EverythingDrift: When did you first get into drifting and how did you find out about it? And who or what inspires your drifting style?
Mickie Frial: I first got into drifting around 1998-2000. My cousin Tom always had Option Mags and Hyper Rev laying around and at the time my dad owned the 240SX that I now drive. My cousin would always ask my dad to sell him the 240 once he got the money. Cool Fact of the day – my dad bought my car new off the lot in 1990 and I’ve kind of been in love with it ever since. I remember seeing pictures in Option of 180sx’s and I was like “You can do that with my dad’s car? Cool!” I inherited the car in 2000 and promptly proceeded to crash it up a curb during a massive understeer. I told my dad someone cut me off and I swerved to avoid a big accident. I dont think he believed me but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
There aren’t a lot of people that inspire my drifting style, but if I had to pick I’d say Taniguchi and Koguchi from 2001-2004 era. Their cars were basically badass street cars. Nowadays most pro drift cars look like freeway billboards.
I think I’m more inspired by music more than anything. I’m going to see Megadeth and MachineHead in July and I’m super psyched on that.