FinalBout 2014

“Outside of Washington, this event will have the highest number of people I know all in one place. Everyone is going to be there: the Idaho boys, the west coast boys, the east coast boys, the Canadian boys and some dudes from Japan… I couldn’t be more excited.” – Dylan Evans, August  27, 4:00 AM, Seattle WA

My trip to Final Bout didn’t start in Shawano, Wisconsin or even Chicago, but it began on a Tuesday evening with a road trip to Seattle from Vancouver, B.C. It was in Washington where I met up with the aforementioned Dylan Evans, my travel companion and “Damn Yeah” ambassador.

After dinner with some of the locals and a short amount of sleep, Dylan and I were off to the airport 3:30 AM.  Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Why start the story here and when does the drifting start?” The short answer is because I actually suck at event coverage, but the long, truthful answer is that the journey to Final Bout is a big part of the event. You see, it wasn’t just about a bunch of rad cars sliding around on the pavement equivalent of a roller coaster (although that happened). Final Bout was about people coming together from every corner of North America to be part of something amazing.

And that’s exactly what happened over the next few days leading up to the event. Drivers – armed with their amazing cars – descended on Chicago to take part in what would be the greatest grassroots drift event of the year.

 

Everyone had a different journey to Final Bout, but mine was one of the easiest because I took a plane. Some had the luxury of trailers, while others – like Hotboyz’ own Jack Connelly and this future honorary Hotboyz teammate – drove their drift cars across the country with a devil-may-care attitude.

No matter where people came from, they had two things in common: style and the desire to drift. I get that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there was a definite feel the organizers were going for and I think they nailed it.

Over the past few years, grassroots drift events have turned into a purely functional display of drift cars. The term “drift missile” had found a comfortable home in the drift community’s dialect. But Final Bout posed this challenge to drivers: “If you’re going to drive, why not look good while doing it?”

What started as a bit of joke became a reality when Club FR planned an invite-only event that would not only be a drift event, but a car show as well. In fact, the points were split down the middle: 50% car show and 50 % drifting.

 

Usually drift prep just means getting your car track worthy, but “#FinalBoutPrep” was also about adding aesthetic appeal to your car. As a driver, both your car’s style and your driving ability fell under the scrupulous eyes of judges Toshiki Yoshioka, Benson Hsu and Rob Ritter.

By midday Sunday, prizes were handed out and they were as follows.

Canada’s Hotboyz took 4th place after they subbed in a California driver to replace Jordan Hall while he worked on his Miata, post-wall crash.

 Third place went to Chicago’s own Risky Devil in their matching red and black paint.

Second place and the proximity award was given to ShaDynasty – a team that is, in fact, one-third Canadian.

Finally, first place was awarded to Illinois’ High Fade. They were one of the few teams to fill the air with the rumbling sounds of V8s.

There were also special awards given to other teams. As I mentioned earlier, ShaDynasty was given the proximity award and Club Sandwich was given the carnage award.

Best team presence/presentation was essentially the best show car award. Although points were cumulative between the show and the driving, it was still important to mention who was looking their best. Although there were plenty of amazing looking cars, no team pulled it all together quite as well as Proceed. The thought and physical effort that went into each car was jaw dropping. As you can see, each car was unique in its details but still adhered to a common theme – much like the team members behind each of the cars.

The competition was great to watch, with the crowd roaring as cars flew by the grand stands. Competing drivers also cheered each other on from the staging area, which created an amazingly positive atmosphere.

Even though the competition was slated as the main event, you could tell it wasn’t as important as the driving itself. After the competition, drivers were quick to mix it up with other teams. I can’t confirm this officially, but I think this is why a lot of the drivers were there – especially as most of these teams make it a point to not compete in series competitions. We sort of figured ahead of time that this would be the case, and that’s why DODOlogic decided to chip in as a sponsor for the event.

The weekend wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops, though. DODOlogic had two of its (rather expensive) banners jacked by someone who must be a fan of cats eating poutine. And after hitting the wall on Saturday, most people had written off Jordan Hall and his Miata. Faced with that situation, most people would have called it quits. It wasn’t likely the car could be fixed in time for the team competition.

But Jordan isn’t most people. On Sunday, he spent four hours driving around collecting Miata parts to try and piece this little Nissan-powered Mazda back together.

As the sun began to set after a long day of working on his car, Jordan took it off the jack stands and hit the intermediate course to see how it handled.

As he pulled onto the track, the crowed was excited to see him back behind the wheel. After a lot of hard work and help from friends, Jordan earned an extra 40 minutes of seat time. I think this mentality completely embodied the spirit of the event. No one was there for praise or accolades; it was all about the driving.

On a personal note, I would like to thank the event organizers for making this happen and allowing DODOlogic to be part of it. Our Chicago hosts were absolutely amazing, once again. They didn’t just take take us in and make us feel welcome, they made us feel like family. There was also a tremendous amount of planning that went on before, during and after this event, and I’m thankful to all those involved for their hard work. This article was a hard one for me to write; I’ve revisited it a few times and even now I’m having trouble finding words to express just how great this experience was. So, instead of rambling on and on, I’d just like to say thanks again to everyone.