Remember when we were all younger and still had birthday parties? I don’t mean six or eight of your friends just getting hammered together and doodling on the first to pass out. I 
mean the classic birthday party. Your parents would send invitations to all your friends’ parents and come the nearest weekend, everyone would be in your back yard for the one day of the year when you were king or queen cool. Piñatas and cake, presents and cake, cake on cake. It’s the sort of indulgence that growing up doesn’t normally allow you – but only if you really care.
What if your birthday was everything anyone could want in a birthday? The best of both worlds, young and old? What if you dared to dream the ultimate birthday dream? What if you were turning 21 and your birthday was the ultimate collection of anything a “big kid” with cool friends, fun family, and a passion for cars could imagine. If you did, you’d be Brandon “McNasty” McDowell.
On July 8th, 2011, Brandon graced us all with another year alive, finally turning 21 years old. A 21st birthday is a milestone – for many reasons. You’re only four years away from earning the trust of rental car firms, four years away from cheaper car insurance, … oh, and only a few people care about this, but you can finally buy yourself alcohol.
How best to commemorate an event like this than to collaborate with Rob Flemming of NOS Energy Drinks and Steven “SteveO” 
Purcell and Donald Vivier of the Central Florida Racing Complex to create the ultimate drifting birthday event of 2011: McNasty Bash. The Florida drifting community was in high attendance and full attack in celebration of one of their very own homegrown prodigies – from Jacksonville to Orlando to Boca Raton.
There was drifting, fireworks, drifting, drink, drifting, and gumbo. That’s right, I said gumbo. Complimentary gumbo. … Are you listening Hot Import Nights? Where’s your deliciously Cajun inspired signature dish, Formula D? In all seriousness however, the event was a five-hour, tire thrashing, engine redlining homage to a good friend of the Orlando drifting community and a chance to get out on CFRC’s NOS drift-pad and get lateral with your car until midnight, safely away from traffic and the firm, cold grip of Johnny Law.
If you can only say one thing about drifting, it’s that so many people have found an overwhelming variety of ways to do the same thing: go 
sideways fun and fast. Even the venerable 240SX platform lends itself to numerous configurations and possibilities. RB-powered S13s, an S10 pick-up truck, and even a Corvette-powered front engine, rear drive converted sand rail stepped up to the NOS drift-pad in a sideways salute to both the coming-of-age drifter and the rubber burning pastime he lives for.
Not even the customarily inclement weather of a Florida summer could dissuade the drifting faithful from attending and giving Brandon a birthday he would never forget (try as they may – it was his 21st after all). Last night, he had it all: family, friends, cars, girls, and cupcakes baked in his own image. Not even the misfortune of a hefty wall clip and a popped motor could curb Mr. Birthday’s enthusiasm after an irresistible urge to partake in the evening’s activities took him over. 
There were a handful of people who entered the drift pad too enthusiastically and ended in the loving embrace of the endearingly named “Wall of Death,” but by their shining example, others happily avoided further mishaps and only two mechanical breakdowns plagued cars. The sitting puddles of water and overall dampness of the track made for an interesting first half of runs (and splashes in pictures make everything cool), but the conditions improved as time dried the grounds out.
Midnight came, and following the presenting of “McNasty’s” cake, a spectacular two-man fireworks display courtesy of Rob Flemming, and a champagne shower for the man of the hour, McNasty Bash came to a close as all Central Florida Racing Complex drift events do: in a gratuitous display of horsepower and tire homicide at the hands of boost addicted hooligans that make up the very essence of our Central Florida community.
It’s these events that define our scene and the grassroots foundations of our motorsport culture. It’s at venues like CFRC that we are able to express that distinctiveness. It’s with people like Brandon, his friends, and the rest of us that it becomes personified. For your enjoyment, here are just a few highlights of last night’s event.
Happy tire shredding.
DRIVE BY WIRE 