Ken Gushi

We got emailed this image showing off Ken Gushi’s Scion FR-S wrap coming together for the 2013 season. We pointed out that the car was sitting at Greddy all in black from the 2012 white it had. Hankook seems to have a bigger presence or moved placement for the 2013 season. Ken Gushi did an AMA on Reddit today and said he read Wrecked Magazine and loved me so we wish him the best of luck for the 2013 Formula Drift season. Greddy and Scion Racing had a full season to R&D the FR-S program and made some off-season changes to his chassis. What do you think about the new look of Ken’s Scion FR-S?

Posted in Formula D, Ken Gushi, Scion, Spy Shots | 13 Comments »

We initially broke the news that Tyler McQuarrie may be running on Hankook tires for 2013, but Hankook Tire’s recent press release now confirms this news. In addition, Hankook announced that their 2013 driver lineup would include Fredric Aasbo, Ken Gushi, Conrad Grunewald, Chris Forsberg, and McQuarrie. Notably missing from their roster is the only driver who earned a Formula D win for Hankook in 2012, Rhys Millen. We have to think this has to be related to his breakup with Hyundai and possibly not running the 2013 season at all. If Millen leaves, he will join former champions Sam Hubinette and Tanner Foust on the sidelines.

What are your thoughts on Millen possibly leaving the series, or McQuarrie back on Hankook tires?

Posted in Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Ken Gushi, Major Announcements, Rhys Millen, Tyler McQuarrie | 17 Comments »

The guys over at Greddy posted both of Ken Gushi’s Scion FRS vehicles sitting at Greddy HQ in Southern California. The red FRS is Ken Gushi’s street car now featuring a Greddy turbo kit! The black car is his 2012 Formula Drift car (that was white/blue) and has now been painted black for 2013. It looks like they have a new look cooking up for the new season.

Posted in Formula D, Ken Gushi, Scion, Spy Shots | 7 Comments »

While some details on this $25k shootout were revealed back in December, the full drivers list and alternates was released today. Joining the original 11 candidates are Chris Forsberg, Toshiki Yoshioka, Ryan Tuerck, Kyle Mohan, Tony Angelo, Chelsea Denofa, and Ryan Kado. Missing from the original list is Justin Pawlak. Here’s the final list, as well as the alternates:

Driver /Hometown /Nationality

Forsberg, Chris / Doylestown, PA / American
Powers, Matt / Pacific Beach, CA / American
Bakchis, Odi / Kaunas, Lithuania / Lithuanian
Yoshioka, Toshiki / Hiroshima, Japan / Japanese
Grunewald, Conrad / Houston, TX / American
Essa, Michael / Los Angeles, CA / Indian/American
Saito, Daigo / Tokyo, Japan / Japanese
Nishida, Robbie / Tokyo, Japan / Japanese
Tuerck, Ryan / Derry, NH / American
McQuarrie, Tyler / Walnut Creek, CA / American
Yoshihara, Daijiro / Hachiouji Tokyo, Japan / Japanese
Aasbo, Fredric /Ski, Norway / Norwegian
Mohan, Kyle /Anaheim, CA / American
Angelo, Tony / Doylestown, PA / American
Denofa, Chelsea / Philadephia, PA / American
Kado, Ryan / Sacramento, CA / Japanese/American

Alternate Drivers:

Wilkerson, Walker / Snohomish, WA / Japanese
Jones, Jeff / San Fernando Valley, CA / American

Who is your favorite to take home the cash?

Posted in Chelsea DeNofa, Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Daigo Saito, Daijiro Yoshihara, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Jeff Jones, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Major Announcements, Matt Powers, Michael Essa, Odi Bakchis, Robbie Nishida, Ryan Kado, Ryan Tuerck, Tony Angelo, Toshiki Yoshioka, Tyler McQuarrie, Walker Wilkerson | 22 Comments »

It was a cold night at Irwindale Speedway, per California standards at least, but a large group of fans and supporters gathered for the free entry fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy. Kyle Mohan had the most exciting day of everyone with a little engine fire holding him up for a few minutes during the weekend. Jeff Jones was showing off his newly wrapped S14 from Los Angeles Wraps.

The Formula Drift staff was setting ride-a-longs and giving away prizes all day. Talking to a PR representative from the event I was told they were very happy with the number of people who signed up for rides throughout the night. A few fans we talked to after getting rides were just blown away about how much fun they had inside the vehicle.

Dai Yoshihara hopped into the now retired V8 powered Nissan S15 Silvia to put on a show for the night. Dai was one of the preferred favorites to get a ride during the evening. With just over 100 days until Streets of Long Beach many drivers were sharing plans and changes they are making for the 2013 drift season.

Other Formula Drift drivers were in attendance including Ken Gushi who has told me before his team is looking for more horsepower in his Scion FRS for 2013. Other drivers were a tad more tight lipped on sponsorship changes and improvements being made for the new season but as we tick closer to the start of the season more information will come out.

It was great coming together to raise money for all the victims of Hurricane Sandy and allow people to experience drifting with a professional driver at the House of Drift. Hopefully we never have a tragedy happen that we need to hold a fundraiser like this again but if that does happen we know Formula Drift will be ready to help.

Posted in Daijiro Yoshihara, Formula D, Ken Gushi, Kyle Mohan | 5 Comments »

The Formula D Superdrift series will take place over the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend that happens just one week after the first round of Formula D. The $25,000 in cash will be on the line for a huge event on Saturday using the traditional Formula Drift track on turns nine, ten, and eleven. On Friday the drivers will be running practice and qualifying like a traditional Formula Drift event. Saturday the cash is on the line running the traditional Formula Drift course.

Seating for the Super Drift Challenge will be in Grandstands 16, 18, 24, 25 and 26 on a first-come, first-serve basis beginning at 6:30 p.m. Ticket prices for the three-day event range from $28 for a Friday General Admission ticket to $130 for a three-day ticket that includes Sat./Sun. reserved seating in grandstand upper levels. On Saturday the event kicks off at 7:00pm and will feature a Top 16 of the best drivers in the series. As an added bonus the Super Drift Challenge cars will drift the entire race circuit after the featured IZOD IndyCar Series race.

Here is the Drivers List: 
Daigo Saito
Daijiro Yoshihara
Frederic Aasbo
Aurimas Bakchis
Michael Essa
Conrad Grunewald
Ken Gushi
Tyler McQuarrie
Robbie Nishida
Justin Pawlak
Matt Powers
*Others will be announced soon

Posted in Conrad Grunewald, Daigo Saito, Daijiro Yoshihara, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Major Announcements, Matt Powers, Michael Essa, Odi Bakchis, Robbie Nishida, Tyler McQuarrie | 5 Comments »

Next week during the 2012 Formula Drift Asia finals you will get to see Fredric Aasbo driving the RSR Toyota Supra pictured above. The event will be taking place in  Jakarta, Indonesia to close out the 2012 Formula Drift Asia championship. Other Formula Drift drivers such as Ken Gushi have hopped into this car during previous events and had some decent success in the Asia series. We are sure Fredric Aasbo cannot wait to get back inside a MKIV Toyota Supra for a drift weekend.

Posted in Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, International, Ken Gushi, Major Announcements | 2 Comments »

One of the best drift events in history was put in the books this weekend as a huge turn of events put Daigo Saito in the books for a victory at Irwindale Speedway and a championship during his “rookie season.” The biggest story of the weekend was Matt Field who defeated Ken Gushi in the Greddy Scion FRS and took Daigo Saito to a judges call of OMT almost rewriting drift history in 2012. Justin Kaehler caught all the action as Vaughn Gittin Jr. missed a chance for his second championship and Rhys Millen crashed his way out of one against Daigo Saito.

Check out the Gallery: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=319

Posted in Chelsea DeNofa, Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Daigo Saito, Daijiro Yoshihara, Darren McNamara, Dave Briggs, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Gallery, Jeremy Lowe, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Kyle Mohan, Michael Essa, Odi Bakchis, Patrick Mordaunt, Rhys Millen, Ryan Tuerck, Tony Brakohiapa, Toshiki Yoshioka, Tyler McQuarrie, Vaughn Gittin Jr., Wrecks | No Comments »

Here are the Top 32 tandem battles for this weekend. In theory we have a huge potential lineup of Rhys Millen and Vaughn Gittin Jr. in the Top 8 which would end up being a battle for the championship realistically. If Vaughn goes out early we have a chance to see JTP, Fredric Aasbo, Daigo Saito, and Rhys Millen all in the final four fighting it out for a championship.

1 Rhys millen vs 32 Kenny Moen
16 Kyle Mohan vs 17 Dai Yoshihara
8 Chelsea DeNofa vs 25 Patrick Mordaunt
9 Vaughn Gittin Jr. vs 24 Nick D’alessio
4 Chris Forsberg vs 29 Conrad Grunewald
13 Daigo Saito vs 20 Taka Aono
5 Ken Gushi vs 28 Toshiki Yoshioka
12 Matt Field vs 21 Jeremy Lowe

2 Justin Pawlak vs 31 Walker Wilkerson
15 Alex Lee vs 18 Tony Angelo
7 Tyler Mcquarrie vs 26 Joon Maeng
10 Tony Brakiohapa vs 23 Michael Essa
3 Fredric Aasbo vs 30 Darren McNamara
14 Dave Briggs vs 19 Robbie ishida
6 Ryan Tuerck vs 27 Ryan Kado
11 Matt Powers vs 22 Luke Lonberger

Posted in Chelsea DeNofa, Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Daijiro Yoshihara, Darren McNamara, Formula D, Fredric Aasbo, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Kyle Mohan, Odi Bakchis, Patrick Mordaunt, Rhys Millen, Ryan Tuerck, Tony Brakohiapa | 1 Comment »

Rhys Millen takes the home the Top Qualifier position in the Final round of Formula Drift. The qualifying order is below.

1. R. Millen
2. J. Pawlak
3. F. Aasbo
4. C. Forsberg
5. K. Gushi
6. R. Tuerck
7. T. McQuarrie
8. C. DeNofa
9. V. Gittin
10. T. Brakohiapa
12. M. Field
11. M. Powers
13. D. Saito
14. D. Briggs
15. A. Lee
16. K. Mohan
17. D. Yoshihara
18. T. Angelo
19. R. Nishida
20. T. Aono
21. J. Lowe
22. L. Lonberger
23. M. Essa
24. N. D’Alessio
25. P. Mordaunt
26. J. Maeng
27. R. Kado
28. T. Yoshioka
29. C. Gruenwald
30. D. McNamara
31. W. Wilkerson
32. Kenny Moen

Posted in Chelsea DeNofa, Chris Forsberg, Conrad Grunewald, Daigo Saito, Daijiro Yoshihara, Darren McNamara, Dave Briggs, Fredric Aasbo, Jeremy Lowe, Joon Maeng, Justin Pawlak, Ken Gushi, Kyle Mohan, Matt Powers, Michael Essa, RESULTS, Rhys Millen, Ryan Tuerck, Tony Angelo, Tony Brakohiapa, Toshiki Yoshioka, Tyler McQuarrie, Walker Wilkerson | No Comments »