LI's Mike Power drifting upward in pro racing circuit

Mike Power’s car was speeding sideways, smoke pouring out of it, adrenaline as high as could be. This wasn’t an unfortunate mistake on the road. Or a movie.

This is Power’s life, and inside that smoking car, the lifelong Port Jefferson Station resident felt right at home.

“Growing up as a kid, I felt like I wasn’t normal compared to my friends,” said Power, a 25-year-old rookie drift racer on the professional Formula Drift circuit. “I have dyslexia, ADD [attention deficit disorder] and ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]. I feel like I struggled a lot in certain aspects of my life that might be easier for people. But when I’m in the car, I feel like I get to be exactly who I am. I feel completely at home. It’s just the way that I’m wired. The way that I think and perceive everything just feels like I was literally built to be inside this race car.”

Drift racing is a judged competition pitting two drivers against each other with the ultimate goal of proficiency and style on the track. Judges set down a path on a race track that one driver must follow as best as possible while holding the car at a sideways angle.

The second driver follows, mimicking the first to the end of the run. They then switch roles and are judged on how well they kept to the path, stayed sideways and followed the first driver’s lead.

Sounds complicated? It is. And they also have to look cool doing it.

“You’re just trying to make it look as effortless and perfect as possible and just keep it stylish,” Power said. “That’s how you get a really well rounded-off score.”

Power’s path to the pros, named the Formula Drift Pro Series, was relatively accelerated. He raced go-carts at Riverhead Raceway in his youth and later competed in freestyle BMX (bicycle) riding. After an injury while BMX riding, he was introduced by a friend to drift racing.

In 2015, shortly after taking in an event at Englishtown, New Jersey, Power began to build his first car.

“The main idea was, I just want to build a car and go have fun,” Power said.

The passion grew. He began racing on the amateur circuit in 2016, performing well enough to earn his way on to the professional tour. Within two years, he finished in the top 10 on a lower-level professional tour. He is now competing at the top of the sport as a full-time driver, a rookie hoping to make a name for himself.

“It’s honestly amazing,” Power said. “I am so unbelievably proud of myself and my team and my family, because it’s been a constant effort since the day I started driving to where I am now. The fact that I went from not knowing how to drift a car at all to being a professional driver in the highest form of competition in five years is just something that I almost can’t wrap my head around.”

Power still lives and works in the home he grew up in. He spends his days looking for more sponsorship — he is currently backed by a handful of companies, including West Babylon’s Telecom Construction Group — and traveling to and from his main practice track in New Jersey and MA Motorsports in Maryland, a shop that houses and works on his car. He competes in races all over the country.

It’s a lot of work and a lot of travel, but Power loves it.

“I’ve always lived my life thinking if I want something bad enough, I can make sure that I do everything in my power to get where I need to be,” he said.

Although the realization of such quick success is enough to give Power momentary pause, the visualization of it was always there. Those who experience success, in any discipline, often can see at least a sliver of it before it happens. This is a strength of Power’s and, in a helpful twist of fate, actually has a practical application to drift racing.

“Visualizing in my head how I want to do something, picturing it in my mind, that’s the best way that I can go forward and try and get a job done or run a perfect lap,” he said. “You have to be able to see what needs to be done in front of you at every second when you’re racing.”

So what does he see for himself on the Formula Drift pro series? In the short term, rookie of the year honors. Eventually, a championship.

“There’s no reason that we can’t do it,” Power said. “It’s just going to come with experience and time and all the effort that we can put it into our program and my racing. I want to do this for as long as I can drive a car because there’s no greater feeling to me than being a part of this sport and the community. I’m in it for the long run.”

Scott Davidson, Power’s crew chief, has worked with some of the top drivers on the pro circuit and sees promise in Power.

“He’s dedicated, and has some natural talent,” said Davidson, who lives in New Jersey. “He’s willing to put the right people together to make him better.”

Power said each race weekend costs between $10,000- $20,000, the costs of which are deferred by his sponsors. He added that winners of races earn $5,000. While the gig is not yet monetarily profitable for Power himself, he hopes that he’s on that path. As with a lot of highly competitive and specifically skilled industries, sometimes the money comes later, and Power is willing to wait.

“Currently, we’re not making any profits with racing,” Power said. “There are ways to make profit within this sport and industry, we’re just not there yet.”

Power knows success won’t come without hiccups. After all, he’s already had one. In his Formula Drift Pro Series debut race in early April, he crashed in practice, got his car working enough to start the competition, but was unable to finish.

“You have to be willing to put your car on the line every single time you do a run,” he said. “I definitely think I was pushing as hard as I can. I made a simple error that can be corrected in the future.”

Power had a little more than a month to get his car back up to speed — trusting his team at MA Motorsports to handle that. The next event is scheduled for May 6-7 in Atlanta.

“I take every negative as a positive,” he said. “I take every experience as a learning experience. There’s no reason why we won’t do good in the future. That’s where my head is at 24/7.”