Ryan Hawkinson

Ryan stumbled upon his first drift event in 2007. At the time, he didn't even know what exactly he was looking at. But one thing is for sure, when he was standing behind that k-rail and the cars came sliding by, the first time he got sprayed with rubber, he was hooked! From then on, he grew up playing drifting video games, following Formula Drift, and constantly browsing Larry Chen's Driftfotos.

Fast forward to 2015 and Ryan met Jackson in college. The first day of class, we instantly realized we had the same interests, so it didn't take long before he introduced me to USAIR. Ryan had no idea this track even existed. So thrilled there was a local track that hosted drift events, he realized he had an "in" for the local drift scene. Jackson then introduced him to Isaac, and he got his first ever ride along in a drift car. Once again, that single ride along sealed the deal for knowing what his true passion was.

"Yup, I'm going to learn how to do that!" he exclaimed after his first ride.

By mid season 2017, Ryan ended up taking his track prepared 1995 Mustang to a few drift events. Though it wasn't setup for drifting, it was still the most fun he had ever had with a car! The next season he bought a Mazda RX7 that ended up becoming his primary drift car for the next four years. By spring of 2020, he got the car fully setup and reliable, and drove nearly every event at USAIR from '20-'22, including special events such as Final Bout Gallery, DDLE, Final Bout SSC, and Final Bout 5.