‘Save Drifting in Atlanta’ – Turner Field 2012

Between 2004 and 2012 drift events were held at a car park that sat between the Turner Field (home of the Atlanta Braves!) baseball stadium and the Atlanta Olympic Cauldron Tower, a left over of the Olympics held in the city in 1996.

I went to my first Formula Drift event in 2012 at Road Atlanta, and a friend I met at the track, Corey, took me into the city to see some grassroots drifting.

What I didn’t know was that the drifting community in Georgia were in a legal battle against the city council, who were trying to pass an ordinance (as a foreigner I had to look this up and I think an ordinance is like a government act but passed by regional councils rather than by the state or federal government) banning drifting within 1000 feet of a residential area.

Online, the legal battle gained a lot of attention and the drifting community got a lot of support. However the ordinance passed, and Turner Field was lost to drifting.

Drifting in Georgia itself continues to thrive. If you’re in the state and want to get involved, check out some of the events at Lanier Raceplex. It’s a great group of people there and they host beginner friendly drift days with tuition. You can read about my adventure at Lanier here: iTrack Motorsport ExciteGP: Lanier Raceplex

Now I’m going to be honest, I don’t know many GA grassroots drivers of the time. So this will be more of an image dump than anything else. If you know some of the drivers, please share this article with them. I’d love to get to know more drifters in the area.

Watching the cars under the big gold Olympic rings was really cool! Especially since London at the time was preparing to host the games.

Andy who featured in the documentary Keep Drifting Fun in his E46 coupe.

I believe the guy who owns this blue S13 is a fellow Brit. The car featured in a copy of S3 Magazine I picked up at the time. Can I find it to find his name? Of course not! It’s a lovely car though, and I believe it’s still around.

Former Formula Drift driver Dennis Mertzanis was out in his competition car.

Then a few photos from around the pits:

It was a good but very wet day at a location that I’m sure is missed.

If you know any of the drivers that I don’t, please feel free to show them.

Thanks for reading.

Richard Francis