Straight out of Pell City, Alabama, Ben Hobson will soon enter his third consecutive season in the Formula Drift PRO series.
A member of the RTR Vehicles Drift Team and behind the wheel of a 2026 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD, Hobson is looking to excel and power forward in 2026 and has been setting his sights on the Streets of Long Beach and the opening round of the Formula Drift PRO series set for April 10-11 in Southern California.
“I’m in my house and in my shop and just wrenching on some cars,” said Hobson from the RTR Lab in Concord, North Carolina. “The weather here has kind of been crazy with the snow in all these areas and whatnot. But we’ve still been traveling. I’ve already been to Detroit twice this year. It’s only the middle of February, and I’ve been to Detroit twice, I’ve been to St. Louis, I’ve been out to the King of Hammers in California and I’ve been out to The Lab a lot.
“We had a championship party and a Christmas party and all kinds of fun activities there this offseason.
“There is no time for boredom with my schedule,” continued Hobson. “Even if I’m not traveling, I’m still at home building cars and working on my stuff. Me and my fiancé have a couple animals and we like to hang out with them. Every chance I can get, I’m spending time with family.
“Whenever they’re not here, I’m wrenching on cars and stuff. I’ve been wrenching on my 2022 Mustang GT here. I’ve been fixing it all up and making it all beautiful again. I’ve also got a couple Nissan 240SXs that I’ve been building just because I enjoy building and selling them.”
Hobson placed 26th overall in the 2025 Formula DRIFT PRO Championship and was pleased with both the results as well as the performance of the Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD
“Yeah, 2025 was actually really great,” explained Hobson. “It was the first season in the new chassis. They built me a new car that was tailored to me. The cage is a lot higher and out of my way and the visibility was a lot better with it so I could get my seating position and my steering wheel position right.
“We started the season off really strong at Long Beach and round one,” he continued. “We got second place in the seeding bracket and we won our first ever Pro 1 top 32 at that round, as well. We then made it into our first top 16. We had some confusion at a few rounds after that. At Atlanta and Orlando we had a couple of issues that we struggled with. We had a couple more issues along the way, but we got the car figured out and dialed out.
“By Utah, I was great in the car and felt like a whole new person with a whole new chassis,” he continued. “We finally figured out all the do dads that I needed to do extra with this Mustang. I was just figuring out how to drive like the big boys drive. I was figuring out what the sport actually needs from me as a driver versus what I want to do as a drifter. I was just compartmentalizing things.
“I hired a mental coach. I hired him going into the last round, round eight. He helped me out tremendously and we actually did really well at that round at the end. We finished off strong. We finished off the season in 25th position, which isn’t horrible, you know, I you just compare the 25 drivers above me. Not too terrible. I learned a lot. I want to carry that momentum from round eight in 2025 into round one of the 2026 season coming up. Yeah, we learned a lot mentally and physically last year. We’re going to be doing really solid this season. That’s the goal and I know that’s what’s going to happen.”
Hobson has found an excellent home with owner Vaughn Gittin Junior and the RTR Vehicles Drift Team.
“It’s a dream come true, man. I’ve always looked up to the guy,” Hobson said. “Vaughn is the definition of Fun Haver, so it’s cool to drive along with him and work alongside him and learn from him. I’ve been getting all that information from him and have been keeping all these relationships close. It’s awesome to get to see how he thinks and how he works and how he acts. It’s a blessing, man.
“I forget he’s my boss all the time, dude. I have to remind myself, ‘Oh crap! He’s my boss!’ He’s like an uncle, dude. He’s a big brother/uncle. He’s somebody you know you can rely on. He has my back through and through everything. We can joke around and I can be myself around him. We actually click and we bond. We’re very similar in very, very many ways.”
Hobson pointed out what he believes he needs to address and focus upon to get him to the next level in Formula Drift.
“I’ve got to focus,” nodded the 32-year-old. “I’ve got to visualize. I’ve got to stay mentally strong and just be me. I can’t let anything else around me justify what’s going on and what’s going to happen and I just have to keep my eyes on the prize and just visualize every step of the way. I want to keep a clean and clear conscious and keep a clean and clear mindset. Rinse and repeat, dude. Put them in the tailer one by one.”
Next stop for Hobson will be the Streets of Long Beach.
“Oh, I’m stoked,’ said Hobson. “I’m excited. I love Long Beach. It’s a very intimidating track and once you learn it, you learn to love it. It’s a very fun track to start the season off because of how many risks you have to take. The risk takers are who make it to the top. My mindset and my goal is to go in there and qualify good and get myself a good position going into the top 32 and just start taking them out one by one.
“I love that track, I love the car, I love the team. I feel like this year is going to be a whole different ballgame for the No. 213 car,” Hobson said. “I would love to get some podiums this year. One minimum and eight maximum. I would love to get o the podium. I want to prove to myself that I do have what I takes to compete with the best of the best because that’s exactly what it is. It is the best of the bet out there.
“Those top 32 are the best dudes around and I just have to go out there and prove myself and fun and drive all the way to the top. I learned something this season. If you ain’t good at thinking, don’t think too much. I don’t think too much. I just started doing and yeah, that’s going to be the goal. We’re going to win us an event this season.”
