MIKE POWER ON MEETING THE WALL AND COMING BACK STRONG.
Photo courtesy of DRIFTEM correspondent Owen Garrett.
FIVE YEARS OF PRO DRIFTING, THRASHER FLAMES, AND A GOAL TO BE THE ‘MAN ON FIRE’!
We had a quick chat with Mike Power before the Formula DRIFT event at Orlando Speed World to hear the story of his tough break in Long Beach and the necessary steps he and his team had to take to get everything back together.
What's the thumbnail version of how Mike Power got the PRO drifting?
I did BMX, loved all the action sports, and raced GoKarts a little bit when I was a kid. I got hurt riding bikes, so I was off my bike for a while. My good friend Connor showed me JDM cars and I got into Japanese cars. They brought me to my first drift event, and I saw the type of fun everyone was having, so instantly I was like, “I'm gonna buy a car, I'm gonna do this!” Bought my first car two years later and started drifting for fun. Then, as time went on, I just wanted a little bit more out of it. So, we started going towards a more competitive route and I started doing PRO-AM, then got my PROSPEC license and then PRO.
Your livery has some new features this season… was there an inspiration for adding the flames?
It was like 50-50. I wanted something that felt fresh to me; that felt cool and also had a classic style. I really like old-school choppers, and I thought the chopper flame design always looked super cool. So, I was like, it’d be pretty awesome to put it on the car. Try it out, see how it looks, and I love it! And, everyone I've talked to loved it too. Also - you know - the car's on fire and I want to be on fire driving this year, doing killer, and just really doing well. I think that's just kind of the mindset I'm trying to be at - just the man on fire this year. Unfortunately, we started the season a little shaky, so we're just gonna pick up where we left off, and hopefully just start the rest of a good season right here in Orlando.”
Photo courtesy of DRIFTEM correspondent Owen Garrett.
The flames definitely give Spitfire/Thrasher vibes!
Yeah, it kind of has that feel. It’s just really classic feeling, you know. And, I also wanted it to look a little bit like oval track; like the NASCAR-y side of things. That’s why we have the big number on the door as well.
You and the wall found each other at Long Beach. Can you explain what happened?
Love the wording, Yeah, so as everyone knows, Long Beach is notorious for being super aggressive on the walls and other stuff. It's not the most difficult track to drive, but it's the least forgiving. So, if you mess up a little bit, you go right into the wall. I’d done it before as well in our rookie season and backed into the wall really hard. But, what happened was we were going up against Adam and we had the lead first. We went over the rumble strips and that lifted the car. When the car settled back on the track, we lost front grip, and the car just went right in. I was trying to save it the best I could, but at the same time, everything's moving so fast that it happens in less than seconds. So, it basically comes down to driving and just trying to make it happen, and brace, because you know you're going into the wall.
At one point, it sounded like the damage to your car wasn’t significant enough to interrupt your competition schedule, but we missed you at FD Atlanta. What changed?
Yeah, so it was one of those things where we crashed, we assessed it, and we kind of got a game plan together on it. We felt pretty confident about getting it all fixed, but as we went further and further into it, so much more had to be done to get the car back to 100%. This is one of those things where there's some people out there that would've seen the car, and if they had more money than our program, they might have opted to just build a new car. It was a lot of damage, so we were just trying to keep up with the budget and get it fixed. If we did Atlanta - basically rushing - we didn't have much time to get the car to 100%. Plus, the money thing. I just didn't want to be completely behind for the rest of the season. So, it was like…
“Let's make sure the car is 100%, let's make sure I'm 100%, so that once we start back up, we're good for the rest of the season… it's just being able to be comfortable behind the wheel and be comfortable being here at the track.”
Photo courtesy of DRIFTEM correspondent Jacob Qualls.
Aside from season standings, what are some of the other impacts associated with missing an FD round?
Oh, one of the biggest impacts is you're missing out on what you love to do. I do this because I love it, and there's a lot of great people that come to FD, so this has been my life for the past five years now. Especially drifting, or at least just drifting with FD, so missing a round is a huge deal. It just literally kills me and breaks my heart to miss one. So missing out on fans. It doesn't look great on sponsors if you can't make a round either, so you have to make sure you have a really good relationship with your sponsors, and they understand the reason behind why you're missing it. Missing seat time is another one. It’s all about seat time and getting more practice and more experience out there on the track, so there's a multitude of things that you miss out on not being around. But, it’s one of those things where we have to assess it the best that we can, and we just want to be in a better position now that we're back.
Photo courtesy of DRIFTEM correspondent Jacob Qualls.
What are you looking forward to most about this weekend’s event at Orlando Speed World?
I’m mostly looking forward to just driving. Getting back out there. Orlando isn't really my favorite for the weather, but I do love the track. The track's really fun to drive. Just get back into the swing of things, and I got my whole team here, and my girlfriend. I’m just super excited to be here and be back, experience all the fans, and just do some good driving. And, hopefully, just get some really good results. It's been a while since we got some real kickass results, so that's what we're out here trying to do this weekend. So, hopefully that's what we get, and I'll be super stoked.
