Drifting with Motiva Performance: Entering the Drift World

My older sisters started calling me Tommy Technician when I was about 5 years old because I took apart broken household items and fixed them. I think it started with a toaster. When I was 10 my mom came unnerved when she found I had completely disassembled my bicycle to detail it. By the time I was 21, I had done every repair or rebuild possible on a common, pre-electronic ignition, automobile.

I had a desire to race cars, but I never made the time or the money. Three years ago my son, Sam, wanted to get in to drifting. I had saved money to sue a psychopath who slandered me. After thinking about the cost verses benefit I decided to put my money in to drifting. With Sam's big dreams and little insight, we bought a 1997 Nissan 240SX. It was two mistakes in one. Sam was always out driving the Kouki, giving me little chance to work on it and it had an automatic transmission.

The more Sam talked about drifting the more my obsession with drifting grew. I needed my own drift machine. I bought a 1995 240SX and we went to our first drift event March 17, 2013 at NAPA Speedway in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was exciting seeing all the cars and imagining sliding around the track. At the drivers meeting the newbies were identified which lead to me getting some much needed lessons in the art of drifting. In less than an hour the excitement and learning ended when the engine died due to a cracked Evaporative Emission Control System tube hiding under the intake manifold.