Shawn Hartum was born and raised west of Edmonton, Alberta. Shawn has been driving cars since he was 11. It all started when he purchased his first 1972 Chevy Nova for 100 bucks. Shawn recalls tearing through the bush on his parents’ farm in that same Nova. ”Going sideways was just the way it went… the rule was to never lift your foot off the throttle or you’d get stuck.”
That’s when the obsession started, the addiction. The flame had started to burn inside, and that’s when the high octane, high boost imports caught his eye. A small, new shop (DJ Auto Imports) was selling 400HP+ race cars for prices that were impossible to pass up. These little gems were from across the ocean, and built to drive sideways, full throttle. Shawn couldn’t resist, after one test drive that surge of energy and pure joy, the memories of going full throttle in the Nova, all came back. Shawn recalls that it didn’t help that ”Josh (@DjAuto) could find me anything I wanted and probably didn’t need; from one of a kind turbo Mini ERA to full blown 600hp Skyline GTR “Shawn says, ”I’m lucky I have a patient wife “.
After a couple seasons running in autocross and high-speed lapping events Shawn heard about some guys running an event called D-Sport at Castrol raceway in Edmonton. ”My first day drifting was my last day doing anything else… there is nothing even close to the rush of sliding a car around a course”. From 2003 till 2008 Shawn would go and shred tires and work in technique and upgrades to the car.
In 2009 and 2010 Shawn made it into the PRO-AM events run my DMCC. This season he will be competing in the PRO-AM Series and will win his Pro license to compete in the PRO series.
His current drift car is a 1990 Mazda Rx7, one of the exotic right hand drive gems from the other side of the pond. Shawn remembers, “When I first say this one of a kind beauty, I knew I had to have it. Little did I realize that I would literally change just about everything about it. What you ask? Well to start the entire was purple, and the whole front end had been modified by RE-Amemiya, the world-renowned Rx7 tuning/racing guru! Seeing as this car was directly out of Japan, and had been assembled and tuned in the RE-Amemiya factory, I knew I was buying a very special car. And WOW, to this day I am still blown away as it takes everything I through at it, and keeps on giving me the ride of my life!”
That’s when the obsession started, the addiction. The flame had started to burn inside, and that’s when the high octane, high boost imports caught his eye. A small, new shop (DJ Auto Imports) was selling 400HP+ race cars for prices that were impossible to pass up. These little gems were from across the ocean, and built to drive sideways, full throttle. Shawn couldn’t resist, after one test drive that surge of energy and pure joy, the memories of going full throttle in the Nova, all came back. Shawn recalls that it didn’t help that ”Josh (@DjAuto) could find me anything I wanted and probably didn’t need; from one of a kind turbo Mini ERA to full blown 600hp Skyline GTR “Shawn says, ”I’m lucky I have a patient wife “.
After a couple seasons running in autocross and high-speed lapping events Shawn heard about some guys running an event called D-Sport at Castrol raceway in Edmonton. ”My first day drifting was my last day doing anything else… there is nothing even close to the rush of sliding a car around a course”. From 2003 till 2008 Shawn would go and shred tires and work in technique and upgrades to the car.
In 2009 and 2010 Shawn made it into the PRO-AM events run my DMCC. This season he will be competing in the PRO-AM Series and will win his Pro license to compete in the PRO series.
His current drift car is a 1990 Mazda Rx7, one of the exotic right hand drive gems from the other side of the pond. Shawn remembers, “When I first say this one of a kind beauty, I knew I had to have it. Little did I realize that I would literally change just about everything about it. What you ask? Well to start the entire was purple, and the whole front end had been modified by RE-Amemiya, the world-renowned Rx7 tuning/racing guru! Seeing as this car was directly out of Japan, and had been assembled and tuned in the RE-Amemiya factory, I knew I was buying a very special car. And WOW, to this day I am still blown away as it takes everything I through at it, and keeps on giving me the ride of my life!”
