How did drifting start?

Modern drifting started out as a racing technique popular in the All Japan Touring Car Championship races over 30 years ago. Motorcycling legend turned driver, Kunimitsu Takahashi, was the foremost creator of drifting techniques in the 1970s. He was famous for hitting the apex (the point where the car is closest to the inside of a turn) at high speed and then drifting through the corner, preserving a high exit speed. This earned him several championships and a legion of fans who enjoyed the spectacle of burning tires. The bias ply racing tires of the 1960s-1980s lent themselves to driving styles with a high slip angle. As professional racers in Japan drove this way, so did the street racers.

Drifting has evolved into a competitive sport where drivers compete in rear wheel drive cars to earn points from judges based on various factors. At the top levels of competition, especially the D1 Grand Prix from Japan and others in Malaysia, Australia, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Formula-D in the United States, Drift Mania in Canada, and New Zealand, these drivers are able to keep their cars sliding for extended periods of time, often through several turns. Drifting is not recognized as a professional form of motorsport by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile), the motorsports governing body. * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drifting_(motorsport) it actually started with people racing small cars and trucks on ice. people then started doing it in the summer with wet pavement and e-brakes. then it turned into a sport!