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For those that might not be familiar with who Travis Pastrana is, he is probably most famous for his extreme motocross skills, and being the first to ever land a double backflip in competition.
He has also has a strong passion for doing extremely risky things like bungee jumping from a helicopter, base jumping, etc. Most recently he decided it would be fun to jump out of an airplane at 12,500 feet wearing only sunglasses, socks and surf trunks while holding a can of Red Bull... and that's right... no parachute!
But what many of his extreme sport fans might not know is that he is also an extremely talented and accomplished rally car driver.
He got the bug in 2003 when he was invited to participate in the 2003 Race of Champions. The following year he began driving for the Subaru-backed Vermont SportsCar rally team. After showing some really promising results, Subaru then signed him to lead their new Subaru Rally Team for the 2006 Rally America Championship series with veteran co-driver Christian Edstrom... which they easily won both the National Series Overall and Open Class Championships that year.
Also in 2006, Pastrana won the gold medal for the first Rally Car competition at the X Games after the late great Colin McRae had an amazing roll-over on his last jump and missed beating Pastrana's time by just half a second!
To close out a great year in his rally racing efforts, Pastrana then once again was invited to participate in the 2006 Race of Champions.
Pastrana nearly reversed his results from the previous year (where he was knocked out of the competition in the first round by WRC Champion, Sebastien Loeb). This year, despite not having any teammate (Jimmie Johnson and Scott Speed had to cancel due to injury) and having to run all the races himself, he finished in second place for the Nations Cup after losing a very close race against Heikki Kovalainen in the finals, whose teammate was WRC Champion Marcus Gronholm.
Currently Pastrana is in a close race this year against Andrew Pinker and his teammate Ken Block to repeat his Rally America Championships. Pastrana was well behind Pinker until his two back to back wins at the Ojibwe Forests Rally and Rally Colorado events.
Pastrana is now only four points behind Pinker and tied with his teammate Ken Block with just one race left in the series, the Lake Superior Performance Rally on October 26-27.
BTW: ESPN 2 will be showing highlights of this race in Hi-Def on Nov. 20, 2007 6pm (EST).
Given his new found talent and success in rally driving, his close friendship with Colin McRae (although now tragically cut short), and support from Subaru the question at the end of 2006 was if and when we would ever see Pastrana in a WRC event.
That question was answered in March when Subaru invited Pastrana to compete in his first World Rally Championship event at the Corona Rally in Mexico. He finished 15th overall and fifth in the PWRC (Group N) class. His finish was the best by an American in a WRC event since John Buffum finished 3rd in the Acropolis Rally in 1988.
So now the buzz is when will we see Pastrana in a full season of WRC, and possibly be the much needed catalyst to bring back American interest in the WRC, which over the years has unfortunately dwindled away.
So far nothing is officially decided. Pastrana was just interviewed by Dave Despain on SPEED TV's Windtunnel, last night and when asked about the possibility of running a full season in the WRC he avoided making any official statement, but confirmed that he intends to make every effort possible to go after the WRC in the future. 👍
So what do you all think? Will Pastrana's participation be enough to draw some much needed attention stateside to WRC? How well do you think Pastrana might do running a full season in the WRC? Is it even reasonable to consider the remote possibility he might be the first American to win the WRC?
Personally, I think his participation in WRC would mean a huge jump in American interest in WRC, and would result in a lot better coverage of WRC events here in the States. That said, and as talented as he is, I just don't think he could win the WRC... but on any given day, I wouldn't be shocked if he won at least one event. And who knows, one cannot deny the fact that he seems to succeed in every sport he goes after, and with that he has collected countless championships along the way.
One thing is for sure. Where ever Pastrana goes, exciting and thrilling moments always follow... so I personally am really looking forward to seeing what he can do in the WRC, especially if that is his only focus. 👍
He has also has a strong passion for doing extremely risky things like bungee jumping from a helicopter, base jumping, etc. Most recently he decided it would be fun to jump out of an airplane at 12,500 feet wearing only sunglasses, socks and surf trunks while holding a can of Red Bull... and that's right... no parachute!
But what many of his extreme sport fans might not know is that he is also an extremely talented and accomplished rally car driver.
He got the bug in 2003 when he was invited to participate in the 2003 Race of Champions. The following year he began driving for the Subaru-backed Vermont SportsCar rally team. After showing some really promising results, Subaru then signed him to lead their new Subaru Rally Team for the 2006 Rally America Championship series with veteran co-driver Christian Edstrom... which they easily won both the National Series Overall and Open Class Championships that year.
Also in 2006, Pastrana won the gold medal for the first Rally Car competition at the X Games after the late great Colin McRae had an amazing roll-over on his last jump and missed beating Pastrana's time by just half a second!
To close out a great year in his rally racing efforts, Pastrana then once again was invited to participate in the 2006 Race of Champions.
Pastrana nearly reversed his results from the previous year (where he was knocked out of the competition in the first round by WRC Champion, Sebastien Loeb). This year, despite not having any teammate (Jimmie Johnson and Scott Speed had to cancel due to injury) and having to run all the races himself, he finished in second place for the Nations Cup after losing a very close race against Heikki Kovalainen in the finals, whose teammate was WRC Champion Marcus Gronholm.
Currently Pastrana is in a close race this year against Andrew Pinker and his teammate Ken Block to repeat his Rally America Championships. Pastrana was well behind Pinker until his two back to back wins at the Ojibwe Forests Rally and Rally Colorado events.
Pastrana is now only four points behind Pinker and tied with his teammate Ken Block with just one race left in the series, the Lake Superior Performance Rally on October 26-27.
BTW: ESPN 2 will be showing highlights of this race in Hi-Def on Nov. 20, 2007 6pm (EST).
Given his new found talent and success in rally driving, his close friendship with Colin McRae (although now tragically cut short), and support from Subaru the question at the end of 2006 was if and when we would ever see Pastrana in a WRC event.
That question was answered in March when Subaru invited Pastrana to compete in his first World Rally Championship event at the Corona Rally in Mexico. He finished 15th overall and fifth in the PWRC (Group N) class. His finish was the best by an American in a WRC event since John Buffum finished 3rd in the Acropolis Rally in 1988.
So now the buzz is when will we see Pastrana in a full season of WRC, and possibly be the much needed catalyst to bring back American interest in the WRC, which over the years has unfortunately dwindled away.
So far nothing is officially decided. Pastrana was just interviewed by Dave Despain on SPEED TV's Windtunnel, last night and when asked about the possibility of running a full season in the WRC he avoided making any official statement, but confirmed that he intends to make every effort possible to go after the WRC in the future. 👍
So what do you all think? Will Pastrana's participation be enough to draw some much needed attention stateside to WRC? How well do you think Pastrana might do running a full season in the WRC? Is it even reasonable to consider the remote possibility he might be the first American to win the WRC?
Personally, I think his participation in WRC would mean a huge jump in American interest in WRC, and would result in a lot better coverage of WRC events here in the States. That said, and as talented as he is, I just don't think he could win the WRC... but on any given day, I wouldn't be shocked if he won at least one event. And who knows, one cannot deny the fact that he seems to succeed in every sport he goes after, and with that he has collected countless championships along the way.
One thing is for sure. Where ever Pastrana goes, exciting and thrilling moments always follow... so I personally am really looking forward to seeing what he can do in the WRC, especially if that is his only focus. 👍
