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- photo by Jonathan Walker
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- Photo by Jonathan Walker
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- photo by Jonathan Walker
Well, this weekend turned out to be quite the hairy one….as in crazy, not Henderson. Let us begin by going back a few weeks to when we picked up a new team member, Chris Ward. We have been out of the local scene for a while since we have been dealing with getting the 350 together, thus putting us a little bit out of the loop when it comes to who is who and doing what now a days as far as local grassroots drivers. Back last year or so we got a chance to see Chris drive for the first time when he signed up to do a demo with us at Lanier Speedway. Back then we didn’t really pay much attention to him. We had never heard of him and he kind of fit in with the rest of the pack, not standing out as terrible or terrific, per say. Then a few months ago we were invited to a private day at Gresham by Sammy Tiger where Chris was also invited. We didn’t really spend much time with him that day, but on the drive home we hd a discussion about his car and his driving. It went a little like this, “With a little bit of help with his car, this kid has a real shot at being a pretty epic driver.”
We met up a few times and pretty quickly the relationship was born. No homo. We knew that we were on the right track when we went to a SEDC event a few weeks later and Dan took 2nd place behind none other than Chris Ward.
During the few weeks leading up to Drift Atlanta pro-am, Dan helped Chris almost every day after work to get Chris’s car the best we could within the time given…all the while dragging Chris by his ear the whole way to making the changes needed to be competition ready! For those of you who know Chris, you might have noticed that that car has been through quite a thrashin’. It was simply impossible to go through the entire car, which would later prove to be fatal.
The good news is that the car was able to pass tech alongside ours which ended up leading to some pretty intense battles on the road to the podium. Qualifying was pretty laid back for the most part. Dan was in the chill zone ready to have some fun and Chris was in bATL mode ready to thrash! Quite the opposite in personality, I must admit. When push came to shove, Dan ended up first qualifier and Chris came in third. We were a bit disappointed for Chris at first, then we realized the ladder was stacked pretty well in that order, so no biggie. The Batlground brigade had made it in and on top!
When it came time to compete, I was a little worried for both of the guys only because the track conditions and temps had changed so much from the time they had qualified. It was now 8 pm and cool and qualifying had gone on in 96 degree weather many hours earlier. It didn’t really seem to affect either of them ultimately. The first battle Dan had ended up in contact being made with his rear end when the car decided to pretty much stall in the middle of the track unexpectedly. There was no real way the gentleman following him could have avoided the hit. Luckily the action wasn’t enough to take Dan out in the first top 16 battle. We had made it through our first scare of the day.
Dan was able to chew through the next few drivers, but not without drama. First of all someone (not it! 
) didn’t put Dan’s hood pins in and at the very end of one of his runs, his hood came up plowing into the roof! Luckily we have Percy’s Speed Glass installed or we may have been taken out thanks to a broken windshield. Then all of a sudden Dan’s car is having trouble getting into 3rd gear mid-drift and that was the next obstacle we had to make it through. A few of the other teams had gotten the word that Dan was having this problem and rumor has it they told their drivers to just take it easy — possibly the reason for their demise.
Chris had also moved on up the ladder and finally came the time for him to meet his elder on the track. They were both really excited that, either way, Batlground had positively taken the top two podium positions. They had made Road Atlanta into their own personal Batlground against each other and it was going to be amazing to be a part of the experience. They line up revving and ready. They take it down the hill — first, second, third…initiate. They both go big, but then Chris pulls off into the grass. From the top of the hill, none of us could tell what had happened. Whatever it was, it had happened without a sound.
Chris never made it back up the hill. He had to taken off track by the tow truck. 
Dan however went out for one last lone run — his best run of the day, in fact. The win for Dan was bitter sweet. Every true racer wants to win while his competitor is at his best. It’s a pride thing. You haven’t really won if your competitor wasn’t wasn’t at the top of his game and that is how Dan feels. When we got to the pits we were so tired that we didn’t even care to look at what had caused the defeat, but the next day at SED found that there was a burnt up wire and switch controlling the fuel pump.
Not to worry though! Dan and Chris will have plenty of time to settle the batl. They are both going for the Formula Drift hard card awarded to the one and only first place winner of the South East Drift Championship series. So, come out and be a part of the mayhem that is drifting and root on your favorite Batlground driver. My vote is for Dan. Jess is rooting for Chris. Who are you rooting for? Who will come out on top?? Only time will tell. Oh the suspense!
