Tyler McQuarrie grew up in Walnut Creek, CA and started racing karts when he was 14. Walnut Creek, a stone's throw from Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, where Tyler got his first taste of competition running the hilly, twisty, demanding racetrack that so many drivers love to hate. Tyler's in the opposite camp - he has excelled at this track, and indeed, won the Formula Russell Championship and the Russell Triple Crown in 1996. This brought him an invitation to become an instructor at the Jim Russell Racing School that is based at Infineon, and since 1997, Tyler has coached and provided pointers to many pro drivers such as NASCAR's Bill Elliott, Scott Speed, Regan Smith, Scott Riggs, Stanton Barrett, and Luis Diez to name a few.
Across the pond, Tyler tried his hand in Europe and did well there, becoming only the third American to win the prestigious World Scholarship in England. He ended up spending a season racing in Formula Vauxhall, returning to the U.S. to run in the USF2000 series. From there, Tyler moved to sports cars, competing in Porsches in the American LeMans Series. His experiences there got him noticed, and Tyler has since run in the NASCAR Southwest Tour, Sprint cars, Touring cars, and for the past four years, in drifting.
He has since become one of the top drift drivers and is also one of the best multipurpose drivers in the country. Whether it’s racing, drifting, or time attack, Tyler has the capability to win in either of the above categories. In 2007, Tyler set two track records in two different Hankook JIC cars. Tyler also finished 4th in two Formula Drift events in two different Hankook JIC cars and qualified first in the Hankook JIC Porsche’s second outing.
Tyler also earned significant notice when he became co-champion of the highly popular 2008 Redline Time Attack. It was his accomplishments in this competition and his strong efforts in many Formula Drift events that got him noticed by Team Falken, and in 2009, Tyler becomes a new member of the squad, driving a V8 powered Nissan 350Z convertible on Falken Azenis RT-615 tires; a very potent combination. And on the subject of combinations, when you name your firstborn daughter McLaren, there's no question this man has oil coursing through his veins and tremendous control at the pedals. He is a welcome addition to the 2009 Falken Drift Team.
Tyler also has the ability to be a great spokesperson. In past seasons Tyler was featured in documentaries on Discovery Channel and MTV. During the 2007 season Tyler has done multiple interviews on ESPN2 and was featured on the HD show for Formula Drift. He was also featured on Redline TV for Speed channel for drifting, time attack, and racing. In addition to the on camera interviews, Tyler has written articles on SpeedTV.com and Super Street Magazine. After getting the track record at Buttonwillow, the Hankook JIC S15 was on the cover of D Sport Mag. Tyler and the Hankook JIC Porsche were on the cover of March 2008 European Car. Tyler and JIC were also featured in S3, 0-60, Performance Auto & Sound, Banzai, and Modified Mag.