Lone Star Drift Round 3 – Racing on the Houston Police Academy track.
Although my ‘home track’ for drifting is Evergreen Speedway in Monroe WA – my official residence is in Houston, Texas, and I spend a significant portion of my time there. This season, I was finally able to join the local Texas drifting organization (Lone Star Drift) for their third round of Street Legal and ProAm competition.
The third round took place on the track of the Houston Police Academy over two days, with the Lone Star Drift SL competition on Saturday and the ProAm round on Sunday. The Houston Police Academy has a challenging track, which became even more interesting on Sunday during the ProAm round, when a thunderstorm made its way over North Houston and the rain added yet another challenge for the competitors.
Joint grassroots and ProAm competition days are always interesting because they bring together drivers who just drift what they drive daily in the Street Legal class, and those with custom builds or modified vehicles in the ProAm class. Walking through the pit area you get to see anything and everything, from drivers fitting custom parts on their car for the first time, to family and friends helping place decals on a stock car, to complete custom builds with a full livery. The local drift races are always a show of passion and commitment, with dedicated drivers and teams made of friends and family working hard for the common goal of improving their performance and bringing home some winning hardware.
In the Street Legal class, the winner package is also very attractive: the grand prize for the 2018 Lone Star Drift SL series includes a trip to Japan and four days of drifting at the Ebisu Circuit – which is a dream prize for anyone in a grassroots drifting series.
The upcoming rounds of Lone Star Drift will be at Texas Motor Speedway, Gulf Greyhound Park, Mineral Wells, and back at Texas Motor Speedway for round 7 in September. In the ProAm series, the first three drivers in points at the end of the series receive a Pro2 license and will be eligible to compete in Formula Drift Pro2 next season. After round 3, which saw Harrison Johnson, Josh McGuire, and Zach Mitchamore on the podium, the standings have Harrison Johnson in first place, followed by Zach Mitchamore and Collin Bernard.
Stay tuned for the next round!