Yeah, doing anything sudden tends to upset teh balance of the car. Letting go of the gas was the right thing to do, as was not touching the brake. If you have the wheel cut too far you will keep sliding so you need to back off untill you regain control of the car.

I once got spun out in a NASCAR Enduro race (on purpose, PIT style) by another driver. As the car was spinning around I slammed it into reverse, cut the wheel, and floored it. This swund the car back around. As I spun back towards facing forward I threw the car back into drive, punched it again, and spun the wheel the other way. Then I caught back up to the guy that hit me and took him into the wall on teh next turn. My dad was watching from the grandstands and after the race he was like "how did you know how to do that?" I really had no idea, it was just instictive. (and prolly wouldn't work in a FWD car) I think all those years of doing donuts in parking lots might have helped. I used to scare the **** out of people doing donuts at 50mph.