Drift Competition in Indianapolis
The best drifters in the Midwest descended onto Indianapolis this weekend where the Midwest Drift Union was spawned. This year MDU returned to the Lucas Oil Raceway oval track once again! Unfortunately summer is in full swing which meant SUPER HOT temperatures. As soon as we jumped out of the car I knew it would be a scorcher! I knew that if it was going to be hot for us it would be twice as bad for the drivers sitting on grid baking in their cars. Stu Kelly knew what was up when he pulled up to the line with his little battery powered fan blasting hot interior air on his face, but hey….something is better than nothing eh?
As practice ramped up memories of the infamous wall and entry into the infield all came rushing back from years past. This might not be the most technical track in the MDU arsenal, but the entry into the midfield can be super treacherous. Some drivers learned that the hard way. If you made it through the entry then you had a huge puddle to deal with!
After practice the drivers huddled under one of the only shade sanctuaries in the whole area for the pre qualifying meeting. Everyone was already hot and exhausted, but were excited to get down to business and get to the competition.
Manji Cartel member Sam Igel II looking like a badass….probably pissed at how hot it is though đ
The entire field of cars took to the track to take their non-consecutive qualifying runs.
Dirk Stratton was solid all day long throwing down some killer runs, not to mention a lot of smoke. He took the #1 qualifying position.
Steven Fishel took second place during qualifying always laying down some consistent runs throughout the day.
I haven’t had a chance to personally see Alec Robbins in action until this day, but I’ve seen a ton of photos. It was super awesome to see this beast of a truck in action finally with a skilled driver piloting it to the third place qualifying spot.
Hooman Rahimi, an MDU veteran, rocking his sexy 350z took fourth in qualifying. Let me be honest here Hooman….I am so glad you finally got your car looking top notch. You did some killer work in the off season!
Rounding out the top five qualifiers was Geoff Donati who was one of the poor souls who took his car for a dip in the infield earlier in the day.
Top 16 Qualifying Results
- Dirk Stratton
- Steven Fishel
- Alec Robbins
- Hooman Rahimi
- Geoff Donati
- Caleb Nichols
- Dan Nikov
- Stu Kelly
- Mike Feiock
- Sam Henry
- Shane Whalley4
- Adam Ouziel
- Jason Turner
- Dan Perlenfein
- Noah Michaels
- Chance Crooks
With the top 16 field set the drivers took to the pits to prepare themselves for the battles to come.
First up was Stratton vs Crooks. Stratton came out on top during this battle.
I was super stoked to see Indy natives Stu Kelly and Mike Feiock battling it out in round one of tandems. What a classic matchup here in Indy. Feiock in a rotary powered RX8 and Kelly in an LS powered RX7 how could it get better than this? Even though they’ve been long time friends there had to be a victor who was Mike Feiock in the end.
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