is a drifting driver from

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He made his debut in the

D1 Grand Prix The , abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled ''Professional Drift'', is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Daijiro Inada, founder of '' Option'' magazine and Tokyo Auto Salon, and ...

in the 3rd round in 2001, driving the Blitz D1 Spec ER34 Skyline which he still drives. His nickname is Nomuken (のむけん) or Monkey Magic (as a reference to his company). In his youth, Nomura was a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player and was very well known within his region, but his career never progressed any further through injury and turned to property developing. Once he gained his driving licence, he was dedicated to night-time

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

and then progressed to touge racing. In 1992, Nomuken was runner up in the "All Japan Ikaten" Finals and later in 1996 opened his own tuning shop Uras (reverse for saru, Japanese for monkey), producing drift specific products. When he first joined the D1GP series in 2000, his performance was average, he had been away from drifting for some time before competing in its inaugural year. But as soon as he signed a contract with parts manufacturer Blitz as a works driver, his skills quickly developed. In the D1 events, he is known for his imitation of a monkey, as the pioneer of the smoke technique, he drifts with the most smoke. He is widely a fan favorite in the series. He also competes in the budget spinoff series, D1 Street Legal with a toned down version of his Skyline. In 2006, Ken Nomura won the D1GP Non Championship Event World All Star. He has also appeared for a TV commercial for his sponsor,

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in Japan, appears as a guest presenter in

Video Option is a monthly direct-to-video magazine version of the long-running '' Option magazine'' introduced in March 1988 by Sunpro. Programme format The video has always been presented by Daijiro Inada, who did many of the tuner car road tests, either ...

and Drift Tengoku as well as a columnist for the Option magazine and judges in drift events. He announced his intention to retire after the 2018 season on

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, and ran his last full-time race on Odaiba.

Complete Drifting Results

D1 Grand Prix

References

External links

Company SiteOfficial site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nomura, Ken Japanese racing drivers Japanese baseball players 1965 births Living people Drifting drivers Motorsport announcers D1 Grand Prix drivers Baseball people from Fukuoka (city)