On Monday May 4th, my buddy Charlie Quatmann called me and let me know about an event that was taking place over the weekend in Michigan. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it since it was Mother’s Day weekend but I told him I would see what I could do. By Thursday I was still not sure if I was going to be able to make it. After some convincing (a lot of pleading), I came up with an agreement with my wife and I was able to go! I got off work at about 4:30pm on Friday, ran home, packed my bags, and headed out for about a 7 hour trip to South Haven Mi. I ended up making it to Gingerman by about 12:30 local time, found a place to stay and went to sleep (or at least tried to).
Saturday morning, I got up and headed to the track. When I arrived it was still misting a little but all of the drivers were in great spirits. Starting with Group A (advanced group) they went out getting a feel for the track. It was quite interesting to see these guys get out there and get a feel for the massive track. After a few shake down laps the drivers really started getting a feel for the track, speeds kept getting faster and the smoke show was starting to come out.
As the afternoon progressed, the track continued to get drier and in turn, allowed the drivers to put more smoke and started to tandem. As a closing set, Groups A and B were allowed to go out and hotlap. Seeing 15-25 drivers coming around the corners slidways one right after each other is something to see.
I was only able to stay for the Saturday session although I would have loved to stay for the Sunday session, it was an awesome experience and look forward to more events with the midwest drift folks!
I want to thank No Star Bash, Drift Indy, Midwest Drift Union and all the people that helped put this on.
– Kyle Cross
