DriftCon Afterdark 2018 / Evergreen Drift ProAm Round 5 – Full Event Coverage

Our DriftCon event series continues to grow year after year! DriftCon Afterdark was held on September 29, 2018 and I can happily say that we lucked out with the weather. Last year was an absolute disaster with a heavy rainstorm that affected many aspects of the event. Another record attendance event and we would like to thank the PNW for their continued support!

Photos by Eric Schofhauser, Michael Ericson, and Eddi Hughes. Video by Tony Hamblin / Hamcreatives. Text by Matt Haugness.

The standard format of the Great 75 Car Show, VIP Parking, and ProAm round 5, and the Drift Games was maintained. This year we added a few new elements to the mix things up. These included a Team Tandem Showoff (teams of 3-5 put on the best show possible), Track Rivals: Grassroots vs. ProAm, and the Big Entry Contest.

ProAm competition was fierce and intense. With it being the final round before the end of the season multiple drivers were on the edge of getting their Formula Drift Pro2 license. Ultimately Joseph Lin prevailed on the Mini Jersey layout and locked down the top spot with ease. Orion Dajnowicz placed second and Chase Schmidt third. This meant for the EVD championship Joseph Lin, Orion Dajnowicz, and Nate Snyder ended up in the top 3 standings which earned them their FD Pro2 licenses. Congrats guys!

After the main ProAm competition finished the sun was down and the fun began! Teams and drivers assembled on the bank and filled the entire staging area.

The Big Entry Contest was a great showing but Zach Farrar destroyed everyone with an insane 360 spin while holding the line. Mind you, he did this with his 240sx STREET car.

Team Tandem Showoff was strictly for fun for this event with no cash prize. In some ways there were TOO MANY drivers during the team portion and we will be restricting things a bit in future years. Overall, it was still fun to watch and gave many guys who haven’t driven together a chance to show what they could do. Bone Apple Tea put on the best show and wound up with the trophy.

A new competition developed with Ben Whyte was called Track Rivals: Grassroots vs. ProAm. The point for this sideshow was to pit some of the best drivers from each series against each other callout style. They would then tandem against their primary competitor on an infield layout to determine each winner. The team with the most points out of 5 battles would be crowned the winner for the season. Grassroots ended up taking the win and we’ll see what we can do with this type of competition next year!

The Great 75 Car Show was once again held alongside the track with some slight adjustments. Some awards were determined by our traditional voting method but all of the Best of Show and Best Make awards were judged by our new judging staff (Hiro Kanno and Rob Evo – two Best of Show winners of the past). See the coverage on ImportMeet.com for a full list of award winners.