Ken Nomura

{{short description|Japanese drifting driver}} {{BLP sources|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox racing driver | name = Ken Nomura | image = Nomuken.jpg | imagesize = 180px | caption = Nomuken in a comedy pose during a Pit Walk session, Silverstone Circuit, October 2005 | nationality = {{JPN}} | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|5|9}} | birth_place = Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture | relatives = Keiichi Nomura (son) | current_series = D1 Grand Prix | first_year = {{d1|2001}} | current_team = | former_teams = BLITZ, DFellow, Pacific Racing Team | starts = | wins = 4 | best_finish = 2nd | year = {{d1|2006}}, {{d1|2008}} | prev_series = | prev_series_years = | titles = | title_years = | awards = | award_years = | car_number = 3 | retired = 2018 | years_active = 2002-2018 | spotter = Naruhito Abe }}

{{nihongo|'''Ken Nomura''' |Shinjitai: 野村謙|Nomura Ken|extra=born Fukuoka, May 9, 1965}} is a drifting driver from Japan. He made his debut in the D1 Grand Prix in the third 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.<ref name=driftjpn>{{Cite web |url=http://driftjapan.com/blog/drivers/ken-nomuken-nomura/ |title=Ken Nomura » Driver Profile » Drift Japan |access-date=2007-09-23 |archive-date=2007-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916035421/http://driftjapan.com/blog/drivers/ken-nomuken-nomura/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Once he gained his driving licence, he was dedicated to night-time street drag racing and then progressed to touge racing.<ref name=driftjpn /> 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.<ref name=driftjpn />

When he first joined the D1GP series in 2000, Nomura's 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.<ref name=driftjpn />

In the D1 events, Nomura 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.<ref name=driftjpn /> He also competes in the budget spinoff series, D1 Street Legal with a toned down version of his Skyline.

In 2006, Nomura won the D1GP Non Championship Event World All Star.

Nomura 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.

Nomura announced his intention to retire after the 2018 season on Twitter,<ref>{{cite tweet|number=969163348334985222|user=_n_o_m_u_k_e_n_|title=私、自称レジェンド（自分で言うとるw）は2018年をもってD1選手生活を終了します♪皆さん成績低迷にもかかわらず背中を押し続けてくれた事、支えてくれた事、ホントにあざーっす!こんなヤツを応援してくれる皆さんがいた事は、一生の宝物で… |date=1 March 2018}}</ref> and ran his last full-time race on Odaiba.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20181112/mot18111220190002-n3.html |title=Legend Nomuken's Retirement! Follow his achievements before D1GP Tokyo Drift! |access-date=2018-11-18 |archive-date=2018-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118122840/https://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20181112/mot18111220190002-n3.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Complete Drifting Results== right|thumbnail|250px|Nomuken's Blitz ER34 Skyline GT-T  {{Drifting driver results legend}}

===D1 Grand Prix=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%" ! Year ! Entrant ! Car ! 1 ! 2 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 7 ! 8 ! Position ! Points |- | rowspan="2" | 2001 !  ! Nissan 180SX |style="background:#FFCFCF;"| EBS DNQ | | | | | | | ! rowspan="2" |  ! rowspan="2" | 0 |- ! Blitz ! Nissan Skyline ER34 | || NIK |style="background:#FFFFFF;"| BHH TAN |style="background:#FFFFFF;"| EBS TAN || NIK | | |⇨ |- | 2002 ! Blitz ! Nissan Skyline ER34 || BHH TAN |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| EBS 6 |style="background:#FFDF9F;"| SGO 3 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| TKB 10 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| EBS 10 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SEK 6 |style="background:#DFDFDF;"| NIK 2 |⇨ ! 3 ! 58 |- | 2003 ! Blitz ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| TKB 6 |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BHH 4 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SGO 9 |style="background:#FFFFFF;"| FUJ TAN |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| EBS 8 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SEK 6 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| TKB 16 | ! 7 ! 44 |- | 2004 ! Blitz ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#FFDF9F;"| IRW 3 |style="background:#FFDF9F;"| SGO 3 |style="background:#FFFFBF;"| EBS 1 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| APS 8 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| ODB 7 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| EBS 8 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| TKB 16 |⇨ ! 4 ! 72 |- | 2005 ! Blitz ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| IRW 8 |style="background:#FFFFFF;"| ODB TAN |style="background:#DFDFDF;"| SGO 2 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| APS 9 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| EBS 16 |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FUJ 4 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| TKB 8 |⇨ ! 6 ! 49 |- | 2006 ! Blitz ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| IRW 6 |style="background:#FFFFBF;"| SGO 1 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FUJ 10 |style="background:#FFFFBF;"| APS 1 |style="background:#DFDFDF;"| EBS 2 |style="background:#DFDFDF;"| SUZ 2 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FUJ 10 |style="background:#FFDF9F;"| IRW 3 ! 2 ! 109 |- | 2007 ! Blitz ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| EBS 6 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FUJ 16 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SUZ 7 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SGO 6 |style="background:#FFFFBF;"| EBS 1 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| APS 7 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FUJ 11 |⇨ ! 5 ! 57 |- | {{D1|2008}} ! Blitz ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#DFDFDF;"| EBS 2 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| FUJ 8 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SUZ 6 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| OKY 6 |style="background:#DFDFDF;"| APS 2 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| EBS 15 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FUJ 11 |⇨ ! 2 ! 78 |- | {{D1|2009}} ! Blitz ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#FFFFBF;"| EBS 1 |style="background:#DFDFDF;"| APS 2 |style="background:#FFDF9F;"| OKY 3 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| OKY 10 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| EBS 5 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| EBS 7 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| FUJ 7 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FUJ 18 ! 3 ! 106 |- | {{D1|2010}} ! Blitz ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| EBS 7 |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| APS 4 |style="background:#DFDFDF;"| OKY 2 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| OKY 9 |style="background:#DFDFDF;"| EBS 2 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| EBS 16 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| FUJ 6 |style="background:#"| ⇨ ! 4 ! 90 |- | {{D1|2011}} ! BLITZ DFellow ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| ODB 7 |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| APS 4 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SUZ 11 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| OKY 10 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| EBS 8 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| EBS 12 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| FUJ 8 |style="background:#"| ⇨ ! 6 ! 140 |- | {{D1|2012}} ! BLITZ Dfellow ! Toyota GT86 ZN6 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| ODB 15 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SUZ 16 |style="background:#"| APS Q-16 |style="background:#"| EBS Q-25 |style="background:#"| EBS Q-16 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| CSC 6 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| ODB 16 |style="background:#"| ⇨ ! 22 ! 20 |- | {{D1|2013}} ! Blitz ! Toyota GT86 ZN6 |style="background:#"| MSI Q-28 |style="background:#"| SUZ Q-30 |style="background:#"| EBS Q-22 |style="background:#"| EBS Q-23 |style="background:#"| HBR N |style="background:#"| ODB Q-31 |style="background:#" colspan="2"|⇨ ! - ! - |- | {{D1|2014}} ! PACIFIC RACING TEAM with URAS ! Toyota GT86 ZN6 |style="background:#"| FUJ Q-43 |style="background:#"| SUZ Q-25 |style="background:#"| APS R |style="background:#"| EBS N |style="background:#"| EBS N |style="background:#"| ODB N |style="background:#" colspan="2"|⇨ ! - ! - |- | {{D1|2015}} ! PACIFIC RACING TEAM with URAS ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#"| ODB Pq-21 |style="background:#"| SUZ Q-36 |style="background:#"| EBS Q-39 |style="background:#"| TKB Q-24 |style="background:#"| MSI Q-43 |style="background:#"| ODB N |style="background:#" colspan="2"|⇨ ! - ! - |- | {{D1|2016}} ! PACIFIC RACING TEAM with DUNLOP ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#"| ODB Q-27 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FUJ 15 |style="background:#"| TKB Q-35 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| TKB 12 |style="background:#"| EBS 23 |style="background:#"| EBS Q-28 |style="background:#"| ODB N |style="background:#"|⇨ ! 27 ! 16 |- | {{D1|2017}} ! PACIFIC RACING TEAM DUNLOP ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#"| ODB 22 |style="background:#"| ODB Q-21 |style="background:#"| TKB Q-36 |style="background:#"| MSI Q-30 |style="background:#"| EBS Q-22 |style="background:#"| EBS 18 |style="background:#"| ODB N |style="background:#"|⇨ ! 34 ! 2 |- | {{D1|2018}} ! PACIFIC RACING TEAM DUNLOP ! Nissan Skyline ER34 |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MSI 8 |style="background:#"| MSI 18 |style="background:#"| APS Q-20 |style="background:#"| TOK Q-18 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| TKB 15 |style="background:#"| EBS Q-23 |style="background:#"| EBS 23 |style="background:#"| ODB 17 ! 24 ! 23 |}

==References== <references/>

==External links== *[http://www.uras.co.jp Company Site] *[http://www.nomuken.com Official site] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070113081229/http://www.blitz.co.jp/d1gp/d1.htm Blitz official site] *[http://www.geocities.jp/d1gp_5thmotorsports/d1_drivers/nomura.html D1 Supporter profile] {{D1 Grand Prix}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nomura, Ken}} Category:Japanese racing drivers Category:Japanese baseball players Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Drifting drivers Category:Motorsport announcers Category:D1 Grand Prix drivers Category:Baseball people from Fukuoka (city) Category:Pacific Racing Team drivers