In the old days, racing was simple: if you were faster than anyone else down or around a track, someone paid you to drive their car. Today, racing is as much about attracting and keeping sponsors as it is about lap times, since teams live and die by sponsor budgets. Money is tight in series with huge fan bases and ample media coverage (like NASCAR), and it’s even tighter in series’ with smaller fan bases.
Take Formula Drift, for example. Drifting may be huge in Japan, but it attracts a much narrower audience in the United States, and media coverage is sparse. When you’re a drift star like Sweden’s Samuel Hübinette, chances are good you race in other series (like the Traxxis TORC) and X Games competition as well. In the case of Hübinette, he’s also a Hollywood stunt driver in his spare time.
Don’t expect to see Hübinette in Formula Drift competition this year, as Formula Drift (via Autoblog) explains that his sponsors and “changed their marketing direction;” in other words, they’ve lost their budgets for sponsoring motorsports. Faced with a severe lack of funding, Hübinette will participate in Formula Drift International demos and may still run a few Pro Championship drift events if he can raise the cash. Otherwise, the Swede is working on “other racing opportunities” (like RallyCross) for the 2012 season.
We wish him the best of luck. In the mean time, here’s a video of Hübinette shaking down his Dodge Challenger drift car.
Kurt Ernst has been passionate about automobiles and driving nearly his entire life. His early years were shaped working in the family service station, though his real passion was auto racing. After graduating from the University of Colorado, Kurt spent a year club racing with the Sports Car Club of America, before focusing on a business career in marketing and project management. Later, his passion for writing and the automotive hobby found him freelancing for a variety of automotive news sites, including Automotive Addicts and Motor Authority, where his work was syndicated and appeared in several national publications. Recognized as an expert in the automotive field, Kurt joined Hemmings Motor News as an Associate Editor in 2013, and in the years since has progressed to Editor, Hemmings Daily; Managing Editor for Hemmings Motor News, Hemmings Classic Car, Hemmings Muscle Machines, and the Hemmings Daily; and now, Managing Editor, Hemmings Auctions. Kurt was instrumental in organizing the Hemmings Motor News Concours d’Elegance from 2013-2019, and has served as a judge at this event and The Vintage Racing Stable Concours d’Elegance. A Skip Barber Racing School graduate and prolific writer, Ernst is also skilled in copyediting, project management, brand development, and public relations.
