It’s hard enough to develop a business this day and age that will not only survive a market crash and recession, but maintain growth and be one of the more respectable companies within a very tough automotive market. We’ve seen enough companies thrive with promise and fade out as fast as they’ve come in. We were invited out to the Intec Racing / V-LEDS.com unveiling of their Nissan S14 monster for its debut at Evergreen Motor Speedway. This was the first time we saw what V-LEDS.com had to offer. We had a great day hanging out with the crew, taking pictures and swapping stories and looking forward to what the new car and team had in store for Formula D in 2010.

On that note, we wanted to know how V-LEDS.com got involved with being a sponsor, so we caught up with Owner and President, Jake York of Velicoty Distributing Inc., who maintains both V-LEDS.com and V-HIDS.com. The rest is as follows:

NWMotiv: How did you first hear about drifting and the culture behind it?
Jake York: I heard about it through friends and standard media. I actually saw the first airing of “Drift the sideways craze”, a documentary following the nation’s top ranked drifters like Ken Gushi and Samuel Hubinette. I couldn’t believe how the sport had grown in such a short time. I thought it was cool, but never imagined one day I would be standing in front of Ken, Robbie, and Ryuji at Apexi USA!

NWMotiv: What were your first initial thoughts of the Formula Drift Competition?
Jake: Honestly I didn’t know what to make of it. Is it racing, or just a spectacle of driving skill? I know there is a ton of debate over drifting and whether it is even a sport, but in my opinion it takes incredible technique and skill. Not just any joe-blow with a racing suit can jump into a car and do what they do.

NWMotiv: What is your involvement with Formula Drift?
Jake: Currently we are the title sponsor for the Intec Racing Nissan S14 driven by Dean Kearney from Ireland, a 2009 Pro Drift Champion. We also co-sponsor Apexi’s Lexus SC430 driven by Ryuji Miki which had its maiden voyage last weekend in New Jersey. We also support Cyrus Martinez and Taka Aono of team Megan Racing. We are even supporting a local Pro-Am car.We are very excited to be one of the event sponsors of round 4 Throwdown at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe July 9-10. We will be giving away V-LEDs Gear, swag, and more. Make sure you come by and check it out!

NWMotiv: Were you approached with the Intec Racing built Nissan S14, or did you do the looking?
Jake: Lawrence Ojas, the owner of Intec actually approached me. At the time Intec was (and still is) one of our retail distributors. I think he saw a good fit with our company and their goals for this drift season. The alternative sponsor was a well known take n’ bake pizza chain. I don’t know about you but pizzas don’t belong on the side of a drift car, they belong in your belly!

NWMotiv: What was the goal behind the car? (from a V-LEDS sponsor standpoint)
Jake: Our goal with the car is to use it as a vessel to deliver our brand name to mainstream. Until this point we had never advertised via normal means like magazines, TV, or even ecommerce add campaigns. Lawrence saw this as a great opportunity for both our companies to promote our products and services, and really show what each company is capable of. Drifting is about style among other things, and our products are a perfect match for this type of motorsport.

NWMotiv: How’s Dean “Karnage” Kearney? A lot to handle?
Jake: We love Dean; he’s a good lad as they say in Ireland. I have been fortunate enough to spend some time with Dean at both Long Beach and the Atlanta events. I feel he is already a part of our growing family.

NWMotiv: Tell us more about the car, Do you do anything special for it?
Jake: Yes we got the opportunity to get our hands on the car and do it up V-LEDS style! We started with the standard stuff like replacing the stock headlight bulbs with our own V-HID kit, all the incandescent bulbs went bye bye. And then went crazy. Our show piece is what we call “the jackhammer”.  It consists of 40 High Power LED back-up license plate frames connected to an rpm module (set at around 3 grand) which triggers our adjustable brake flasher module and a series of relays. Each plate frame puts out 1350 lumens (as much as a standard halogen headlight) for a total of 54,000 lumens. That’s enough output to light up an entire parking lot…. that is if the car was 20 ft in the air. But that would be ridiculous; we all know drift cars don’t jump….. or do they?  I hope we don’t find out! All the items used on the S14 are products we offer on our website www.v-leds.com.  This car is a representation of what is possible using a little ingenuity and a handful of our products.

NWMotiv: How is everything going now? With the car, the competition and the introduction of the scene to your company?
Jake: Things are going great for us. We are growing every day, with so many exciting things happening right now it’s a whirlwind ride. This is an incredible opportunity for us to get involved in a rising sport that is still in its developmental stages. Dean finally got the opportunity to prove in Jersey that he’s got what it takes to make it all the way. He place in the top 16 and even though he didn’t bring home that carbon trophy we’re still very proud of him. We are really looking forward to round 4 in Monroe. This is our home turf and we’re gonna throwdown in a big way.

NWMotiv: What does the future hold for you and Formula D?
Jake: There’s already talk about a new car for next year. We are so excited to see what the future brings. This sport and our company are very similar; we are both beginning our journey and rapidly growing every day.

NWMotiv:  Outside of Forumla D, do you have anything in works on a local drift event in the area?
Jake:  We are currently working out the details with our involvement in the upcoming local ProAm event: “Round 2 Second Helping” on June 25th at Evergreen Speedway. We also sponsor Nik Jimenez an up and coming local ProAm driver. This kid’s got what it takes to go all the way. Keep your eyes on him; he’ll be drifting with the big boys in no time!

For more information on V-LEDS or V-HIDS products, please go to their website and support a local company!