Scottsdale drift driver takes Haugen Racing to Japan

After living in Scottsdale since he was eight years old, Matt Haugen will be moving to Japan to continue his career as a professional drift driver and compete in the 2022 Formula Drift Japan World Competition.

Haugen said he was interested in cars since the day he was born, but discovered his love for racing when his parents sent him to a special experience at a racing school for his 20th birthday.

After racing school Haugen kept going to classes and doing track days where he discovered drifting and fell in love.

“If you don’t know what drifting is, it’s like ‘Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift’ where you go sideways around the corners,” said Haugen.

Before each drifting competition a track map consisting of three to five turns is drawn and shows where the judges want the car to go on the track with as much angle as possible, so instead of being judged solely on speed, drivers are judged on their line, angle, and style.

Each driver will receive a score out of 100 points, but Haugen said it gets fun when two people are battling.

“The lead drivers’ job is to set a 100-point qualifying run in the lead. The chase driver is trying to mimic the lead driver and be as close as possible,” said Haugen. “You go through brackets like March Madness and that’s how you get the winner.”

Drifting is popular in the U.S. and is continuing to grow. Haugen explained there is a drifting scene in Arizona and people love the sport but there are very little opportunities to get track time.

The lack of track time creates an issue for drivers interested in pursuing drifting. Since some drivers don’t have the opportunity to drift on a track, they turn to street takeovers. Because of this, street takeovers and drifting are occasionally looked at as the same, which is not at all true.

Pictured: Views of Matt Haugen's drifting car. (Submitted photos) 

“The street takeovers where people are doing donuts and burnouts in the middle of the street is not actually drifting, it’s a completely different world,” said Haugen.

Even though it is difficult to get track time, Haugen was able to compete in the Formula Drift in the U.S. once but chose not to compete again the next year and instead spent time building his business, Haugen Racing up.

In addition to drifting Haugen runs a YouTube channel and creates all the merchandise sold on Haugen Racing. These were both factors that contributed to Haugen’s decision to move to Japan, where drifting was originally started.

Haugen said his YouTube channel is first and foremost car based so his content includes videos of him reacting to videos of drifting series or videos submitted by fans. He also vlogs where he takes viewers on adventures with him, but he wanted to find a way to stand out.

Right now, Haugen must compete with both YouTubers and drifters who have been professionals for far longer than he has, so he wanted to find something that made him unique.

“If I compete in formula drift U.S. I am another white guy living in American making videos about competing,” said Haugen. “But if I go to compete in Japan, I am a white guy, traveling to Japan where there are no other Americans competing, now it is an interesting story.”

Haugen was considering living part time in Japan and part time in the U.S. but ultimately, he thought “why am I staying in Arizona, what do I have to lose?” and decided he would spend all his time in Japan.

Haugen said he is mainly excited to move to Japan because every time he has visited, he felt very comfortable and like he really fit in. His love for Japan also shows in his merchandise, which is always in both English and Japanese.

His trips to Japan also influenced his car builds, which can be seen in the car he just built for Formula Drift Japan. After getting burned in the past with some car builds, he decided to build his car fully in-house. He and his mechanic started building the car in June of last year and finished on New Year’s and they did mostly everything themselves.

“I am really happy with the results, it came out of this little garage in the dirt, and I am really proud of it,” said Haugen.

Looking into the future Haugen said his goal is to live in Tokyo and looks forward to being able to build his life there. Even though he is leaving Arizona Haugen will continue to update his subscribers through his posts and supporters can watch him compete beginning April 22.

As of now Haugen said he is ready for a new adventure and now that adventure will be in his backyard.

Editor’s Note: Miya Whitaker is a student reporter at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.