Erik Jacobs originally said:
Tony,

I'm not sure where in the last few years you have become the authority on drifting in the US, but it appears that you still have a great deal to learn about this sport and about those who participate in it.

First and foremost, your continued commentary about drifting being "about" crashing is unacceptable and simply untrue. Drifting is no more about crashing than hockey is about fighting. Fighting is an unfortunate part of hockey. It is the part that no one likes, and that everyone finds degrading and demeaning, but is fun to watch. To emphasize the fact that hockey is a sport of fighting is to make light of the many individuals over the years who have participated in this sport and who have honed their skills to become finely tuned competitors. It is to cast aside the many great athletes who have become household names because they were simply thugs out on the ice. It takes the small problem that exists and makes it the focus and casts a negative light on the sport.

Drifting is not about crashing, it is about driving. It is about the fun of enjoying a car. Drifting did not start in Japan, or in California, or anywhere else. It has existed as long as there have been curvy roads, or wet roads, or intersections, or open spaces. It is about nothing, and that is what makes it special.

Originally your ideas were to restrict participants in on-course drifting activity at Hialeah Speedway to licensed professional drivers. I thoroughly backed you in this idea because I felt that the close proximity of the walls in addition to the lack of a fully paved infield made for an unsafe venue for new drifters. I experimented myself in several cars on the track and decided that there was no suitable course that could be delpoyed given the available skill of local participants. Somewhere along the line your ideas changed and you opened the first exhibition to all drivers of all skill levels. Your argument -- "I've already invested in this event and lined up sponsors, I'm having it." One car tapped the wall, out of two drivers.

Then, after again reccomending that you reconsider having drifting events at the Speedway, that after developing driving talent elsewhere good, safe events could be held, you decided to go off on your own and run an event. One car was destroyed, and two others tapped the wall, all beginners.

You say "Drifting is about crashing." You say that you have a stack of drift videos with people crashing. However maybe you fail to realize that those crashes represent one or two people out of fifty to eighty. And the odds are that the coverage you are watching is semi-professionals or full professionals. You said today "Even D1 has come out and said that drifting is about crashing." However maybe you fail to realize that the D1 series is designed to sell DVDs, not to promote drifting, and that is becoming a scripted event similar to the WWF.

You say that your drivers have signed waivers, and that you have insurance. However simply having insurance does not absolve you of all liability. If an insurance company knew that at two of your two events you had four incidents, one of which resulted in a car being near-undrivable, I would think the safety of your events would come into serious question. Liability insurance does not absolve you in the case of gross negligence, and I have warned you and your partners and sponsors on several occasions that this venue is not safe for the skill level of people that you are purveying your events to. Does your liability insurance cover cars with no roll cages and drivers with no approved safety restraints or fire suits drifting in close proximity? Just because the drivers signed waivers does not mean that your irresponsibility in setting rules for safety equipment will protect you from liability.

Do you even know the track record of the drivers that you allowed to tandem drift together? Do you know how many events they have attended? In more than one year of DGTrials events we have had only one major incident. Hundreds and hundreds of cars have come through our gates, and we have had one major incident. In two events, you have had four cars touch the walls.

The cost of a venue is not the validating factor in the decision to run an event. This just makes it appear that your motiviation is funding, and not the promotion and the development of the sport. There are other suitable yet completely safe venues at your disposal in the Miami and surrounding areas, yet you choose to use Hialeah speedway. Is it any coincidence that this facility is also the easiest to pack spectators into?

It behooves you, as an event promoter, to choose a venue that offers, first and foremost, as much safety for its participants as possible. You can say until you are blue in the face that the drivers have the choice as to how they participate, but the fact of the matter is that humans are fallible and all will succumb to red mist and adrenaline. It is your duty, as an event promoter, to choose a venue that offers the most safety margin for your participants, dependant upon their skill level. Again, were you running professional racing events with professional-level safety requirements and allowing only licensed drivers entry, Hiealeah Speedway is a perfectly suitable venue. However, being that the vast majority (100%) of your participants would be classified as beginnning drifters with little to no track, drift, or other autosports experience and little to no safety equipment, it would appear that your decision to run an event where competitors run such a high risk of impacting solid concrete walls with their daily-driven vehicles is seriously flawed.

It was overheard today that you view me as your competitor. I fail to see how you can view an autosports sanctioning body as a competitor when you are an event promoter. If anything, we should be the organization that you look to for advice in running your events -- in how to make them safe, fun, and enjoyable for both participants and spectators. You suggested to me that we offer some of the drivers from Tampa incentives to come to the event -- not for the promotion of the sport, but for the purpose of having more drivers at your exhibition to keep spectators entertained. When we offered incentives in the exact same manner at your event, you accused DGTrials of tortious interference and of boycotting your event when in fact our intentions were 100% honest. We were simply trying to get drivers to come out to an event in Tampa where they could enjoy their participation safely.

You and your partners offer to work together on drifting, and yet you talk about my organization and I behind "our" back and accuse me of saying and doing things that I haven't. You save emails and comb internet forums looking for things that I or DGTrials supporters have said so that you can twist it and manipulate it to make us look like we are doing something bad. You looked to me in the beginning to offer advice to you on how to run an event, and when I informed you that you could not run a safe and enjoyable event you went ahead and ran the events anyway, and continue to do so, and your casualty rate continues to increase.

These factors all add up to, in DGTrials opinion, you being only concerned with profit and promotion. DGTrials is concerned with growth of grassroots movements, of innovation in safety, of offering alternative forms of motorsport for modern enthusiasts, and most importantly, is concerned about running fun events. Being that it appears that our missions differ so greatly, DGTrials can no longer offer to act as your consultant for any motorsports activities that South Florida Motorsports Report or any of its affiliates may run. We will not be present at the Drift Miami event on May 23rd, and will not reccomend to drifting participants that they attend the event due to the venue being unsafe for all but highly experienced drifters. I appreciate your desire to work together with us, and I understand the potential that exists to milk the cash cow that drifting is being played up to be. However, that is simply not the way that DGTrials does business.

I hope that you can understand my concerns and DGTrials' ultimate decision. I can be reached via email or contacted by phone at (xxx)xxx-xxxx.

Erik Jacobs
DGTrials / www.DGTrials.com