UTDM: 

Want to get a few funny looks from your co-workers?  Allow me to provide you with a quick means to that end:  When asked what plans you have for Friday night, just say that you intend to drive down town, drive past the bars, past the clubs, and past the theater...in order to go hang out in a parking garage for a few hours.  The responses will vary widely; largely dependent on how many times that particular co-worker has seen Tokyo Drift.  A tip:  do not try to explain yourself. It will only make it worse, just smile and let their imagination run wild.

UTDM originated with several University of Tennessee students, and frequenters of Tennspeed.net as an informal car show on the lowest level of the Lake Ave. parking garage in Knoxville, TN.  TJ discovered it while trolling Tennspeed in late 2008, and I re-discovered it while speaking with one of the organizers, who happens to also own an NSX.  We were slightly skeptical at first; fearing juvenile shenanigans might result in “official interaction” with Knoxville’s finest.  However, after speaking with a couple of the fellows who put it together, we decided to give it a chance.  Good thing that we did, as it proved a very entertaining way to kill a Friday evening.

I feel compelled at this point to define “entertaining”.  Firstly, no one drifted anywhere, least of all Tokyo.  Secondly, Vin Diesel was not present (although I hear he’s a cool guy).  There were no SR-20-swapped Civics, no Asians with sub-machine guns, and no-one’s diamond plated floorboards fell off when their intake manifold failed.  Unfortunately, that also means there were no para-para girls, Ludacris was nowhere to be found, and most attendees did not enjoy unlimited funds to spend on NAWS.  What we did have, were many down-to-earth car enthusiasts and very few retards.

The last night we attended, the NSX crowd represented with five cars
including mine.  Other notables have included a twin-turbo Supra, a show-quality RB-swapped "S14.5" (240SX), a super-clean custom-colored S2000, a nasty S30 (turbo-ed 280Z), the usual gaggle of EVOs and Imprezas, and even a Porsche or two.  Impressive as this type of metal is, what really got my attention was the breadth and depth of knowledge that drove in with them.  I have sat through car meets where I struggled to find someone who could complete an intelligible sentence, but this crowd, by-and-large proved very adept at their hobby.  Some of the people here had literally re-engineered cars, done very successful motor swaps, programmed their own EMS, and so on.  All three of us have yet to be bored at one of these meets.  We can always find someone to talk to, listen two, or compare notes with. 

I might have much more to say, but you remember a couple of paragraphs ago I mentioned “few retards”…well it doesn’t take many.  After four weeks of ever-growing crowds, and even moving to a garage directly over the UTPD headquarters in an effort to keep the stupidity to a minimum, the UT Police put the brakes on the meet until the University grants the organizers official sanction.