I was introduced to Ken Block at Formula Drift in the Streets of Long Beach 2006 from a mutual friend. Some of you might know Ken as the cofounder of DC Shoes, but most of you know as him as a pro rally driver and the maniac behind the wheel of a factory supported, Vermont Sport Cars built, Monster Energy Drink/Subaru Impreza WRX STI that jumped over 170 feet for the Stunt Junkies show.

Since our introduction we have had a number of conversations and we have always talked about getting together to teach our sports to one another. It wasn't until a trip out to the amazing DC Shoe headquarters where I was able to spend a bit of time getting to know Ken, that I learned that he was such a super cool genuine guy. Not only is he very passionate and in touch with the development of extremely stylish and functional products over at DC, but he has a deep passion for rally racing. After hearing some stories and watching some videos, I really wanted to get behind the wheel of a rally car and really started pushing to make this drift/rally lesson a reality. Due to our insane schedules, we were finally able to make it happen about a year later here in 2008.

Ken met me at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey a few days before Formula Drift Round Three. It's pretty ironic meeting place because this is pretty much where myself and a lot of my Drift Alliance brothers got our start, and here I was teaching and talking about starting an actual drift school out of the awesome facility.

I brought out my competition Falken Tire Ford Racing Mustang as well as my personal practice\demo Mustang. The plan was to take Ken for a ride in my competition car to start the day off and then teach him some techniques and let him give it a go in my practice car. I linked the entire Englishtown road course in drift for his first ever drift ride-along. Ken said that he was blown away with the car control I had and the amount of work it took inside the car to put it exactly where I wanted it - especially at speed. It was obvious he had a lot of respect for drifting.

We headed over to the parking lot for him to have some fun. I setup a coned course away from anything that he could get into. I first took him for some slow runs through the course showing him initiation techniques and explained to him how to use the tools of the car (clutch, E-brake, etc...) to achieve the wanted results. I then turned the keys over to him and let him go at it.

Initially he had problems keeping the car in drift and kept spinning mid-turn. I gave him some instruction and he listened and implemented unbelievably well. The basis of the instruction was for him to forget everything he already knew from rally and start over with what I was telling him. After some practice Ken was definitely getting the hang of it and we decided to move to a more technical section of the road course. I took him for a pass and turned him loose! It was awesome watching him link the section for the first time. I was clapping and cheering for him like a high school football coach.

It was a great feeling.  As if his smile was not enough, Ken expressed how fun and challenging drifting was for him and he also was impressed with the nimbleness and the way the Ford Mustang handled the extremely aggressive driving. Yes, this one day of fun didn't turn him into a pro drifter ,but there is no question in my mind that given some time he could get REAL GOOD. Ken obviously has a lot of car control and good feel for a car in a slide, but drifting a RWD car requires the opposite of controlling an AWD car in a slide. It wasn't until the next day when I got behind the wheel of Ken's rally car did I understand just how much of a challenge he had overcome and how much focus it took for him to reprogram his brain to do completely the opposite of what he has been subconsciously doing for years.

For my behind the wheel portion of the learning we drove a few hours north to a rally facility in upstate New York - "Coxsackie" to be exact. On the way up Ken and I were talking about the previous day and fun he had drifting, and I started to quiz him further about rally and this facility we heading to. Not only did Ken inform me that there is no extra car for me to practice with, but that I would be driving his brand new 2008 Subaru STI that he needed to compete with in a couple weeks. He also informed me that there will be no open areas here to get acquainted to the car and oh, BTW, he has rolled a car every time he has come here. I was all smiles and laughs but in the back of my head I'm thinking "I'm not really looking forward to spending every dollar I have to fix this thing after we roll it!"

When we arrived at the track Ken's crew was washing the car as it was fresh off a Rally America stop and it was covered from top to bottom in dirt. We took a ride through the track in the rental as Ken talked me through it. He taught me where the easy places were to make mistakes and just gave me an initial visual of the course. When we returned the car was cleaned and they were finishing up the prep work.

I was able to check the car out and let me tell you what an amazing build this thing was: The cage was absolutely the stoutest thing I have ever seen and it was obvious no expense was spared with regards to the safety and performance of this car during the build up. Not to mention from the outside it just looked awesome and it was obvious Ken and his crew meant business when they rolled up to a rally race.

When the car was finished being prepped it was time to strap in and let Ken take me for a ride. Let me explain a secret about me to you....I absolutely HATE riding with other people, like seriously, I don't even like curvy back roads with my best friends, yet alone a rally track. However, I manned up and went for it.

The first lap I was tense like a 5 year old getting a tetanus shot. After that I began to focus on his inputs and the cars reactions. I will say I was very impressed with Ken's driving, but I was completely blown away with the performance of the car. It handled like it was on tarmac.

Common sense made me assume everything would be delayed due to being on gravel; however, the car listened to everything he threw at it. After a few laps of pure enjoyment it was my time to get behind the wheel. We did a few extremely slow laps just so I could get the feel of the car and then we went on to do some donuts and braking exercises.

Initially, I couldn't even do a donut and I realized what a huge challenge Ken had to overcome the day prior. My instinct as a drifter in a RWD car is to counter steer and stand on the throttle at high speed or modulate the throttle when in slow speed as soon as the car starts to rotate. In an AWD car you just stand on the throttle and turn in rather then counter steer.

We both had to retrain our brain to do the complete opposite of what we were used to. We decided to skip the donuts and start running the track. Being behind the wheel of that machine was so much more impressive then the passenger seat. The car's handling was simply superb.

No matter how loose the surface was, the car listened to my inputs immediately. Once the initial amazement wore off I started to focus on what I was doing to get around the track. In the beginning, I was having a very tough time fighting my instincts. I took a break and absorbed the things Ken was teaching me. We then jumped back in the car and it all clicked. I started left-foot-braking very smooth. I was turning in rather then counter steering and really started having a ton of fun with it.

To end the day and prove that I overcame my instincts, I busted some donuts out. I was no pro rally driver as I was still bobbling my footing and steering due to my instincts, however, I definitely achieved my goal of attacking the track at 50-60% of what Ken did earlier and not crashing or rolling the car. Rally was a perfect mix and challenge for my motocross and drifting background. It takes a ton of car control, good line judgment, and a ton of confidence in your machine.

I have an extreme interest to further get involved in the sport as I know I could excel with a bit more of brain training. Since rally is not repetitive like most other forms of racing, there are many different ways to go fast, and the fact that it is just miles of drifting is what really made me fall in love with rally. Who knows you might just see me in a Ford Focus at a future X Games!!!! Keep your eye out for a feature about my rally adventures and Ken's drifting excursions in an up-and-coming 0-60 magazine!

Below is a video of Ken drifting my Mustang and me tearing it up in his STI.  Make sure you check it out and let me know what you think of our days trading places!!!