Drifting on oval tracks is nothing new for the sport of drifting, but Hotpit Autofest used a rather novel layout that a track like Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway offered: a keyhole style hairpin on the highly banked front straight. It was also a chance to introduce drifting to a new set of eyes thanks to the inclusion of CARS West Tour Late Models running alongside the drift event. Carbage brings you all that and more in this review of Round 2–Revved Up.
Before We Go Further
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Wait, Kevin Harvick Owns a Racetrack?
No, Kevin Harvick doesn’t own a part of what was once known as Kern County Raceway Park. Around 2023, Tim and Lisa Huddleston–the last owners of Irwindale Speedway–took ownership of track and renamed it in honor of Bakersfield’s NASCAR driver. He does make appearances at the track and is scheduled to drive with his son, Keelan, will be driving in a race together as part of the Spears CARS Tour West Pro Late Model division on May 31st.
The track itself is quite impressive and unique in the world of short tracks. While a half-mile oval isn’t the most impressive part, Kern Raceway is a bit like a reverse North Wilkesboro Speedway in that there is an uphill climb of sorts heading into Turn 1 and around 10 feet higher in elevation versus the pit straight/eighth-mile inner oval. Going into Turn 3, you descend from that same elevation and increase speed, but both big oval turns feature progressive banking starting at 12 degrees inside and 14 degrees on the outside and connecting them are straights with eight degrees of banking to go along with the elevation changes.
A Hotlanta Feelin’
It's that relatively high banked front straightaway that helped Hotpit create a keyhole hairpin that feels a bit like the keyhole at Road Atlanta as the feature turn and an outer zone that brings you right against the oval’s wall. The drivers don’t start drifting on the oval turns like you would see at Irwindale but instead do a rolling start and start ripping angles coming into the front straight. From there, Hotpit created an inner course using the inner oval but not venturing to the outer K-rails on the outermost portion of the layout. It created a long and challenging transition that required speed to keep your momentum going to swing around the keyhole. From there, they drive back into the inner oval in a slightly shorter transition before driving back onto the front straight that leads back into Turn 4 to finish out the run.
Hotpit Ain’t No Shootout
The track was one that required either lots of power or a driver that could conserve their momentum to keep their car going, especially along the very long transitions. The Formula Drift professionals in attendance had no problems dealing with this track, but the ProAm drivers looking to gain their Formula Drift licenses for Pro2 showed that the game has drastically changed. These grassroots level drivers are no longer just your local guy holding their car together with zipties, hopes, and prayers. They have some legitimate talent and weren’t shy about going toe-to-toe against these seasoned and professional drivers like Trenton Beechum, Rome Charpentier, Kyle Mohan, Corey Hosford, Adam Knapik, and Luke Pakula. All drivers who were in competition at Hotpit Round 2.
Hotpit Autofest itself is also of a far different caliber of drifting event than what I covered and even announced in previous years. If there was a ProAm event on par with the presentation of Formula Drift, this is it. It has a full livestream that covers the action during the eight-round season that goes live on YouTube. It comes down to the experience of the leader of Hotpit, Jeff Jones. While he is best known for being a Formula Drift Pro driver, Jones also has experience in the entertainment industry and has the knowhow to put on a live event of this caliber and you see it on the ground and online. It even attracts drivers far from California with East Coast drifters driving over 2,000 miles to compete in this series. It’s a legit series and will only continue to grow if Jones and his Hotpit crew can continue to produce this high-level of quality each and every event going forward.
That’s not to discount those drivers, either. Even without the FD Pro and seasoned drivers showing up, the Hotpit regulars are no slouches. Again, they put on legitimate battles against some of the toughest drivers that aren’t signed to an OE manufacturer. For Round 2, two drivers exemplified this: Jerry Johnson and Dustyn Farrell. Farrell qualified in the number one position in his 2F Performance Nissan 240SX S14 and was able to make it to the Top 8. He would be knocked out by Rome Charpentier in the Garagistic BMW 3-Series E36 Coupe, who simply had a much better and closer run in the chase position, but Farrell wasn’t holding back and could have easily taken Rome to a One More Time if he could have kept better proximity.
A Wild Moment Before the Finals
Yard sale as Trenton Beechum and Jerry Johnson make contact with each other, taking off the door skin of Johnson's GT86
Jerry Johnson quickly became a crowd favorite in his Toyota GT86, but it may have been a bit of a NASCAR influence. His Toyota no longer features the boxer four-cylinder it came with and is packing a Dodge NASCAR-based R5P7 V8 mostly under the hood. The tall air cleaner sticks up from the bonnet quite a bit but makes some amazing noises at full bore. What also drew the crowd in on Jerry was his amazing run against Trenton Beechum in his ESR Performance Wheels BMW E46 Coupe in the Final Four. Johnson was able to keep proximity to Beechum during his follow run, so Beechum needed an equally amazing chase run following this. Johnson was able to put some distance on Beechum’s BMW on the transition leading into the keyhole but lost most of that into the fourth outer zone. Johnson went slightly wide and Beechum was able to close but went a little too hard and contacted Johnson’s door with his right front tire and front bumper. Beechum not only lost the fender, but also the bumper while Johnson lost the door skin but was fully protected by his rollcage.
Beechum would end up competing against the Valvoline Nissan 370Z of TJ Hunt and won after Hunt over rotated just before going into the keyhole. This would allow Beechum to take third place but to determine if this would be a Formula Drift sandwich podium or not, Johnson would face off against Rome Charpentier in the finals–taped-on door skin and all. While the hopes of the crowd were fully behind Johnson with “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry” chants and an amazing looking chase run, all was dashed as Johnson overcooked the outer zone prior to the keyhole and went four tires off course. This would give Round Two to Rome while Johnson would take second. He did take it as a victory, and it was well deserved. Johnson–the everyman of the event–went toe-to-toe against some heavyweight drivers and still managed to make it to the podium and even earned the Hard Charger award for his efforts.
The next round of the Hotpit Autofest series will drift back to Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, California, on July 12th. Tickets will go on sale a few weeks before the event, so stay tuned.
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