Once upon a time, drifting was the laughing stock of the tuner world. People called it silly, compared it to figure skating, and said it would never be considered a successful motorsport.

While there are still naysayers, this year's SEMA was a definite sign that drifting and the corresponding cast of characters are here to stay. While the economy has slowed the mass of new cars that we've seen in years past, there was no shortage of drifting news coming out of the 2009 SEMA Show pipeline.

The one company that debuted new cars for the 2010 drifting season was Hankook Tire. Conrad Grunewald's 2010 Chevy Camaro was announced more than a month before SEMA (http://www.urbanracer.com/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=3981&z=2), but seeing it in person at the GM booth was worth the hype. The car was built largely by NorCal drifter and fabricator Luke Lonberger, and the craftsmanship is top notch.

Although the car is painted top to bottom, SEIBON carbon-fiber products were used all around the car to keep weight down. Under the hood, the LS-A engine from the Cadillac looks ready for action, and the supporting fuel system in the trunk will be up to the task of delivering fuel for more than 600 ponies to the wheel.

While many drift cars that are announced or even debuted at SEMA often aren't anywhere close to completion, Conrad actually told us that this car will be hitting the track as early as next week and should see plenty of hours of track time before the Formula D season opener in April.

In fact, if it weren't for some parts hang-ups, the car would have been fired up before SEMA. If Conrad doesn't run into any major problems, this may be the most competitive debut car since Ryan Tuerck's fresh Mobil 1 Gardella Racing Pontiac Solstice won the season opener at Long Beach this year.

Over in the South "Wheel and Tire"Hall, a 2010 GT-R built by Gruppe-S was also ready for show goers Tuesday morning. While we saw a pair of R35 chassis stickered up as D1 cars at Tokyo Auto Salon in 2008, none of those cars has yet to make a debut. After speaking with Team Owner Eddie Kim, this car will DEFINITELY be on the track next year, and it sounds like they plan to have it on the track at Long Beach.

This car, like Grunewald's Camaro, also has a plethora of SEIBON carbon parts to keep weight down, and Kim promises massive power out of the Brian Crower-stroked motor. Robbie Nishida is a talented driver who's capable of qualifying atop the field and podium finishes in any car he pilots, so we have no reason to believe that this car will be any less competitive despite its size and curb weight from the factory.

Staying in the South Hall, Falken Tire had Vaughn Gittin Jr.'s 2010 Ford Mustang on display. JR and the Falken team had a great overall year in the Mustang, including a second-place finish in New Jersey and a fifth overall placing in the final points standings. Falken claimed three drivers in the top 10, including the podium sweep in New Jersey.

In years past, the Falken booth has been a popular place for new drift cars, but for 2010 Falken will be sticking to the tried-and-true lineup they assembled for this year, with only a few minor upgrades to the cars and a whole lot more testing. It's hard to argue with that game plan, since the results are some of Falken's best to date.

Another Falken-equipped Mustang sat near the SEMA Media Center in the Sky Bridge area. This red and black beaut has been campaigned for several years by North Carolina-based driver Doug Van Den Brink, and is one of the best examples to prove that there's no wrong way to build a drift car.

The rear-mount STS turbo system sounds amazing on track, and having the blow-off valve vent thru the back window makes for a uniquely awesome sound between shifts. If Doug ever gets some big monetary support, he'll be a name to be reckoned with on the FD circuit.

Two-time Formula D champion Tanner Foust was busy the week of SEMA with a small little race in China this week (more on that on next Monday's MFL), but his Scion Racing Rockstar Energy Drink tC was on display in the AEM booth. The NASCAR-engined monster was first announced in the week leading up to SEMA last year, but wasn't actually on display as it was still being built. The car captured three podiums, including a win in Las Vegas, and was quite the talk among many of the V8-loving muscle car heads roaming the show and seeing it for the first time.

Team Owner Stephan Papadakis told us that the plan for next year is much of the same, working out some kinks and refining the chassis. Remember, Tanner won the first of his two championships in his sophomore campaign in the 350Z, and with the success of his freshman campaign we don't see that to be out of the question for 2010.

Speaking of champions, Chris Forsberg had both of his NOS Energy Drink/Maxxis Tires Nissan 350Z's on display. The V8-powered car he piloted to the 2009 championship sat in the Maxxis booth, while the SR-powered car he started his Formula D career with sat outside the Central hall with a lineup of other Seibon cars, including Joon Maeng, Tony Brakohiapa, and "Wild"Bill Sherman. Although Chris was trying to pursue a 370Z for the 2010 season, it looks like he'll be back in the same pony with the LS Auto-built roadster. Frankly, we can't blame him, as this car has proven itself time and time again.

Worthy of mention are the OEM cars of Rhys Millen and Vaughn Gittin Jr., which have been covered previously by our SEMA entourage. In all the years of sport compact and import drag racing, we've never seen OEMs allow their racers to design and build their own versions of production cars. The fact that JR's carbon-clad RTR-C Mustang will be available in limited quantities is a monumental testament to the acceptance of drifting by the OEM's.

This is the second year in a row that RMR has built a car for Hyundai, and although there were no announced plans for this car to be either raced in a professional racing series or put into any formal sort of production, we feel that this is another huge step in the right direction for a company that has gone from a FWD-only vehicle lineup to supporting the drifting world through Rhys' racing efforts in a short timeline.

Finally, on the sanctioning body side of things, Formula D announced their 2010 schedule along with a plethora of improvements that we can anticipate, which we provided in yesterday's wrap-up (http://www.urbanracer.com/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=4054&z=1).

One exciting stat which stood out to us was the mention of 2.5 BILLION impressions globally in 2009 according to some market research which was invested in by Formula D, growing from the 1 billion-impression mark announced at the 2007 SEMA show. Coincidentally, 2008 and 2009 were the two seasons that UrbanRacer.com has produced the event guide for Formula D. We're not saying that these two stats are related, but the coincidence makes us feel pretty special to be involved again for 2010!

Formula D's schedule is tentatively as follows:

Competition:
April 8-9 - Streets of Long Beach - Long Beach, CA
May 7-8 - Road Atlanta - Atlanta, GA
June 4-5 - Wall Speedway - Wall, NJ
July 9-10 - Evergreen Speedway - Seattle, WA
August 20-21 - Mazda Raceway at Infineon - San Francisco, CA
October 8-9 - Toyota Speedway at Irwindale - Irwindale, CA

2010 Asian Championship:
TBA - Thailand, Singapore, Malaysa - 3 race series

Demonstration:
Jan 16 - 17 - Exhibition TBA - Panama City, Panama
April 16 - 18 - Team Drift demo at Long Beach Grand Prix
4th Quarter TBA - World Drifting Championships - "TOP SECRET"Location TBA

In passing, we also ran into the group who will be putting on a new series called Xtreme Drift Circuit. While details are still being ironed out, we'd like to be the first outlet to formally announce this series.

The team behind this series includes some of the former staff that assisted with the production of the D1GP USA series last year, who were heavily involved with Hot Import Nights for years. While we've seen many series come and go in the past with names like XDL, WDC, Drift Car America, and NOPI, this one is said to be affiliated with Formula D and won't directly compete as a top-tier professional drifting series but be more of a stepping stone for up-and-comers. With details still to come, we're glad that someone has actually stepped up to the plate and formally worked out a deal directly with FD to try and bring up the next generation of drivers.

That's it for our drifting wrap-up! Stay tuned to UrbanRacer for more great news from SEMA! But first, time for some cocktails!

Visit UrbanRacer.Com's SEMA Site for more coverage and photos.