This Girl Silenced Her Haters By Becoming A Drift Hero

We’ve all seen this scenario and how it tends to play out: a newcomer to a particular discipline, whether it be drag racing, autocross, or in this case, drifting, shows up and is met by immediate hate from those who have been active in the scene for years. In many cases, the snide remarks and general contempt are enough to send the newcomer back to the sidelines, but sometimes, they stick it out and eventually earn the respect of those naysayers, or at least silence their hate.

Add in the whole “woman in a man’s world” dynamic and the fight to fit in becomes considerably tougher, especially when the woman just happens to be a beautiful young lady who is determined to make her way in a sport that’s quite literally dominated by the male species. However, Michelle Westby has done just that, and there was no red carpet rolled out for her to ease her entry into the world of drifting. Instead, she’s had to fight and claw her way to reach her current level as a respected drift competitor.

Michelle spend years at various track days refining her technique and learning the subtleties and nuances required to successfully compete in the drift world, which we all know is equal parts art and horsepower. Michelle embraced the negativity coming at her as she first slid behind the wheel and began her journey and used it to fuel her competitive fire and drive her to the next level and push herself faster and her kick the rear end out farther and carry her slides farther. And it’s paid of, as Michelle has already had her first podium finish, a second place finish at an event last year. Of course, as one would expect, Michelle isn’t finished and is still pushing herself to be better, eventually landing atop the podium and taking home a first place finish. Hopefully, a couple of those haters that fueled her will be in the #2 and 3 spots beside her when she hoists that winner’s trophy. Something tells us it just a matter of when, not if, that day comes.