The 2009 Formula Drift season is officially over.

After an intense weekend of competition in front of a packed house at Irwindale Speedway, we have a new FD champion – Chris Forsberg and his NOS Energy Drink 350Z. We have a number of special stories from Irwindale coming up, including blogs from several FD drivers, but I'll start with some random scenes from the weekend, both on and off the track.

Ross Petty was matched up with his Falken teammate Dai Yoshihara in an all-Silvia Top 32 battle. This was one of the closer matches of the Top 32, but Dai was awarded the victory. You may have also noticed that Dai's car has been lowered a bit, losing the "4×4 stance" he was rocking at Sonoma.

During the break between the Top 32 and Top 16, everyone gathered at the NFS booth to watch Carl Rydquist, Darren McNamara, and Quoc Ly battle it out in NFS Shift. The one who could set the fastest lap around the Nurburging in a Maserati MC12 would get a $5,000 check from Royal Purple. I actually I thought I was a decent virtual racer until I saw these guys go at it. I believe Rod will be putting together a separate post on the NFS competition.

Those looking to take a break from the tire smoke could enjoy the J-Tuned car show, which had a particularly nice showing of VIP cars. My only complaint is that the cars were parked very close together, making photography a bit of challenge. It's understandable though, given the space limitations.

These days just having a nice car isn't enough, you need a matching fixie to mount on top of it.

Autofashion continues to bring VIP builds to a new level in the USA. This GS on display in their booth was stunning.

Fredric Aasbo had the tough task of facing Sam Hubinette during the Top 32. Fredric fought hard, but in the end the veteran Hubinette advanced from this high horsepower battle between Supra and Viper.

Dean Kearney with a nice transition during practice on Friday afternoon. It's too bad he wasn't able to make the Top 32, but I have a feeling this won't be the last US event we see him in…

Irwindale's walls and K-rails have a tendency to suck in cars, but fortunately there weren't too many wrecks this weekend. Yasu Kondo did take a little wall ride during his match against with Tommy Suell though…

Yasu's expression after surveying the damage is priceless…

Katushiro Ueo's Drift Speed S15 also took some damage to the front end, but nothing a little tape couldn't fix. Ueo would end up being eliminated by Robbie Nishida in the Top 32.

When Chris Forsberg went against Doug Van Den Brink in the Top 32, all he had to was advance to clinch the season championship. Doug didn't go down easy though – it took an OMT before Chris was able to defeat the turbocharged Mustang.

Following his victory, a celebration broke out on the grid as crew members and fellow drivers hoisted the new champion into the air. It's impossible not to smile seeing this kind of camaraderie.

Back on the track, another very close battle. This one between Kenji Yamanaka and Darren McNamara and their naturally aspirated V8's. D-Mac would end up taking this one.

Prior to the start of the Top 16, Falken rolled out their ALMS Porsche for a few laps around the track. Although many wanted to see, the drifting capabilities of the Porsche were not tested at Irwindale…

Without a doubt one of the biggest stories of the night was Matt Powers. Matt nearly took his KA-powered S14 all the way to the podium, but Tanner Foust finally defeated him in the battle for third. We'll save the details for a special story on Matt's Irwindale experience…

The night's top three finishers – Ryan Tuerck, Tyler McQuarrie, and Tanner Foust.

Stay tuned for more in depth coverage from Irwindale!

-Mike Garrett