Impacts, fires, roaring engines and screeching tires. These are just a few of the happenings at the Formula Drift Finale that thrilled the masses on October 8-9, 2010. Holding the final round once again at Irwindale Speedway, the "House of Drift," Formula D packed the stands and the pits as Formula D's pro drifters battled for a spot in the Top 32 eliminations. The events leading to this seventh round have been fierce, with no particular driver running away with the points. In fact, less than 100 points separated the top four drivers, leaving the door open for any of them to seize the 2010 Championship. In addition, the Tires.com Triple Crown prize of $10,000 also remained unclaimed, with an even narrower points spread between the top four.

Total Commitment Finals

Every driver demonstrated a total commitment to the finals, giving 110% effort throughout the eliminations. Wall taps, spins and collisions were frequent, as were high-speed, fender-to-fender drifts that got the crowd on its feet. As the sun set on the Top-32 competition, the Top-16 competitors prepared to race under Irwindale Speedway's stadium track lights.

Trail To The Final Four

Top-qualifier Darren McNamara was hungry for victory, as he battled his way through the eliminations. After taking out Alex Pfeiffer in round one, he moved on to face his teammate Tyler McQuarrie in the second round. McQuarrie pushed the V8-powered 350Z to its limits, spinning out in the chicanes that follow the second sweeper. McNamara kept clean on the second pass in order to win. McNamara shined in his next match against veteran and former champion Rhys Millen. He defeated Millen and secured his spot in the Final Four.

Tanner Foust, who qualified fifth for the event was third in points for the season. However, a few upsets of the top point holders and an event victory would put him well within reach of his third championship. In the first match up, Foust defeated Jodin LeJeune, who spun during one of the passes. The "Golden Child" then proceeded past Conrad Grunewald to face Justin Pawlak in the Ford Mustang. Pawlak gave chase, but Foust was dialed in this night, securing himself a spot in the Final Four.

Michihiro Takatori has been showing much promise this season, securing himself a Top-32 spot at every event in 2010, including a best finish of fourth place at Round 4 in Washington. Within reach of a podium, he made a hard drive for the podium, beating the 2009 Champion Chris Forsberg (who tapped the wall and lost drift). Ian Fournier, rookie and former Pro-Am alumni, delivered an awesome performance, going head-to-head with Takatori and forcing a "One More Time" (OMT) rerun of the pass. However, Takatori was on point, outshining the rookie and making his second Final Four appearance.

The season points leader Vaughn Gittin could taste victory only one event away, but knew that it would not be handed to him. Too many drivers were within striking distance and Gittin was not letting up given the stakes. Qualifying sixth, Gittin slid past a broken Nikolay Konstantinov into his matchup with two-time Nordic Drifting Series Champion Frederic Aasbo. The battle with the red Supra was quite possibly the best battle of the Finals, as Aasbo and Gittin put down big smoke, big angle and a battle that spectators seemed to feel was too hard to call. However, the judges' decision to advance Gittin instead of calling for a OMT drew some boos from the grandstands. Nonetheless, the points leader stayed focused, taking down Matt Powers in the next round and locking in his spot in the finals.

Titans Clash

McNamara staged up against Foust in the first of the semi finals. These gladiators put on a performance that showed how far America's professional drifting has come in the last seven years. The first battle was awesome, wowing the crowd with how evenly skilled these drivers were. The unanimous decision for a OMT put them back on the grid and onto the track. In the second pass, McNamara tried to close the gap on Foust, but got too close and ended up spinning out. Foust moved on to the finals.