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Few names are more closely tied to Monster Energy-liveried drift machines than Vaughn Gittin Jr., whose partnership with the brand dates back to 2010 and helped turn a factory Mustang platform into a full-time competition drift car. Formula Drift itself only dates back to 2003, yet muscle car platforms quickly became the backbone of the sport. This image captures exactly the kind of sideways moment that built that reputation.

A single frame catches the exact instant when a muscle car stops behaving like one: tires smoking, rear end kicked sideways, green and black Monster Energy graphics blurring past a wall of tire barriers. It’s the kind of image that gets shared a thousand times without anyone bothering to ask who’s actually behind the wheel. For over a decade, one name has been more closely tied to Monster-liveried drift machines than any other, and his path to that seat started with a Mustang most enthusiasts wouldn’t have looked at twice. The question this photo really poses isn’t about the car at all — it’s about how far someone has to push a factory pony car before it stops being a muscle car and becomes something else entirely.

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From Grand National to Sideways Icon

Vaughn Gittin Jr. announced a multi-year partnership with Monster Energy in April 2010, putting the brand’s colors on his Ford Mustang for the Formula Drift series. That October, at Irwindale’s Toyota Speedway — known to drift fans as the House of Drift — he wheeled a 1,200-horsepower Monster Energy Mustang to his first championship, and a second title followed in 2020. The partnership turned a factory pony car nameplate into one of drifting’s most recognizable liveries.

Why Muscle Cars Took Over Drifting

Formula Drift itself is younger than most of the muscle cars competing in it, launched in 2003 by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage with its first event run in April 2004 at Road Atlanta. American muscle platforms like the Mustang caught on fast in the series because their front-engine, rear-drive layout and abundant torque suit the sideways, tandem-battle format drift judging rewards — proof that a car built for straight-line bragging rights can be just as at home going sideways.

Formula Drift’s tandem battle format, where two cars run nose-to-tail through a course while judges score line, angle, and style, rewards exactly the kind of controlled chaos captured in a shot like this. Muscle car builds dominate the sport’s top ranks in part because their V8s deliver the low-end torque needed to keep the rear tires spinning through a long sweeping corner, something smaller turbocharged imports have to work much harder to replicate.

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