Photos by Dale Brown

The racing festivities of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach begin next Thursday and last through the weekend, but things have gotten going a little early as the Formula D drifting competition is sliding through the downtown streets as we speak.

Highly skilled drivers are throwing their cars around the back end of the track today after a practice session on Friday. Hustle down if you want to catch the main competition and finals, where a 2011 champion will be crowned. The field is narrowed down to 32 drivers at 11:30am, and the final round with the top 16 drivers begins at 2:30pm. Click here for a full schedule and ticket information. If you can’t make it down, check out this live video stream of the event!

If nothing else, we’ve got this spectacular gallery of Friday’s action from photographer Dale Brown, who stood in there like a champ as drivers sent their cars sideways at speeds around 100mph and came within inches of the wall. We salute you, Dale, and thanks for the photos! You can smell the rubber from here.