Red Bull Drifting World Championship

In Long Beach on November 11, 2008, Laura Jacobsen, Genevieve Chappell & filming crew, and I attended for the inaugural Red Bull Drifting World Championship. The city of Long Beach hosted the parade of cars through the downtown area and a draw party at the local establishment, “Smooth’s Sports Grill”.

The special drifting track was at the Port of Long Beach and featured six (6) turns, a high speed right-hand entry that pushed the drivers into the 100+ mph range. Awesome to watch by the way... The course definitely pushed the drivers to their limits for the ultimate drifting competition.


32 of the world’s best drifters gathered on Saturday and Sunday at the Port of Long Beach to compete for the largest prize purse in drifting history. We caught up with Samuel Hubinette for a VelocityTV interview and to wish him good luck on the competition.

Unfortunately, Samuel, (2 time world champion) didn't take home the gold this time... first place went to Rhys Millen, $25,000; Teammate Daijiro Yoshihara and his Bridgestone / RMR Pontiac GTO took home the 2nd place prize of $15,000 and the 2007 and 2008 Formula DRIFT champion, Tanner Foust and the Rockstar / AEM Nissan 350Z took home 3rd place overall and $10,000.

A fun time was had by all!!! Until next time... drift on baby!