The History of Drifting and The Future of Formula Drift

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“Dorikin”

The Man, myth, and legend, Keiichi Tsuchiya – Photo from Sport Compact Car Magazine.

The next man to be credited with the creation of drifting is Keiichi Tsuchiya, also known as Dorikin or “Drift King.”  Unlike many drivers that got involved in Professional Racing in Japan, Tsuchiya started as a street racer.  The outlandish style of Takahashi influenced Tsuchiya to begin using drifting as a technique to drive around the mountain roads he would attack.  As his skills increased, so did his reputation as an underground racer which lead to his entry in 1977’s Fuji Freshman series.

Keiichi Tsuchiya drifting a Skyline during a D1 event.

Tsuchiya’s legend continued to grow with the illegal street racers and even lead to the first touge video recorded, 1987’s “Pluspy.”  This video is the influence of many professional drifters in Japan, and can still be seen on YouTube and features him driving his automotive love and the car he is connected with, the AE86 chassis Toyota Levin.  However, because of his reputation and some say because of Pluspy, he did get his racing license suspended due to his continuance of street racing. Afterwards, he came back and raced in cars and series ranging from the Japanese Formula 3, Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC), to the 24 Hours of Le Mans to even NASCAR’s exhibition events at Suzuka and Twin Ring Motegi.

Keiichi Tsuchiya in the white S14 from the “Drift Bible” video.

Tsuchiya also began to encourage street racers to stay off the mountain roads and highways and get to the track.  The seed of drifting, however, was now a growing tree and the early fruits of that tree had become ripe to eat.  In 1986, Carboy magazine created the first ever drift event and in 1988, along with Video Option magazine founder and chief editor, Daijiro Inada, created the second sanctioned drift event, Ikaten, and that event would lead to the creation of the D1 Grand Prix, Japan’s premier drifting series.