Break It Down Podcast
Little Lady Z- Kenzie Nelson
Mat interview his cousin Kenzie regarding drifting/racing. She talks about her experience driving/crashing for drifting. She talks about the origin of "Little Lady Z".
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- Broadcast on:
- 26 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
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Sponsored by Chumba Casino, no purchase necessary. U.G.W. Group, for your prohibited by law, 18-plus terms and conditions apply. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to another episode of The Break It Down podcast. My name is Matthew Hanson, and today we have a drifter herself, my cousin, Kenzie. Hello, my name is Kenzie. Hello. First off, what sparked your interest in drifting? My friend Shane gets so much highlights in these stupid podcasts, but-- so I ended up-- well, we have a race track that's about 50 minutes north of here, depending on how fast you go. I have gotten there in about 40. Which track? Brainert, International Race. Oh, B.I.R. B.I.R. B.I.R. So what made you interested in B.I.R.? Boys. Oh, my god. OK. So I'm guessing this Shane showed you how to drift as well. So Shane was actually-- he's strictly just a friend. He's always been strictly just a friend. He was my-- he was the first person to give me a ride along, and after the first ride, I was like, well, looks like, I'm getting a drift car. [LAUGHS] How much is a drift car cost? That depends on how nice you want it to be. OK. Do you have your own car, I know? I do. I bought it for-- I got it for too much money, 6700 I paid for. Just to smash into a wall. Just-- why did you smash into a wall? Because I got scared. I hit the brakes instead of hitting gas. Oops. OK. So it's been a challenge trying to get you to come and do this. So I know the last time I talked to you, you were currently at an event. So tell me, how does a breakdown in a drifting event from when you pull up to an event to when you leave? So, first of all, there is two very different types of drifting. OK. There is the drifting that I do in Interstate Raceway, up in North Dakota. And then there's the professional series that my significant other Cody is in. So when we show up, basically it's just you show up Friday. You line up with all your buddies, and you go on to the track with all your buddies. And then Saturday's, comfy. And then Sunday's, fuck around and find out days. So breakdown comfy is what are our comfy's. So I don't do that because, one, I suck. But comfy's, so basically, you have-- so what the way comp works is it's a bracket style. So it's usually typically a top 32, depending on how many drivers there are. And so two cars are always on track at one time. So you have a lead car and a chase car. Lead car needs to-- let me back it up a little bit. So there's a specific track layout, every event. You're supposed to follow that layout. There's going to be outer zones that your two rear wheels have to be in that zone. And then sometimes they'll have an inner clip where you just have to touch it and then leave. So it's not like an entire field, that zone. Yep. So basically, the lead car's job is to hit all those points while maintaining speed, maintaining angle, and maintaining a decent line for the car behind it to do the same thing. And while you're going about typically about 30, 40 miles an hour on our track, roughly, give or take, yeah. That's-- your track is-- you're saying B-I-R. Nope, this is interstate race way. OK. Where's that at? That's in Stapen, Minnesota. But we call it North Dakota. OK. And then you said, Sunday is basically fuck around and find out. So explaining a fuck around and find out competition. Well, it's not really a competition. But it's more of like, instead of-- so like comp days or more-- so those are two cars on track. Fuck around and find out is seven cars, eight cars, nine cars, trains, behind each other, praying that none of them hit each other. Or hit a wall, or I'll eat fucking Ollie-- sorry, can I swear? You can go far-- yep, you can swear. Or they're going to ollie you the wall, I'm just fucking-- You eat yourselves over it? Have you done that yet? No. Have you crashed before? I've hit the wall at our track twice. I hit the one, a brainer at once. What is your first reaction when you hit that first wall? Actually, it was really, really good. So I was trying to like-- It's good to crash, OK? Yes, it is. It's good to get that first one out of the way, because then the rest of them are like, this is not a big deal. But so I was trying to learn how to do figure eight. I love you, Drell, and Kayla. But learning to drift at BIR, 0 out of 10. Do not recommend it. So you just have people yelling at you. This is what you're supposed to do. And I'm like, bro, I don't know how to dump a pledge. My brain does not compute this way. Just somebody helped me, like, get in my car and tell me, yeah, let me tell me what to do. So I was trying to figure out donuts and figure aids by myself. Well, Drell had one of the cones super close to the wall at that time. And I just got super fucking scared. Just slam the bridge to hit straight into the wall. And then I was like, that was fucking sick, but damn it. So I pulled off-- obviously, I pulled off of the track. And then I went back to my pit area, which was my little Milwaukee bag in a jack. And then basically-- so my bumper was hanging off. It was pretty smushed in. So I basically just ripped everything. So I think-- and it was my front passenger side. So I think my windshield was hanging there. So I just snipped everything off, yanked it off, and zip tied it back together, and just went right back out there. So how long you've been actually in the drifting world? So this technically would have been my fourth full season driving my car. But I've been in and around the racing for about five or six years. OK. What's the highest you've placed? Because you do any comps at all. You just do Sundays. So some days, so it's really new, but they do-- I call it the loser's bracket, because everybody who's in that bracket sucks assholes. Oh, nice. Except for the few people who don't. But that's definitely me. At least you know what your place. I made it to the top 16. But that's only because I didn't have anybody to battle. And my top 16. I got super nervous in my battle. I would have won it. But my brain was like, I don't know what I'm doing. So I went four tires off of the track into the grass. I still kept drifting through the entire thing, but you're not supposed to do that. Not supposed to touch the grass. I'm not supposed to touch the grass. I just wanted to smell it. So I see you're wearing it now. How did you come up with Little Lady Z? I was on my way. So we flew down to Arizona. To pick up my Z. And I was trying to come up with names for my Z, which is her name is Lyla, by the way. Doesn't start with a Z. No, but anyways. So Lyla, her name is Lyla. So then I was like, little. And I'm a little lady. And I was like, little lady Z. And I was like, there it is. And I was just like brainstorming from freaking Scottsdale, Arizona to San Diego and then back home. But straight brainstorming. So how far have you traveled for drifting? For drifting. I-- this is a long story, but I decided to trailer my car all the way to Florida. And I think that was the first I got with my car personally. So do you put in a trailer and you just drove it down there? Yep. Or a weekend thing, a two weekend thing. It was a weekend thing, one weekend. And so if I try not to tell a really long story, it was me and a buddy, which don't ever do that. With you and one friend, don't ever do it. So I was working that day. And his job was just to make sure everything was in my truck ready to go. He was going to come pick me up after work. And I had straight to Florida. Well, he forgot one of the most important key things, ramps. To get my car off of the trailer. So we were about an hour out of Fargo. And I'm like, it's too fucking late. I'm not going back because we're not going to get there until more in the morning if we keep going this way. And I was like, well, I guess I'll figure it out. And the worst part was my car wasn't running right at the time. So even if I wanted to get it out, if I was able to find ramps, I couldn't get it off of the trailer well enough. Because it was overheating really bad. I honestly can't remember what I did to it. But it was not running right. That's awesome. And he did the ramps to be able to pull my car off in the middle of an auto parts store, just along our way to work on it. But I couldn't do that. That was sick. So when you got down to Florida, how did you get the truck off of the ramp or off the trailer? It stayed on the trailer tire weekend. I didn't do anything. So you drove to Florida, which is what? 20-hour drive? 23-ish. And you do-- Nothing. Nice. Why? Well, I was supposed to do-- so it's called Z nationals, which is in Atlanta. I think it was somewhere in roughly the same general area of Atlanta, Georgia. And I was going to do-- it's called HPDE racing, which is basically road course racing, which would have been my first time doing it. I was really excited for it. I had a sponsor set up. And he was paying for the sole interior trip, just for it to-- Set? Yep. Couldn't even make it to the car show, because I didn't have ramps. Couldn't get the car off long enough to be able to fix it, and then take it to the car show. I didn't even get to-- so because of him, we were late to the track. So we didn't even get to see the track, which is Road Atlanta. So we didn't get to see that. And then the car show was the next day, and we didn't get to make it to that either. So what you're saying is you drove 23 hours to Florida with a car in the back to basically miss the event, miss the track, miss basically everything. Yep. So what did you do in Florida? Thankfully, Cody was racing that weekend, so I just got pissed. And I was like, OK, well, fuck this guy that I'm with. And I'm just-- I guess we're just going to go hang out with Cody. Yeah, we get the fuck away from you. OK. So now, if somebody wants to be a part of drifting or racing of any sort, how would someone join or get interested or get involved? Just show up to the track. Drifting is like the most-- I don't know if I say describe it as-- we're probably the kindest community that you'll find for racing wise. Everybody wants you to be part of it. Everybody's like, get in my car, we're going for a ride. That's kind of creepy, a stranger, get in my car. I love giving people rides so much, like little kids. They get so excited being in that car with you. And they're like, this is my first time. I'm like, I hope this doesn't suck for you. I hope I don't crash. So my friend Kayla, her and her husband, they run most of the drifting up in BIR. And her little sister is like my number one fan, only because I make spinning out fun. You make spinning out fun? OK, explain. You're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed to spin out. You're supposed to keep driving. But instead, I like to cook it and spin around. Yeah. But is it fun? To her? To the driver? No, it's a little bit more embarrassing. It's like, I know how to drift. What are you doing? Stop. As well as drifting, you do photography. So now, how do you mix the both of them? It's really hard, really hard. So I'll be running. So in ND, we have run groups, one, two, and three. Group one is like, people who are going to do the big Saturday comp. Group two is people who will tan them and drive with other people, but they don't want to be in competition. And then group three, or losers like me, aren't super comfortable tanning with people. I mean, I will, but I'm slow. And I'm like, wait up for me, guys, I'm back here. So basically, what I have to do is I have to run group three. And then I go, and I have to run. And then as soon as my run group is done, then I have to go take on my camera, park my car, take the camera, and then go take pictures and videos of everybody else. So it's like drive photos, drive photos, drive photos. And then I'm consistently running around the track. And it's not very fun. Why don't you keep your camera with you? Because you can't have anything. Because you're going, you're like, the best way to say it is you're going quickly this way, and then also you're quickly going that way. So shit's going to fly everywhere. So you're not supposed to have anything in the car. Because anything could fall and fly into where your feet are, where the pedals and stuff. And like, where's the case scenario? Something snags. And also now you're like in throttles, stuff wide open. I'm like, I'll leave the wall, and I don't want to do that. That'd be an interesting time. Hopefully you get that on camera. Hopefully Cody gets that on camera. So can you have it in the pit at all or no? Yeah, it's in the pit, but it's still consistent. You have to drive to your pit, and then you have to walk to the track. It's just the whole thing. But it's a job. Yeah. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Thankfully, we have scooters, so like, kind of helps. But it doesn't help on track, because then you're like, you have to still run across the track. So do you do photography outside of drifting at all? Do you do, like, family fordows? Any graduations, stuff like that? No, really. I don't have time. We don't have time for anything. I'm lucky I have time to sleep at night. There's been times at like 2 AM, I'll message you. I'm like, she ain't going to see it till 8 AM. And then you're like, I'm awake. And I'm like, why are you awake? I'm only like, I should be awake at this time. There is times where we're working on-- so Cody drives professionally in the Formula Drift series. And before our first event in Atlanta, I think for two weeks straight, we were having 4 AM, 4 AM working on the car until 4 AM days, and then wake up at 8 to continue working on the car again. And it was not good. It was non-stop just working on the car. And it's always like super last minute for him, too. So it's the worst part. So like, we have, what, eight months of winter to get this shit ready? And why are we ordering parts two weeks before we have to drive to Atlanta, Georgia? Please, why? Logic. I call that the mail logic where like, hey, we need this ordered. All right, we got it. And then like a week before, like, you get that part ordered? I'm on it right now. [LAUGHTER] But am I wrong? No. Exactly. Not at all. Hey, honey, I told you to order parts like two weeks ago. Oh, yeah, well, I was going to, but I'm busy. I forgot. I forgot about it. Oh, yeah, I was supposed to do that, wasn't I? I'm going to find you. Anything else you want to talk about with drifting, little lady Z photography, anything for people that are, like I said, pro is at it, rookies to it, anything. Drive better. Drive better. Everybody needs a drive better. Are you talking about like on the public road or like drifting? All of it, all of the above. Have you gotten pulled over for going too fast? Not recently. That's OK. I got pulled over, so I was still living with my papa nana, Sue and me, right? You're onto an uncle. And so I was on my way to BIR. Shocker. Thankfully, he didn't clock me at 100 at the time, but he clocked me at 91. So it was still kind of hefty, but thank God he was nice enough to put it down a little bit, just so that way it was just under the 25 mark felony mark. felony mark? Oh, no, no, no, felony is double. I've almost had that happen to me five months and having my license decided to raise someone's dad that was in my class. And it supposedly said 30. I saw 45. I was going 61. And he's like, you know, if I were going on my fast enough for you to turn on your lights, so it must be pretty quick. He's like 61 and the 30. I was like, you know, I see the 45 sign right here. So I think that's a 45. Luckily, we said that we were going to go watch his kid play football. He's like, I'll leave you off with a warning. I was like, oh my God. At 16, have a felony charge of double speed limit. And then this is when I had the lumina that-- And I crashed. That you crashed. Yeah. See, you're practicing 10 years beforehand. Yeah, that was terrifying. Flying through the air is not great. Zero out of 10, you're not recommend. Do you want to tell that story of the zero out of 10 recommendation of crashing my old car? The brief over story is I'm an emotional little bitch. And you should not-- what is that? What is the term for when you get the tire on stuck on the-- there's a word for it. I have no idea. So basically, I was going on-- I was-- it was on the back roads. Of course. And I was-- I buckled. The tire buckled. That's the word I was looking for. So basically, what happened is I took the corner too wide. And I was trying to get back onto the road and the tire buckled and I shot to the left. And I oversteered it to the right. And I decided to plummet into a six foot ditch and then flipped the car. Nice. Yeah, it was great. So the photos were like, wow, that was only a few months. The only time, the only thing I really remember is crying. And being like, papa's going to kill me. I received a photo of the vehicle. I'm like, wow, that's the lumena. No more lumena. No more lumena. It was the front end. So somebody was watching out for me that day because the only damage to the front end of the car was the driver's side mirror hanging off. Otherwise, everything was like my seat and back. Completely caved in. Wow. I did a good job. Hey, you weren't saying a good job at it. Because I remember I put the lumena into a swamp coming back and getting paid from doing grain bins and going pretty quick on a dirt road and decided I needed a bath with grass. So I decided to put that thing in the swamp and I had to have a tractor pull me out because I was so buried in there. It was fantastic. Yeah, it's probably my worst one. But getting pulled over, my worst one is so like, I can't. I can't lie. And when I'm nervous, I giggle. I was pulling out of Sue and Leroy's house on my way back to work. And the cop just happened to be around the corner when I pealed out of the driveway. Nice. Pulled me over like immediately. Like I'm sitting in front of La Casitas on Division Street. I'm already nervous because I know I'm fucked. Like I came out of the driveway like 30 miles an hour when I should not help. Oops. And I giggled the entire time he yelled at me. And he goes, this is not a laughing matter. This is not a racetrack. You keep that shit out the racetrack. And I was like, OK, I'm so sorry. It was bad. And that was a week from the '91. Getting clocked at '91. Before we gaffered. Day to Wednesday, it was the week after getting. So it was like-- Same cop? Nope. This one was a brand new cop. The other one was a same club cop. Same club cop, they're not as nice. Experience? Yes, awesome experience. Also, I think I was right around Eden Valley. I got pulled over for-- I was like going fast. I was going '71 and '65. I bribed him with a piece of chocolate. And I was wearing my chef coat because I was in Collin's school at the time. And he was-- granted, the cop was an older dude. And he was hitting on me to begin with because he was like, oh, you're out for more than like some motorcycle license. That's pretty cool. And I was like, yeah, I want a piece of chocolate. Let me go. He goes, yep, just make sure you're taking it slow on the rest of the way home. And then almost got pulled over in clear water. Oh, my goodness. Thankfully, it was down pouring. So if the cop would have tried to peel out of his spot in the middle of the highway, he wouldn't have been able to catch up because he was spun his tires. And he would just give up. He turned his lights on and then turned it back off. He was like, yeah, that's not worth it. Now, are that all right? All right, well, I appreciate the insight on drifting and how not to crash into a wall. Throttle out. Throttle out. Always throttle out. Throttle out and to not spin out or burn out of a driveway. Do not. Especially when a cop is on the corner. Thank you. All right, thank you. Owning a rental property sounds like a dream until you realize how much work goes into getting it ready. Determine a competitive rent price, market the property, schedule the showing screen. And strap up the lease at a rent collection, handle maintenance request, maintenance communication. Whew, sound complicated? 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