BELOIT – Growing up around cars.

For Dirk Stratton, who just won the Midwest Drift Union (MDU) Formula Drift Championship for 2015, he’s been into “car stuff” all his life and drifting for three years.

“Cars have been my life pretty much,” Stratton, 23, said.

He’s an Internet sales specialist at Stratton Chevrolet, a Beloit landmark since 1928.

His mother and father, Theresa and Don Stratton, raised the 2011 West Branch graduate in an environment leaning hard into auto racing.

Don Stratton, retired from competitive racing, used to race Competition Eliminator in NHRA and won the World Championship in 2001.

“That’s where I got my addiction,” Dirk Stratton said adding motor racing and anything to do with cars drew his attention.

“Ever since I can remember,” he said, “I’ve always been into cars … he (his dad) was always competitive.”

That rubbed off but Stratton explained he “got bored with going straight” and the blinding, gear-banging rush of drag racing.

A couple of years ago, Stratton attended a drifting event, an evolving form of motorsports from Japan that is attracting a growing fan base in America.

Dominated by imports, competitive drifting has been stateside for about 10 years.

“It’s growing and changing,” he said.

“I went for a ride and I was hooked. The best way to describe it is it’s like being on a roller coaster … the speeds are between 40 and 80 mph.”

The non-timed events have three judges who look for style, angle, speed and smoke, he said.

Single-car qualifications are followed by two-car runs.

“Clipping points” are awarded for close intervals between the front to rear of two cars and closeness to safety cones and the walls.

“The judges tell us what they look for,” he said and later what they think through scoring.

The events are scattered across the country, Stratton said, noting he runs in ProAm in the MDU and is looking to jump up to the Pro2 and then the Pro1 class.

“I have a Pro2 license,” he said adding he’s looking for sponsorship and eventually a move to Pro1. Events he’s attended have been in Detroit, St. Louis, Mo., Bowling Green, Ky., Xenia, Midvale, Ohio and Lake County Speedway.

It didn’t escape his father’s notice that “for every 50 cars in an event there might be two American made … all the rest were imports,” he said.

Of a 40 to 50 car entry, only 16 qualify, ladder-style like in drag racing with the top car squaring off against the last car, the second against the next to last and so on.

When they first talked about drifting, you can imagine drag-racer-at-heart Don Stratton gave his son one of those hard looks, but Dirk convinced him he was serious.

The older Stratton’s reluctance evaporated and he eventually admitted there was something to it after riding with his son at a Midvale Speedway in Ohio.

Having a passenger on board is unique aspect of drifting.

Stratton explained that when his son “initiated” the drift he turned to the right and then “flicked” the wheel over to the left initiating the drift.

He said you’re aimed at the wall for an instant and suddenly the rear end swings out into a controlled drift.

He omitted the part about the roaring engine, screaming tires and a high-def, close-proximity blur that takes hold.

“That will get your attention at 70 mph,” Stratton said and both understood they couldn’t square it with Dirk driving an import. Not with the Stratton name on the building.

Dirk Stratton located a 2009 LS-3 Corvette on eBay with salvage title and J.R. Fabrication of Beloit modified the steering gear to turn 60-degrees (stock is 35 degrees) either way, added an extra caliper to the rear brakes and installed a roll bar.

The tires are high-performance summer streets, he said, that are on approved sanctioning body lists.

While winning the (MDU) Formula Drift Championship, Stratton never won an event but used smooth consistent performances to beat everyone.

After qualifying, tandem heats begin with the top car going first, matched against the last car.

Stratton said, if you’re the trailing car, “you get as close as you can without hitting and get as many clipping points as you can. The car has to be sideways the entire way. Straight is bad … getting as close to the car (ahead) and wall is what I try to do.”

There are gentleman’s rules, Stratton said, meaning “don’t screw up the trailing driver on purpose … points can be deducted. I try to be as smooth and fluid as possible. Clean … and not spin out or straighten out. A lot of people aren’t educated but like to see it. New people enjoy it.”

He explained there are three ways to “initiate a drift.”

The first is called a “flick” as described above, the second is “e-braking” where the extra rear-brake caliper is used to lock up the rears briefly, and the third is a “clutch-kick” (all the cars are manual transmissions) that gets the rear tires smoking, which the judges like.

Which method to use depends on the track Stratton said, noting “we can use any size road course, parking lot or oval, where one bank is used.

Nearby tracks include Midvale Speedway, New Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh International Raceway run by Club Loose II, and Lake County Speedway in Painesville run by Drift Cleveland.

“Those are all for practice and not competition,” he said.

Asked about a track likenearby Nelson Ledges Sports Car Course, Stratton said, “It would be a fast track.”

He said the idea was suggested to the track, but no action was taken.

“We would only use a section,” he said along with a lot of turns. We’re definitely open to going to any place we can.”

Stratton also placed fourth at Streetlife Tour MDU round No. 3 in 2015.

Stratton plans on running a full Pro-Am season again in 2016 and is looking to line up sponsors.

For more information, visit: www.facebook.com/dirk.stratton; holley.com; http; getsmashed.co/better-know-a-driver-dirk-stratton.

lshields@salemnews.net