There have been few times in my life that I have felt real-blood pumping, heart-racing adrenaline — when I was 10 years old and went into my first haunted house and when I was 13 years old zip lining in the mountains in Mexico. Those were amazing but I have never been more exhilarated than when I was speeding 100 miles per hour down a racetrack in rural Iowa.  Scrapeyard is a collective that focuses on cars and everything that surrounds them. They host drift events across the nation. I got the opportunity to attend their end of the season event near Pacific Junction to get a closer look into the culture of drift.

2 p.m in the afternoon of October 7th, I pulled up to Mid America Motorplex with my camera in my hand and a pit in my stomach. It was my first drift event, and I had no idea what to expect, but I tried to go in with an open mind. I didn’t know if it was going to be a bunch of dudes mansplaining to me what an engine is, or crazy adrenaline seekers with no regards for life. When I got there I was pleasantly surprised with very welcoming people willing to talk to me and educate me about cars and drifting (even if they did happen to be crazy adrenaline seekers).

The founder and owner of Scapreyard, Jake Stiehl, gave me the lowdown on how things work,

“When we host these events we have our own drivers but we also invite other collectives across the country so it’s always a mixed bag of people making the events a blast.”

Cars were lined up three by three on the track waiting for the countdown to race off leaving only tire marks and smoke behind them. Stiehl has always had a love for cars but took his love to the next level when he started Scapeyard. Starting out as a blog on Tumblr where Stiehl kept up on the latest style of drifting, he found himself falling deeper in love with the culter. Once Stiehl got a car of his own he decided to take a look into the car scene around Omaha, and didn’t liked what he found.

“We just didn’t like exclusive attitude and the lack of diversity so we decided to go from a name we blogged under and host a car meet of our own and the rest is history” said Stiehl.  

slowly gaining momentum, Scapeyard began hosting small events with people in the Omaha area that shared the same passion for these low to the ground Japanese style cars. Today, Scapeyard continues its growth as a company, they’ve begun reaching out to other car collectives around the country and selling their own merchandise on their website.    

I stood on the track knowing I was going to be able to ride in the car but feeling uneasy. I had seen the cars do a few laps, but watching a car spin out into the grass doesn’t do much to ease your nerves. Even if these people know what they’re doing accidents still happen.

Finally, the time has come for me to ride in the car, I was handed a helmet and told to buckle up. My driver, Jacob Thompson who goes by his nickname T-man, tried to give me quick idea on what it was going to be like.  

“Nothing compares to the excitement you get seeing a plume of smoke behind you.” said Thompson.

We were doing tandem races that involved two other cars racing with us one in front

and one in the back. I sat in the passenger seat and watched a man give us the go ahead. The second he hit three I had no time to prepare myself, we were off. My mind was blown, we swung around the corner almost turning full circle and all of a sudden I see brake lights flash in front of me. The car due to some struggle had to stop immediately forcing us to slam on the brakes, the car was suddenly stuck in the mud off the track. We had spun out and had to get towed out of the grass before we could continue the run. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t scared since I had almost gotten into a car crash. I guess that’s just the teen brain for you.

After the run I had a chance to sit down and talk with T-man. He began drifting three years ago, he was inspired by a drift team out of Chicago called Risky Devil and their style of street drifting. His favorite part about drifting is the people.

“It’s a happy atmosphere there are around 200 people here today and everyone’s having a good time, it’s just a blast.”

After an afternoon of driving, eating cheesy fries, and buying slick bumper stickers for my 2002 VW Bug, it was time to step off the race track and drive the 30 minutes back to Omaha driving like a maniac.  

story and photos by kendall brekke