seeing everyone there and I was truly overwhelmed by the amount of well-wishers we had this year. They really did inspire me to push harder and give them something to cheer about. It’s a very humbling experience to have so many people pulling for you. I’ve never felt that level of positive energy from the crowd before and I can tell you I was really taken aback….” VDB concluded.

Once Saturday morning practice concluded, Doug lined up for (what most people didn’t know) his first Formula Drift tandem competition and from the qualifying order on Friday, he would be paired up against fellow “privateer” Joon Maeng. One of the interesting things about drifting is that for the most part, the competitors are truly friends with each other. So much so that while the battle was set between Doug and Joon, the two drivers (who have shared hotel rooms while at other events) were more focused on doing there best for their teams, not trying to hinder each other like you would in other motorsports events.

The two up and coming drivers were very well matched with Joon having slightly more experience. On the first run Joon led with Doug latching onto his rear bumper. Through turns 1, 2 and 3 there was less than half a car separating the two drivers. Going up into the “P” section of the track Joon threw his Nissan a little too hard and as he gathered it up his car unfortunately lost some of it’s forward momentum. This “stall” in forward progress forced Doug to make a split second decision: a) run into the back of Joon (bad option), b) turn underneath Joon and maintain his own momentum or c) check-up just enough to give Joon the extra time he needed while at the same time scrub just enough speed off the Mustang so he could fall-in behind Joon as they came down the hill.  Now most everyone who knows Doug, knows that he has made a career of winning races by driving underneath other drivers if they mistakenly slipped high up into a corner. So when Joon slipped, Doug’s instincts took over and he filled the hole that Joon had left open up his inside. The crowd went crazy as the two drivers approached the apex of the “P” literally door to door. Unfortunately, there was not quite enough room and the two cars touched ever so lightly. This caused Joon to slide out wide and Doug passed him remembering that passing the other driver is not necessarily the goal in drifting.

“This years event in ATL was good for us all I think”. Doug said. “It was good that the car worked well and it was good that I drove the car very close to its potential. I believe this performance is simply further proof to what I’ve been saying all along; you’ve simply got to be in the car on a regular basis and be fresh and well rested come time for the event. The demos that I’ve been doing for Ford, the tests at VIR, even the laps in Skip Barbers Formula and MX5 cars I did a couple of weeks ago at VIR all contributed to me being properly prepared this weekend. Add to that the help I got getting the car ready from Jason, Darrell and Ira back at the shop. It all helped. Now I just have to find a way to keep all this moving forward so we can build on this success.” Van Den Brink concluded.

On the second run, Doug laid down a smoke screen of Falken rubber that would make any “crop-duster” proud. Joon did his best to hold onto the Mustang and while he had a few minor bobbles, did a pretty good job of keeping up with Doug’s superior speed. In the end the judges felt that while Doug ran an amazing and near flawless second run, his “instinct” of charging up underneath Joon and “taking his line away” was more than they could bare and awarded Joon the win over Doug and his Mustang. After this oh-so-close battle, Joon went on to finish 4th place overall in the competition with Doug being one of the first to congratulate his former “room-mate”.

As one of drifting’s more seasoned participants later told Doug, if nothing else this weekend in Atlanta should be looked upon as a “moral victory” for him. Remember that most people around the drifting world have never seen Doug “race” they really have no idea that this laid-back, easy-going guy is one of the most aggressive and motivated drivers they have ever seen. His many victories and championships are a testament to that. Once Doug starts becoming a regular participant in the “tandem portions” of the Formula D events, people are going to start to know the Doug Van Den Brink that his “long-time followers” have known for years…

Next up for DVM would be round three of the Formula Drift Championship in Wall Township, New Jersey…. Please stay tuned as there is more to come….