The Drift King himself: Keiichi Tsuchiya
Keiichi Tsuchiya's brief role in The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift
In the world of racing Japan really isn't a strong player. A lot of their talent stays in Japan and doesn't leave Japan. There have been a few exceptions but without a doubt the guy that stood out the most is Keiichi Tsuchiya [who shall hence forth be mentioned as either Tsuchiya, Drift King or DK]. Unlike most famous racers, Tsuchiya wasn't from a racing family or rich. His career started in the streets with various cars, the most famous being the AE86. In the 70s he joined professional racing and alternated between the two until his racing license was suspended. He ended is illegal streak and went straight back into racing. His racing success really was minute compared to his drifiting success despite getting a class win and a second overall at the 24hrs of Le Mans.
DK and his AE86 Corolla
Drift Career
His call to fame was his involvement in races in the 80s where he would drift the entire course. Since then he has been known as the drift king and his story has been immortalized in the anime series Inital D [which also immortalized his love for the AE86]. Drifting was born in the hills of Japan where hoons would race down the hill passes [called a Touge]. It was found that touge's offered a new skill level and drifting became a display of talent. Tsuchiya immortalzed his image by drifting all 184 corners of one pass.
Soon after, a new form of racing was created and numerous copy cats followed. Inevitably the Formula Drift [USA] and D1 GP [Japan] series was started, numerous former rally stars contributed. It takes place on closed courses were drivers drift in pairs and are judged on style. Strategy surrounds intimidating your opponent into messing up. Tsuchiya serves as a judge in both series. Numerous drifters have arose from this series such as Vaughn Gittin Jr. [record holder for the longest drift], Rhys Millen [first drifter to get support from a manufacturer and record holder for the Pike's Peak hill climb], Ken Gushi [youngest person to compete in a drift series even before he had a license], Tanner Faust [future host of Top Gear USA and fellow stunt driver in Tokyo Drift], Taka Aono [taking the game to the big boys in his tiny AE86] and Nobuteru Taniguchi [nicknamed N.O.B.- No One Better]
Now Tsuchiya is living off of his fame. His drifting tutorials, Drift Bible, is a must watch for any drifting fan. Tsuchiya is the only racer IMHO to have created a new form of motorsport and as a result, he is without a doubt the greatest racer Japan has produced. It can be argued that he can be considered one of the best in the world, but that's another argument.
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