Our beloved Irwindale Speedway had its last event and closed its gates for good in December of 2024. It was a very important place for many people's careers and passions, and it was especially important for the sport of drifting in the USA. In this episode, we provide some history about the track, and we share some details about the sale that lead to its closing. We also interview several notable people, each with different perspectives, about the closing of the infamous House of Drift. Intervie...
Mar 28, 2025•1 hr 26 min
Hiroshi Takahashi aka Kaicho is back for part 2 of his interview, and he does not disappoint. Listen as he provides first-hand accounts of significant people and events related to drifting in Japan! Get ready for some serious history lessons! Kaicho discusses many topics, such as Akira Nakai of current day RWB fame becoming the inspiration for Kaicho's drifting style, the origins of the term "missile car" and the infamous jump at Ebisu Minami, learning English from team Hey Man!, the early days ...
Jun 12, 2024•1 hr 54 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Hiroshi Takahashi aka Kaicho is an AE86/hachiroku drifting legend from Tokyo, Japan. He started drifting in 1989 and is a self-proclaimed 2nd generation drifter. In this episode, Kaicho gives us a history lesson and describes the drifting scene in Japan in the 80s and 90s, and some of the people who inspired him. He tells us about joining team RUNNING FREE, and shares some stories about teammate Kouichi Yamashita and team leader Shingo Murao as young men in the early 90s. Make sure to stay tuned...
May 15, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Tony Angelo is a US drifting pioneer from Doylestown, PA. He found drifting from Initial D in the early 2000s and started sliding his car around PA back roads, meeting Chris Forsberg in the process. In their turbo FC Mazda RX-7s, they were heavily into drifting before anybody in their area knew what it was. They eventually hosted sanctioned events at Englishtown Raceway, introducing drifting to others on the East Coast including people like Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Ryan Tuerk. In this episode, Tony...
Apr 10, 2024•1 hr 45 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Jonathan Wong, proudly grew up in the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California. He was introduced to import racing in the 80s by his older cousins. After buying his EF Civic Si, he and his teammates from Team Macross 7 strived to make an imprint on import car culture through car shows and drag racing. He started his career at the bottom at a magazine called Super Street and eventually moved his way up to editor-in-chief. There, he influenced millions of Super Street fans as he helped to popular...
Mar 13, 2024•2 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Phill Lee is one of the first street drifters in the Chicago area. He co-founded ClubFR, an organization created to get drifting off the streets and to legitimize drifting in Chicago and the Midwest area. Under his watch, ClubFR has helped produce D1 drivers and Formula D drivers, they’ve hosted the RS-R Drift Festival, Formula D Pro-Am, and most recently, Final Bout. From ClubFR’s inception to today in 2024, Phill played a role in establishing Chicago as an influential force in the USA in terms...
Feb 14, 2024•2 hr 21 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Robbie Nishida started drifting in the 90s in Japan, forming an all AE86 Team Hey Man! with his friends at Yokota Air Base. He shares stories of the origins of his “drifting team”, how they befriended legends of Japanese drifting such as Nobushige Kumakubo, Dart Izumi Jr., and Hideo Hiraoka. Robbie discusses his 13 year long career in Formula D as a competitor and how he became an FD Judge. He takes us behind the curtains, and gives us some insight on what it’s like to be a judge and he provides...
Jan 17, 2024•2 hr 9 min•Season 2Ep. 7
We're pushing the Robbie Nishida release date to next week 1/9/2024. Thank you for your understanding.
Jan 03, 2024•4 min
Calvin Wan is one of the earliest drifters in the USA, drifting his red Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) in the Bay Area of California. He is a 6 year Formula Drift veteran, driving from 2003 to 2009. During that time, he had multiple podiums, including a 1st place finish in front of his home crowd in Sonoma, being the first import car to win a round of Formula D. He’s also a D1GP licensed driver, author, stunt driver, a drifting judge, and instructor. In this interview, Calvin talks about his humble beginning...
Dec 06, 2023•2 hr 44 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Gary Castillo is an OG who has been a part of the early import drag racing days in the 90s all the way to today’s premier pro drifting series Formula Drift. He started as a mechanic, became a magazine editor then turned into a fabricator. Gary witnessed almost the entire spectrum of import car culture in the USA as he watched both import drag racing and drifting go from their illegal street racing roots to professional series. He was a part of the scene as Hondas tried to break into the 9 second...
Nov 08, 2023•2 hr 52 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Chris Parry, aka Paz, is an AE86 and drifting legend in the drifting scene in the UK. When he bought his first AE86 and started drifting in the early 2000s, Japanese style ae86s and drifting didn't exist in the UK. Over the next several years, Paz owned several different AE86s, and he spearheaded the drifting movement and was a shining light for aggressive driving in low horsepower drift cars in the UK. Paz was a huge fan of Japanese style AE86s, inspired by people like Kaicho Hiroshi Takahashi ...
Oct 02, 2023•1 hr 41 min•Season 2Ep. 4
IT'S A PODCAST CROSSOVER! Palmer is our feature guest and we're also guests on the Goodestcast podcast dropping 9/7! Please check out our interview on his podcast to see what it's like when the interviewers become interviewed, Goodestcast style. Palmer Sanderson is the youngest guest so far on the podcast, but he is making waves in the drifting community in more ways than one. He became a member of infamous drift team Animal Style in 2013, and has one of the best examples of a Japanese style BMW...
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Chris Forsberg is a US drifting pioneer from Doylestown, PA. He has a 20 year long career as a professional driver in Formula D, and is well-known as a Nissan Z drifting icon. His love for drifting started in the early 2000s with his Mazda FC RX-7 after meeting Tony Angelo. The two would eventually run DGTA, an organization hosting events that would provide a legal alternative to street drifting. Chris towed his car all the way to Los Angeles for the D1 Grand Prix driver search in 2003, and even...
Aug 02, 2023•2 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Rob Riter started drifting in the early 2000s and is a drifting pioneer in the Midwest, specifically the Chicago area. He started drifting in his NB Miata and became a hub for Mazda Miata drifting information and style through his website roadsterdrift.com. A founding member of ClubFR, they helped bring drifting off the streets and onto the track. He became one of the best drifters in the Midwest earning time in Formula D and Pro-Am. He later followed his dreams and moved to Japan, where he docu...
Jul 04, 2023•1 hr 58 min•Season 2Ep. 1
LA is a major part of drifting in the Mid-West. You can often find him working at Final Bout and ClubFR events. Before that, he lived in Japan and is a self proclaimed JZX100 otaku. He met and befriended Yokohama drifting legends like Yubo Takahashi and Kuniyaki Takahashi of drift team Night Walkers. He lived that JZX100 life as he owned several (and crashed several). In this interview, he talks about his experiences in Japan, what it was like learning from Japanese drifters, and why out of all ...
Jun 06, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 123
Nikolay Konstantinov started drifting in the early 2000s and even competed in Formula D. He built a tribute car paying homage to his hero Yoshinori Koguchi. He explains the challenges of building a green s13 hatch inspired by a car that no longer exists in that form. He also recounts a recent magical trip to Japan where he got to hang out with Drift Zamurai and The Emperor Koguchi. He even got to see and sit in 189sx that inspired his build. Follow Nikolay on IG: https://www.instagram.com/konsta...
May 02, 2023•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 25
Lindsay Ross is an OG US drifter, starting in the early 2000s. He has always been big on Japanese drifting style and Japanese drift car styling. One day he met up with Aaron Suarez aka Dousan and the two of them decided to form a drift team called Pink Godzira. The two were one of the earliest US drift teams to properly color coordinate the way drift teams do in Japan and they did it with style. Take a listen as Lindsay tells us about the origins of Pink Godzira drift team, his experiences as a ...
Apr 03, 2023•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 24
Benson Hsu won 1st place at Falken Drift Showoff in Irwindale Speedway on March 02, 2003. It was the first time we'd ever seen a pro drifter on US soil doing drifting demos. Yoshinori Koguchi, Seigo Yamamoto, Fumiaki Komatsu and Kazuya Bai, very famous and influential drivers from Japan, flew in with their cars for demos and judging. It was a day that introduced so many to drifting and inspired a generation of future drifters. Host Nadine Hsu interviews Benson about the day, asking questions he ...
Mar 02, 2023•53 min•Ep. 23
Mark Arcenal, from the Bay Area in California, is an artist and a trailblazer in fashion and car culture. He is a major reason for what is widely known today as "stanced cars". We talk about his love for both industries and how they influenced his journey to create his website Fatlace and Illest brand. He is an inspirational person to many and this interview will show you why. For this episode of Storytime, Mark takes us through his ambitious plan to hold a Hellaflush event in the place that ins...
Dec 05, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 22
Nadine wrote a kid's drifting book! You may know our beloved co-host Nadine Hsu as one of the first female drifters in the USA, or as one of the first women to compete in Formula Drift. Maybe you know her as the co-founder of Drifting Pretty, the first all female drifting program and eventually all female drifting team in the USA. She is now a children's drifting book author! She's here to announce that she's now a children's book author! Her book Sachiko Goes Racing is inspired from her experie...
Oct 31, 2022•47 min•Ep. 21
Javier Paramo has experienced 15 minutes of fame many times. You might know him from his beautiful white MA60 Celica Supra or appearance on Wheeler Dealers, Netflix's Fastest Car, his cameo in Fast and the Furious 1, his annual hosting of Supras in Vegas, or his features in Import Tuner and MotorMavens. What you might not know is that there's a good chance he was the very first Mexican drifter. Javier is Benson's old friend, and they spent a lot of time together in the junkyards, wrenching on th...
Oct 05, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 19
Cole Chalmers was your typical car boy who didn't want anything in life but to drift all day, everyday. After a breakup, he told himself, "no girls." He chose the lonely driver life, but did the lonely driver life choose him? Listen in as Cole discusses early drift life in Kamloops, British Columbia, his snow drifting adventures on logging roads, and how drifting changed his life in many ways, but mostly through finding love during a disastrous road trip all the way to All-Star Bash in Southern ...
Sep 07, 2022•57 min•Ep. 18
Lance Feliciano is the son of a professional rally driver. His father introduced him to cars and motorsports at a very young age, and as a child he would rather watch Option Video instead of cartoons. At the age of 8, he got to experience something very special - he attended Option Video's very first Ikaten ever held on American soil. He was in the presence of drifting icons Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya and Nomuken, got a ride-a-long and it forever changed his life. You can follow Lance on IG: @l...
Aug 03, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 17
Ryohei Takahashi from Team Lowbrain, Japan joins us to tell us about Sportsland Yamanashi (SLY), why it's important for Japanese drifting history and what his experience has been like hosting events there and dealing with its unique track owner. Make sure to follow us on IG because Ryohei sent me a bunch of Team Lowbrain stuff and we're giving it away! Announcement will happen on 7/18 on @sileightymania Ryohei on IG: @lowbrain_yohey
Jul 06, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 15
Adam Goodman, aka Understeerking, has a very popular IG account and YouTube account where he posts all the Japanese car nostalgia that your heart desires. For this Storytime episode, he tells us about his early years with drifting in Atlanta to his trips to Japan. During one of his trips, he gets to meet D1 Driver Kaneko Naoya, who offers Adam to drive his 380hp competition car! For more on Adam, find him on Youtube and Instagram !...
Jun 01, 2022•54 min•Ep. 15
It's our very first Storytime episode! Chob, a member of Team ProceeD and owner/pilot of a Lexus GS300, joins me for a little small talk and then gets into the story about when he accidentally entered a drifting competition at Nikko Circuit, Japan. If you are a good storyteller and have a good drifting story to tell, please go to the following link to submit an application: https://podcast.sileightymania.com/storytime-interview-application/ Have you purchased your Sileighty Podcast merch yet? Th...
May 04, 2022•47 min•Ep. 14
Season 1 has been a journey from all of us at the SileightyMania Podcast. Our graphic designer Steven Nakamura is an OG in his own right, and you get to hear from him because he finally joins us in the studio. Bring your own beverage for this one, because we're poppin' bottles to celebrate our 1 year anniversary and a job well done! We also spend some time to pull back the curtains to give you some insight on what it was like making the podcast and we talk about what the near and distant future ...
Apr 06, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Season 1Ep. 12
In Part 2 of our Hawaii series brought to you by In4mation, our old friend Jason Ryan from Grip Video tells us to hold on to our okoles as he tells us about the early days of Grip Video and his observations of early drifting in Oahu and the mainland. In this episode, 2 OG drifting pioneers in the USA and Hawaii graced our podcast with their stories and experiences in the early days of drifting on the track and on the street. Steve Oliberos AKA Steevo is well known for his charismatic personality...
Mar 02, 2022•2 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 11
In Part 1 of our Hawaii series brought to you by In4mation , our good friend Layton Takaesu gives us one propah kine podcast intro, teaches us some Pidgin and then recounts some of his memories seeing early drifting on Oahu when he was a kid. Our 3 guests in episode 10 are all pioneers of drifting in the USA in the early 2000s. Not all of them drove competitions, but what they were doing was noticed across the Pacific Ocean on the mainland and in Japan. Royce Fujimoto, known for his blue and the...
Feb 09, 2022•2 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Alex Pfeiffer started drifting in the early 90s on the island of Oahu, HI. Back then he was already an avid fan of Option Video and Japanese drifting and would emulate what he watched on the now infamous mountain road Tantalus in Hawaii. In this episode we try to figure out if Alex Pfeiffer is the very first American to drift. We talk about his roots and what it was like growing up in Hawaii, his big move to the mainland and how it helped him improve his drifting skill, what it was like drifting...
Jan 05, 2022•2 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 7
