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Tommy Suell



I'm Dropping the Hammer!

Tommy Suell was born and raised in Okinawa Japan and moved to the USA at the age of 24. His father Bobby Suell, served over 20 years in Japan, with the United States Air Force, and in 2000 he retired back to Las Vegas, Nevada. Tommy started his racing career with 50cc 2 stroke street bikes, and then transitioned to Go-Karting. At the age of 16, he was able to purchase his first car, the 1985 ae86 Levin Hatchback (Toyota corolla). Being that the legal age in Japan to drive was 18, Tommy could only legally drive on the Air Force Base. With the help of some Japanese elders from "Ram Garage" they took Tommy under their wing, and brought him out to the Local "Drift" spots. With their assistance and through the viewing of Option Videos Tommy honed his skills on the streets.

After attending a few years at "Meio University" in Nago City, Okinawa, Tommy decided to move to the US and reunite with his family. Upon arriving in Las Vegas, Tommy met John Thompson and started to compete in Legend Car Racing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring. In 2003 drifting made its first appearance in Vegas, and Tommy entered in the amateur Hankook Drift Series. With a stock automatic 240sx coupe Tommy dominated the 4 event series and won the Hankook Championship. Going back to his roots he purchased a stock GTS 1986 Corolla, and started to build the car to make it competitive. In 2006 Tommy attended 3 Formula D licensing qualifiers, and at the last qualifier for the year in Laughlin, Nevada Tommy earned his FD Competition License. 2007 was a amazing year with Top 16's in Atlanta, and Sonoma, and top 32's at Long Beach, Seattle, and West Virgina. Tommy also competed in the 2007 Formula D Team Drift series, with John Russakoff, and Andrew Hately, Taking 2 first place victories, and the Team Drift Championship.

2008 was a hard fought season for Tommy attending only the west coast events. Las Vegas and Washington were top 32 qualifiers and Tommy Finished off the 2008 season at Long Beach for the Red Bull Pro/Am securing a Top 8 and renewing his Formula Drift License.