Thursday, February 22, 2007

The King and I



One of the interesting things about the Drift King is that he really doesn't give a shit what other people say and think about him. You hang out with him long enough and you will see that he pretty much bows to no one. Well ok, he's Japanese so he'll do a courtesy bow here and there but he'll never do anything or say anything he doesn't want to.
You become a super star and it looks like you have a big fargin ego. Well the big fargin ego that the DK has is pretty much well deserved. Drifting would have never become this big around the world if the man did not exist. Tire companies would not have made so much money if there wasn't driftinng. He single handedly raised the premium on 1986 Corolla Levins. He basically founded D1. Taught the world how to drift. Can I stop now?
I heard a funny story recently that he was not chosen as a committee member for the Japan Car of the Year award. The voting people said he wasn't established enough or what not and didn't want to let him in. Basically they wanted to shut him up because the committee was afraid of him going off on how bad some of the cars were. The sponsors of the Awards are, yes the car makers. They didn't want him ragging on certain cars freely like he does in Best Motoring. BM is an independent media so he is allowed to say what ever the hell he wants.
The story gets better. After he was not voted in, he went public with how the committee is corrupt and how bs the way things are run. That sparked some serious flames here and there in the Japanese car media segment. Like I said, the DK doesn't give a whole lot about what others say and think.
There are ofcourse conscequences to things like this and sometimes as a guy who works close to him wishes if he could be a tad bit more "diplomatic" but he isn't about to change his ways. That's why he's the king...

1 comment:

ghettoracer said...

I heard a lot of ppl don't like DK. But I can see why. Even though he is old enough to be "old school", in a very traditional sense, he is probably not humble by the traditional benchmark. If anything, he is more American. :) I guess that's why he started drifting in the first place, as a form of expression for himself. I thought he was kinda on the cocky side based on my limited meetings with him but... I can totally see why. After reading this blog I'm beginning to like dori kun MORE! We all have egos, I have a huge one myself... and I'm very outspoken on the Internet. I guess that's why I get a lot of hate too... but they don't bother me.