ON PAPER, CONOR Shanahan only needed to win one round.
He arrived at the final round of the Formula Drift championship in Long Beach, California, with a enough points lead that a single heat victory would make him champion. Plenty in his position would treat it as a formality, but he didn’t.
“A lot of people looked at that and were like, ‘ Oh well, you have such a big points gap, it’s okay,’ ” Shanahan says. “ But I’m like, ‘Yeah, but Jack or James is going to win this event. So if I lose this battle, I’m not going to be champion’. It was so much pressure.”
For a bit of context, drifting is a judged sport. It’s not timed or a race to cross the line first.
Drivers slide (essentially a controlled skid) their cars sideways through a course and are scored on the line that they keep, their angle and their style. In head-to-head battles, one car leads and the other chases it, inches away and has to follow it as closely as possible.
The 23-year-old won the battle, and the driver from Killavullen, Co Cork, became the youngest champion in the series’ history.
“When I crossed the line on the chase, I felt like I had done a good enough job, and the emotions started to pour out,” he says. “ In that moment you go back to all the days where you felt like, is this ever possible? Is this ever going to happen?”
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There were plenty of those days.
Shanahan decided to leave school as a teenager to chase a career in the sport. He and his older brother Jack, also a professional drifter, went all over Europe from round to round, racing partly for the prize money that would get them to the next one on the calendar.
“There were days that, realistically, I thought maybe we need to stop,” he says. “We travel around Europe with not even a thousand euro in our bank account, trying to get prize money to go to the next race. And we both made the decision: okay, this is what we want to do for the rest of our life.”
There wasn’t only a financial risk. “A lot of people bring this up and say it was such a huge risk for your parents to let you do, which it was, for sure.”
“My mom and dad were so supportive. They dedicated their whole lives to mine and Jack’s career. But it was also a really big risk personally. I was kind of thinking, what if this doesn’t work out? What am I going to do?”
Shanahan admits that, without his brother, he probably wouldn’t be in the position he’s in.
“I was never a car guy. I was never a guy to get my hands dirty,” he says. “Jack really, as a kid, pushed me to understand everything about cars. He taught me a lot. And probably the biggest thing, realistically, is he taught me what’s right and what’s wrong. He’s a very straightforward dude. If he has something to say, he says it.”
Even when he didn’t believe in himself succeeding, his brother did: “If you asked Jack when I was younger, ‘Is Conor going to be a world champion?’, his answer would have been yes. There was a time that he probably had more belief than I had in myself.”
At Long Beach, Jack finished third in the championship, right on the podium behind his brother and their neighbour, five-time champion record holder in Formula Drift, James Deane. At the banquet to collect the trophies, it was Jack’s speech that hit home.
“There was so much emotion behind him, because I feel like he’s played such a huge part of my career,” Shanahan says. “Of course he wants the championship trophy himself. But he knows how hard we’ve worked in my journey as well.”
You might expect the win to have brought relief, or excitement. But surprisingly, when asked what he wanted to do the minute he won, Shanahan says it mostly brought the urge to get away.
“When it happens, you kind of just want to escape, run in the trailer and just lock yourself in the trailer for like 20 minutes, and let your emotions come back to normal,” he says. “My career has always been a balance of emotions. It’s always been a lot of work personally to live up to these big moments, and enjoy the big moments as well.”
He admits the feeling doesn’t last. “It’s a little bit frustrating it doesn’t last that long. I’m the type of person that’s like, okay, what’s next? I wish there were times I could enjoy it a little bit more.”
What he’s looking forward to isn’t the trophy. “Just some time sitting around home, talking about the stories. Those moments mean a lot more to me than the actual day itself.”
Sibling rivalry: Conor, left, and Jack Shanahan in close quarters. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
When asked what he would tell his 15-year-old self if he had the chance, he doesn’t talk about results, but rather to enjoy the moment.
“Probably have more patience,” he says. “I lived a lot of my life wanting everything as fast as I could. I wish there were times that I enjoyed the smaller achievements as much as I enjoyed the bigger achievements.
“The day that you lose is the day that you learn the most. It took me a long time to figure that out. I always was mad. I was always frustrated. I always felt like I was failing. If I was to look back now, I would tell myself: relax. Everything is going to work out, everything’s going to be okay.”
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Drifting to glory: Conor Shanhan's road less travelled
ON PAPER, CONOR Shanahan only needed to win one round.
He arrived at the final round of the Formula Drift championship in Long Beach, California, with a enough points lead that a single heat victory would make him champion. Plenty in his position would treat it as a formality, but he didn’t.
“A lot of people looked at that and were like, ‘ Oh well, you have such a big points gap, it’s okay,’ ” Shanahan says. “ But I’m like, ‘Yeah, but Jack or James is going to win this event. So if I lose this battle, I’m not going to be champion’. It was so much pressure.”
For a bit of context, drifting is a judged sport. It’s not timed or a race to cross the line first.
Drivers slide (essentially a controlled skid) their cars sideways through a course and are scored on the line that they keep, their angle and their style. In head-to-head battles, one car leads and the other chases it, inches away and has to follow it as closely as possible.
The 23-year-old won the battle, and the driver from Killavullen, Co Cork, became the youngest champion in the series’ history.
“When I crossed the line on the chase, I felt like I had done a good enough job, and the emotions started to pour out,” he says. “ In that moment you go back to all the days where you felt like, is this ever possible? Is this ever going to happen?”
There were plenty of those days.
Shanahan decided to leave school as a teenager to chase a career in the sport. He and his older brother Jack, also a professional drifter, went all over Europe from round to round, racing partly for the prize money that would get them to the next one on the calendar.
“There were days that, realistically, I thought maybe we need to stop,” he says. “We travel around Europe with not even a thousand euro in our bank account, trying to get prize money to go to the next race. And we both made the decision: okay, this is what we want to do for the rest of our life.”
There wasn’t only a financial risk. “A lot of people bring this up and say it was such a huge risk for your parents to let you do, which it was, for sure.”
“My mom and dad were so supportive. They dedicated their whole lives to mine and Jack’s career. But it was also a really big risk personally. I was kind of thinking, what if this doesn’t work out? What am I going to do?”
Shanahan admits that, without his brother, he probably wouldn’t be in the position he’s in.
“I was never a car guy. I was never a guy to get my hands dirty,” he says. “Jack really, as a kid, pushed me to understand everything about cars. He taught me a lot. And probably the biggest thing, realistically, is he taught me what’s right and what’s wrong. He’s a very straightforward dude. If he has something to say, he says it.”
Even when he didn’t believe in himself succeeding, his brother did: “If you asked Jack when I was younger, ‘Is Conor going to be a world champion?’, his answer would have been yes. There was a time that he probably had more belief than I had in myself.”
At Long Beach, Jack finished third in the championship, right on the podium behind his brother and their neighbour, five-time champion record holder in Formula Drift, James Deane. At the banquet to collect the trophies, it was Jack’s speech that hit home.
“There was so much emotion behind him, because I feel like he’s played such a huge part of my career,” Shanahan says. “Of course he wants the championship trophy himself. But he knows how hard we’ve worked in my journey as well.”
You might expect the win to have brought relief, or excitement. But surprisingly, when asked what he wanted to do the minute he won, Shanahan says it mostly brought the urge to get away.
“When it happens, you kind of just want to escape, run in the trailer and just lock yourself in the trailer for like 20 minutes, and let your emotions come back to normal,” he says. “My career has always been a balance of emotions. It’s always been a lot of work personally to live up to these big moments, and enjoy the big moments as well.”
He admits the feeling doesn’t last. “It’s a little bit frustrating it doesn’t last that long. I’m the type of person that’s like, okay, what’s next? I wish there were times I could enjoy it a little bit more.”
What he’s looking forward to isn’t the trophy. “Just some time sitting around home, talking about the stories. Those moments mean a lot more to me than the actual day itself.”
When asked what he would tell his 15-year-old self if he had the chance, he doesn’t talk about results, but rather to enjoy the moment.
“Probably have more patience,” he says. “I lived a lot of my life wanting everything as fast as I could. I wish there were times that I enjoyed the smaller achievements as much as I enjoyed the bigger achievements.
“The day that you lose is the day that you learn the most. It took me a long time to figure that out. I always was mad. I was always frustrated. I always felt like I was failing. If I was to look back now, I would tell myself: relax. Everything is going to work out, everything’s going to be okay.”
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conor shanahan drifting Motorsport slide show