Meet Matt Haugen of Haugen Racing in North Scottsdale

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Haugen.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Matt. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My story started similar to many other car guys and gals, but its what happened along the way that is extraordinary. My father was your average car enthusiast, having owned some pretty cool cars throughout his life and doing some of the work himself. He would take me to hotrod shows in my stroller and I absolutely loved cars from the day I was born. At 16 years old, I got my first car, a 2008 Toyota Tundra. I immediately starting modifying it and offroading after school and on the weekends. I ended up ripping the bumpers off, blowing up the front shocks, ruining the exhaust, and blowing the power steering rack before I realized it was not a good idea to destroy this brand new truck. I was addicted and could not stop offroading so I had to take drastic measures. I ended up putting 26″ wheels and putting it on air suspension, becoming the first and only bagged 4wd Toyota Tundra in the world, which made it no longer possible to offroad. After that is when this all started materializing. I got my first vehicle in the SEMA Show at 18 years old.

From there on, I had at least one vehicle in the show for the next six years and began building all sorts of vehicles including: a bagged and supercharged Chevrolet Silverado, LS swapped Hyundai Genesis Coupe drift car, 1 of 1 Liberty Walk, bagged Lamborghini Murcielago, Rocket Bunny bagged and 1JZ swapped Nissan 350Z, built SR20 Nissan Silvia drift car, built RB25 Nissan Laurel drift car, built RB25 Nissan Skyline R32 drift car, and a long travel pre-runner Toyota Tacoma.

After high school, I got my Hyundai Genesis Coupe and started building that as a fun street car. I ended up going to Bondurant Racing School and attending track days throughout Arizona. I first experience drifting during an exercise at a track day where we were tasked with accelerating around a circle of cones a few hundred feet wide. The goal was to experience the feeling of losing traction but then recovering. When this happened to me, I ended up throttling down and drifting around all the cones, I was immediately hooked. From there, I built a Nissan 240sx and started getting into drifting. This is where Haugen Racing was born. I had resisted getting into social media up to this point, but I thought it would be fun to post some of my drifting adventures online. I had no plans of it becoming a business but through growing and getting more into drifting and putting cars in SEMA, it took on its own shape.

Now, I have an entire team behind me, a private shop in Scottsdale, competing in Formula Drift, a clothing and merchandise line, YouTube channel, and so much more! I don’t know what the future has in store for Haugen Racing but I plan on continuing having fun and putting on a show for all of you.

Has it been a smooth road?
The largest challenge has been figuring out the racing world. No one in my family or group of friends have ever raced a day in their life and I have never even known someone who has. This created a huge learning curve for me having to navigate the world and make all my own mistakes. I believe in the end its made me much stronger helped shape the person I am today but this sport has brought me to the edge of giving up and quitting three times now. I decided to continue and not give up and each time its made me stronger and taught me valuable lessons.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Haugen Racing is Matt Haugen, the cars, the partying, the drifting, the clothing, the lifestyle, and the team that makes everything happen. We are here to do things differently and show people that you don’t have to follow the crowd.

Childhood Memory
One of the most defining childhood memories is me as a baby in my diaper and cowboy boots trying to wrench the wheel off of my fathers old Corvette. I think this really shows how deep the love for automobiles was ingrained in me from day one.

Contact Info:

• Website: haugenracing.com
• Email: info@haugenracing.com
• Instagram: @haugenracing
• Facebook: facebook.com/haugenr
• Twitter: twitter.com/haugenracing
• Other: youtube.com/matthaugenracing

Image Credit:
Astral Photo, Excessive Wear

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