The Red Bull Drifting World Championship is a non-championship all-star drifting contest sponsored by Red Bull energy drink and hosted by IMG and Slipstream Global Marketing, the organizers behind Formula D. The event took place at the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California on November 15–16, 2008.
[2] The inaugural event was won by Rhys Millen, incidentally sponsored by Red Bull, taking home $25,000.
[2] Altogether, the venue in all, accounting for three grandstands, borrowed from those of the Long Beach Grand Prix and the 2,000 seating for VIP and sponsor are designed to accommodate up to 25,000 spectators.
[3] Former D1GP judge, competitor and Super GT driver, Orido was forced to decline his invitation as he was competing in the WTCC Guia Race at Macau on the same weekend,[3] as was fellow judge and returning competitor Taniguchi, was taking part in a Super Taikyu race in Japan.
[5] Millen backed this claim of the organisation's bullying tactic during an interview[6] Only one FD driver, Tuerck, declined for budgetary reason as he is lacking a title sponsor, funding could not stretch for the event, therefore Mohan took his place.