Wednesday on his Facebook fan page, Ford Mustang driver and Formula Drift champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. announced that he’d have to miss out on next month’s FD finale at Irwindale Raceway. A nasty crash at Texas Motor Speedway earlier last month totaled Gittin’s tried-and-true Mustang, and with him out of championship contention, there’s no sense in fielding another car.

Gittin and his Mustang in better times.

Gittin will still be on hand however, hanging out with fans and fellow racers alike, giving him a chance to experience drifting from the spectator side of things. While it’s far from ideal, we appreciate his commitment and glass half-full attitude. That’s professionalism as it should be.

Formula Drift was founded in 2003, the same year that 2 Fast 2 Furious hit theaters and America invaded Iraq. Among the combatants for the first Formula Drift crown the next year was a young gun named Vaughn Gittin Jr. driving a Ford Mustang, of all things. Since the first event in 2004, Gittin has not missed a single Formula Drift event, and he remains one of just a handful of the original ragtag group of drifters that helped launch Formula D as an international sensation.

Unfortunately for Gittin, any backup cars he has are currently travelling overseas to other obligations, and the unibody design of the Mustang means that repair is simply not an option. But we can say with confidence that GIttin will be back, and better than ever. The Formula Drift Champion already debuted a new 2015 Mustang RTR drift machine back in March and he’s been hard at work on the developing it for competition next year. He has also tried his hand at road racing, earning a respectable 5th place finish at a Trans Am event, possibly indicating that the man best known for drifting is looking to branch out.

As Ford’s foremost motorsports driver, we’ll be watching Gittin wherever he goes.