The SileightyMania Podcast - Drifting Interviews with OGs and Pioneers

Phill Lee is one of the first street drifters in the Chicago area.  He co-founded ClubFR, an organization created to get drifting off the streets and to legitimize drifting in Chicago and the Midwest area.  Under his watch, ClubFR has helped produce D1 drivers and Formula D drivers, they’ve hosted the RS-R Drift Festival, Formula D Pro-Am, and most recently, Final Bout.  From ClubFR’s inception to today in 2024, Phill played a role in establishing Chicago as an influential force in the USA in terms of drifting culture.

This episode and all episodes of Season 2 are brought to you by Falken @falkentire, a supporter of drifting since 2003 and a major reason drifting is where it is today. Check out their ultra-high-performance(UHP) Azenis RT660, Azenis RT615K+ and their UHP Azenis FK460 at https://www.falkentire.com. 

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Robbie Nishida started drifting in the 90s in Japan, forming an all AE86 Team Hey Man! with his friends at Yokota Air Base.  He shares stories of the origins of his “drifting team”, how they befriended legends of Japanese drifting such as Nobushige Kumakubo, Dart Izumi Jr., and Hideo Hiraoka.

Robbie discusses his 13 year long career in Formula D as a competitor and how he became an FD Judge.  He takes us behind the curtains, and gives us some insight on what it’s like to be a judge and he provides some advice for those who are serious about competition.

This episode and all episodes of Season 2 are brought to you by Falken, a supporter of drifting since 2003 and a major reason drifting is where it is today. Check out their ultra-high-performance(UHP) Azenis RT660, Azenis RT615K+ and their UHP Azenis FK460 at https://www.falkentire.com. 

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We're pushing the Robbie Nishida release date to next week 1/9/2024. Thank you for your understanding.

Calvin Wan is one of the earliest drifters in the USA, drifting his red Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) in the Bay Area of California. He is a 6 year Formula Drift veteran, driving from 2003 to 2009. During that time, he had multiple podiums, including a 1st place finish in front of his home crowd in Sonoma, being the first import car to win a round of Formula D. He’s also a D1GP licensed driver, author, stunt driver, a drifting judge, and instructor.

Gary Castillo is an OG who has been a part of the early import drag racing days in the 90s all the way to today’s premier pro drifting series Formula Drift.  He started as a mechanic, became a magazine editor then turned into a fabricator.

Gary witnessed almost the entire spectrum of import car culture in the USA as he watched both import drag racing and drifting go from their illegal street racing roots to professional series.  He was a part of the scene as Hondas tried to break into the 9 second quarter mile, and he was a part of drifting when Daigo Saito competed in the first 1000+ hp car in Formula D.

In 1991, Gary Castillo started his journey into import racing by helping his friends work on their cars in San Diego, CA.  As import racing was in its infancy in the United States, he shares his memories as Americans were learning how to make their Japanese sport compact cars faster as DIY projects, without the availability of aftermarket support that we see today.

Gary was a mechanic on David Shih’s infamous Silver Bullet CRX (the first 10 second Honda in the ¼ mile) and then became an editor for Turbo magazine and then Import Tuner.  He left his job of being an editor to pursue his passion for building cars and was soon building/working on some of the most legendary pro drift cars, such as the RS-R S2000 (Alex Pfeiffer), RS-R Scion tC (Ken Gushi), RS-R Supra (Manabu Orido), and the Bridges Racing SC430 (Daigo Saito) and SC300 (Robbie Nishida).

On top of all that, he is a great guy and an even better storyteller.

Follow Gary Castillo on IG @designcraftfab

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This episode and all episodes of Season 2 are brought to you by Falken a supporter of drifting since 2003 and a major reason drifting is where it is today. Check out their ultra-high-performance(UHP) Azenis RT660, Azenis RT615K+ and their UHP Azenis FK460 at https://www.falkentire.com. 

#drifting #driftinghistory #driftingpodcast #importracing #dragracing #battleoftheimports #formulad #formuladrift #turbomagazine #importtuner #garycastillo #designcraft #designcraftfab #daigosaito #robbienishida #alexpfeiffer #kengushi #rsrs2000 #rsrtc #rsrsciontc #bridgesracing #achillesracing #rsrsupra #manabuorido #orido #oridosupra #daigo

12:41 Describing the DIY culture of the import racing scene in the late 80s and early 90s

23:00 Creating the first tube chassis drag Honda with Dynamic Autosports/David Shih and his Silver Bullet CR-X

26:00 The innovation during the Honda race to break into 10 seconds and then 9 second quarter mile

31:35 Joining Turbo Magazine as a technical editor

45:08 D1 drivers from Japan doing a low-key drifting demo at NASCAR

51:06 Learning to fabricate roll cages for drift cars

54:25 Building the RS-R S2000

1:14:15 Building the RS-R Scion tC (the first FF converted FR in Formula Drift)

1:26:20 Building the Falken G35 driven by Calvin Wan

1:35:28 Working with Orido on his RS-R Supra

1:44:38 Working with Achilles Tires/Bridges Racing to build and maintain Daigo Saito's SC430 and Robbie Nishida's SC300

2:17:11 Covering the Blitz R34

IT'S A PODCAST CROSSOVER! Palmer is our feature guest and we're also guests on the Goodestcast podcast dropping 9/7! Please check out our interview on his podcast to see what it's like when the interviewers become interviewed, Goodestcast style.

Rob Riter started drifting in the early 2000s and is a drifting pioneer in the Midwest, specifically the Chicago area. He started drifting in his NB Miata and became a hub for Mazda Miata drifting information and style through his website roadsterdrift.com. A founding member of ClubFR, they helped bring drifting off the streets and onto the track. He became one of the best drifters in the Midwest earning time in Formula D and Pro-Am. He later followed his dreams and moved to Japan, where he documented his experiences in his blog with photos while buying a Nissan S15 and an imported Nissan 240sx with SR20DET and drifting everyday at a local touge and at Japan's infamous drift tracks.

Listen as he recalls memories of those events and talks about the full circle moment of where drifting started in Chicago and today where Chicago's Final Bout has become a worldwide drifting movement.

This episode and all episodes of Season 2 are brought to you by Falken, a supporter of drifting since 2003 and a major reason drifting is where it is today. Check out their ultra-high-performance (UHP) Azenis RT660 and their UHP Azenis FK460 at https://www.falkentire.com.

Episode partners:

⁠Bardabe⁠ - Nissan GT-R and Z specialist in the central Texas area⁠

Lot-USA⁠ - Bride Japan Master ImporterFollow on

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@roadsterdrift

@sileightymania⁠

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LA is a major part of drifting in the Mid-West. You can often find him working at Final Bout and ClubFR events. Before that, he lived in Japan and is a self proclaimed JZX100 otaku. He met and befriended Yokohama drifting legends like Yubo Takahashi and Kuniyaki Takahashi of drift team Night Walkers. He lived that JZX100 life as he owned several (and crashed several).

In this interview, he talks about his experiences in Japan, what it was like learning from Japanese drifters, and why out of all JZX100 chassis variations like the Chaser and the Mark II, his favorite is the Cresta. "Cresta is besta" as he likes to say!

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#toyota #jzx100 #jzx90 #jzx110 #drifting #drift #driftingpodcast #podcast #toyotacresta #toyotacrestalovers #cresta #toyotachaser #chaser #toyotamark2 #mark2 #markii #toyotamarkii #clubfr #finalbout