Grant Enfinger returns home for inaugural ARCA/Mobile 200

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Mobile, Ala. – Grant Enfinger is living proof that you can always go back home.

Having started his career at Mobile International Speedway, site of this Saturday’s inaugural ARCA/Mobile 200, Enfinger still calls Mobile home. He’s spent the last two seasons competing in ARCA and NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series, but Mobile still holds a special place in Enfinger’s heart.

“I’m really excited about coming back to Mobile,” Enfinger said. “I may have been the most excited driver about hearing the rumors a few years ago. I’m glad I have a ride and the opportunity to make this happen. I can’t wait to show the ARCA world this wonderful facility and hopefully we can go out there and win this thing.”

Enfinger returns to Mobile as the driver of the Bragg Racing Group #82 Ford Fusion and may have the best shot at capturing Mobile’s first ARCA trophy. This is the same team that powered Enfinger to a 12^th place in finish in last month’s Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

“This is the best group of guys I’ve ever been with,” Enfinger said. “I feel like we have a really good shot at winning the ARCA/Mobile 200. Josh Bragg is a really good crew chief and I feel like I have enough experience at the Speedway to really make a difference.”

Most of that experience at Mobile International Speedway came in a super late model, a completely different car than those featured in the ARCA Racing Series. ARCA cars feature an extra 1,000 horsepower and 1,000 pounds compared to super late models.

Enfinger successfully made the transition from late models to the ARCA Series, winning the pole and finishing fourth at Berlin Speedway in July. Enfinger ran the full-season in 2011, ranking fourth in the final standings, finishing behind heavy-hitters Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher and Frank Kimmel.

It’s that level of experience that Enfinger hopes will propel him to victory on Saturday. The track is the same and the cars are familiar – but the same could be said for other Mobile Speedway veterans including Cale Gale, Chase Elliott and Bubba Pollard. While Enfinger would like to hoist the trophy, he feels that it’s important for the familiar faces to have a strong showing.

“I think Bubba has the best shot out of all the local guys,” Enfinger said. “But I think you have to consider Cale Gale too. He’s with a team in Eddie Sharp Racing that has support from Richard Childress Racing and has won championships at the highest level. Gale knows his way around Mobile and he’s bringing a strong team to the Speedway – it’s a perfect match for Saturday’s race.”

But don’t let the humility fool you – Grant Enfinger is in a great position to win the ARCA/Mobile 200 – and he knows it.

“I feel like we’re bringing a good piece to Mobile,” Enfinger said. “We have big expectations and I’m hoping we win. It would be a big deal for a local guy to show these ARCA boys what it’s all about here in Mobile.”

Practice will begin at 1:30 p.m. Central on Friday, March 9, and will last for three and a half hours. Qualifying will follow, starting at 7 p.m. The 200-lap, 100-mile Mobile ARCA 200 will start at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 10.

NASCAR Ranting and Raving content editor Matt Weaver will be live on-site at Mobile International Speedway and will post live updates to Twitter @MattWeaverSBN.

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Let me start off by saying: I’m really excited about this video. Not because I’m infatuated with myself or anything, but mainly because I got halfway through cutting this video and then had to leave the country as well as my editing behind. I managed to sneak back home long enough to sit down and finish this video, and it was wonderful to finally get it out of my brain!

Anyway, the video. This video is a compilation of all my favourite shots of the year. That being said, after I was finished cutting I felt like there were so many more that I could have put in, but I’m pretty sure that what I’ve cut together is the cream of the crop. Watching all this footage all over again made me really excited for the 2012 season, and I can’t wait to get it started. This year is going to be ridiculous, with some pretty huge tricks up the sleeves, so I hope you guys keep your eyes peeled for more action coming soon!

Thanks for watching, remember to hit the Like button on this page please!

::Dan Cyr

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FEATURE: 2011 in Pictures: Damien O’Connor

It’s hard to believe I’ve securely put my first year of blogging behind me with Drifted, I’ve tried to include as many images as possible from the year which perhaps I didn’t necessarily publish in my blogs and features, so I hope you enjoy.

This time last year the camera bag was dusted off when I visited an old friend to actually snap some shots of the awsome four wheel drive vehicle you see above, I think we’ll let this one slide as the eagle eyed viewers among you will surely have noted that Cruise Power S15 Silvia neatly parked to the right.

We captured two completely unique S15′s for you in 2011 owned by brothers, this was the first of the Kane family double, and we were lucky enough to find this redundant sawmill to capture this amazing example, even some time after it’s import to Ireland from Brian Moore of MadCap Imports .

Winter had gone, drift season was among us and my own newly acquired motor was fresh out of the paint shop, my RPS13 which has since moved on to a new home, how I do miss the constant pothole dodging, bumper scraping and general clunking of a two-way in the morning, yeah right ! Wow I’m seriously getting old.

Just before the drift season kicked off, we had a chance to catch up with Keith Weldon in this really slick 180sx. Keith applied all of the 79 billion layers* of fresh paint by himself, good work Keith! (*approximate)

Prodrift Series Rd 1 came around and Christy Carpenter set the standard early on home soil in Ennis Co.Clare in his newly Yokohama sponsored 1JZ powered S15 Nissan Silvia.

It was great to see some sun greeting us for the opening event of the year, we’ll take what we can get here on the Emerald Isle, it’s even all the better with some old faces to enjoy it with.

Fan favourite Georgie Tracey was back to show the Prodrift girls exactly how its done, less is more is what we always say

We also got our first glimpse of James Deane driving the Low Brain Drifters S13 Nissan Silvia.

We just about managed to find some time before Prodrift Rd 2 in Fermoy to catch some shots of Rick Weldon’s sleek RX7, Rick is the more obsessive brother of Keith Weldon who’s 180sx is pictured above.

We roll on to the site of Fermoy Co.Cork  for the second round of Prodrift’s 2011 championship only to be greeted by this super clean AE86 Trueno.

Michael Swan had ditched he glossy painted bodykit and flash rims and was back sporting an OEM looking S13 which he was obviously more comfortable in as we saw him show signs of the form which had recently catapulted the Co.Kildare based driver to the Pro Class division.

As odd as it may sound, as a photographer you can actually feel like your missing alot of the drifting at these events, your constantly beaming down the lens waiting for the car to come into your frame, well in my case then I immediately try ditch the out the blurry shots (of which are a lot) to avoid a massive build up at the end of the day. Usually when I peak my head back up the battle is finished, on this occasion I took up a position further outfield than my colleagues to view a couple of battles, but I couldn’t  help picking up the camera for a shot of Chris Brady battling Christy Carpenter behind a blur of other photographers on this occasion.

The rounds are now coming at us thick and fast, it took us until Round 3 of Prodrift to see a virtually unknown Aloe Farrell enter at some awesome angles, certainly an individual we’ll be keeping a close eye on in 2012.

Team WKD boss Wesley Keating was confident his car was reliable, with this confidence Wesley performed consistently to go on and win the Non Seeded Pro Championship in 2011, a huge result for the team who have now picked up the same accolade with separate drivers for two years running, can Team WKD make it three in a row for 2012 ?

If the Punchestown venue in Co.Kildare has thought us anything, it has thought us that clipping cones will be committed to 110% !!!

Having missed Prodrift’s Round 4 in Mondello Park in Mid-July, we had an opportunity to shoot the second of our unique S15′s owned by Mark and Paul Kane. This Kazama built special an ex-Import of WKD Imports.

When I heard a Adrian Walsh was building an AE86 Booted Levin for the track , I knew I was in for a treat, having previously done a photoshoot on a charged red Corolla for Adrian in previous times, the same one that flourished the banner of this site for several months. Adrian certainly did not disappoint, in fact this shoot gave me one of my favourite shots of 2011.

It was our final round of the Irish Prodrift Series, September 11th, Mondello Park held premise to one of the most memorable drifting competition or days ever held in Ireland with International stars all turning out to compete against the best of home grown talent.

Duane McKeever was keen to show Formula D driver Dai Yoshihara the Ireland’s youngster have the talent to compete anywhere in the world.

Freddy Aasbo thrilled the crowd all day with some mega angle and surreal smoke trails.

We managed to see Mike Fitz gain what can only be valuable seat time in his newly built FC3S, we hope to see alot more of Mike in 2012 !

Alan Sinnott unveiled his new look Hachiroku just in time to bring home the coveted Pro Championship trophy.

Shane O’Sullivan completed his first season under Team Japspeed, we will be hoping to see a presence for  Team Japspeed on Irish soil for 2012 for sure.

Phil Morrison of Driftworks doing what he does best, why making smoke of course

With 2011 in the bag, a new season of exciting competition and cars await us for 2o12. Thank you all for your support and following through 2011, we hope to bring you even bigger and better for the year ahead.

::Damien

World Drift Series China

This massive stadium is the home to the final round of the World Drift Series in Hangzhou, China. Usually home to sports like soccer and track & field events – it has been covered in a thin layer of asphalt and prepped for some of the best drivers in the world. Its cool to see the grassroots scene in Shanghai and China.

I’ve given out a few KDF stickers to some of the Chinese drivers. Some of which were sporting some knock off Illest and Fatlace stickers.

– Will