OMG!!! you're totally right. There's not even one mention of the word sport on the US Figure Skating Assocation's website http://www.usfsa.org/


Who cares :rofl:

Yeah Brendan and Ryan, the owner and the driver.

So far the camaro is the only car built before 1984 competing.

sport?
 

if it is a sport it is one of the better smelling ones? nothing like to smell of burning tires in the morning

My problem with drifting is the judging is subjective to peoples natural biassing. Now put accelerometers in the cars race an equal length track once inside once outside use average time and use accelerometers info to get real data on how sideways for duration,pitch + speed. Now you have a clear cut winner,not I like jap (insert your favorite here) cars best,specially the yellow ones and he is my favorite crap. Now you have a sport not just a competition. If it can be judged equaly its a sport otherwise its popularity competition!!
Do they have skills oh yeah. I can say I have drifted as far as anyone but most dont have 6 mile long dry lakes around them. When it raines the mud is 1/2" deep and you can drift your junk from one end to the other constant pitch. Fast sometimes slow most but it is far more fun to DO than watch.

I just had to shoot back to Australia to take care of some things. Luckily my friend has no licence and said I could borrow his car. I'm taking it to a skid pan day on Sunday, so I'll try getting some footage.

http://www.initialdrift.com.au/galle..._AMRS_2590.jpg

It's entertaining, but not a "sport". To me there's no clear winner or loser, much like many of the events in the Olympics. They take skill, sure, but if a group of judges has to declare a winner, not a sport!

It's awesome car control!
HUbinette and Millen are both accomplished national caliber racers in the Rally world. I've ridden shotgun around a drift course with pro-driver, those guys are good and I say its a sport. Beats the hell out of hitting a ball with a stick. or other adults playing child's games.

I didn't read every post so sorry if this has already be said.
I view it more as a competition than a sport. Just like a sport you compete and a winner is "choosen" not "decided".

I agree with Jeff the guys that do it are excellent drivers with alot of talent! And every guy loves a 100mph burnout for 1000'... :hail:

I said yes. I think it is a sport however, I think it is a stupid one. I have watched it once and that was enough for me. I think most will agree that it is a sport, but will also state that most do not like it. Just my two cents!

I really don't understand what the goal of Drifting is? My understanding is that it's like this analogy:

Drifting is to competitive autosports what figure skating is to competitive ice sports in the Olympics. Is it less about speed and more about technique?

It looks like fun to me anyway.

of course an event where people meet to test their skills and be judged on them is a sport.. its like horse-jumping or millitary (or whatever it is called when they ride a horse sideways) and judges award points.. just there are alot more horses involved in drifting...

There are many many sports where the winner is declared by a panel of judges rather than who finishes first.. is boxing not a sport?? what about aerobatics ??? i would rather watch boxing than swimming or speedskating.. yet the two latter have the winner declared by who finishes first and not points.. so just because you hate imports, ricers or whatever you call it.. and some kid with neon lights under his acura watches it, or perhaps you just find it a stupid waste of perfectly good rubber.. that doesnt mean its not a sport..

as for hitting a ball with a stick.. now there is somthing i have a hard time relating to.. :unibrow: (ill get flamed for this.. i just know it)

Out of curiosity I went to the RSR Drift Festival at the Rt66 Raceway in Joliet a couple of years back. After watching the RSR team go around the course 4 deep, all close enough to each other and close enough to the walls that there is no margin of error, I have to say yes it is a sport. I agree what many of you are saying about the judging being subjective, but that aside I still have to say it is a sport. I will probably go to another event someday to see particular cars/drivers, but it is not something I would go to far out of my way to go see otherwise. If I had the money, it would be fun to try though.

David

I'm trying to think of some of the events out there that are judged... already mentioned was figure skating, then there's diving, boxing, all gymnastics, the NBA's slam dunk contest, American Idol... and, of course, freestyle Motocross.

If you're into drifting, that's fine with me. I have no problem with it. It obviously takes skill and dedication to excel at it.

The one that keeps coming to mind as most subjective is car shows. The Year One category winners and Year One cup somehow excluded the Bob Johnson's G-Force 'Cuda and Bill Howell's' GTO.

Taking nothing away from the SN65 taking second place, I love that car too, but I still dont think these cars shouldv'e went unrecognized.

my 2 cents anyway

Thanks Russ, but my car was not a Top Three car at that event. I would go as far as saying that it was not a Top Ten car. I did win my class there, but honestly, Mike Holleman's car should have won. I got there late, and ran around the track several times, so I am not real sure how I got enough votes to win...lol
The more important event that happened that day was Dennis Gage doing a feature for his show on the goat.
You are right about Bob's car, it truely was robbed at that event. However, he had the last laugh when at the next Year One event that Chip Foose judged the cars, the Cuda won. Plus at Columbus he did eventually beat the 67 Chevelle. On top of that, the Cuda was not a trailer queen on the Power Tour. More important than a car show trophy is the fact we drive our junk.

Thanks though, I will go right now and wipe the dusk off the goat for you....lol

Someone sent me this link tonight. Sport or no sport, I gotta say there is talent to do this stuff. Until the ones that discount it can show me this is child's play and not a sport, I will keep thinking maybe it is. :yes:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/226832/drifting_skills/

To All:

It's a Sport.

It's not a lot different than Aerobatic's, except it's 2 dimintional instead of 3 dimentional.

I've been told Automobile Racing Drivers are not Athletes because they sit in a car all through the race. I say to this BS.

I would rather watch cars, hear cars and smells cars than just about any, "Sport" I can think of.

Golf is called a sport. Tennis is called a sport. Fishing is called a sport. I think all of these are boring as hell, but they are still considered sports.

Just because a winner is judged in part subjectively, doesn't have a darn thing to do with whether or not it is a sport.

Football is called a sport, however all of the penaltie called are subjective in nature. Same with Baseball, Hockey and just about anything else where a judge has to make a decision. These often have a dramatic role in who wins.

I think this takes place even in Auto Racing.

From a different perspective:

Maybe Auto Racing is not a Sport because of the subjective nature of any calls made by an official.

Many people find Auto Racing boring because all the cars do is go around and around. They don't think the drivers are even athletes because all they do is drive for a few hours. They say, it's the car doing all the work not the drivers.

I think this whole thing is silly. If you like it, Good! If you don't like it, Good! If it bores you, big deal don't watch it.

Is it a Sport? Certainly.

All Sports are competitions with subjective decisions interjected into them. Winners and Losers are based on measures of performance and subjective calls.

Disputes?

tyoneal

I gotta agree with that! Just because we may not like drifting does not make it any less a sport. Like Ty, I would much rather hear, smell tire smoke that chase a white ball all over a field. :thumbsup:
(maybe that is why I hate golf, I chase the ball all over the field, rather than continually head directly toward the flag. It usually only takes me 14 holes to have a par score. :lol: )

I like drifting when it is applied to Rally Racing. I think its super cool when a rally car is comming into a hairpin, slides the rear end out and gets around the hairpin super fast. Drifting through a corner that is tight is usualy quicker than not sliding the rear end out. As far as just plain drifting as a sport, I'd go to watch; The women that is. Gotta love those import girls!!!!!!

NONE of those are SPORTS - they are GAMES (except fishing, that is an ACTIVITY)

Racing is the only sport.

Fancy driving is not a sport.

:_paranoid

That's just a video of my wife trying to parallel park!
If it can't kill you, it's not a sport.

To each his own. But it definitely benefits the tire companys.

I think its all really just semantics at this point! Is it a "sport"? Who cares! Is it fun to watch? For me? Not really. Kind of boring although the drivers are VERY talented so if you watch it with that in mind then I can see how the entertainment value comes into play. Would it be fun to do? ABSOLUTELY! So, in my book, the argument to whether it is a sport or not is moot! Is it fun? That is what is important!

re
 

Like it or not they get paid to do it, and sponsors through alot of $ at it.
So is it a sport yes is it something I'd go out of my way to see NO. :D

"Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games." -Ernest Hemingway

While I don't consider it a "sport" per say, I enjoy watching it. Im really glad Tokyo Drift didn't put a huge black cloud over the scene, which I was expecting.

it depends on a definition... but if it requires talent, and a winner can be declared id say its a sport.. figureskating is also considered a sport, its even in the olympics.. and unlike drifting it cant kill you, its atleast very unlikely to do so..

2 words.......Tonya Harding!!!!!:lol:

I think drifting is as sport as anything "sport on cars" . Actually i dont see any sport on "motorsport" if you ask me.

Check out this Drifting.

Reminds me of a Rodeo Clown messing with a 3500 pound Bull.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/305093...st_drift_ever/

What a Dumbass........

Dummies are fun to watch sometimes.

Ty

the north american "drifting" is boring, the stuff they did on the streets of japan years ago is something to be seen.

Alex Phiffer who is one of the "sports" big names and was a driving consultant on Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift . He was one of my techs on my race car from 2000-2002.... I am happy to see these events take off because Alex is doing really well and I am hoping he is making lots of green and having fun . I do appreciate the car control and technique it takes to drive like that. Alex was also a pretty good road racer too . However.. all those guys are amatures compared to Walter Rohr in the Ruf GTR Yellow bird doing it at the Nurburgring at triple digit speeds about 15 years ago ... if you ever see the DVD Ruf Facination ... check it out . I too am reluctant to call it a sport.. it is more like an X-Game :)

You know what they say everyone has an opinion.

I don't think it is a sport like auto racing. I do think it is fun to watch. I think it is more like style, technique, and flash. You can definitely notice the better drifters from the not so good ones. The v-6, v-8, and esp V-10 viper are very impressive to watch. Plus it is fun to watch them thrash their rides up.

If anyone has never seen a live event Road Atlanta hosts Formula D and it is awesome you can get very close to the track plus no fence barrier to block the view. It is also great for amateur photographers. These are my pixel manipulated photos from the spectator side of the barrier.

Drifting is Touge run amok.
 

Drifting arguably started with Touge runs. Keiichi Tsuchia-san explained it as a way to keep the revs up [on their torque deprived] cars to stay in their power bands. Fine. Drifting, as I see it, is the result of trying to package "some form of" Touge for commercial mass consumption. Unfortunately, someone decided to package the events for small tracks and parking lots rather than build sanctioned Touge runs. Ok, so you can't just mount cameras all over the mountain side and it's hard to sell seats in ditches, so I guess it couldn't be helped. Touge is defenitly a sport and an art, but drifting just forgot what it was supposed to be about. It started as a means to find the fastest way around the course with what they had. The point is moot now that the rides are making big power, they'd be faster with grip driving. Now it's just about showboating and sponsorships. Sure it's fun and sure it's fun to watch, but is it really RACING?

lol i wonder why someone searched this thread... and then decided to vote on it? lol

Back from the dead................the smoke is rising.

Wow, back from the dead, but since I voted before realizing it's age....

Drifting is like Ballet. Neither is really very sporting IMHO....but entertainment, sure. Then again, my ex was in ballet, and she could do things that would make a snake blush....so maybe there is something to it! :captain:

It's one of those deals where it's a ton of fun to participate but not much fun to watch. I say sport. Kinda like golf without the beer. :rofl:

To me its not a sport none of auto racing is judged your racing the clock or other cars.Drifting is from the usa think of the old moon shiners flying down dirt roads you slide in the turns same thing with rally.And anyone dumb one to try it on the streets should be shot they are risking there lifes and others as well.

Drifting: the sport of crashing your car if you dont know WTF your doing. Other wise it is fun to do a little of it here and there. I wouldn't call it a sport by any means. I would only use drifting as a means to hang a turn at last resort.