Keeping Drifting Fun: Smile X Death Challenge Revives the Early 2000s Drift Spirit
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The American drifting scene is often characterized by high-stakes competition and increasingly complex builds, but a recent event at Lake Erie Speedway has successfully pressed the reset button. The Smile X Death (SxD) Challenge held its inaugural event this year, and in doing so, brought a much-needed shot of early 2000s spirit, think Drift Tengoku and Video Option, back to the sport.
Scott's inspiration is rooted in the "dumb videos" (his words) of mid-2000s Japanese drifting. The focus wasn't always on cutthroat racing; sometimes it was on quirky, entertaining challenges.
I asked Damien about the specific sources of his inspiration:
"Video Option was massive. Also Motorsports Challenge Series, that's what I used to basically gravitate towards with some of the Video Option stuff because they were putting these real quick little challenges together that you would be able to watch... I think the biggest inspiration was a wall ride contest that they did."
Scott recounts one particularly famous clip where a young Naoki came in and "e-braked and stayed against the wall the whole time," causing the judges to lose their minds. "I was like 'that is what drifting's about,'" he recalls. This emphasis on wild, crowd-pleasing spectacle over pure technicality is the core of SxD.
The SxD Challenge wasn't aimed at a massive crowd of spectators. In fact, Scott noted, the main focus was the DVD being filmed, and if spectators showed up, that was cool but the event was built for the drivers
"I think if you build your events around the drivers, they have a better time. You're gonna get better drivers and put on better shows."
This driver-centric philosophy manifested in several ways. The event had a capped limit of 23 teams to ensure ample pit space and comfort. It also required teams to put in extra work that went beyond car maintenance, namely, a minimum five-minute intro video.
"It kind of weeds them out of who is going to take the extra time to do this stuff. The people that understand what we're doing? That's what I wanted."
This extra effort resulted in incredible creativity, with teams like Deep Sleep creating a custom mikoshi (a portable shrine) for the awards ceremony.
The prevailing sentiment throughout the weekend was a return to the Keep Drifting Fun era. Scott believes modern competitions have taken over in a negative way and become very cutthroat. His mantra for SxD? "If you come expecting to win, you already lost."
The awards reflected this attitude. Winners didn't walk away with a big check, but with small, memorable trophies and, more uniquely, personal gifts donated by each team ranging from custom skateboard decks to a transmission converted into a grill.
"It means more. I think doing stuff like this is kind of like a reminder to just have fun. You know? Just go out there and do some stupid shit and hopefully it inspires them to do more stuff out of their comfort zones... I miss the goofy side of drifting."
The venue, Lake Erie Speedway, was the perfect blank canvas with its fully paved inner bowl. Scott designed the track himself, pulling inspiration from iconic Japanese tracks like Bihoku, Nikko, Meihan, and Ebisu. The layout was specifically engineered to accommodate the challenging events, such as the sanpatsu challenge.
“I had to pull from all of my inspired tracks, ones that have been in my head for the longest time. Street stuff is always odd shapes but for this, it was a combination of street stuff and then all of the challenges had to fit within this."
Despite being on an oval, the design successfully created a track that locked drivers into a specific line and style, making them forget they were on a speedway.
As the final challenges wrapped up, the feeling was overwhelmingly positive. Scott was candid about his expectations:
"I came in expecting the absolute worst. To have as many challenges as we did, and to rely on people to be inspired enough to come to this event and participate? I'm asking crazy stuff of them. I was pleasantly surprised when the first team showed up and started pulling out a silly pit space design."
The success was evident in the on-track action and the off-track camaraderie, with teams egging on their friends during non-driving challenges and capturing "very embarrassing stuff" for the forthcoming DVD.
The first year of the Smile X Death Challenge was a definitive success, proving that the American drifting community is ready to embrace its goofy, challenging, and culturally rich roots. The good vibes and high-level driving suggest that Damien Scott's vision will be inspiring drivers for years to come.
