  The classical electromagnetic friction of a charged particle moving with
prescribed constant velocity parallel to a planar imperfectly conducting
surface is reinvestigated. As a concrete example, the Drude model is used to
describe the conductor. The transverse electric and transverse magnetic
contributions have very different character both in the low velocity
(nonrelativistic) and high velocity (ultrarelativistic) regimes. Both numerical
and analytical results are given. Most remarkably, the transverse magnetic
contribution to the friction has a maximum for $|\mathbf{v}|<c$, and persists
in the limit of vanishing resistivity for sufficiently high velocities. We also
show how Vavilov-\v{C}erenkov radiation can be treated in the same formalism.
