Tony Angelo

Last updated
Tony Angelo
Tony Angelo at the autograph table during a Formula Drift event at Evergreen Speedway Tony Angelo.jpg
Tony Angelo at the autograph table during a Formula Drift event at Evergreen Speedway
Born:December 24, 1978 (age 44)
Hometown: Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Series: Formula D

Tony Angelo (born December 24, 1978) is an American professional drift racer and stunt driver. Tony formerly drove in the Formula Drift series in his 2013 Scion FR-S for Scion Racing and is also the former host for Motor Trend Channel's Hot Rod Garage.

Contents

Career

Tony began building and modifying his own cars as a teenager in his hometown of Doylestown, PA. In the late 90s, Tony was inspired to start drifting by Japanese videos and magazines. He and friend and future pro-driver Chris Forsberg soon helped to start East Coast grassroots drifting events which quickly took off.

In 2003, Tony personally gained national exposure in an article in Wired Magazine at the same time that drifting was gaining massive popularity. [1] At this time doors began to open for Tony to race in the pro series.

Tony began racing professionally in 2004 in Formula Drift’s first year. He was quickly seen as a force on the track. In 2005, Tony earned his D1 license by placing first in a national driver’s search.

After years in FD as a serious competitor, Tony took a break from driving professionally in the U.S. in 2009 and became a judge for Formula Drift. Tony is credited with having majorly changed FD judging and scoring format for the better during this time. [2]

Tony returned to the driver’s seat in 2012 for Scion Racing in his 2009 Scion tC. [3]

In 2013, Tony purchased a salvage Scion FR-S that had been damaged during Hurricane Sandy. [4] In just ten weeks, Tony and his TAngelo Racing team transformed the car into his 750 hp racecar. [4]

Tony Angelo also does stunt work, having driven in ads for Audi, Nissan and Chevrolet.

Tony is the founder and president of Drift Alliance, based out of Englishtown, New Jersey. [5] He is also a member of the Blood Masters team. Tony often drifts his Lexus SC 300 missile car at grassroots events alongside amateur drivers at the Englishtown track where his career started. [6]

Tony was a host on the Motor Trend show Hot Rod Garage, which he left after 6 seasons. [7]

Achievements

Sponsors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scion tC</span> Japanese compact coupe

The Scion tC is a compact car manufactured by Toyota under its Scion brand from 2004 to 2016 over two generations: ANT10 (2004–2010) and AGT20 (2010–2016). Both generations were built in Japan. The tC was introduced first in the United States for the 2005 model year and then, beginning with the second generation in the 2010 model year, in Canada as well. The tC was Scion's best-selling model, constituting almost 40% of total Scion sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drifting (motorsport)</span> Driving technique

Drifting is a driving technique where the driver intentionally oversteers, with loss of traction, while maintaining control and driving the car through the entirety of a corner. The technique causes the rear slip angle to exceed the front slip angle to such an extent that often the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn. Drifting is traditionally done by clutch kicking, then intentionally oversteering and countersteering. This sense of drift is not to be confused with the four wheel drift, a classic cornering technique established in Grand Prix and sports car racing.

Formula Drift is a United States-based motorsport drifting series. Formula Drift, Inc. was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that introduced D1 Grand Prix to the United States. The new entity would solely own, operate and launch the first official drifting series in North America. Formula D is not affiliated with the FIA series of formula racing championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Forsberg</span> American drifting driver

Christopher Forsberg, is an American Formula D driver from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He currently competes in the Formula Drift series in his Nissan Z (Z34) for NOS Energy Drink, and is the owner, driver and shop manager of Forsberg Racing.

Kenshiro "Ken" Gushi is one of Japan's top competitors in the sport of drifting. Born in Okinawa, Japan but raised in San Gabriel, California, he was taught by his father Tsukasa Gushi at the age of 13 with a Toyota AE86. Ken has become the youngest competitor in both the D1 Grand Prix of Japan and the Formula Drift Championships of the U.S. when he was 16, despite not passing his driving test at the time.

The D1 Grand Prix, abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled Professional Drift, is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Daijiro Inada, founder of Option magazine and Tokyo Auto Salon, and drifting legend, Keiichi Tsuchiya hosted a professional level drifting contest in 1999 and 2000 to feed on the ever increasing skills of drifting drivers who were dominating drifting contests in various parts of Japan. In October 2000, they reformed the contest as a five-round series. In the following year for the following round, the introduction of the two car tsuiou battle, run in a single-elimination tournament format, a common tradition for tōge races which became popular with car enthusiasts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nobuteru Taniguchi</span>

Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and drifting driver who currently competes in the Super GT racing series. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" or "The Pimp" as a reference to his S15 Silvia which he is best known for.

Tengku Djan Ley bin Tengku Mahaleel is the head of Proton Motorsports and is also a Malaysian professional drift driver who has taken part in the D1 Grand Prix racing series and others. He has won the 12-hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance race twice, in 2005 and 2006. Tengku Djan Ley is one of the Kelantan royal lineage on his paternal side. His aunt is the reigning Sultanah of Kedah, Sultanah Maliha who is the biological sister of his father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manabu Orido</span> Japanese racing driver

Manabu "MAX" Orido is a Japanese professional racing driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaughn Gittin</span> American professional drifter

Vaughn Gittin Jr., commonly known as JR, is a self-taught, professional drifter from Maryland who competes in Formula Drift. He drives a Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D sponsored by Monster Energy, Nitto Tire, and Ford Performance. Gittin won the Formula Drift Championship in 2010 and 2020, and competes alongside teammate Chelsea DeNofa. Gittin also competes in the Ultra4 Racing series in his 4400 Class Ford Bronco and is the creator of RTR Vehicles, which is his vision for the Mustang, F-150, Ranger and other one of a kind Fords.

Daigo Saito is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series and Formula Drift Japan for TMAR. He formerly competed in Formula DRIFT USA and World Championship series for Achilles Radial. He was the first driver to win the two drifting majors, D1GP in 2008 and Formula D in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toyota Supra in motorsport</span>

During its history the Toyota Supra has enjoyed considerable success in a variety of different motorsports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanner Foust</span> American racecar driver, stunt driver and television host

Tanner Foust is an American professional racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack, hill climb and rallycross with multiple podium placements, national championships, and world records. He was a co-host of the American version of the motoring television series Top Gear.

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.

Daijiro Yoshihara, more commonly known as Dai Yoshihara, is a Japanese professional driver with experience in Drifting, Road Racing, Time Attack, and Hill Climb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toyota 86</span> Japanese sports car

The Toyota 86 and the Subaru BRZ are 2+2 sports cars jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru, manufactured at Subaru's Gunma assembly plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Pawlak</span> American race car driver

Justin Thomas Pawlak, also known as JTP, is an American professional drifter who currently competes in the Formula D series. He earned his Formula D Professional license in 2006 and later earned his D1 license. In 2010, he was picked up Team Falken Tire and has been with them ever since. For the 2012 FD Season, he drives the 2013 Falken Tire Ford Mustang RTR. Justin continues his support of local, grassroots drifting by judging the Just Drift Top Drift series alongside fellow Formula D drivers Taka Aono and Hiro Sumida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Tuerck</span> American racing driver

Ryan Tuerck is an American professional drifter from Derry, New Hampshire who currently competes in the U.S. Formula Drift series.

Robbie Nishida is a professional drifter who currently competes in several different professional series' around the world, including Formula D USA series and Formula D World series. He has been competing in the Formula D USA series since 2005. He has been competing ever since both in Japan and the USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fredric Aasbø</span> Norwegian racing driver

Fredric Aasbø is a professional drifter and stunt driver originally from Ski, Norway. He currently competes in the Formula Drift Championship.

References

  1. "Go, Skid Racer, Go!". Wired via www.wired.com.
  2. "Formula DRIFT Announces Tony Angelo as Technical Manager". Mar 4, 2010.
  3. "Tony Angelo Signs With Scion Racing For 2012". Jan 26, 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Toyota Scion". www.toyota.com. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  5. driftinghub (2018-01-11). "Drift Alliance". Drifting Hub. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  6. "BLOODMASTERS BLOODBATH part 1". Archived from the original on 2021-12-19 via www.youtube.com.
  7. "Tony Angelo Bids Farewell to Hot Rod Garage". 3 March 2022.
  8. "Wrecked Magazine (Facebook Page)". Facebook. Retrieved 2021-06-06.