End of the Year Video!

2013 has been an awesome year. Made a ton of friends and learned more then I even realize. Thanks again for everyone who helped me this year in even the smallest ways. We will see you all next year!


#MDU #MIDWESTDRIFTUNION #DRIFTINDY #DANGERZONE



Stu Kelly 2013 #DRIFTINDY #MIDWESTDRIFTUNION from Stu on Vimeo.

Final Fight! -Street Life Tour 2013

I would like to start this write-up off by showing you two angles of one of my best runs of my rookie season.

I ended up dropping two tires as you can see in the second video and receiving a zero, but outside of that mistake it was my best run all year. 

........Lets go back in time to the moment before my qualifying run. 

In my last practice session (the videos below ) before qualifying I had been battling  failed shifter bushings. This made it extremely hard for me to get my car into third gear. Third gear was the only gear I could ride the bank on though, so getting into this gear was absolutely crucial for a good run. 

The second thing that was running through my mind before my qualifying run, was the days reminders of how dangerous this track was. The tracks official name is Kil-Kare Raceway, but the drivers joke around and call it Kill-Car Raceway.

^ James Evans

^Caleb Nichols

Seeing another Red Rx7 crash was definitely not settling.

Once my mind was past possibly crashing I was then focused on my friends who arrived late and have never seen me drive before. I really wanted them to be able to watch me drive the rest of the night. 

The final pieces of pressure were being the very first person to qualify in my run group. This was the first time I had ever done this, and at the biggest event of the year. This wasn't just some event where the die hard fans came, this was Street Life Tour one of the biggest drift events in the Midwest. The event I've wanted to qualify ever since I came and watched in 2011. 

Now that I've built it up lets watch it one more time. 

I entered the hardest I ever have on any track, its difficult  to tell but I actually tapped the wall. Part of me was pretty sure that I would only be able to get into third gear one out of my two qualifying runs. Once I realized I successfully shifted I gave it my all. I remember driving back around after my runs and the event coordinator came up and said to me "I don't care what happened, you're my hero" and handed me my smashed rear taillight pieces. I went over and sat up on the wall and gave my spotter Karim Raahman a call. He said slightly puzzled "Man they gave you two zeroes" . I smiled and said "Yea I went off the course pretty bad, I was all up in the dirt over here" , he replied "Everyone over here thought you made it man." I sat back on that wall with the rest of the drivers not the least bit disappointed knowing I gave Kill-Car my all.

After looking back and analyzing these runs I realize there is a mental zone I am in while doing this. The part right before I dropped my two tires I fell out of my mental zone and lost concentration. 

This would cost me the run and my chances of qualifying. As I had feared going into my second run I was not able to get the car into third and did not make my entry in time. 

I'm not usually one to talk about myself but I am confident that my car has the ability to qualify into the top three positions. I believe that one day I too can mentally achieve this, but for my first year I am more than happy with how it ended.                                

                             

DRIFTINDY has given me two titles for this year.

-Driver of the year

-Most Improved

Picture Time

Smoke Show Finale

                          "The helmet hides feelings that cannot be understood" -Ayrton Senna

Thanks to my parents, and all my friends and family who have helped me this year. 

Nexgeneracers, NoNameGarage, DRIFTINDY, Earls Indy, All Points Tree Service, 

Stuart's Moving & Storage Inc

AIM Tuning

Mike Feiock, Edgar Sarmiento, 

Spotters- Karim Rahmaan, Mike Barbosa

Team Midnight

Crew- Tevis Bush, Alex Shain, Alex Nerney, Rico LaCosta

Awesome photographers - Mario Johnston, Nick Quigley (OMGDrift), 

Keegan Johnston (Culture D), Mike Morey(Down Shift Photography), TiarahVermillionPhotography, Josh Engel Photography (Everything Drift), 

And Many Others 

Mark Landers, Rodney Reid, Tony King, Thomas Lange, Will Dale, Shane Benson. Meko Family. 

See you guys next year ....2014's going to be awesome!

Midwest Drift Union Round 3 Streets of Detroit

The streets of Detroit were not only awesome for me but attracted nearly 1500 people and has allowed the Midwest Drift Union to receive national coverage. For the first time since the beginning of the Midwest Drift Union there were more media members then drivers for the event, being at an event like this really made me feel like I had made it big.

On the drive up to Detroit I had been studying the track layout and I was not looking forward to its technical aspects. I was afraid that I would not be able to drive the track very well. This was also the first event I had decided to run all new tires and I was not sure how my car would handle them. 

With the course being on regular streets the danger was the 6 inch concrete curbs. The curbs claimed several cars throughout the day, but with a few close calls I was lucky enough to not be claimed by them.

By the middle of the day I had started to enjoy driving the course and was really starting to put down some solid runs. 

During my second practice session I was able to get some great Tandem runs with several different people including my pro buddy Mike Feiock in his new Rx8. 

Another great guy - Jake Maturen who is currently 5th overall

My buddy Oliver Vaughn in his purple Lexus

After my second practice session it was in to qualifying, my camera ran out of space so I don't have an in-car video of the run. 

With some coaching of my line from my spotter Karim Rahmaan I ended up qualifying 11th, and I was super happy I made it into the top 16. 

It has always been a dream of mine to be introduced at an event after qualifying, usually this only happens at the last Pro Am event called Street Life Tour. Having the opportunity of being introduced was very cool.  In the chaos of the event spectators never really get to know whose driving what car.

I was told I would go against Team Breaking driver Michael Tung and I was super stoked, I knew our cars were similar in speed and it would be an awesome tandem battle. 

On my first run with him (which was a follow run) my mindset was to be as close to him as I could be. 

Because I was so set on being close to him I sacrificed some points from the line judge. 

The ideal line that the judges want to see was a very outside line almost hitting the construction cones. 

On my lead run I was trying to run away from him, still on the mindset of proximity and sacrificed my line once again.

After my run I pulled up to the staging grid waiting for the results, I really hoped they would give us a "one more time" but they ended up favoring him which knocked me out of the top 16.

Although I was knocked out I was still super excited. I had driven my best all day and enjoyed driving that course.

Next event in the series is Street Life Tour at Xenia OH Sept

Before all the pictures lets go back to my awesome practice run with Mike Feiock, definitely my favorite run of the day.

A picture with me and my buddy Oliver Vaughn in his purple Lexus from the video earlier in this blog

My buddy Oliver making jokes to ease the stress before our runs. 

See everyone at Street Life Tour!