Thanks to James from Roots Photography for the pic.
Dan Willie of Batlground Racing took the 2nd place podium position this weekend at Southeast Drift’s Pro-Am competition at Gresham Motorsports Park only to be topped by one of Formula Drift’s already licensed pro drivers. Batlground Racing driver, Daniel Willie, was fairly consistent all day starting off in a 3rd place qualifying position behind two of Formula Drift’s 2010 licensed pro drivers.
Dan gives some insight on his driving by stating, “This was my first time drifting the bank at Gresham. It’s a pretty hardcore track with a huge bank and lots of walls. You have to be on your game if you want to stay in it and not crashed on the sidelines. I decided that the best plan of action would be to start off slowly, working my way up to a higher entry speed and higher line on the bank with each pass.”
Located in Jefferson, GA, Gresham Motorsports Park’s facility is touted as one of the most modern and fan-friendly racing and entertainment facilities in the United States. With a bank that rivals what is known as the “House of Drift”, Toyota Speedway located in Irwindale, CA, it was important to make certain that Willie’s SR powered 240SX was up to the task of competing against the V8 power that tends to dominate these sort of banked tracks. After winning the Drift Atlanta Pro-Am last month, the transmission had seen better days and was in dire need of a refresh, so in order to prepare, Dan spent the week preceding the 2nd round of the Southeast Pro-Am fully rebuilding his Z32 transmission, including a fresh set of syncros. Additionally, a different geared rear end rounded off the preparations for the big-banked weekend.
According to Willie, “I knew the competition would be stiff after seeing some pros on the drivers list, so I wanted to make sure I did everything I could do to make sure the car was up to the task of competing against the drivers who could possibly knock me out of the points race. After our rear end change and tranny rebuild, the car felt like butter out there. I was thoroughly impressed with her performance!”
Dan was able to maintain the top position in the point’s race to earning the single coveted professional license for Formula Drift awarded to the 1st place driver of Southeast Drift’s Competition series. The series will travel the Southeast to four more tracks with the next competition being hosted at Nashville Super Speedway on July 31st where Dan hopes to take back the top podium position.
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Ok now that all of that rigmarole is out of the way, let’s get down to some chattin! There are some pretty cool pics out there floating around, but my all time favorite has to be this one by James from Roots Photography where you can find a whole slew of photos from the days events.
Also from James is this pretty rad video on Vimeo:
Southeast Drift ProAM Competition @ Gresham Motorsport Park from James Hunsucker on Vimeo.
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