Irwindale Speedway, also known as the "House of Drift", hosted the D1 Grand Prix Thanksgiving Weekend Double-Header featuring the Season Finale Exhibition Match and the 2007 All-Star World Championship. The night, the lights, and the location were all working against me, but I did the best I could. I did not get a chance to set foot on the track, but I got real close and tried to get shots like I did!

I have found out it is very hard to shoot pictures for an event your running. I have never attempted to do this before, but before heading to El Toro Airfield to participate in Drift Association's American Gymkhana, I packed my camera anyway. I found out as you are preparing yourself or you car for the track, you are not taking pictures, and if you are talking pictures, you are not preparing yourself or your car for the track. Combined this with it is near impossible to take pictures while you are actually competing, and you soon find yourself divided and not doing very well at either task.

Rather than wait for a good opportunity for a good shot, I found myself just clicking on moving on. Though some of the pictures looked rushed, I still got some coverage worth posting. The Hasport Honda CRX from American Touge 2 & 3 was at this event, and is pictured too. I also caught a little Mazda Miata known as Sport Compact Car's Project Time Attack. There was also the Falken Toyota Corolla out there, as well as quite a few other personally own Hachi-Roku. A good showing for Underdog JDM Motorsports to say the least. I wish there was more actions shots, but like I said, it is a little hard when you are trying to compete.

"hotVW's DRAG DAY" returned to Irwindale Speedway this past Sunday. I forgot how much fun these events were to watch. You do not realize how much of the event you miss sitting in the staging lanes until you sit in the grand stands. The smoky burn outs, wheel standing launches, rubber laying, sideways sliding, gear ratcheting passes are all part of the great day called hotVW's DRAG DAY.

The eliminations was a nail biting experience for me, as I got see friend Lino Iniguez battle it out in the finals. Congratulations to Lino for his win in "Jackpot" and runner up in "Top Eliminator". Lino was unstoppable on his way to Top Eliminator, taking out veterans like friend Mike Lawless, who also had a very good comeback that day with a runner up in Jackpot.

With Best Motoring International releasing "American Touge 3", it made me reminiscent of "American Touge 2". With the success of the first video and Top Setup's EG6, Zigzag Asia Inc decided to hold an open casting call for American Touge 2.

Project Hachi-Roku was not as competition ready as Project Käfer, and was not submitted. Project Käfer was submitted and accepted as a contestant, but was never really considered past that stage of screening. Despite the screening process, a bunch of mildly tuned cars were chosen over Project Käfer. Keiichi Tsuchiya and Yasuyuki Kazama struggled to find a car that could repeat the results of last years Underdog Top Setup.

All was not lost for Underdog Fans, as Top Setup's Honda Civic EG6 made a return. Comptech's Acura NSX NA1 also returned and XS Engineering made a last minute switch to a Nissan Skyline GT-R R34. J.D.M. drove Project Hachi-Roku to Horse Thief Mile Touge and covered the finals. This addition to the GALLERY is in memory of unseen pictures taken that day. If you have not already seen the DVD, be sure to check it out.