Cindy McCain takes the wheel in her own race

Cindy McCain doesn’t remember all the details. It might have been six years ago. Maybe seven. But this much, at least, McCain recalls with perfect clarity: She was watching television with her oldest son, Jack, when footage flashed across the screen of race cars skidding sideways as though they were on ice.

Looks kind of cool, McCain thought to herself, but how’d they do that? [Read more]

Interview with Lisa Klassen

Written by eDRFT.cm Staff

Apr 08, 2008 at 03:32 PM

We caught up with Lisa Klassen at Drift Day Comp 2. She is recently known as the rally girl gone drift. We got to speak with her briefly as she was practicing with the International All Star’s powered by Mazda, a team in which she is a part of. EverythingDrift: You’ve been drifting for how long now? Lisa Klassen: For around 3 months, but I’ve been driving rally for a lot longer, which is almost like drifting sometimes. Real tarmac competitive drifting only 3 months. ED: You’ve been testing and R&D’ing lately? LK: We’ve been testing with International AllStars powered by Mazda. We have 2 MX-5’s which have been fully built for drifting. Right now we’re working on some different gearbox setups, we’re also tuning the suspension and tire pressures. ED: When will the public get to see you competing? LK: My first display – we recently did an exhibition in Laughlin for some of the officials there, and just last week we did a demo for the city of Long Beach to promote the racing and drifting at the Long Beach Grand Prix, I’m pretty excited about that. ED: How about Formula Drift for you? LK: I’m going to be drifting for KA’AZ USA, my first event will be in Atlanta in May, provided things go well in practice *crossing fingers*. Rhys Millen is a good friend of mine, he’s been helping me out, and I know Tanner from rally racing, so he will be helping me out some too. Hopefully I’ll be up to speed by the time I need to be, I have faith in myself. I’m a rally driver, I can do anything!! ED: Welcome to the drift world! Hope to see big things for you! Look forward to seeing her first official professional appearance in Formula Drift as a contender in Atlanta.

[Source]

You can also click below to win tickets to Formula Drift in Atlanta on May 10th-11th

Octane TV The Girls of Drift

The Great Sponsor Search

 

 

 

A Driver’s Life for Me: If You Want to Get Noticed, You’ve Got To Be Noticeable

The Great Sponsor Search

by: Lisa Klassen

 

 

I sat in the ACT booth at last year’s SEMA show signing autographs and smiling for photos. With nearly every signature came the question: “How did you get all of your sponsors?” It wasn’t that long ago that I didn’t have any sponsors. I was a punky kid, sneaking into the Vegas show, handing out photocopies with a picture of my rally car. “Hey, check out my website!” was my favorite line as I handed out another flier to an unsuspecting passerby. That was the start of the great sponsor hunt, and since so many seem interested, I thought I would share some pointers.

The Look

The most important principle to understand is that you and your car are an advertising vehicle for potential backers. As such, sponsors usually want someone who stands out from the crowd but will be a good representative. They want to see how you run your team and how you behave, so take care of your car and crew. Keep your ride clean and take care of your sponsors’ vinyl. While nonessential, matching team shirts still look very professional, as does a tidy service area

Be a Messenger

Learn how to communicate effectively. Sponsors will sign a lesser driver over a better one because the less-skilled pilot had great communication skills and was media savvy. Although drivers would like to think it’s all about the guy behind the wheel, the reality is we’re racing for our sponsors. It’s our job to promote them in return for their support. When a potential sponsor evaluates how you handle your team, they can reasonably assume that’s how you will treat their company.

Love the Media

A trick to learning effective interviewing is to watch motorsports on television and take note of how each driver conducts the Q&A. One of the most important things to do is to interject your sponsors into everyday speech - Rhys Millen is extremely good at doing this. Whenever he talks about his car, it’s not simply “the Solstice” but “the Red Bull Pontiac Solstice GXP.” If you don’t have sponsors yet, a team name is a good substitute.

As a new racer, plenty of resources are available to help develop your career. The first must-have is a website; there are plenty of free web hosting services that have easy-to-use software to help anyone build a page. The best sites contain these basics: news, a biography, information about the car, a schedule of events, photos and contact info. What really make a website standout are videos, merchandise, and extras like a blog. It is of critical importance to place links to your sponsors’ sites prominently throughout your site. I’ve been running my websites for nearly four years and every single one of my sponsors has said that the content on positively affected their decision to sign up.

MySpace and other networking services are excellent ways to meet other racers, make new fans and get noticed. Another great self-promotion tool is to take part in message boards. You should remember to keep your sponsors and industry contacts in the loop, and always let them know what’s going on through email updates. Whenever you send out messages, always be sure to include links to your site and those of your sponsors. And when you create an account for your team, remember that you are a professional, representing your team.

Set Goals

Aside from you and your car, the most important thing you need to develop is a prospectus that tells your sponsors who you are and what you would like to accomplish. Create a header with the name of you and/or your team for the top of the page. Use formal English and a business letter format.

Your introduction should briefly say something about you and your goals. Be specific in the next paragraph: What series are you going to run? What car will you drive? Then take another paragraph for yourself: Who are you? What have you accomplished? What makes you stand out? The final paragraph should address specific sponsorship requests: What exactly do you need? How are you and said company a good match? What can you do for them? This final question is the most important. Emphasize it in closing. Make sure your contact information is included.

When attending auto shows like SEMA, I often make about 20 copies of this prospectus and put them into binders to hand out to serious sponsors. Remember, appearance is everything. And when you ask for something, keep it realistic. Companies will offer you mostly product at first, but may also offer cash as you develop a relationship with them.

Stay tuned for part 2, where I’ll sit down with some of my sponsors and ask them what they’re looking for and what you need to seal the deal - LK

[ Source ]

 

Deborah Lopez is Red Bull’s Young Star

24 year old female drifter Deborah Lopez (Drift Angel) recently collected the prestigious Red Bull Young Star trophy at the international Racing Show Liege, Belgium.

Following a successful 2007 whch saw Deborah compete in numerous countries at high profile events and demonstrations, the Red Bull Young Star trophy was awarded to Spanish Drift Angel because of her dedication to drifting in the past and her commitment to improvement in the future. Furthermore, the commitment of Red Bull to top level motorsport adds credibility and stature to this award; a prize that no other Prodrift competitor has ever received.

Also on displsay at Liege was the first look at the new Xtreme Racing Parts Nissan that Deborah will once agaain compete in for 2008. With a new colour scheme, some cosmetic modifications and a very special engine en route from the USA, Deborah’s 2008 machine will be a completely different setup to what she has competed in previously.

Speaking about her new award Deborah said :
“I’m really happy to receive this trophy as a RedBull young star. The past 2 years where very rough and getting a trophy like this is a great feeling and great reward for all the hard work.
RedBull is so respected in Xtreme sports and Drifting that I have to say this really is the best start that I can have for the 2008 season. With my new car being built like I want it, I will try and really battle hard this year. I’ll be pushing 110% for a high finish to the 2008 season, for my team Xtreme Racing Parts and also for all the female drivers and supporters“.

Deborah remains as Europes only female competitor in Prodrift and will be competing as part of the 2008 Prodrift European Series. With just two months to go before the season kicks off, drift fans can follow all of Drift Angels progress right here or alternatively check out: www.driftangel.eu or www.xrp.be

[Source: ProDriftSeries.com & WreckedMagazine]
Drift Angel’s Official Site

Lisa Klassen signed by Kaaz for ‘08 Drifting Season

Kaaz is proud to announce that Lisa Klassen (US Rally Driver) is one of our new and up-comming drivers on the Kaaz Drift Team. With her background in Rally Racing, Lisa has come along way and has decided to transition into the drifting sport! With that said, Kaaz is now in the process of setting Lisa up as a full time drift driver! More news to come within the not-so-distant future!”

Kaaz Press Release
Lisa’s Personal Website

http://www.kaazusa.com/news2.html

2 Women Licenced to drive Professional Drift series, Formula D.

Laughlin, NV.. This weekend Laughlin, NV was taken over by the race community as part of the “Laughlin International Rally and Motorsports Festival.” During this the premier amateur drifting series the “Pro-Am” does their annual National event with some of the participants walking away with licenses to drive in the Professional series known as Formula D. Like most other sports drifting is a male dominated sport but there are many women drivers. This year four set out to try their hand to receive one of these prestigious licenses to be awarded, but only two of the three were able to take them home.