The Last PIR Drift Event!!!!

So I had no intentions of this post being anything big.  My first thoughts were something along the lines of me trying to be funny and posting a bunch of the pictures I had taken over the course of the weekend.  It has kind of gone further than that with recent news that Phoenix International Raceway has apparently decided that they can no longer benefit from having a road course in addition to their NASCAR oval track.

Of course at this point, they seem to only be rumors but, they have been heard from the right people. It seems as though this is the end of an era so to speak. I’m confident this is not the end of “Big Track Drifting” in Arizona. For all that Firebird may possess, it cannot compare to the sheer awesome of PIR!

Of course there is the possibility of the raceway building the infield in such a way that there can be a course setup safely. Either way, PIR as it was last driven, will never happen again. This shouldn’t sound to somber as it was the collection of friends that created the fun environment.

All these friends remain, minus one BMW, so therefore the good times have to roll on. This is more like a fallen soldier. A friend that is moving away to another state or what have you. They’re still around so you can call them, but the relationship isn’t the same.

There are still soo many things to look forward to. We have a couple guys that are going to make a serious run at XDC Irwindale, both with real chances of doing well.

I myself, after finishing my car this year, am planning on making it to the entire West Coast XDC series and competing wherever the final is held. Unsure of the outcome at this point, but I am very sure that the journey will be fun!

For some reason I felt compelled to make this a big weekend. In hindsight it seems completely justified haha! I ran in the DE classes on Saturday since I figured there would not be many opportunities this year to get some grip driving seat time.

Basically I asked for my DE3 check ride, which was actually a check watch as I had no passenger seat, in the first session. It may have been a little cocky as I was on fresh knuckles that I had welded myself. There’s something to be said for driving 100+ mph next to a brick wall on suspension components fabbed up by yourself and some friends.

There’s also something to be said about the feeling of true friendship when you see a group of people band together to make sure everyone has fun during the day. A tech nightmare ensued Sunday morning as something on the order of 9 out of 10 drift cars failing tech inspection for various reasons, most common being the 5th point strap on safety harnesses.

Sharing of tools, knowledge and free hands helped to make sure that everyone drove that day. The day wasn’t without consequence however. For all the love we show, PIR has a nastiness about her that can put you in check with a quickness. Busted engines….

Thrown engine codes……

There are a bunch of different levels of drivers, hobbyists and businesses that will not let the spirit of PIR die wherever we go next.

So until we meet again. Peace!!!

02/10/2011 | Categories: Drift Events, Meets | 1 Comment