[Bandit]

Drifting is nothing new, professional racers have known how to "drift" since day one. It is the same thing as managing a controlled slide in an high-powered oversteering racecar. Until recently it was a condition that you wanted to avoid as much as possible in order to get around the track in the fastest time possible. Only lately it has been introduced into the States from Japan as a sort of "automotive artform" but it has nothing to do with racing. Other than the fact that some of the cars would make pretty good race cars if tuned a little more toward that end.

It does take skill to maintain controlled powerslides around a track--I'll give them that. And it does make for a pretty good show with all the smoke-inducing tire melting that goes on. Other than entertainment value it is useless, but that's all it claims to be--entertainment. The media sometimes blurs the lines between drifting events and racing due to ignorance though.