Randy "Ranzo" Schmidt
by Jennifer Lee Randy Schmidt was an auto sports enthusiast from a young age. He followed NASCAR, dirt track, oval track, and was an avid fan of any type of road racing. At the age of 16 Randy got into drag racing, it was also about that time that he got his first car, a 1974 MG MGB. The need to personalize the MG and make it faster was immediate; however, Randy would not have long to hone his tuning skills because at the age of 18 he joined the Marine Corps.In 1994 the Marine Corps transferred Randy to Okinawa Japan. While in Okinawa he got very interested in Japanese cars and drift. Originally he bought a 1988 Toyota Supra and started tuning and practicing on the streets at Aja. Unfortunately, the Supra was an automatic and was just not cutting it for drift. The necessity for a manual car introduced Randy to a 1990 RX-7 and that has been a love affair that still continues today. His rotary powered machine delivered him to R Factory where he met shop owner, Miyahira. What started as hanging out turned into helping out and before he knew it, he was an apprentice to one of the best rotary shops in Okinawa. It was also Miyahira who dubbed the gaijin drifter "Ranzo".
Randy continued to drift and drag race in Okinawa for a total of seven years. Okinawa is Japan and has some hearty helpings of drift but Randy also had interest in circuit/road race events. It only made sense to move to Tokyo, the center of Japan and drift. In 2000 Randy moved to Tokyo and took his RX-7 with him, immediately hooking up with the togue and drift circuit world(s). His first year there he took a trip to Ebisu circuit to get some nighttime action on the track and ran a best time of 1:13 on the Nishi course. Ranzo also ran a :45 at Nikko Circuit and a :43 at Tsukuba 1000.
In 2002, Ranzo and the other half of his "dynamic-duo" Mike got word that Grip Video in Hawaii, friends from the international drift scene, would be coming to Japan.
From there he hooked up with shops like Winds Auto and Shino Kouba and drifted with many famed Japanese drivers such as Koguchi and Asamoto. Randy also competed in several Battle Magazine BM hi drift competitions.
While living in Tokyo he got involved with Tokyo Sports Car Club and served for three years as Vice-President. Randy would compete every month in gymkhana-type autocross events, taking three first place trophies in Pro-Class and four second place wins in mixed Pro and C Classes.
In September of 2004, Randy returned to the States after living 10 years of his life in the land of the rising sun. In 2005, sponsored by Battle Garage, Falken tires, and Final Konnexion his sights were set on Formula Drift. A series of unfortunate events coupled with time constraints hindered a winning performance. In his own car Ranzo aims to battle in the 2007 Formula Drift Series.
