Stay ConnectedBenson Hsu and Nadine Hsu interview guests who changed USA drifting culture. Listen as we attempt to document their stories in American drifting history.
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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/
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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 holds for the podcast. Please support all of the hard work that we put into this podcast by purchasing merch from our store: https://sileightymania.square.site/
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 and being an OG drifter in Hawaii as well as an early competitor in Formula Drift. He recalls the early days of drifting in Hawaii (at the track and on the street), his experiences with Japanese drift heroes like Komatsu and Maeda Ken, and the sense of family and community with other drivers and aspiring drivers on the island. Stanford Lau AKA Stan the Man AKA Handsome Stan was known for his drifting skills behind his super clean silver AE86 coupe. He talks about how he learned to drift in an old dirt lot before becoming one of the most dedicated Drift Session drivers. In his quest to keep his passions for drifting alive after Hawaii Raceway Park (HRP) closed, Stan moved to Japan and lets us know what that has been like for him drifting away from his friends in Hawaii. Michael Kitchens began his involvement with Drift Session in 2004 contributing to the organization with the videos/photos that he took and edited for the Drift Session website. You can tell how fond he was of those early years as he talks about the drivers that stood out to him and how much he admired the skills of the local drivers. Mike has spent the past several years trying to get a track built on Oahu and provides some insight on those efforts. Thanks to In4mation for partnering with us on this episode. They are our favorite fashion brand from Hawaii, now worldwide. For more information please visit In4mation Please check our IG (@sileightymania) to enter our giveaway brought to you by In4mation.
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 then later brown ae86, recounts what it was like in the first Drift Session events, Ueo drifting his car in 4th gear, and "finding the land mine" on Hawaii Raceway Park (HRP). He gives us some sage advice about competing against yourself.
Justin Kikkawa, known for his stylish burgundy AE86, talks about cool Japanese car style, street drifting on Tantalus, buying SSR Modex Dori Dori wheels brand new from the factory, and his car was a result of Hawaii's rich history of modifying Toyotas.
Barry Wong was Benson's Team KAAZ teammate in Formula D, and also an OG in Hawaii's drift scene. He's now the father of 2, but he shares his memories of starting with the locally popular Toyota pickup truck, then his ae86 and the S13 hatchback that he keeps ready for drifting to this day.
Please check our IG (@sileightymania) to enter our giveaway brought to you by In4mation.
Hint: Listen until to the very end of the episode for some extra culture. It's good for you!
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 the RS-R S2000 while being Manabu Orido's teammate, and how he changed the game when he became a judge for Formula Drift.
We drink, laugh and shed a tear in this episode all in the name of this thing that we love - drifting.
Make sure to listen to this one, as it marks the beginning of the end of this podcast's first season by discussing drifting in Hawaii. We have 2 more episodes left and they will be dedicated to Hawaii and how it's underappreciated for what it's done for drifting in the USA.
Tommy Chen founded SpeedTrial USA, a group that hosted road racing events in the 90s. With his friends, he was able to get Option Video with Keiichi Tsuchiya, Nomuken, and Daijiro Inada to come host the very first drifting competition on US soil in 1996. In '99, Tommy hosted the first sanctioned US drifting event under the guise of "car control" run groups. In 2002, Tommy made history again when he hosted an event with icons of the AE86 drift world Hiroshi Takahashi and Shinji Minowa.
Thank you Falken Tire for sponsoring this episode and for giving away a free set of Falken Azenis tires for our Toys for Tots fundraiser. For more information, please go to https://marinetoysfortots.salsalabs.org/2021marinetoysfortotscrowdfunding/p/sileightymaniapodcasttoysfortotsfundraising/index.html
Toshiki Yoshioka started drifting in 1996 when he discovered it at touge as a young boy in Japan. In this episode of the Sileighty Mania Podcast, he talks about how he got started with drifting and became a member of Team Bross Running Crazies. Listen as he takes us behind the scenes of early drifting in Japan, spills the tea on fellow D1GP drivers, and what he thinks of the difference between drifting in the USA and Japan.
We're so honored to have Yoshi on the podcast, somebody who worked hard as an unknown driver and has become one of the greatest AE86 drifters ever.
Thank you to Apex'i USA for sponsoring this podcast. Make sure to support our podcast by supporting them. Visit their website at https://www.apexi-usa.com/
Most people today recognize Toshi Hayama for his heavy involvement with the Fast and the Furious franchise movies. However, Toshi's influence on US import culture goes all the way back to the mid 90s when he started Apex'I USA. With Apex'i, he was able to broaden Apex Japan's product offering to include tuning parts for the ever popular Honda market in the USA. He brought over from Japan the Apex R33 GT-R for drag racing and ultimately the infamous FD3S driven by Yoichi Imamura for D1 Grand Prix.
His experience with D1 Grand Prix earned him the ability to be on the judges' stand as the D1GP USA English announcer. He also became co-host of the ever popular DVD series J.D.M. Insider. Toshi recalls his time with Keiichi Tsuchiya aka Drift King, Takahiro Ueno, and even details his observations with his J.D.M. Insider co-host Hiro, who became infamous for his involvement in a well-known scandal with his company Motorex. For more info about Toshi please go to http://www.stage-10.net
Thank you to Final Bout for sponsoring this episode! Please make sure to go to Final Bout 4 in Shawano, WI 9/4-9/5! For more information, go to https://www.final-bout.com/pages/tickets
Brian Harte aka BH, aka BH World, aka Brad Harte aka BH2 joins us in-studio. Brian became quite popular in the mid-2000s as a member of the drift team Pink Godzira with his website BH World. He talks about his still-relevant philosophy about drift car style and the ever important sticker placement. Listen in as we swap funny stories, and special guest Rhys Millen joins us for the interview.
Have you left us a voicemail or text message on our hotline? Listen in, as we play and read some of your messages on the podcast! Want to be featured in a future podcast? Drop us a line at 323-607-6075.
Moto Miwa likely could've been the next Japanese noodle king of the United States, but his heart and passion was into cars and racing instead. In the early 90s, he built his first ae86 coupe with a supercharged 4agze and founded the now infamous website for all things toyota - Club4AG.com.
Moto talks about co-founding Drift Association and hosting possibly the earliest legally sanctioned drift events on US soil, allowing early US drift competitions to exist such as Falken Drift Showoff, RS-R Drift Festival, Option Ikaten, and D1 Grand Prix. Don't miss his story where details a late night favor for Keiichi Tsuchiya aka The Drift King, helping him escape Option Video staff in the middle of the night. More recently, he covertly aided in R&D for Toyota Motor Corporation as they were developing the Toyota 86.
Thank you Falken Tires for sponsoring this episode. We are beyond blessed to be able to work with so many amazing like-minded brands every month for the podcast. Announcements for a giveaway will be made in a few days on our instagram @sileightymania
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