Name: Vaughn Gittin Jr. aka JR
Location: Glen Burnie, Maryland
Previous Location's: Maryland my whole life but I have been fortunate enough to travel my share of the world!
Career Path: Destroyer of Falken tires and professional Drifter
Previous Career paths: Worked at Wendy's flipping burgers, owned my own mobile car detailing business, project manager and designer for the implementation of large scale wireless networks in high class communities, information technology manager for well known economic consulting firm.
Notable Projects/Wins: 2007 D1GP World Champion, 2005 D1GP USA vs. Japan Champion, Formula Drift Hardest Charger Award 2004-2006
Cars: 2005 Ford Mustang, Lexus GS300, 1993 Nissan 240sx coupe, 1955 Chevy 2 door hard top
Fav Past cars: 1964 Cutlass with hydraulics, 1988 Maxima, Toyota Tercel 3 door (best car to jump ever)
Next car: Porsche GT3 or 911 slant nose
Car Passions: I got my first taste of speed when I got a go kart for my 4th birthday. I was immediately in love. My father had a slew of sick cars throughout my childhood so I would always beg him to take me to races. At age 13 I got my first dirt bike and found another love. I raced motocross pretty heavily from 16-20. At age 18 I got my first of over ten 240sx's I have owned. I would spend every dollar I had just burning tires down, powerslides donuts and just fun driving with it. I then learned of drifting and found my true love and passion. I worked my IT job to support my drifting habit and here I am living a dream drifting for a living. I have always loved fast cars and motocross. In the last 6 years of being heavily into drifting I have also become interested in V8 supercar racing and time attack as well as the Mustang challenge series and hope to test myself in those events as well
Personal style: Well used jeans, t-shirts and DC shoes < that's me.
Favorite band of the moment: It is absolutely impossible for me to name that...Motley crue, old AFI, Rise against, Hellacopters
Personal Motto: Ready to Rock!
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Posted
Jun 12 2009, 04:04 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 10 comment(s)
Check out this sweet video Josh Herron made from ECB! Great work my friend!
-JR
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Posted
Jun 12 2009, 11:31 AM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 27 comment(s)
The weekend before Formula Drift Round 3, I went out to East Coast Bash. It was an incredible two-day event. We even had an incredible dance party! I love "grassroots" events like this. The vibe defines drifting and is the reason why I got into the sport! Here are some of my favorite shots from the event. Special thanks to Dan Jenkins for the pictures! The one and only Matt Petty. B-Dub John Wagner never lifting! This dude street drives this car daily. It has a 2J in it. Angerman (SP?)...
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Posted
May 29 2009, 06:12 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 8 comment(s)
We joined the "Mustang's Across America" tour after picking up this sweet 2010 GT500 at a local dealership in Oklahoma. The caravan of over 600 Mustangs was heading to the 45th Mustang Anniversary at Barber Motorsports Park. It was a great time and I will definately be doing the tour every five years as long as my schedule allows. More of this to follow. Keep in mind this is Barber's personal collection... we all need to be dairy farmers. MOOOOOOOOOOOO! The very first prototype...
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Posted
Apr 30 2009, 04:03 AM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 21 comment(s)
I know I'm a bit late on here, however, I just wanted to share Round One in Long Beach from my eyes. You've heard the "better late then never" motto? Long Beach is an awesome way to start off the season; the energy of the city and the crowd just feels electric! The course is challenging and takes 100% commitment. One wrong move and you're parked for the weekend. In the weeks leading up to the event, I couldn't sleep because I was so excited to debut the 2010 Falken Tire...
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Posted
Apr 29 2009, 05:45 AM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 7 comment(s)
Two weekends ago I went out to Barber Motorsports Park for the Mustang 45th Anniversary celebration to put on a show for the fans and give some ride-alongs. It was such an amazing event that brought so many people together who shared an incredible passion for Mustangs. Check out the video!
-Vaughn Gittin Jr.
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Posted
Apr 14 2009, 05:40 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 15 comment(s)
So last December I took a cross-country trip with my pal Brian Scotto - the editor of 0-60 Magazine - in a 2010 Ford Mustang GT. Now that the 0-60 Magazine feature "East Bound and Down" is on news stand's - go get it, it's a great read - I can share some of the cool things we did and saw along the way. After leaving LA ,our first stop was the Sourdough Saloon in Rachel, Nevada. This is the local watering hole for a lot of manufacturer engineers while they are testing in Death Valley...
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Posted
Mar 19 2009, 06:56 AM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 10 comment(s)
Here are some pictures of me testing the 2010 Falken Tire Ford Mustang Monday in NC. Enjoy! I couldn't be any happier with where we are at this point in time with the car. My crew has done a great job. It seriously can pretty much drive backwards on high speed entries and it accelerates while in deep angle insanely fast! I cannot wait for everyone to see and hear this thing live. I am pumped for Rd. 1 in Long Beach! Rock out! - JR
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Posted
Mar 17 2009, 08:09 AM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 15 comment(s)
Let me introduce the 2010 Falken Tire Ford Mustang. It
holds insane angle and is absolutely the fastest thing I have ever driven - 2500LBS and 650 HP! I am excited to wake up the city of Long Beach next month for Formula D Round One!
Go to BoschPerformanceArt.com to sign up for the chance to win your own 2010 Ford
Mustang GT!
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Posted
Feb 26 2009, 12:45 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 30 comment(s)
Ever since I borrowed a friend's Corolla at D1 New Jersey to battle Ueno in 2007, I have a special place in my heart for AE86's. I have even bought 2 of them since: one rally spec, and one street that is rotting because I can't decide what to do with it but I don't want to get rid of it and chance not finding another one in such good shape. Since it is coming to the end of Toyota month I thought I would share these pictures (I hope I am allowed) that I just got from my leprechaun...
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Posted
Feb 12 2009, 12:30 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 20 comment(s)
Hey everyone! I got to test my new car last week. I am so excited to get some more seat time and get it dialed in over the next few weeks. It's rocket ship! Here's a quick little fun teaser to check out! I think the sound is almost as good as last year's N/A car... what do you think?
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Posted
Jan 26 2009, 02:55 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 1 comment(s)
Posted
Jan 18 2009, 10:19 AM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 4 comment(s)
Here is a quick video I wanted to share to let you all feel the speed and fun of the Red Bull course (better late then never??) The over the left shoulder cam was my first run, which I nailed pretty darn perfect and the in car was my second run, in which I entered a bit to early and put me on a shallow line.
To me seeing the RPM warning aim lights on my dash was pretty cool. I don't ever see them when I'm driving and I never realized how close to the limiter I am the majority of the time while on course. The other cool thing to me was after the first turn sweeper when I switch back to the left you can hear the car bite and load the motor even though I never lift, man old Betsy was working good!!! Looking forward to dialing the new car in like that!!
I'm at Barrett Jackson doing exhibitions right now but I have some pretty cool "off season" stories to share in the near future!!!!
-Vaughn Gittin Jr
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Posted
Dec 04 2008, 01:30 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 18 comment(s)
I know everyone has already seen all the pictures and read all the coverage of the Red Bull World Championship, but I just wanted to touch on it from my point of view. My brain analyzes nonstop; sometimes I love it, sometimes I want it to turn off. At this event I had the realization of just how far our sport has come, especially in America. I mean I obviously have realized it to a certain degree, but this event was just like "WOW...we are doing it." I think some of this came from the overall...
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Posted
Nov 14 2008, 02:29 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 10 comment(s)
I'm going to travel back in time to about two months ago in the middle of September. From my win at Irwindale, my excitement overcame me when writing my last blog and I had to share that with you all, instead of what I should have been writing about - which was a week of real-life Speedhunting. During SEMA 2007, I walked into a sushi place at the Hard Rock hotel when I ran into Shawn Crawford from my sponsor JE Pistons. Shawn introduced me to a gentleman by the name of Karl Fredrickson who is...
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Posted
Oct 31 2008, 09:00 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 19 comment(s)
As I write this, I am reliving my victory three weeks ago at Irwindale Speedway during the final round of Formula Drift, firstly I just want to say WOOOOOOHOOOYAAAA!!!! For me this victory was long awaited and well deserved if I don't say so myself. I've won two prestigious drifting events in the past: the 2005 D1GP USA vs. Japan and the 2007 D1GP World Championship. But I have yet to taste the glory and stand on the top of the podium in a Formula Drift event. The final round of FD proved...
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Posted
Oct 03 2008, 06:10 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 33 comment(s)
It has been a crazy last couple of months for me; I'm going to refrain from putting everything into this one blog of mine. After all, I don't want to take up the entire Speedhunters site with my blog, now do I? For this blog, I am going to talk about my Bosch Performance Art shoot in which I got the opportunity to drift the Streets of Los Angeles and also my trip to Detroit to the Ford Headquarters, the Woodward Dream Cruise, and the Bill Ford Museum. A couple months back, I was on a conference...
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Posted
Aug 06 2008, 11:08 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 8 comment(s)
A few weeks ago I was invited out to X Games 14 by my friend and rally driver Ken Block. He had mentioned he would like me to be an extra set of eyes as well as his technical advisor, not to mention I doubled as his "party sub" since he had to skip out on all the festivities until the weekend was over in order to perform at 110%. Even though I have an already insane schedule this month, how could I resist this opportunity? Being a spawn of action sports, this was like an invite to my fantasy...
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Posted
Jul 09 2008, 11:00 AM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 23 comment(s)
I was introduced to Ken Block at Formula Drift in the Streets of Long Beach 2006 from a mutual friend. Some of you might know Ken as the cofounder of DC Shoes, but most of you know as him as a pro rally driver and the maniac behind the wheel of a factory supported, Vermont Sport Cars built, Monster Energy Drink/Subaru Impreza WRX STI that jumped over 170 feet for the Stunt Junkies show. Since our introduction we have had a number of conversations and we have always talked about getting together to...
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Posted
Jun 25 2008, 04:30 AM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 27 comment(s)
WARNING!!! This should not be read by those with a weak stomach!!! I have been waiting for a long time to publicly tell this story and share this build to the world. Out of respect for my friends at Super Street and unwritten industry laws, I had to wait for the feature to be released before I could spill the beans. For those of you that haven't gotten the July 2008 issue of Super Street, pick it up and check out the story on my S14 - it has a bit happier ending than the following story! I bought...
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Posted
Jun 02 2008, 02:20 PM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 18 comment(s)
The rest of the Drift Alliance boys and I decided to premiere the new Drift Alliance DVD Stay Hungry in Atlanta while we were out there for Formula Drift Round Two. We held the premiere at Midtown Art Cinema just outside of the city. It was a badical movie theatre – so classy in fact that they served beer and wine. Nothing but the best for Drift Alliance. We went all out for the premiere – red carpet, satin ropes, the whole enchilada. It was absolutely everything we wanted it to be and...
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