Watch: Behind The Scenes of Chelsea DeNofa’s Seattle FD Win

Chelsea DeNofa sits in third place overall and has a chance to win the championship in Irwindale. Look behind the scenes of his Seattle win!

If you aren’t already familiar, we’re big fans of Chelsea DeNofa here at The Mustang Source. We’ve been following him and Vaughn Gittin Jr for years as they destroy tires at the wheel of their awesome RTR Spec 5D drift Mustangs. Though Gittin is no longer competing, YouTube star and drifting phenom Adam LZ now pilots an RTR Mustang as well. So, needless to say, this season has been awesome.

DeNofa currently sits in third overall in the Formula Drift championship, thanks partly to his win earlier this year in Seattle, Washington. Recently, DeNofa posted a behind-the-scenes video of this win to his YouTube channel. It’s an awesome watch and gives you a look into the drama, action, and high-strung nature of a Formula D competition day. In addition, it’s an excellent chance to get to see a bunch of interactions with his team and emotion that doesn’t come through when you watch an FD live stream.

Hop in the RV With Chelsea DeNofa

Early in the video, DeNofa shows a whiteboard drawing of the layout at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington.

“…the speed throughout the track is relatively the same. So, there’s no, like, real digs or accelerations that can make cars have advantages. It’s just who can pick up the throttle first and fill the line,” says DeNofa.

Words don’t quite capture the excitement of watching professional-level drifting battles from a myriad of GoPro cameras strapped to the side of DeNofa’s car. So, it’s absolutely worth watching this video as he climbs his way through the Top 32 bracket. A notable scene, though, is when DeNofa battles drifting legend Chris Forsberg, who decelerates in a zone where it is prohibited. This is something that judges can very easily miss, so DeNofa’s emotions ran a little high because of the potential of losing the battle over Forsberg’s mistake.

“That’s one million percent his fault. I was sitting there right where I needed to be, chilling, doing what I needed to be doing…he comes off the bank, he handbrakes…I do the same thing, and then he does another one coming off the bank,” says Denofa.

The second touch of the handbrake caused DeNofa to hit Forsberg’s car.

“I’m letting you know right now; if I don’t win this battle, I’m parking my car and walking right up there right now,” DeNofa says over the radio to his crew.

Fortunately, the judges did catch Forsberg’s mistake, and DeNofa went on to win his battle in the finals against Matt Field. To see if DeNofa can take it all the way and win his first championship, tune into the Formula Drift Season Finale at Irwindale Speedway on October 14th!