What happens when the bros of Clubloose decide to have a last minute event the day after Formula D Wall, New Jersey? Nothing but pure RADNESS of course. But this is something that hasn’t happened at “The Greatest Place on Earth” in quite sometime. This really was a special occasion…..
Flashback. The year was 2010. It was on a sweltering hot mid summer day in the month of June. I was collecting a few things before I left my home to meet up with a few friends at the one and only Old Bridge Englishtown Raceway Park because one my most favorite events of the year was happening…..that being, Clubloose East Coast Bash. I was gettingmultiple text messages from others who were already at the venue because the one and only Mad Mike Whiddet was absolutely slaying in his BADBULL 20B Turbo Mazda RX-8 in some runs there. Not only that, a bunch of the Drift Alliance guys had their Formula D pro cars out there as well. Since I only live a few miles from the track, I could literally hear the sound of Mike’s rotary and Gittin’s RTR Mustang from my house. I rush over to the track as quickly as I could, and had one of the most memorable times that I ever had at that track.
Fast forward to June 2015. When I got word from the guys at Clubloose that they were having a special event the day after FD Wall, I immediately had a huge smirk across my face. My excitement was pretty much through the roof. Then, when they told me the laundry list of drivers from Formula D that were actually coming to drive with some the best Clubloose had to offer I really couldn’t contain myself. Usually when it comes to FD drivers coming to Old Bridge Raceway Park, they only come for the biggest Clubloose events like East Coast Bash, and those guys consist of mainly the Drift Alliance (Chris Forsberg, Ryan Tuerck, Vaughn Gittin Jr, etc.) and Clubloose regular, turned pro Geoff Stoneback. But, this time with the help of those guys, they were coming back with a whole lot more people to shred this awesome race complex in our own backyard. There has not been this many pro cars here since that great time 5 years prior.
Clubloose also reached out to us, and allowed us to have an awesome showcase showing off some of the best rides on this side of the planet. Not only that, we contacted the bros of Flipzco to come out and showcase a few cars of their own. This event was put together in a little over 2 weeks, and it still was seriously one of the most fun we have ever been apart of.
Brandon Schultz repping for Diamond Vinyl very well in his bugeye Subaru WRX.
Satu Basanow and his AP1 from one our past features. Goonie Fam for life brother.
For this showcase, not only did we want to have some the finest local import builds around, but we also wanted to show some really awesome American muscle builds and hot rods. It was definitely a sight to see a bunch of Japan and Germany’s finest street and drift cars parked next to some badass builds from the USA.
Brodyworx‘s 64.5’ Ford Mustang Fastback. A mix of pro-touring, drift style, American parts, Japanese parts, and a whole lot of creative personal work from the mind of someone who truly appreciates multiple car styles. We really love this thing. A LOT. Next full feature??
We really have to thank our fam, Tyler Elliot and Eric for helping us with this showcase and finding some rad muscle for us to showoff. We couldn’t have pulled this off with out yall. You guys are awesome.
For those wondering exactly who showed up to throw down at the brodown, the pros that came to kill it were, Chris Forsberg (NOS Energy Drink 370z), Ryan Tuerck (Retaks FRS), Vaughn Gittin Jr (Monster Energy Drink RTR Mustang) , Jhonathan Castro (Castro Racing 370z), Pat Goodin (Enjuku Racing S13), Mats Baribeau (Gold in the Net JZX90 Mark II), Chelsea Denofa (BC Racing/GT Radial E46), Geoff Stoneback (BC Racing/Achilles Radial S14), Kristaps Bluss (HGKRacing E46), and Sergey Kabargin (Pro 2 HGK Racing C6 Corvette). All these bros decided to throw down with the Bloodmasters and some of Clubloose’s best B and A group drivers. It was definitely a stacked card.
The Driftsnake/RaceweldEast guys are B group drivers but the way they piloted their cars together, makes them looks like seasoned pros. They have this course DOWN. The Miata is rocking a nasty SR20 setup and the E46 is pretty much stock motorwise, but is rocking a custom fitted S14 aero and flares on it. Pretty wild, but man does it look good.
A few of the boys from Ride The Wave were finally able to drive together after a return from a long driving hiatus from TJ Borek in his SR20 Sileighy. Reese Marin our original team driver, has been on a shredding mission and literally has not stop driving country wide. Literally he has not stopped. Lol.
Another one of our team drivers, Angelo M. of Velocity Stars, has been driving really solid this season in his 1JZ’d S13. The car’s setup is perfect now, and he really has been able to focus on his driving. Just a few months ago, he could barely do a run without spinning out every corner. Now as you see its all coming together and he really is looking good out there. He also has been really busy buying some things for his build….more on that at another time.
LosGoonies X Flipzco. The Dirty Drift Kids literally can’t stay off each others paint jobs haha.
The Faction Motorsports guys drove with literally everyone. These guys just rip man. A shit ton of angle, loads of smoke, a whole lot of rev limiter from their built SR’s, and just dope low car style. The crowd really liked watching these guys kill it.
Kristaps Bluss (E46), and Sergey Kabargin (Corvette) of HGKRacingTeam brought out their NASTY 1000whp Pro and Pro 2 cars. The amount of noise, smoke and just flat out forward speed they have is just mind blowing. These cars are stupid fast. These two are a good indication of how fast pro drift cars are today, even sideways.
Clubloose/Baloney Kids member Sweet Lou and Bloodmaster Wesley Harris, were killing it. These guys were getting SUPER close to each others body panels all day. Good stuff fellas.
Even the founding member of Clubloose got a few laps in. Matt Petty just recently finished his 1jz E36 4 door that came out pretty rad.
Factory 55/Felony Form in the house. Matt Waln, using all up all that angle….and the track.
Pat Goodin‘s Enjuku Racing S13 is fast as hell. You would never expect it to be a pro drift car because its REALLY quiet. The turbo’d LS almost makes his car a bit of a sleeper. It makes crazy huge clouds, under the radar, which is actually pretty cool.
Mats Baribeau‘s JZX90 Toyota Mark II is RAD. Stroker 2jz + Big snail = big smoke. Definitely one my favorites for stylish cars in American pro-drifting.
Chris Forsberg and Ryan Tuerck had most of their toys their to play with, and they made sure they made good use of them. Jhonathan Castro also got some solo laps in as well. These guys make this stuff look so easy.
Vaughn Gittin Jr’s pro car Mustang was out of commission for this event so he decide to unleash his EcoBoost powered Ford F150 “Ultimate Fun Haver” out. This thing was so crazy to see sideways next to the Clubloose and FD pros. JR even managed to find a jump on the track to link into a drift line haha.
Seeing the FD pros and Bloodmasters driving at the same time was a sight to see. They both have different styles and ideologies when it comes to drifting but, at the end of the day, everyone just wants to drive. Rad stuff. This event was just a memorable, all around good time. We hope that next year, this happens again, and more pros come out to shred with the locals. But most importantly we hope more come to just have a good time. Until next time folks…..
Photos by:
Sebastian Rodriguez (IG – @srodriguez92)
Alex Scavuzzo (IG – @alexscavuzzo)
Ian Vergara (IG – @ianv_tnt)
Words
Evan Stokes (IG – @itsmrpibb)
Special Thanks
Thank you to Matt Petty and Tim Johnsrud of Clubloose for the opportunity and hospitality. Thank you to Mike Napp of Old Bridge Raceway Park for giving us a place enjoy driving safely. Thank you to all the crew, drivers and photographers for all of the help on this rad event. Most importantly, thank you for reading.
