A shocking announcement was announced days before the Thanksgiving D1GP event. Moto Miwa (formerly of Drift Day) and Mike Mucklin have left D1GP. Hopefully the coordinators at D1 can get everything together for the long weekend at Irwindale. Here is the mass e-mail Mike sent out informing people of his resignation.

Dear Industry Friends, Supporters and Colleagues,

It is with great disappointment and a heavy heart that both myself and Mr.
Moto Miwa must announce our resignation from our association with the D1
Grand Prix USA corporation. On a request originally from the executive
branch in Japan, we devoted the last 6 months working non-stop to put D1
back in the cross-hairs of the domestic U.S. tuner industry and marketplace,
as well as outside of that to the non auto-endemic consumer market. We had
little time to make this happen and while we made great strides, it was not
enough in the end.

As you may know, myself and Moto, two industry veterans and staunch
supporters of the sport of drifting, were recruited by D1GP as a  consulting
team to bring the U.S. arm of the D1GP business out of a state of
irrelevance and back on track to properly adapt it to the U.S. market so it
could thrive as the top series in the sport, as well as on a global level.

Unfortunately we have reached an impasse with the executive branch in Japan
on the overall global and domestic business plan and on the process to put
D1 back where it belongs. Therefore we find ourselves unable to devote any
more time or resources to this attempt to turn the business around from its
previous state.

On a personal level, please understand this is genuinely devastating for
both Moto and myself because we know that at the end of the day, the
content, driving skill and overall entertainment level that is prevalent in
the D1 series is beyond anything in the world and we find this to be a
horribly underutilized resource. Even though there are other successful
drifting properties in this market, D1 should, under ideal circumstances, be
the ambassador of the sport to the world. All the drivers and teams in
Japan, the founding nation and culture of this amazing and dynamic sport,
that have made D1 what it is and have set the standard for the sport, are to
be commended for their unrelenting commitment to continuously raising the
bar.

That being said, the Japan based parent company of D1 Grand Prix seems to
want to continue on the same path that they’ve been on for years past, one
that has neither worked well in the past, nor is likely to work now in our
view. As such, Moto and myself see no reason to carry on with promoting the
agenda we created and developed in the best interest of the sport on a
whole, as well as the business of D1GP USA.

Neither of us can even begin to express our disappointment in this situation
and we are both very thankful to those who gave us their time, believed in
our plan, and supported our efforts.

For media or exhibitor inquiries regarding the November event, please
contact Ai Takamura at takamura@d1gp.com

For all other inquiries, please contact Chiaki Goto at goto@d1gp.com

Moto and I want to sincerely apologize to everyone for any misunderstandings
we may have created in this process. Rest assured that our intentions were
sincere and we really thought we could make a difference and we threw every
resource and contact we had at making things work.

If there are concerns or issues with the current state of D1 Grand Prix USA,
please consult with the current management as we are now unable to resolve
any matters regarding this project. Also, our d1gp.com E-mail addresses will
be deactivated shortly so if you wish to contact either of us, please use
the addresses below.

Warmest regards,

Michael Mucklin
mike@supergtusa.com

Moto Miwa
moto@club4ag.com