He’s a living legend in the sport. Having won his first Formula Drift title in 2010 and then, a decade later, backing that up with the 202 Formula Drift title in 2020, Vaughn Gittin Jr. has immortalized his place in the sport of drifting with his go big, foot-to-the-floor, massive tire slaying smoke style.
Having stepped away from the sport full-time back in 2022, Gittin has remained in the competitive game, he and his Monster Energy Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD showing up and competing at a few Formula Drift events a year.
That will continue for the 45-year-old come the launch of the 2026 Formula Drift season. His fan appeal and overall popularity in the sport as pronounced as ever, Gittin will be back in and with the season opening Streets of Long Beach round set to launch next weekend, we caught up with the Formula Drift icon as he look toward his first event of the season: Round two at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on May 7-9.
“I love Road Atlanta,” pointed out Vaughn Gittin this week. “It was the first Formula Drift event in 2004. Literally, the first time I ever pulled my handbrake. Taking it back that far, right? 22 years ago. Move to the present It is one of my favorite tracks. It’s so fast and it rewards my style of driving and commitment and just going hard, so I look forward to that event every year.
“That is why I choose it in the couple of rounds that I do annually. I get to join my teammates Ben Hobson and James Deane and be the team owner that tries to whoop their ass, basically. I’ll also be doing round eight at Formula Drift Long Beach, so the finals. So I’ll be doing round two and round eight.”
Gittin explained what brings him back to compete in selected Formula Drift rounds each season.
“Well, I stepped away from the sport in 2022 and there was just a little hole in my heart and in my competitive spirit,” Gittin said. “The thing about drifting for me is that it’s the only thing I’ve done consistently done for now going on well over 20 years. It’s just such an incredible challenge. Immersing with the team, mind, body, machine… It’s such an intense weekend and the durations of the runs are really short, but the learnings and he personal growth and the things that you overcome to run at the level of Formula Drift make it a really incredible experience. I missed it, so I come to do a couple rounds a year to stay fresh and to just immerse myself in that unique challenge that you can only get from drifting.”
Gittin still believes he’s a championship-caliber driver.
“Yeah, 100-percent. Literally just the other week I went to a mountain event called Drift Appalachia in the Appalachian Mountains. I was drifting a mountain door to door with Ben Hobson,” Gittin said. “Yeah, when I get in the car I feel like I never left. I still feel so dialed and connected. Everything is still there. It’s not like I’m sitting on the couch, you know? I’m still driving, I’m just not fully committed to chasing a championship. I do think that if I ever wanted to, I think I could come back and give a serious title shot.
“My team is even like, ‘Just run a whole season!’ and I’m like, ‘Maybe when I’m 50! Just for fun.’ We’ll see. I’m 45 now. Five more years. We’ll see. I think it’s what makes the most sense. Am I excited by it? Are people excited by it? Are our partners excited by it? If it all works and the schedule works, great. The problem is that I haven’t figured out a time machine to be in two places at once just yet.”
Vaughn Gittin came out of Baltimore and started his journey in drifting from the seat of a Nissan Silva S13. By 2005 he had transitioned into driving the Ford Mustang, and by 2007, Gittin quit his day job and became a full-time drifting professional.
In 2010, Gittin clinched the Formula Drift championship and became an indelible part of the sport’s history. Gittin is proud of his place in Formula Drift and the competitive legacy he has created.
“Yeah, it has been really incredible to reflect back,” offered Gittin. “We have a book that we’re writing right now. It’s called Ready To Rock. It’s the story of RTR Vehicles, and obviously I’m a very big part of that story. We’ve been really going back into the archive. It’s been an incredible journey. This book has made me realize that I haven’t really poked my head up enough to really take it all in, you know?
“The things that have been accomplished and literally being able to live the dream and passion is just an absolute definition of what I’ve been doing and I love it and I’m grateful,” he noted. “All the stuff that’s been accomplished over the past 21 years is just crazy. Now to look at where we’re at with a full off-road team, a drifting team and doing production vehicles with Ford, it’s just really crazy. I look back at it and all of this just happened organically. It happened off of me chasing my passion and loving cars.
“That’s literally what it started from. There was no freaking business plan. There was no grandiose dream that I was bread into. It just has been authentic and organic and it’s just really cool.”
Gittin is not absorbed by his position in the sport.
“I don’t really think much about legacy, if I’m honest,” added Gittin. “I’m very flattered when people call me a legend. Those things are very flattering, but the only thing I can say is that the biggest and greatest pride point of my legacy is that I’ve been able to just be myself through it all. I’ve not changed. I love being with the people. I love inspiring. I love driving. I love the business around it.
“It’s all fully allowed me to authentically be myself in all instances and that for me is what I really love the most about it. That’s something I really pride myself on. Just staying the dude that was dreaming of doing it in 2002 and 2003.”
Gittin says everything needs to be perfect to be successful in drifting.
“In drifting you’ve got to be perfect. Your team has got to be perfect. The car has to be perfect,” he explained. “So winning a championship in Formula Drift is something that’s extremely special and only a few people have earned them in the grand scheme of things. So to have two of them is just a really great representation of the incredible people that I’m able to attract to support this.
“They’re all just meaningful moments of effort. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I’ve got two championships in Formula Drift. Think about that. I mean that’s 10-percent odds. Yeah, it’s really incredible to won those title and being a Formula Drift champion. No one can take that away from you.”
