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Posted
Oct 24 2009, 03:35 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 27 comment(s)
Hi. I’m Joon Maeng. I was born in Seoul, S. Korea in 1982 and immigrated to the US of A when I was nine years old. Ever since I can remember, I have had a fascination with cars. Not just any cars, of course, but import performance cars. After obtaining my driver’s license, somehow I came across drift competition clips from Japan and I got hooked. It felt like my calling, like I had an epiphany. I began physically experimenting with the concept of drifting shortly thereafter with my 85...
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Posted
Oct 22 2009, 10:20 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 11 comment(s)
I suppose some people might call me a bit of a workaholic as I very rarely stop working. This past weekend though I had a little too much on my plate. I had two camera operators shooting 2 different drift films, was collaborating with our team of Speedhunters photographers, was helping to organize the Royal Purple video game contest and was also following five different drifters around for their Speedhunters guest blogs. Ack!... So the weekend was perhaps a bit pressurized for my own taste, but that’s...
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Posted
Oct 21 2009, 10:10 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 23 comment(s)
Conventional wisdom says that time starts to slow down as you get older, but for me I'd say the opposite is true. Each year seems to be more action packed and high paced than the last. Exactly one week ago I was getting ready to fly from Vancouver to Los Angeles to attend the Formula D finals at Irwindale Speedway... but tonight I'm already getting set to fly to Houston, Texas tomorrow for two days of shooting the state's finest slammed cars. But before I get too far ahead of myself,...
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Posted
Oct 18 2009, 12:46 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 13 comment(s)
Ryan Tuerck may have taken the top honours at Formula D Irwindale this evening, but it was Chris Forsberg who was crowned the new 2009 Champion. Congrats to him and his team from Speedhunters! More stories from Irwindale to follow... :Rod Chong
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Posted
Oct 01 2009, 06:53 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 3 comment(s)
Welcome to October! We thought for this month's calendar, we'd start to ramp up for the Formula D finals at Irwindale Speedway with this David Lister photograph from last year's event. I can't wait! Pick it up at the Desktops section of the site. :Rod
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Posted
Sep 19 2009, 11:00 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 4 comment(s)
Dean “Karnage” Kearney, the 2009 Prodrift Super Series champion, has confirmed he'll be competing in Formula D next month. The final round of the 2009 American drifting championship will be staged at the Toyota Speedway -more popularly known as the “House of Drift”- in Irwindale, California on October 16h & 17th. Dean's ambition to compete in the USA came after witnessing the REDBULL Drifting World Championships in 2008 at the port of Long Beach and he wanted to...
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Posted
Sep 10 2009, 10:08 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 11 comment(s)
Next month's Formula Drift season finale at Irwindale Speedway is shaping up to be quite the event. Besides the chase for the championship, the FD finale will also host overseas drivers like Fredric Aasbo - the Scandinavian star who competed at the Redbull Drift Championship wlast year. Fredric just officially announced his entry for Irwindale, and he'll be back behind the wheel of the Team Japan Auto Supra.
Tire and pit support will again come from Falken Tire.
Fredric had a nice showing last fall in Long Beach, hopefully he'll be able to do the same at the House of Drift.
-Mike Garrett...
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Posted
Mar 02 2009, 03:10 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 26 comment(s)
As we look forward into the launch of the new 2009 Formula Drift season, we thought it would be cool to release a video shot at the last round of the 2008 season. This is a little bit of a different take on a drifting film..... It's shot from the point of view of one of the Need for Speed girls, Michelle Cifuentes , as she watches the qualifying sessions at Irwindale Formula Drift.... This video is the last film you'll see from us for a while.... we've finally exhausted all our footage...
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Posted
Feb 16 2009, 08:00 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 10 comment(s)
One of the rarest cars in the Corolla lineage is the KE15 Toyota Corolla 1200, or Corolla Sprinter. These cars came out even before the TE27; we're talking late 1960s here. Parts for the KE15/KE17 are extremely hard to find, no matter what country you search in - United States, Japan, Australia, Philippines, New Zealand, you name it. I have personal experience with trying to find parts for this car unsuccessfully - I owned a white KE15 about ten years ago, but ended up selling it after a year...
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Posted
Dec 22 2008, 04:00 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 18 comment(s)
More retro/pinup girl scenes from the Mooneyes Show... I like these selections better than the last. This selection of photos is more natural I suppose; these are pics of some of the "normal girls" who dressed up to go to the show with their boyfriends, etc... I prefer these types of girls (er, natural looking girls, not necessarily girls with bfs, haha) rather than girls who obviously got dolled up to win the pinup contest. Up top is a girl sitting on the rear tire of a hotrod! Cool, perfect...
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Posted
Dec 21 2008, 04:30 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 15 comment(s)
Okay, okay, by popular request, here it is... Everyone's been asking for photos of the pinup girls from the Mooneyes Christmas Show. In the midst of going through all the pics I took of cars at the event, I finally was able to put together a small "eye candy" gallery for all you guys that requested it. I understand what some of you have been saying - stuff like "these stylish pinup girls are hotter than the girls in the import car scene" and all that jazz. Everyone has different...
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Posted
Dec 20 2008, 06:00 AM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 7 comment(s)
More car photos from the Mooneyes Irwindale Show... I like the colorways on this black and olive green metallic custom up front. Like I mentioned before, I'm not a fan of flames, but this car attracted me because of the non-traditional colors and the cleanliness of the whole thing. I can appreciate the hard work and planning that went into this car, even though it may not necessarily be my style. Notice the spiderweb pinstriping by the window and the top mounted mirrors... cool! Now THIS is totally...
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Posted
Dec 16 2008, 04:00 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 16 comment(s)
As promised, here are more photos from the Mooneyes Christmas Party at Irwindale... it has been tough trying to process these photos quickly, because every day since the Mooneyes event at Irwindale, I've had all day photo shoots. Today I have another car to shoot while we have a short break from the rain! Whew things are busy right now! I absolutely love the style and patina of the super low suicide rod above... from the cream colored paint to the combination of surface rust and cool pinstriping...
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Posted
Dec 15 2008, 06:00 AM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 40 comment(s)
I hope you all had a great weekend, because I know I sure did. It started getting colder in Southern California this week, and it even rained a couple times; soon it might be time to pack away our shorts and summer gear for the winter. Even though I know most of us think of drifting when we think of Irwindale , this weekend I went back to our familiar home track in Irwindale for a different event altogether - the Annual Mooneyes Christmas Party and Drag Race ! I need to be honest with you all. This...
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Posted
Oct 31 2008, 09:00 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 19 comment(s)
As I write this, I am reliving my victory three weeks ago at Irwindale Speedway during the final round of Formula Drift, firstly I just want to say WOOOOOOHOOOYAAAA!!!! For me this victory was long awaited and well deserved if I don't say so myself. I've won two prestigious drifting events in the past: the 2005 D1GP USA vs. Japan and the 2007 D1GP World Championship. But I have yet to taste the glory and stand on the top of the podium in a Formula Drift event. The final round of FD proved...
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Posted
Oct 27 2008, 02:25 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 12 comment(s)
For the vast majority of the Speedhunters' readership, Irwindale Speedway is the House of Drift. It is considered by most people to be the epicenter of the US drift scene; the place that has seen the evolution from amateurs making smoke in the parking lot, to the professional, multi-car, factory supported teams we see today.
However, for an entirely different group of people, Irwindale Speedway is the place to be on Thursday nights.... and not for drifting... no not at all... it's the home of a group of people who like to call themselves "Street Legal Drag Racers"....
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Posted
Oct 22 2008, 03:00 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 9 comment(s)
Some more photos for the Speedhunters readers interested in females... the girl gazing out the passenger window of the Need for Speed/Shelby Terlingua Mustang is Need for Speed model Michelle. Look out for more of her on future Speedhunters updates. Thanks to Dan Vanitcha for the great photo of her. I don't know what looks hotter... Taka's AE86 or Lisa and Eri holding the umbrellas... CJ Gibson... bangin! Falken was doing a video shoot for their SEMA video, and here's a behind the scenes...
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Posted
Oct 20 2008, 07:45 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 7 comment(s)
More from Formula D Irwindale... here's a shot of the crowd in the fully packed grandstands at Irwindale. Just look at how many people are in the stands, not to mention the VIP suites above! The Formula D Finale was a big event! From the grid... Taka Aono prepares to do a burnout before his Top 16 run, as Falken race queen Eri Moriyama holds her teal and blue up in the air proudly... undaunted, she's apparently not afraid to stand next to cars burning out just a couple feet away! Oh yeah...
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Posted
Oct 16 2008, 12:30 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 13 comment(s)
Digging through my photos from the past weekend at Irwindale Speedway, I thought I'd put together another one of my lifestyle galleries, so Speedhunters readers who didn't get a chance to experience the event in person could get a feeling of what it was like to be there. My good friend Andy Sapp from Atlanta GA seems to love these lifestyle galleries, so I figure I'd put together these pics to keep him happy! In case the name Andy Sapp sounds familiar, then you've been paying attention...
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Posted
Oct 07 2008, 01:26 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 10 comment(s)
VW enthusiasts have always been unique and very diehard, and have created their own scene, which is HUGE in Southern California. They cult like following definitely does not get enough attention for the high level of cars they produce. I love the clean and simple well thought out look of this Golf. While baby blue isn't a color I would paint my personal car, I think it looks awesome in this case, especially with the good offset Schmidt wheels. Since most of my automotive upbringing has been in...
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