Formula Drift | St. Louis, MO | 2019 Vacation
LEADING UP TO FORMULA DRIFT
Back in April, my husband Anthony and I were enjoying a rare weekend off together lounging on the couch. He was browsing YouTube and came across the Formula Drift live stream for Orlando, Florida. I had never watched FD before, but halfway through the stream, I was hooked.
We had so much fun watching FD, I started looking up ticket costs and hatching my plan to surprise Anthony with a trip to an event. After two months of secretly planning and putting in extra hours at work, I purchased our VIP tickets for Round 6 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Fast forward a couple more weeks, Anthony and I were watching the New Jersey event. Multiple times throughout our conversations and the live stream, I had to fight the urge to tell him I purchased tickets. He already knew I was planning something for our anniversary because I had to ask him to use his remaining vacation days for the weekend of the event. About halfway through the stream, I couldn't fight my excitement anymore and had to tell him.
He didn't believe me at first - I literally had to show him the confirmation email I received when I purchased the VIP tickets. Even after showing him the email, he still had a hard time believing it. After going back and forth a couple of times and threatening to find someone else to go with me, he finally came around!
The time from June to August seemed to drag on forever, but once it came we had such a blast Anthony and I talked about making it a yearly tradition. It's been almost two months since the event, and I can still hear the roaring of the engines, the screeching of the tires against the blacktop, and the smell of the burnt rubber smoke cloud wafting up into the grandstands.
FRIDAY PRACTICE & PRO 2 TOP 16
Since we were traveling most of the day Thursday, we spent the evening relaxing in our adorable Airbnb apartment. Friday, we spent the day out on the track watching all of the drivers practice, the PRO qualifying event and had to call it quits after the first few rounds of PRO 2 Top 16 due to the intense burn coming from my lobster red, sunburnt legs.
SATURDAY PRO EVENT
Saturday morning we walked around all the booths since we didn’t get a chance the day before and watched the PRO Top 32 event. Saturday evening we walked the track and I was able to grab some pictures with two of my favorite drivers - Chelsea DeNofa and Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis. The boys put on one hell of a show, but it gave me no greater pleasure than to see James Deane knock Fredric Aasbo out of the point lead & become the champion.
Formula Drift - Round 6 - St. Louis, Missouri
WATCH THE MAIN EVENT
If you watch closely, you can catch a glimpse of Anthony and I during the opening ceremony of the Top 16. You can also fast forward to these timestamps:
4:12:05 - we’re the 4th & 5th people to the left of James Deane, just before the gentleman steps in to give him the top qualifier medal.
4:13:07 - if you look in-between the hips of Odi Bakchis & the Falken Tires lady, you’ll see us
4:13:41 - we’re the first two to the right of Michael Essa, above his side mirror
4:14:00 - the first two people to the right of Kazuya Taguchi’s side mirror
