Being among the best in Formula Drift these days means dancing on the knife edge, using huge power to overwhelm lots of grip, and making big slides and tons of smoke in order to make your run look good. It also requires incredible precision, getting your bumper millimeters from a hard concrete wall without tapping it, or swinging through a corner inches from your competition. Occasionally, as Mustang driver James Deane found out in Irwindale this weekend, a tiny mistake means you’re flung into a wall on your roof.
During a qualifying session on Saturday, Deane (a three-time FD champ) was up against Matt Field and his Corvette, attempting to make the finals at the 2023 season finale. Entering a left-hand slide on the Irwindale banking, the Corvette went wide, locking up and careening into the Mustang’s passenger side (Deane’s RTR Mustang is right-hand drive) and sent it skyward. Wheel-on-wheel contact popped the Mustang straight up and onto the top of the outside retaining wall.
From there the car slid for several feet, losing the left-front wheel in the process, before falling back to the track surface and grinding to a halt. On Facebook, Deane called the crash the “hardest hit of my career!” before confirming “I’m okay but I’m sore.” The team worked tirelessly to get the car back on track for the next session, albeit missing a fender, both bumpers and hood. Deane even had to borrow a door from Vaughn Gittin, Jr.’s Mustang to make the run.
Deane put enough of a run together in his claptrap machine to get into the top 8. Then the team got back to work finishing the job and getting the car looking mostly like new for the finals, where he grabbed a podium place, finishing third.
To make the story even cooler, Saturday’s podium was made on Deane’s 31st birthday. It’s always heartbreaking to smash the wall, but getting it all back together and throwing down a great session makes it mean so much more. Drifting is so cool!