DriftCon Afterdark 2021 EVD ProAm Round 5 Event Coverage

DriftCon Afterdark always marks the end of the Evergreen Drift season in the NW. This year was an amazing finale with record spectator turnout and incredible driving in all parts of the event.

Photos by Brady Gunderson, Nick Foskette, and Michael Ericson. Text by Matt Haugness.

It’s always a little sketchy to plan something this late in the season with the unpredictable weather in the Pacific Northwest. After the wet conditions at our June event, we were a little concerned a couple weeks out when the forecast was calling for rain once again. A few days before the forecast changed and rain wasn’t going to happen until Sunday. This meant we could have a proper DRY 5/8 competition round of ProAm!

A total of 8 drivers qualified and moved onto the bracketed competition. Unfortunately, Tyler Mayer and Dalton Gernhart were not able to qualify due to mechanical issues with their cars. Had they made it into competition it could have been much closer between Tyler and Nate for first place overall for the championship. With neither of them in contention, Nate Snyder just had to place high enough to secure first place overall for the season.

Nate drove like a madman all day and finished first place overall. Second was Rudy Hansen in the dark gray S13. Third place was Jacob Corbett in the green BMW. See the final round 5 results here including the overall points for the season.

Next up was the Hoon-Off Burnout Competition! Since our burnout competition in June was rained out many drivers and fans were excited to see this finally happen! Despite having 2 diesel trucks included which both made a lot of smoke, Jared Bradfield secured first place with an insane burnout in his boosted 1UZ swapped Subaru WRX.

Next up was our Drift Games. This is our catch-all for short competitions outside of ProAm that can be completed quickly and provide variety to the event. This year we contacted Zach Farrar (the 360 master of Evergreen Speedway) to help us judge a new game that we came up with. This game was called the 360 Drift Challenge. Drivers would initiate a drift, perform a 360 spin, and then continue drifting the rest of the course. Whoever could do this perfectly would win the single trophy for competition. Even though very few drivers performed a 360 in their first runs most of them got the hang of it by their second run. In the end, Jared Bradfield performed the BEST 360 out of all the drivers and won this competition as well. Thank you to Zach for judging this aspect of the event for us!

After the 360 Drift Challenge was finished, we moved onto the Big Entry Contest. This a tried-and-true competition where drivers initiate at the very last second and attempt to drag their bumper against the wall that has pool noodles hanging off it. This was super fun to watch and the crowd loved it this year. John Danyal in his black S13 and green underglow performed some of the wildest entries of the day and secured first place.

Last up was the Team Tandem Showoff. We’ve done some version of a team tandem competition at every DriftCon round this year because it’s so popular and the drivers all request it. The “Showoff” version of this competition is more informal than a traditional bracketed event. Our 12 team field would stage together on the bank and put on their best show on our traditional Figure 8 cageless infield layout.

The following teams showed up to compete in the Team Tandem Showoff:

Suislide Girls
Ratchet Slayers
Shinchoku
RIVAL
Blue Collar Boys
Do It for Dale
Team America
Team Pursuit
Bass Boiz
Smells Like Team Spirit
IGNANT & Friends
GoonSquad

For about 45 minutes these 12 teams drove their best laps to “qualify” into the top 6. From there it was further reduced to the final three teams. The judges considered each of the teams best runs overall to determine the final podium positions. GoonSquad who has won 3 of the last 4 DriftCon team tandem competitions ended up in first place! Their driving was solid and even with four drivers kept tighter proximity than many of the three driver teams. Blue Collar Boys (new team comprised of Jesse Hayes, Mike Goddard, and Chad Wilson) impressed the judges enough to end up in second place. Ratchet Slayers who have driven together consistently all year finished third.

The Great 75 Car Show was held alongside the track like normal. The best part of DriftCon Afterdark is the ability for competitors to show off their lighting on track and in the show. So many stepped things up this year the show was full of crazy lighting displays. Multiple competitors added underglow specifically for this event and then removed it afterwards! We appreciate the dedication of everyone for making it a great looking show at night!

Some awards were determined by our traditional voting method but Best of Show, Best Import, Best Domestic, Best European, and Best Make awards were judged by our judging staff (Andrew Vun and William Spangler – two top tier winners of the past). We also made some tweaks to the voted awards to allow for some interesting changes in who won. See the full list of award winners and gallery below.

Thank you to everyone that attended DriftCon Afterdark 2021 and the rest of our events this year!

Special thanks to all the vendors and the following sponsors for their support of this event:

Major Sponsors:
TDSR – Track Drift Stance Rally

Sponsors:
The Import Guys
Exotix Snacks
Redstart Racing
VLEDS

Vendors:
NEVER CONTENT
OUT OF LOVE
Street Kreature
KNIGHTSHIFTS INC
Kimoji Style
Hiro’s Hotrods
Wangan International
StanceWars
Urbn Panda

Drifting Awards

ProAm Round 5

1st: Nate Snyder
2nd: Rudy Hansen
3rd: Jacob Corbett

Hoon-Off (Burnout Competition)

Winner: Jared Bradfield
Honorable Mention: Joshua Kubic

Big Entry Contest

Winner: John Danyal

360 Drift Challenge

Winner: Jared Bradfield

Team Tandem Showoff

1st: GoonSquad
2nd: Blue Collar Boys
3rd: Ratchet Slayers

Great 75 Car Show Awards

Car Show Gallery

Drifting Gallery