Formula D

Nick D'Alessio has been part of the East Coast drifting scene for years, from his time competing in Formula Drift to building one of the biggest JDM import shops in the Philly area.

Even today, he's still behind the wheel, traveling to major drift events and staying involved in the community.

His story goes back to the early days of installing car stereos and learning to drift at Club Loose, eventually turning his passion for cars into his career.

Even going to sea drifting? I've never...

I've never...

Fun fact, the first Formula Drift event that I was ever at was Long Beach when I was driving.

I was never at a Formula Drift.

Holy shit.

He was a really important part of sort of those first couple of years, none other than Mr. Ryan Tuerck.

And if you pay attention to Formula Drift, you know that he... retired this year and the weekend that just passed was his last weekend in FD so we talk about all that the 20 plus years that he was in the sport how it changed all these different things but the part I get most excited about is that rally racing has entered Ryan Tuerck's life and he loves it when we get into all of that and what the future of all of that might be for Turk so anyway without further ado a wonderful conversation with the man who I enjoy calling friend, Mr. Ryan Tuerck.

Ryan Tuerck, welcome to the show.

I'm going to start by just saying, I drove to LAX to pick you up.

well-known sport.

It is ubiquitous.

But the actual Formula Drift is not on the scale of everything else that's out there.

And it's interesting because I think similar to skateboarding and similar to BMX, there's the competition side.

That was more people.

reserved from what I saw at that specific venue for events like Formula Drift and Gridlife and things like that that were specifically targeting younger audiences.

But for the overall enthusiast sporting events like in IMSA, Motul Petit Le Mans, or Moto America, it was kind of your... 35 plus, but more on the plus side.

And then I would say in the past five years, that has really shifted both in age and in gender of a closer.

God, you said so many great things there.

You mentioned that you're seeing both men and women in greater numbers in the paddocks.

And I want to touch on that because one thing that I've seen in motorsport, and I'd love to fact check this with you, is I feel like It started with Formula Drift.

It started with the smaller venues.

No, let's not go down the rabbit hole.

He competed with a very similar Dale Earnhardt livery on his Cadillac in Formula Drift.

Did he? Yeah, it was quite similar looking.

Did he ram people into Formula Drift as well?

I believe there was one.

Yeah.

So I'm delighted to welcome onto the show this fella and wait until you hear everything he's done.

James Deane is a 35-year-old from Killavallan in North Cork, five-time Formula Drift Champion, four-time Drift All-Star, three-time Drift Master and four-time Oman IDC Champion.

Along with being a stunt driver in Hollywood, it's all going on.

But most of all, a very humble North Cork man.

And it's not like any other of the normal motorsports where you're racing against the clock or checkered flag.

it's actually judged on how sideways we drift the cars, hence drifting.

uh usually we have three judges i'll i'll make it really simple and the best way to actually see it for yourself is just pop it into youtube formula drift drift masters or one of our names and you'll see it for yourselves but uh we're basically judged on line that the judges set out on the track so that specific areas where they want to see us slide the cars through uh angle so how sideways the car is and style which is basically How aggressive you are, how hard you're pushing the car and how close to the limit you actually are.

So we're basically judged.

Cory Talaska is a Formula Drift Prospect driver that actually had the opportunity to move to Pro this year, but he chose not to.

And on top of that, he's also dealt with a number of challenges that don't necessarily pertain to the car or his program or his driving, but more himself and his mentality.

And with all of this stuff that he's gone through, he was able to share a very

So thanks to you, Corey, for taking the time at the event.

Without further ado, welcome back to the Circle Drift Podcast, and let's get into it.

We are back here at yet another Formula Drift at Connecticut Stafford Motor Speedway.

And yet another familiar or not a familiar face.

You haven't been on the podcast yet.

As much as I love Road Atlanta, Road Atlanta ends up being weird

because we are there with Formula Drift and they're trying to cram a grid life weekend in with Formula Drift and it's super short and

the schedule's goofy.

And like, what's cool is, We're there with Formula Drift, and there's enough of us to where we don't feel like we're overshadowed by Formula Drift, but the whole situation is just odd, okay? There's no podium sprint because there's no time for it, and you're looking at six sessions.

You get three in the morning on Friday and Saturday.

It's, I gotta be real, I'd skip that, okay? This is nothing against Carolina, but Carolina's kind of like Gingerman without all the insanity of Gingerman.