The new Formula Drift Insider Episode 6 highlights Ross Petty complaining about judges being in an “alliance” along with the announcer. Apparently he didn’t check out our report we made earlier this year on bullshit judging conspiracies in Formula Drift. You can start listening to Ross Petty around the 4:30 mark where he vents about his Formula Drift complaints. Is it possible other drivers feel the same way on this issue?
Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q1sX_uR-uY
“I’m not a conspiracy theorist” from the mouth of the dude who had “9/11 was an inside job” on the side of his car until had was told to remove it because it was distasteful.
What kind of amateur edits this to where he comes on at 4:30 instead of 4:20?
C’mon now.
Its about having a good show. If a top guy makes a mistake against a driver in top32 and technically loses by a small to medium margin, the judges are more likely to give it a one-more-time. Its to give the top guy a chance to move on…..for the show. I don’t think the judges do it on purpose, its human nature really.
That’s how us “lower-level” drivers know we have won….we get a one-more-time.
or you could just win, by advancing, because going out in the round of 32 is definitely not “winning”.
atleast to me anyways.
If ”winning” is a one-more-time, you’re doing it wrong.
its a judged sport, one person wins and one loses. One person is going to agree with the call and the other will most likely be butt hurt about it. Go to a formula d event and watch the “top guys” compete. they always put on the best show with the best runs. might as well say people qualify higher because of the brand name of the tire on their car. If i were going to act like a child and call out the fd staff i’d atleast do it under a fake username dennis. stop being so biased towards yourself.
FD are single handily to blame for leaving themselves vulnerable for attack by having a Judge who is best friends and associated with or in “alliance with” in the tower, to avoid issues, remove doubt and then u wont have these issues. Same could be said for the annoucer with his NOS connections and “alliance” with DA also but hey…if he cheers louder for his buddys then so be it! NBD.
No offence to Tony at all, hes been a super judge this year, hes in a catch 22 situation which is pretty shitty but such is life in a professional sport!
Yet again no offence to the current judging line up – but i feel that the drivers should be judged by their peers who have a credible merit – example, if Tanner Foust, Sam Hubinette, Rhys Millen or any other previous champ was making the calls based on their own skill, experience and track record….i think judging from the current drivers perspective will become more tolerable and also sponsors etc will repect FD and the series for investing their money in a series that has credible ex and/or current championship judges over seeing their drivers performances.
perhaps 2 judges remain 2012 with +1 invitational international judge next year for each event?
Ross makes a pretty damn good point but I wish he had the battles to coincide with. If 2010 Aasbo came out and made the remarks I think they would hold more weight since he was on the loosing end of some pretty questionable calls.
I stand by my stance a 10 man rotating panel. But why don’t FD drivers start a union and select 1 judge who is paid by the drivers union. I think the the drivers team up they could get a lot done instead individuals making idle comments from time to time.
But anyways cool interview, Ross is a interesting dude to listen to.
Ross pointed out some good calls and I do believe that they should have a change up next year, mainly dropping Angelo. I’m just tired of the bullshit calls this year as much as Ross. The lower drivers still know how to put on one hell of show.
As much fun as I did have up in Seattle this year for FD, I need to see the judging change to make it even more enjoyable.
I hope you guys realize that this is Formula DRIFT releasing the content. We chose to put this out and that should say something about our transparency. We could have easily censored this and done a benign segment, but we are trying to do something innovative here by giving the series a greater voice. We hear what people say because we are more intimately connected than any one person or team. For that, we know how many differing opinions and perspective there are on a variety of issues.
When we hired Tony we realized there was a conflict of interest. I mean hello, of course. BUT, we took him at his word that he would be down the middle and fair and thought he was sincere about progressing the judging aspect of the sport. As Wrecked has pointed out very clearly that even though there is a COI (by text book definition), it is not present in any of the judging calls. In fact, you find that Tony votes against DA members as much or more than the other judges. Tony has been a great addition to the panel and the results manifested have been as fair as the series has ever been. All you need to do is look at how the judges vote independently to realize that.
By they way, Jarod is not sponsored by NOS.
Either way, we are going to keep releasing content to tell the best stories we can and to do what is happening here: Get you all discussing and talking.
Mick – I don’t think ANY of the current judges would respect Rhys as a judge. Although it would be hilarious to hear him try to explain things to someone who cried, since that’s all he ever does.
As was mentioned in the other thread, I don’t think Tony Angelo is the problem on the judges stand. I think his decisions have been the most spot on all season.
I think all the drivers wish there was an easier solution to this whole ‘subjective’ bit, but I don’t think there is (or it would have been done in the last 8 years). Skateboarders all respect that the judges have the final say and they might not agree with them, but you rarely if ever hear them protest about why they lost. Sucks that drifters can’t have the same humility
Reason 999 grassroots and underground drifting is better than FD. Not to mention JRod isn’t screaming incoherently about “sending” at most bootleg events.
Did anyone notice in Vegas after Dai’s run in top 16 when he hit the tire barrier no one went back out to fix them? When the next battle between Powers and Gushi came out Gushi ended up clipping those tires that weren’t put back in their correct spot because they were pushed further into the correct clipping zone? I think that right there should have been an automatic do over by the judges but nothing was done. Just another eye opener.
you’re absolutely right Chris! I hadn’t noticed before, but I just reviewed my footage (I was at turn 1) and had those tires been put back to their original location, Gushi wouldn’t have hit (but may have still scraped the wall a little) and may have possibly been favored better from a judging perspective. Good catch! sadly though, what’s done is done.
Have 5 judges and drop the highest and lowest scores during qualifying runs to avoid people calling foul and then judge tandem with 5 judges. Like other people have said, someone is always going to complain, …no one likes to lose
Also Dai vs Yoshioka run.. Yoshioka lost the drift. Dai just ran a diff line.. Somehow Yoshioka won.. I guess they didn’t want to give him the Championship at that point.
Bad call.
didnt dai go off track for the yoshioka battle? three tires past the yellow line,then hit the tires.
if you were near the tires @ FD Vegas you were probably off line. there was a yellow line that didnt meet the wall clip zone until after the tires ended. if they were moved by a car hitting, and the track staff didnt move them – then sure. although LVMS & FD staff is pretty good about keeping that stuff together.
this year they added like 20ft of additional tires, as well as marked cones showing the course line leading up to the tires which they didnt have during 2010 FD Vegas. if they didn’t add those tires K.Mohan and DIO would’ve been seriously injured – props to FD, and LVMS staff for that call for sure.
Last year the OMT’s were annoying, but this year judging has been pretty spot-on.
.02
@Buckey Laing
That sounds like piss poor course design to me when it is not visually clear to everybody what the track is suppose to be
to me, i’ve never really like the FD Vegas layout. the stands are far away from the action. by the time the cars get to the crowd everyone is going like 40mph. the tighter section on the course is poorly marked and to add to it everyone goes over the yellow lines in those sections like they dont even matter.
no one likes spending a bunch of money to drive in a big parking lot… LVMS has a GREAT road course that XDC used for one venue – would be cool to see FD take advantage of that track if they continue to come out.
Aren’t we all in “alliance” together as drifters? Most of us have met or hung out together moving up through grassroots and pro am ranks. I like Ross having the balls and saying it, but maybe he should worry about driving instead of Drift Alliance judges.
Ross doesn’t like losing, and he will continue to keep losing as long as he blames everything except for him. His car has always been up for the comp. He gets a random good run and posts videos on YouTube about how he’s better than matt powers. Powers, relatively new to FD goes out and does good almost every time. And if he doesn’t, he’s not crying about conspiracies. I don’t hate Ross, I’m just sayin.
ya’ll are high…..or am i wrong cause i am friends with these dudes?
I can actually see and understand the various perspectives but whenever I read lots of complaining I have to question if you guys are basing anything on fact or are they all assumptions because if Ryan@FD is right then FD has transparently shown and looked at the judges scores and have not seen any discrepancies. BTW I do think JRod might as well be an official “alliance” member just watch him at any FD event.
BLOOD MASTERS
I was at the Vegas event and I saw Odi B. go as far as his car possibly could get him in that event. The call on the Dai vs Yoshi was fair (barely). I saw no indication at this event of any kind of favoritism. If you drive really good you have a chance in the top 16. I didnt feel like they were playing anything out to just make a better show. The tandem was judged with the same result I felt every time. The tires that Gushi hit should have been spotted before by one of the spotters in the tower and called 5 min to fix that.