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If you’ve been following the car scene at pretty much any point since the turn of the century, you’ve probably heard of RTR. With a name so obvious—RTR stands for “ready to rock”—it’s surprising no one else thought of it. Vaughn Gittin Jr. and company led a two-pronged assault on car culture with racing and tuning, and the story of RTR’s growth from a grassroots effort into a major player in the automotive aftermarket can fill a book. Literally.
Ready To Rock chronicles the history of RTR from its founding in 2009 up to today in 256 pages with accompanying photos from top shooters. It’s co-written by Gittin Jr. and Mike Spinelli—a familiar name around these parts—and published by Carrara Media, the go-to place for books on today’s car culture.
Larry Chen/Carrara Media
If you’re unfamiliar with the story’s basic outline, Gittin Jr. started out as a pro drifter in the early 2000s, back when the sport was just launching in the United States. In 2005, he became the first American to win a D1 Grand Prix event, and he went on to become a double Formula Drift champion, winning the crown in 2010 and 2020. He still races a Mustang in Formula Drift, and makes occasional appearances in off-road events where RTR also competes.
But RTR is more than just a race team. Over the years, it began developing aftermarket parts for the Ford vehicles it raced, gradually leveling up to complete builds, including notable one-offs like Ken Block’s “Hoonicorn” Mustang and the seven-motor Mustang Mach-E 1400. The customer list includes rapper T-Pain, who also contributed a foreword for the book. The text is accompanied by photos from Larry Chen, Matt Marcu, and Tony Harmer, so there should be plenty of great stuff to look at as well.
Larry Chen/Carrara Media
The book arrives as RTR raises its profile in the car world and capitalizes on a bigger partnership with Ford. The automaker is now selling RTR-branded versions of the Mustang and Bronco through its dealerships, a big challenge in its own right.
Ready To Rock ships on November 2, but you can pre-order it now from Carrara in $54.99 Standard Edition and $124.99 Limited Edition forms. The latter is signed by Gittin Jr. and limited to 1,000 copies.
Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he’s not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.
