Jim Liaw Nominated for Inaugural SEMA Gen-3 Award

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SEMA created a new award this year to recognize the top young individual from the specialty-equipment industry who is making breakthroughs in new products, establishing new approaches to business or setting new trends. President and co-founder of Formula DRIFT was nominated for the award as well as presented a SEMA Hall of Fame award during the annual SEMA Awards banquet.

The Association enlisted the help of SEMA members for the nomination process to help identify those individuals who exhibit the same pioneering spirit as the original first-generation industry founders.

The SEMA Gen-3 Innovator Award winner was chosen based on the following criteria:

A “Gen-3 Innovator” is a young individual from the specialty-equipment industry who is making breakthroughs in the areas of new products, new approaches to business or setting new trends.
The candidate must work in the automotive aftermarket industry.
The candidate must be under 40 years of age as of December 31 of the current calendar year.

Congratulations to Brian Reese of COMP Cams for being announced the winner of the award.

2012 SEMA Show Press Conference

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Wednesday, October 31, President, Co-Founder Jim Liaw and Vice President, Co-Founder Ryan Sage released important information regarding the 10 year anniversary of Formula DRIFT and the 2013 Pro Championship season during their annual SEMA press conference. Here is a breakdown of the main topics that were announced along with the provisional 2013 schedule.

Thank you to all of the drivers, teams, sponsors and media for attending. We’re looking forward to another exciting season!

Formula DRIFT Cars at the 2012 SEMA Show

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For those of you who’ll be attending the 2012 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, here’s a list of where you can find some of the Formula DRIFT competition cars.

Ryan Tuerck – RETAKS Racing Nissan 240LS – Main Entrance Outside

Tyler McQuarrie – GoPro Mobil 1 Chevrolet Camaro – GoPro Booth (#S20353)

Luke Lonberger – Blu808 Chevrolet Corvette – Exedy Clutch Booth (#S20053)

Chelsea DeNofa – Nitto Tire BC Racing Mazda RX-8 – BC Racing Booth (#21625)

Fredric Aasbo – Team Need For Speed Scion tC – Hankook Tire Booth (#43061)

Kyle Mohan – Nexen Tire Mazda RX-8 – XXR Wheels Booth (#S45107)

 

Justin Pawlak Wins the Tires.com Triple Crown

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Long Beach, Calif. – October 26, 2012 – Justin Pawlak in the Falken Tire Ford Mustang is the winner of the Tires.com Triple Crown bonus prize taking home $10,000 and a 51-30 Nixon watch. Pawlak finished fourth in the overall 2012 Formula DRIFT Pro Championship standings.

“This was an exciting Tires.com Triple Crown chase. We could not believe how close it was and were excited to crown a new champion. JTP has a college fund to start and we are happy to provide the first deposit. We are very happy to support the sport and drivers with this prize,” said Discount Tire.

The Tires.com Triple Crown bonus prize is awarded to the driver that accumulates the most points within the selected three rounds of competition. For the 2012 Formula DRIFT Pro Championship season the event chosen were Round 2: Road to the Championship at Road Atlanta, Round 5: Throwdown at Evergreen Speedway and Round 7: Title Fight at Irwindale Speedway.

“Going into the year with two wins I really thought this could be my year for the championship,” said Justin Pawlak, winner of the 2012 Tires.com Triple Crown. “After things started to shank down I knew this wasn’t going to be the year. But winning the Tires.com Triple Crown kind of made it all worthwhile. All the trials of the season and the birth of my son, it’s the icing on the cake!”

Pawlak edged out the 2012 Formula DRIFT champion Daigo Saito and the 2010 Formula DRIFT champion Vaughn Gittin, Jr. in the closest chase for the Triple Crown in history. Pawlak joins past winners of the Tires.com Triple Crown that include:

2011 – Dai Yoshihara
2010 – Tanner Foust
2009 – Chris Forsberg
2008 – Rhys Millen
2007 – Chris Forsberg
2006 – Rhys Millen

Formula DRIFT enters its tenth season of competition in 2013. Tickets are on-sale currently and can be purchased through the Formula DRIFT website and Ticketmaster. Round 1: Streets of Long Beach will be held on April 12-13, 2013.