What is Drift Alliance? From Punk to Pro Drifters
Ryan Tuerck discusses his early career in professional drifting while fellow original Drift Alliance members Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Chris Forsberg look on. All photos by Walter Fulbright.
Today, the three core members of Drift Alliance are established stars in the drifting world: Chris Forsberg has a partnership with Nissan; Ryan Tuerck is an ambassador for Toyota; and Vaughn Gittin Jr. – a Carrara Media author preparing to release his biography Ready To Rock – is helping Ford build performance versions of the Mustang and Bronco.
It took a long and winding path to get there. The crew formed Drift Alliance in the early 2000s to tackle the burgeoning world of professional drifting together. On Wednesday night at Race Service in Los Angeles, the trio explained how those early days shaped their careers.
What were the early days of drifting like?
Before the year 2000, awareness of drifting as a sport in the U.S. was effectively zero. Chris Forsberg was a car enthusiast looking to find performance parts for his Mazda FC RX-7, and sought out Japanese car magazines for more information. That introduced him to drifting, a sport catching fire in Japan. He and collaborator Tony Angelo decided to host a monthly event called Drift Out Wednesdays at Englishtown Raceway in New Jersey to see if they could attract any interest, which attracted Vaughn Gittin Jr. all the way from Maryland.
It rained on the first night, but between 30-40 people still showed up, Forsberg said. That was enough to get started. By the end of the year, Drift Out Wednesdays had grown substantially. It even attracted visitors from Japan, the highly regarded Team Orange, who came to see what the American scene was all about. It was the first glimpse of potential, and convinced Forsberg and Angelo to start a collective called Drift Alliance. Later, Gittin Jr. and Tuerck joined the squad. “We wanted nothing more than to make it,” Gittin Jr. said.
How are drifting and skateboarding connected?
Even into their pro careers, the early days of Drift Alliance had an undeniable punk vibe. Tuerck was a professional motocross racer, and Forsberg had been inspired by skating, snowboarding and BMX videos that sponsors used to promote their athletes. He advertised the first Drift Out Wednesdays event with a video inspired by those films, of himself drifting around cones in a parking lot set to music from Black Sabbath. That was enough to catch the attention of Gittin Jr., a BMW and motorcross racer, who immediately picked up the message.
Later, when Drift Alliance became more official, they agreed it should be based on skate teams and snowboard crews who could film each other, teach each other new techniques and bill themselves as a group act to book demo events. They produced videos that showed them goofing around and wreaking havoc in hotel rooms. “Those years were rockstars and racecars,” Gittin Jr. said. “We were thick as thieves.” It was enough to begin attracting major sponsors, like Falken Tire.
How did funding affect the early days of pro drifting?
Money was always tight. Tuerck worked for his father in the offseasons to save up cash. Forsberg sold his drift car to put a deposit on a new Nissan 350Z, which he financed with monthly payments for five years – all while racing it professionally. Gittin Jr. found a sponsorship with Falken tires and Tein suspension, but built his car himself in the home garage. They said the years 2004-2007 were full of fun, but extremely uncertain. Before an event in Chicago one night, Tuerck slept in his car in the parking lot of Soldier Field. He only woke when Formula Drift director Andy Luk arrived in the morning to begin setting up. “What the hell are you doing?” Tuerck recalls him saying.
Through it all, the Drift Alliance crew looked out for one another. “If we didn’t have each other during that time, it wouldn’t have lasted,” Gittin Jr. said. Forsberg said he considering ending his full-time program in the series in 2007 due to lack of sponsorship. But buoyed by their Drift Alliance teammates, they kept pushing.
What took Formula Drift to the next level?
Drift Alliance were the homegrown, grassroots stars of Formula Drift. They weren’t always winning though. From 2005-2007 you were more likely to see drivers like Tanner Foust, Rhys Millen or Samuel Hubinette on the top step of the podium. They were seen at the professional tier of drivers, which big-budget sponsors and rigid routines. By contrast, Drift Alliance were talented misfits with flashes of brilliance. That began to change as Forsberg, Tuerck and Gittin Jr. refined their raw ability into a more focused approach.
Tuerck earned his first podium in 2008, and won the final round of the 2009 season as Forsberg claimed the championship – a landmark achievement. “It felt that way for all of us,” Tuerck said. “It was the first time a grassroots drifter won.” Gittin Jr. followed with the first of his two titles in 2010. The new guard had wrestled control of Formula Drift away from its elder statesmen, and Drift Alliance had matured into a dominant force. At a race in Texas in 2020, all three members stood atop the podium for the first 1-2-3 finish of their careers. “I’ll never forget that,” Forsberg said.
How did Tuerck, Forsberg and Gittin Jr. get started on YouTube?
As the Drift Alliance members were entering their prime competition years, the explosion of social media and YouTube presented a prime opportunity. Forsberg launched the idea of a year-long DVD, and since Drift Alliance had already produced skate-style videos and films together, it was a natural fit to shoot regular content that brought fans inside the season for each driver. They built miniature competitions within the race events for each other – who could set the fastest corner entry, longest burnout or most sideways line – that became individual videos. Content creation is now a major part of a Formula Drift driver’s acumen. In its new media rights deal with Racer Network, the series made sure to allow drivers the ability to produce their own unique content.
Tuerck took to the strategy most naturally of the three, Forsberg and Gittin Jr. agreed, as he used video to document incredible journeys and vehicle builds that became iconic, like his 650-horsepower Toyota Stout drift truck or the Ferrari V8-swapped Toyota 86. “That was my balance of not getting burned out from competition all the time and having fun,” Tuerck said. “It brought me back to the old days of staying hungry.” Together, the three drivers count more than 500,000 subscribers on YouTube and 2.1 million followers on Instagram.
The original Drift Alliance members Ryan Tuerck, Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Chris Forsberg discuss their careers at Race Service in Los Angeles.
What’s Next for Drift Alliance?
Each member of the original crew has gone on to reach incredible heights. Forsberg is a three-time FD champion who continues to compete in Formula Drift with the No. 64 Destined Industries Nissan Z. Tuerck has announced that 2026 will be his final full-time season in FD, competing in the No. 411 Rain-X Toyota GR Corolla. Gittin Jr. competes occasionally, but focuses primarily on supporting his RTR Vehicles Drift Team drivers Ben Hobson and five-time FD champion James Deane.
Drift Alliance built an incredibly important foundation for professional drifting in the United States. The members not only built an established fanbase for the growing sport, they also carried it through to new heights, legitimacy and long-term sustainability. It’s a legacy that will live on for decades to come, and it all started in a New Jersey parking lot with some cones and a video camera.
To learn more about the history of Drift Alliance and the growth of professional drifting in the U.S., preorder Ready To Rock by author Vaughn Gittin Jr. with veteran journalist Mike Spinelli. Releasing this summer.
Ready To Rock
Dreams, Passion and “Cool Sh*t Wins” — The Story of RTR Vehicles
By Vaughn Gittin Jr. with Mike Spinelli
Foreword by T-Pain
Hope you like going sideways.
Since he began competing professionally in 2004, Vaughn Gittin Jr. has dominated the most entertaining forms of motorsport in the world — from smoky drifting to high speed off-road racing. Now, as founder and owner of RTR Vehicles, he's embarking on a new mission: inject that trademark attitude and personality into the iconic Ford Mustang and Ford Bronco straight from the factory.
This is the story of how Gittin Jr. and his team of fellow underdogs rewrote the rules and rose to automotive prominence, winning two Formula Drift championships and establishing themselves as car culture trend-setters. With the help of veteran journalist Mike Spinelli, they detail the journey from after-hours drifting in New Jersey industrial parks to competing — and winning — on the world's biggest stages.
More than an automotive biography, Gittin Jr. also details the critical steps it took to build RTR Vehicles into a pioneering performance center, set to release the Mustang RTR and Bronco RTR in a landmark partnership with Ford that has earned Gittin Jr. the moniker of "A modern day Carroll Shelby." For millions of dedicated fans, it represents a dream come true. For Gittin Jr. and the RTR team, it's another chance to shock the world.
Also available as Limited Edition here.
ISBN: 978-1-971271-02-6
For information on our Return and Refund Policy, click here.
Ready To Rock
Dreams, Passion and “Cool Sh*t Wins” — The Story of RTR Vehicles
By Vaughn Gittin Jr. with Mike Spinelli
Foreword by T-Pain
Coming in Summer 2026, Ready To Rock | Limited Edition is an exclusive version of the biography of Vaughn Gittin Jr. and RTR Vehicles, icons of modern car culture. Production is restricted to 1,000 copies. Only available from CarraraBooks.com.
Compared with the Standard Edition, every copy of the Limited Edition:
is signed by Vaughn Gittin Jr.;
comes in a unique black hardcover;
is limited to 1,000 copies only.
Over more than 200 pages, Gittin Jr. details the rise of RTR Vehicles and the passion and dedication it took to build an automotive powerhouse. Featuring behind-the-scenes stories and never-before-seen images from acclaimed automotive photographers, this coffee table book is the perfect keepsake for any modern auto enthusiast.
Customers will receive communication about preorder delivery closer to the release date later this summer.
ISBN: 978-1-971271-02-6
For information on our Return and Refund Policy, click here.