Ken Nomura

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Ken Nomura bigraphy, stories - Baseball player

Ken Nomura : biography

May 9, 1965 –
is a drifting driver from Japan. He made his debut in the D1 Grand Prix 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 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 drag racing 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, Dunlop Tires in Japan, appears as a guest presenter in Video Option and Drift Tengoku as well as a columnist for the Option magazine and judges in drift events.

Complete Drifting Results

Nomuken’s Blitz ER34 Skyline GT-T

(key)

D1 Grand Prix

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Position Points
2001 Nissan 180SX EBSDNQ 0
Blitz Nissan Skyline ER34 NIK BHHTAN EBSTAN NIK
2002 Blitz Nissan Skyline ER34 BHHTAN EBS6 SGO3 TKB10 EBS10 SEK6 NIK2 3 58
2003 Blitz Nissan Skyline ER34 TKB6 BHH4 SGO9 FUJTAN EBS8 SEK6 TKB16 7 44
2004 Blitz Nissan Skyline ER34 IRW3 SGO3 EBS1 APS8 ODB7 EBS8 TKB16 4 72
2005 Blitz Nissan Skyline ER34 IRW8 ODBTAN SGO2 APS9 EBS16 FUJ4 TKB8 6 49
2006 Blitz Nissan Skyline ER34 IRW6 SGO1 FUJ10 APS1 EBS2 SUZ2 FUJ10 IRW3 2 109
2007 Blitz Nissan Skyline ER34 EBS6 FUJ16 SUZ7 SGO6 EBS1 APS7 FUJ11 5 57
2008}} Blitz Nissan Skyline ER34 EBS2 FUJ8 SUZ6 OKY6 APS2 EBS15 FUJ11 2 78