KA24DESOneThree
05-31-2004, 12:04 PM
If any of you read this month's Sport Compact Car, you'd know exactly what I'm talking about. In Rado's "Racer Mentality" section of SCC, he talks about drifting.
First, he says he's qualified because "I figure anyone who grew up on the East Coast sliding around frozen parking lots in high-horsepower, rear-drive cars with bald tires has an edge when it comes to drifting, so why not take advantage of it?" Ummm, excuse me Mr. Rado, but doesn't it snow in Japan? And why did you need lots of horsepower to slide around; because you lacked the skill otherwise?
Then, he took a ride with either Taniguchi or Tanaka; which driver, he doesn't know because he's an absolute tool with a blocked mind. After the ride, he thought "Watching whoever it was didn't leave me awe-struck. There's no mystery to drifting, just solid techniques; it's basically the same stuff I've been doing to show off since I was in high school." First you insult your gracious driver who flew in from Japan to show us drift enthusiasts his sport by forgetting his name, then you say his driving didn't leave you awe-struck because it's easy? Rado, you straight-line front-wheel-driver, have some respect because he's better than you. Much better. Drifting is not easy and it does not have solid techniques.
Now Rado tells us that he's going to be drifting a Tacoma at the Drift Show-off. Then he says "... if there's one area where I think we can improve the sport, it's in appearance. A lot of cars at D1 looked pretty ghetto; they were beat up and looked it. If there's one thing about us Americans, it's that we like our cars shiny, clean, and sweetly detailed." Hey, Rado... obviously you haven't been around the sport of drifting enough to realize that cars get damaged doing it. And, unlike your drag Celica, they don't have a virtually unlimited budget. In your column a while back, you say Saruwatari was kind of an elitist dick and so you follow suit now? Pathetic. Do you think that Pfeiffer has tons of sponsors? No, and his car is street legal. What about the dude with the Charmant... his car was barely modified and he had barely any sponsors, if any. Drifting isn't about showcars, it's about performance. Maybe if you weren't such a sponsorship tool, you'd realize that.
He goes on to call the drifters "surly to the fans." All of the drifters I saw were extremely nice to their fans, but they can't spend every second with them because they're race drivers. They have things to tweak and discuss with their techs, (or they're doing all the work themselves like Pfeiffer, the Levin guy, and the Charmant guy) not be out making the ladies swoon or trying to hawk sponsor products.
Rado, you're into drifting for the money, not for the love. People like you will ruin the sport. Go back to driving straight; you're not welcome with us. Don't expect us to cheer for you.
First, he says he's qualified because "I figure anyone who grew up on the East Coast sliding around frozen parking lots in high-horsepower, rear-drive cars with bald tires has an edge when it comes to drifting, so why not take advantage of it?" Ummm, excuse me Mr. Rado, but doesn't it snow in Japan? And why did you need lots of horsepower to slide around; because you lacked the skill otherwise?
Then, he took a ride with either Taniguchi or Tanaka; which driver, he doesn't know because he's an absolute tool with a blocked mind. After the ride, he thought "Watching whoever it was didn't leave me awe-struck. There's no mystery to drifting, just solid techniques; it's basically the same stuff I've been doing to show off since I was in high school." First you insult your gracious driver who flew in from Japan to show us drift enthusiasts his sport by forgetting his name, then you say his driving didn't leave you awe-struck because it's easy? Rado, you straight-line front-wheel-driver, have some respect because he's better than you. Much better. Drifting is not easy and it does not have solid techniques.
Now Rado tells us that he's going to be drifting a Tacoma at the Drift Show-off. Then he says "... if there's one area where I think we can improve the sport, it's in appearance. A lot of cars at D1 looked pretty ghetto; they were beat up and looked it. If there's one thing about us Americans, it's that we like our cars shiny, clean, and sweetly detailed." Hey, Rado... obviously you haven't been around the sport of drifting enough to realize that cars get damaged doing it. And, unlike your drag Celica, they don't have a virtually unlimited budget. In your column a while back, you say Saruwatari was kind of an elitist dick and so you follow suit now? Pathetic. Do you think that Pfeiffer has tons of sponsors? No, and his car is street legal. What about the dude with the Charmant... his car was barely modified and he had barely any sponsors, if any. Drifting isn't about showcars, it's about performance. Maybe if you weren't such a sponsorship tool, you'd realize that.
He goes on to call the drifters "surly to the fans." All of the drifters I saw were extremely nice to their fans, but they can't spend every second with them because they're race drivers. They have things to tweak and discuss with their techs, (or they're doing all the work themselves like Pfeiffer, the Levin guy, and the Charmant guy) not be out making the ladies swoon or trying to hawk sponsor products.
Rado, you're into drifting for the money, not for the love. People like you will ruin the sport. Go back to driving straight; you're not welcome with us. Don't expect us to cheer for you.