Life Wide Open with CboysTV - Travis Pastrana on Passion VS Money, His Worst Crash, & Electric Vehicles in Motorsports

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

In Todays Episode Travis Pastrana Joins us in Florida to chat how he inspired us, and how we are inspiring him. We dive into some of his gnarliest tricks, his beef with Brian Deegan, and concussions. He reveals his worst crash, and almost blowing his motorcycle racing career. Travis Chases passions over money, and that has led him to be the most influential person in freestyle motocross, and one of the most influential people in all of motorsports. Travis Pastranas Links  @channel199official  Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/travispastrana/?hl=en Website:https://travispastrana.com/ Sign up for a $1 per month trial at https://www.shopify.com/wideopen Get 15% off OneSkin with the code WIDEOPEN at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod #ad Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get $5 off of your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code WIDEOPEN at shopmando.com! #mandopod #ad Get 20% off your first order at https://www.lucy.co with code WIDEOPEN Follow us on Instagram @cboystv and @lifewideopenpodcast To watch the podcast on YouTube: https://bit.ly/LifeWideOpenYT Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you're listening or by using this link: https://bit.ly/LifeWideOpenWithCboysTV If you like the show, telling a friend about it would be amazing! You can text, email, Tweet, or send this link to a friend: https://bit.ly/LifeWideOpenWithCboysTV You can also check out our main YouTube channel CboysTV: https://www.youtube.com/c/CboysTV Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My goal, honestly, with starting a YouTube channel, is to be like you guys. He's going to do a burnout. Let's go. He sees that I'm okay. He starts yelling. And I'm like, did you see that? And then you just go straight for the backflip. Because I had crashed anyway.

It sucked. I might as well look at it. But he goes, I want proximity to near-death situations. You're too stupid to ever make it as a racer. And thank God, freestyle came out. You know what? I turned down a multi-million dollar contract to race motorcycles because I wanted to try racing cars. There's no amount of money worth.

what you're going to put your body through. Hey, so what did you want to talk about? Well, I want to tell you about Wagovi. Wagovi? Yeah, Wagovi. What about it? On second thought, I might not be the right person to tell you. Oh, you're not?

No, just ask your doctor. About Wagovi? Yeah, ask for it by name. Okay, so why did you bring me to the circus? Oh, I'm really into lion tamers. You know, with the chair and everything? Ask your doctor for Wagoe by name. Wafi.ca for savings.

Exclusions may apply. Well, Travis Ostrana, man, thank you for coming. This is quite an honor. Being the Life Wide Open podcast, I think there's no better guest to have that quite honestly lives their life wide open more than you. I really appreciate you guys having me on.

I like the three-wheelers or like I guess went to Nitro Circus this last week. Yeah. So, yeah. Thanks for, thanks for the support. Dude, I mean, we wouldn't be here without you. And I know you hear this all the time,

but like we grew up watching Nitro Circus, like wanting to be just like you. and we're nothing like you. We can't ride like you. We can't do it. But, I mean, I think without what you've done, we wouldn't be making the videos and we wouldn't be sitting here right now.

So it's super, like, it feels really weird for me, like sitting here with you on our podcast. It feels so cool. So thank you. It's been awesome to be able to make a living, never growing up, just living life wide open, having a lot of fun. So it's always really cool when I see, you know,

people coming up that did watch Nitro Circus or that, you know, and like my dad said, he's like, it's nothing new. He's like, we've been towing, stuff behind cars and doing all this stuff because it just we finally have a platform now with we had DVDs before you know YouTube and now you guys with YouTube you can actually go out have fun with your friends and you know try to make a living travel in the world doing what you want to do yeah dude we hear the same thing though it's like dude if if me and my buddies had video cameras

and YouTube back when we were young we'd be bigger than you guys you know all that but uh no I was pumped to see Andy bell hop out of the van dude I was like what dude I was six Because, like I said, we've just been big Nitro Circus fans for a long time. So he hasn't cut his hair. That's why I didn't really recognize him right away. He had the sunglasses, the hat on. Yeah. So literally Jimmy Johnson way back when was like, hey, you got to be the biggest fan.

And no matter what, through thick and thin until I won a NASCAR race, he couldn't cut his hair. And then he kind of liked it. So he just kind of kept running it super long and like in a mullet. So, yeah, he's here to finally get a haircut. It's a good friend. Yeah, it's 15 years. So he's doing it today? Only if I win.

Oh, only if you win. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. We made a big competition with Ben, dude. Yeah, we made a deal if Ben wins. We're going straight to Vegas. Straight to go to Starks? Yeah, yeah, we're taking the Starks to Vegas. The rule has always been with here that you have to ride the vehicle home.

So, like, if you need a helicopter, you have to apply it. Might need a couple charges. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. We'll figure it out. Honestly, that seems like the least of our concerns right now is how we're going to get our Stark's home. That's pretty low on our figure-out list. Pretty wishful thinking to have that problem.

This race has real actual drivers like yourself, and then it has people like Ben. Have you seen the video of him hitting the tree in the Hunicorn? Well, that was like a really short video. Yeah, his quick one. I mean, it was a first turn. It was a long video. I'm just saying, like, you know, I was all excited to see it go. It just like just went into a tree.

Hey, it was second turn. Yeah. Yeah, so anyways, luckily there's, there's no trees today. I just got done with like pretty much an hour-long podcast. of CLEAD is just cooking me on it. So, and then everyone I've met here has brought that up immediately. So I've figured out that, you know, word has spread that I'm a part of this race. And I think it's going to actually do me a favor because they're going to just get out of my way. But I mean, you got guys like Greg Biffle, one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time.

I actually, you know, I hired a ringer because this is a, you know, a two-person race. So the first person's job is just to not crash the vehicle. Are you going first? Yeah, dude, I'm going first. What are we doing? So the second person then is really 99.9% of the race. However, I'm going first. So I'll be with you just like, I'm here for the show, man. There's backup cars for a reason.

Yeah, the boys were just joking like, oh, damn, dude, we should have thrown some tree stickers on the back of people's cars. So I'm driving around. I'm like, where is the tree? I mean, you're sitting pretty good. You got Noah, who was actually a NASCAR racer, who we got the privilege of meeting when we were at Talladega. Great, dude.

But yeah, as soon as I saw that, that was the lineup, I was like, dude, we're so cooked. They'll be your guys that are up front every time, but at the end of the day, there's probably a half-second difference between the best car and the worst car. And Cletus doesn't stack it. Like, Cletus has been in the worst car quite a few times where you can tell like, okay, this person's good, but I'm just, I'm flogging those straightways. Like my first time, we could qualify well, we ran okay, but it didn't have first gear. So I went for the last every restart. So as long as it didn't restart, like you're coming up. So they're old, you know, Crown Vicks.

There's going to be a difference. Now, generally one of your top drivers is going to win because one of them is going to be in a car that's, decent. But, you know, Greg Biffel jumps in and, like I said, one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time. And he goes out there and he's running, you know, seventh, eighth, to some YouTubers that, you know, makes no sense. But at the end of the day, it's a low horsepower car. You're pretty much wide open most of the time. This is a cool track because you got some, some zigzags. Yep. No trees, though. Do you have any advice for me? I haven't won yet. I hired a ringer. Get a better person to run the second half.

Oh my gosh. I got Mike. Dude, I got this guy. I got Camel guy. Slow and steady. Yeah, we have a flawed plan. It sounds like. Yeah. I told Cleetus this, too. I was like, well, I know that you didn't invite us here for the competition, so I hope that we can at least provide on the entertainment factor. You know, the sickos came out. That whole group, awesome athletes. Worst drivers. I was like, in every group, there's like one redneck that can just drive. You know, they didn't have that, but he stayed on the lead lap and actually had a decent finish at the end because we'll all be bumping each other. I mean, Cletus and I will be spinning each other every chance that we get. Like, we were one, two, and spun each other back

to like almost completely out of the race. But it was great. So, you know. Bumpin's racing, right? Rubbins racing, Harry. Rubbins racing? Shows what I know. Well, it's just a movie quote. Dude, so you've done so many different things as far as, you know, racing motocross to freestyle, to rally car. Is it kind of fun being a part of just something that is just like so just low risk, I guess you could call it of like, you know, what's on the line as far as, you know, sponsorships or anything like that, but you just get to go out there and have fun when you've done, you know, about every race that you can imagine. At the end of the day, You have. It's already lined up. There's going to be a completely sold out crowd of car enthusiasts, of people that love motors. They love, you know, they might be rooting for one of their favorite YouTubers. They might be rooting for one of their favorite drivers. They come from all over the country and they stay and they clean up the trash. Like, they, at the end of the race, they feel like they're part of this. It's so cool. So everyone goes out, signs autographs, but what other event can you fly in in the morning? Like, not even that early. You go, you hang out, you sign autographs, you talk to everyone, you talk cars, you have fun, you meet some of your heroes.

some legends, some past drivers, some, you know, up-and-coming celebrities, whatever it is. And then you go out there and you have the best time that you can possibly have destroying your Crown Vic, where, you know, at the end of the day, it's not a fast car. You're not going to hit anything that hard. Then you just wipe your hands and walk away. That's it. It's beautiful. So obviously the Starks are the prize of today. What do you think about, like, the Electric Stark Far?

I know you posted a video a while ago riding it. So electric is kind of killing motorists. sport in general, but as a rider and a driver, like, I love them. There's, I mean, I don't mean that negatively. Like, it's, my dad, it doesn't matter how fast they are. Like, literally, I put them in a car, zero to 60 in 1.2 seconds, all-wheel drive, thousand horsepower with an extra 200 horsepower boost. The car is the most fun thing you could ever drive. And you can be going 100 miles an hour, break the wheels loose and do a donut and never worry about stalling it. It just makes driving so much simpler. So these things, as soon as people really figured out and they get

the brake where you don't have to change your foot to, to where the brake goes. And I can like you can literally almost flip over frontwards and almost loop out in the same jump. So like a double backflip on these off a normal ramp, I can do like I'm doing a backflip, a single flip, no wide open. Just because it's so much more totally. And it'll spin too. So triple flips on these are so much easier. The guys are thinking quad flips are easy.

No, no. This is a crazy statement though. But even front flips, like when you, if you're wide open on the gas and you hit the break for whatever reason, you don't have to worry about the clutching, don't have to worry about stalling. I'm thinking like bike flips like what they do in BMX world that you can't really do on motorcycles because of the gyro. Like you can hit the brakes, lock everything down and then start it back up and not worry about stalling. Like there's, I wish I was younger because it's, I'm just old and crippled. It's going to push the progression of the sport you think.

It's going to be great. Even though a lot of the old timers, like you're kind of, I think, alluding to your dad don't like it. Yeah, it's just if it doesn't make noise that that feeling, the smell of gasoline. I feel that. But at the end of the day, like my kids growing up, they can, you know, we're watching Supercross or something in the backyard, and their friends can all be riding motorcycles, you know, and they can all be on their go-carts and then whatever. And as long as there's no dust, no one really cares.

So it allows, it just opens up so many more tracks and opportunities. The neighbors love it. They do. Yeah, our neighbors are big fans. What about, like, the urban motto, like the skate parks and the start with the starks and stuff like that? I mean, it's cool. You can kind of get away with it, but it also might not be the best, you know, got

Stark's flying around the skate park with little kids on scooters. I mean, I'm kind of against that part because eventually we're just going to get shut down and throw a night of everything. But the fact that they are quiet enough that you can do it is pretty cool. You really got into freestyle motocross, and the bikes started progressing through that. But I would feel like gas bikes are pretty similar to what they would be. I mean, I don't know, what do you say, 2004 to now? There's not massive change.

So short of going to electric, do you feel like you would have been better if you had the bikes now versus the bikes you had when you were a kid? No, not really. I mean, you know, at the end of the day, if you watch Supercross back in 96, like, it's so slow compared to Supercross in 2005 compared to the riders get in better shape. But by the time you get great at your sport nowadays, you no longer love what you do. By the time you get good enough to do what you love, you no longer love what you do, because these kids are starting. I mean, I started at four, but it was about having fun. Like, no one was pushing you.

Oh, yeah, let's go. You're going to make a living doing this. It was trying to push you the opposite direction. Like, what are you, you're wasting your time on skateboards and BMX and all this stuff. And now you can go to the Olympics doing this stuff, and it's gotten so much more difficult to be the best. You have to be so... It's taken a sport, in my opinion.

I mean, motocross has always been around, but you have all these sports and freestyle and X games that were all about having fun. Now you put it into the Olympics, and it changes the sport. Yeah. You know, the video parts aren't as big, but then...

And we used to have a year to make a video part. You guys have to do a video part every week. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough. It's interesting how social media has played a factor in that of, you know, everything is so readily, available now where you're scrolling Instagram and you might see somebody do a double backflip and you might not even finish the video because it's like the next thing that you see is going

to be just as insane. Whereas when you did the first double backflip, but like you had to be watching X games to like see that and I think just X games in general was probably like you know at the peak when you had to be like physically watching it. Yeah like what do you think that like social media has played a factor in just like elevating the sport of freestyle motorcross and like how much crazier the tricks are getting well it's made it reachable everyone says how do i get in a nitro circus or how do i become dude if you're doing something that no one else is doing you can be in anywhere in the world from any walk life it's going to get you wherever you want to go the hard part is that everything is visible and they don't show they do show the crash but they don't show the

injuries the everything else i think it's a it's a catch-22 because it's like in your face all the time and before, if you came up with a good trick, you could save it for six months and come out at X games or gravity games or whatever the event was. Now, as soon as you do it, it's online and you have to do something better next week, not even next month.

Where's the line and the sand get drawn of like, you know, this is how crazy the sport can get until it's like you're trying to five backflips and if you don't land it, you're dead. No, but it gets more creative. You got like Axel Hodges. He's like, all right, I don't want to do the flips. He's doing flips now and stuff,

but he's like, I'm going to do like land and wheelies and all this other fun stuff. It's always about being creative and finding, like you guys, you're not reinventing the wheel, but you're like, what do I really love to do? And at the end of the day, Cletus has proved it out here. If you're passionate about something and you love it, you're going to do it anyway, and you're going to find people that are passionate about the same thing. No, I think for sure, though, like when you're passionate about something or you just want to do it,

the end result's going to be so much better than if you're just doing something for money or clout or whatever. And that is a testament of today. you look at the lineup of people that are coming here like huge huge names and like they're just coming literally for fun no one's being paid to do this they're coming because they love driving they love you know this scene i mean i still go back and watch your double backflip dude it's so lit it's just so lit and like it was packed jam packed in there like yeah we get i mean it's tony hawk's 900 and now there was literally an 11 year old that was warming up with nines going for tens and you're like when did this happen yeah so do you think that it happened you're you

because now it's like the training regimen is just people are crafting a training regimen. I can't imagine people were training as hard back in the day versus now. Like in terms of like fitness, do you feel like they're, no? Definitely. Oh, motocross a little bit. But now that there's so much more at your fingertips, I mean, success leaves breadcrumbs. But the thing was, it used to be the metal militia and, you know, Brian Deegan, crushed theoms of dirt.

People just went out like Jeff Imig and McGrath were the top racers and they were still doing freestyle they were going out and riding and having fun at a certain extent racing has lost a little bit of that passion but at the same time not taking anything away because these guys work so much harder they put their whole lives their parents have sacrificed their family and if you can get on top of a sport nowadays i don't care what it is you have dedicated sacrificed you've blood sweat and tears and i have so much respect for anyone that's made it but that's why events like this work it's not about the money people just love driving they love being around people that are passionate and having fun and it's really cool to be able to come out and meet you guys, hang out, and have some fun.

How about, so, like, you mentioned metal militia. Back when it was Brian Deegan versus Travis Pastrana, like, did you guys actually not like each other? Or maybe he, I don't know, like, how did you feel, like, towards each other? Like, do you think you would ever, like, getting a physical altercation back then? Like, was it possible, or was that even, like? So the funniest part about that was in the start of freestyle motocross, you had Mad Mike Jones, Clifford, the fly in Hawaiian, Adam Tante, Cowboy Kenny Bartram.

We just wanted to figure out how to ride a motorcycle and have fun and to make a living at it. And everyone was building the sport in any way they could, building their image, building whatever we could to be able to go and do circus tricks on a motorcycle and to be able to travel the world with your friends and find cool places to ride. So I was just this goody two shoes,

straight-A student racer that happened to really like freestyle motocross. And Brian, as a showman, was like, hey, I got a way that this is going to work. Like, Brian went to a level so far above and beyond. Like, he didn't have a trick for Gravity Games one year. And he told all the producers and everyone at NBC, like, this is when, you know, for YouTube. Like, it's a big network. And he's like, I got the biggest tricks. I'm not showing anyone.

I got the biggest tricks. It's going to be, everyone's building up Brian Deegan and the men of militia. He picks a fight with the police officer the day before. Wow. Doesn't post bail. What a business man. And the whole thing was, oh, the man. keeping him down and I'm like oh he would have crushed you like I wouldn't grab it

against so he just took the rug right out from under you completely like I'm like he didn't he had he had nothing but like he's he's a very smart unique I wouldn't have gone the same route but it was I mean deacon was great because he knew he did work hard you know despite what his image and everything and he knew exactly what he had to do and when he had to do it even if he didn't have it he would go for it anyway and I think that's where the crowd liked because he's like well I haven't won in two years I got to send something big And he'd go out and he'd be willing to die, literally. Yeah.

So were people taking sides as far as, like, you know, I'm team TP or team Deegan. And would they have any kind of, like, altercations? Like, if you were walking down the street and you saw someone in some metal militia gear, where you're like, oh, fuck. I was just too goofy to realize anything was going on, honestly. Deegan was great. Like, my parents would come up. He was, like, hello, Miss Pastrano.

Oh, so he was pretty cordial behind the scenes almost. He was, but it's not that he didn't believe anything. Like, he was honest. He just figured out a way. He's like, look, this kid. there has to be an opposite. There's got to be a fight. There's got to be a show.

I just didn't know that I was part of it. I was just me. So that answers my question, yeah. It's kind of like a WWE almost. Like you had the heel and you had the, I can't remember what do they call it, like the good guy and the bad guy. Yeah, I just didn't know I was playing a role. The Deegan did because it helped us all the way through.

Unfortunately, like as a teenage kid coming up, like, you know, kind of dorky, straight-A student guy, like Deegan had all of the girls, all of the... Really? Like, yeah, all the parents were like, oh, go get them. This line is like, just strippers and stuff. I feel like you would have been in Metal Militia. Yeah, the whole time, I just picture it happened being that. I did run a, or rock a lot of Metal Militia gear over the years.

I will admit that. Yeah. But I was never not on Team Pastrana. Oh, thanks, man. Dude, what year was it that you guys were both going for the 360s? You see, now this, this was 2002, L.A. Coliseum. It was absolutely awesome. So I didn't know, like YouTube was just really starting, and my friend posted something on the internet.

Deegan saw it. So my friend Chris Haynes, thank you, Chris, posts this on the internet about a month and a half before X-Gams. Deegan sees it, has a phone pit, and gets it. Doesn't qualify as well. Does it 361. Names at the militia twist. I'm like, how did you see it? He's like, yeah, I saw it on the YouTube, man.

You should check it out. Oh, got leaked. Wow. Yeah, and that was the first of many, many leaks now that's, you know, but, now. Now it's a platform that's not just a leak platform. It's a, you can, like, literally, you guys are doing it. Back then, though, it was, like, kind of you just posted it and you weren't expecting people to see, you know?

He saw it. Has anyone recreated the TP7? Not yet. Dude, that's the craziest, like, to date, I've said it on this podcast multiple times. That is the craziest trick I've ever seen done. So it was easier to add a flip. So with the dirt bike, the only way to really start the rotation, like you can get it spinning real fast in a flip, but it's not like a BMX bike or something.

or a scooter where you can kind of spin it off the lip. So you got to got to pull the flip first. And it's so hard, like, you can do a backflip 180 pretty easily because you pull a flip. And as hard as you can pull and as hard as you can spin, you get a half of a rotation of spin to a full rotation of flip. So I was like, it's going to be easier to add a flip. It's like just I'm going to do a double cork 1080 or, you know, or whatever. Yeah, it makes sense. So that was actually way easier. So I started doing on mountain bikes. And I'm so inconsistent with like the backflip 360. Just add another flip. Just add a flip. Would that? Would that Would that have been easier on a Stark?

Oh, yeah, way easier. With the electric torque? 100%. Did I hear rumor that there might be like a triple 720 maybe in the works? Not for me. Not for you. Yeah, no. No one's completed any, like even a backflip with the twist yet.

They're still catching up to 2012, but they'll... That is pretty cool. That's what I mean. Like on technically, older technology, people are still chasing what you, the bar that you set. So most people, they wanted to win. for me, racing was winning. Freestyle was always about fun. So even when there was money involved, like, I was always a racer at heart.

And I'd be like, all right, I don't even care really if I win this event. I want to do something cool, something that's never been done. Something that pushes myself and the bounds of what can be done on a motorcycle in general. And I would use kind of all the money that I made in freestyle to build ramps. And just, I mean, we had a 44-foot-tall takeoff ramp. We were going over 100 feet in the air, try and triple backflips. And most people just showed up, looked at the ramp, giggled, and left, never came back. When did airbags come into the landing?

Carrie Hart actually started with an airbag before even the foam picks. We thought, you know, being a petroleum product, that the foam wasn't going to be a great idea. They didn't have the double compartment. The technology wasn't quite there. So, like, Kerry actually dislocated his shoulder and broke his collarbone first time on an airbag. He landed on it fine, did a backflip. He's like, I did it. And then it bounced him off onto the ground.

No way. So the first airbag was more just like a bouncy castle. Yeah. Just have one chamber, full air. So as stunts and as everything gets better. but we actually worked with a company called Bag Jump out of Austria, and Josh Ian could only do about three triples attempts a day. So he would drop about 60 feet out of the air onto a flat bag.

And with the motorcycle on top of you, like, it was just bad. Like piss and blood, not a good thing. So he's like, what if we can get the bag flat? Because, like, even with front flips, anything you're doing, how you're landing on a flat bag is totally different than you're going to land. So we developed the first bag on an angle, and it was cool because when we got hit up by all the snowboarders and, you know, Olympic committees from all over the world,

they're like, oh, how'd you do this? And then back jump took it, and they perfected it and made it a lot cheaper eventually, but it's cool to be on that kind of forefront of safety. Yeah, your compound, Pastrana Land, I mean, just legendary in itself. And I think anyone growing up that watched Nitro Circus or Freedom Factory, you know, looked at like having a compound like that and was just, like, dreamed of it. And especially with us, you know, when we got our shop and, you know,

we built our tracks and everything like that, you know, you just kind of like chip away at it. and eventually you got a cool compound. Is that kind of what the case was with Pastrana Land? Did you just get a piece of land and add a ramp in a foam pit and just kind of just continue to build onto it and make it into what it is? My hero growing up was a guy named Guy Airtime Cooper.

He was on, he was Mr. Suzuki, they called him. So I was on Suzuki. I'm eight years old. This guy is, you know, a multimillionaire. And he comes around the corner in a beater car just flogging this thing and just like smashes into the side of his shed. Didn't even know we're there. He's just doing it because.

he just got Cooper. Yeah. And I'm like, this guy's awesome. My mom's like, can you believe this guy that's just, he's like literally has, he's got blood on him from whatever from this morning. He's covered in just Oklahoma red dirt. All you can see is the whites of his teeth. Just giggling. He's like, that doesn't seem like someone that has a lot of money. I'm like, you were like, that's the dream. This is, this is what. And he had tracks and motorcycles and go carts and it was just, it was Cooperland. So that was always my goal was to have like a little mini Cooperland. And over the years, it's become like a mega Cooper. It's a, it's a full-on compound. Yeah. But I think anyone dreams of going there. Our buddy Gavin's been there. Hopefully one day we can come. Quite honestly, we're pretty scared because being forced into doing something, like a backflip, not forced into it, but I feel like you have to when you go to Pastrano Land.

The hard part is when there's like an 11-year-old girl doing a backflip to dirt, and you're like, not to be sexist, but you have to. Like, it was cool. The blocks came over and Kira, Ken's middle daughter, like, doesn't really ride dirt bikes. And we were trying to get Micah to do it. Mike is like, I don't know, I don't think I want to. Carrie just comes out of nowhere and just, like, launches it, like, seat bounces. She was so high.

I'm like, this is awesome. It's a place that people either go and they go all out. They're like, I'm going to do everything and they get hurt really quick. Or they go, I'm not touching anything here. And then they don't get to experience any of it. So it's rare that we find that crew. Like, the sickos came over. Like, those guys were just a crew that I didn't know a lot about.

And, you know, five of seven of the guys went to dirt on day one. Yeah, that's pretty great. They send it. That was awesome. But they've got good aerial awareness. Like, they do flips on skis and stuff like that, which I feel like I know for 100% I lack. Well, I did a backflip on a stand-up jet ski.

It took up three years. Yeah. But he did it. Never give up. Never surrender. So you mentioned, like, the money and, like, putting it back into your compound. How much, like, different was the money back in, say, 2003, 2005 in freestyle versus now? Was there quite a bit more money if you took first place at X-Kee?

games, I would imagine, you'd get a pretty good prize. Yeah, freestyle was huge. Heck, from 90, you know, the early 90s when X-Game started, then Freestyle Motorcross got brought in in 1999. So we had just started our first ever, like, freestyle world championship was in 98, which was awesome because Imig and McGrath were judging. Yeah, it was good. I crashed and they gave me tens.

It was like, kids like, this is great. But, sorry, tangent. But when we got to go to X games, I mean, my grandma was watching. It was before, you know, the internet. So it's like people had to watch. It's on ESPN. Right. It's on a regular network.

Like, it was so cool for us. You cancel your plans to be there to watch it live. I remember that. When X games was on in the summer, it was like, we didn't go outside for a whole week because you were watching X games. For me and my ADHD friends,

it was the only TV we watched, and we did not miss anything, you know, watching Mira and Hawk. Yeah. Oh, so cool. So, yeah, me and CJ used to watch Fuel TV, and it was later,

but Fuel had, like, all the channels like that. First hand, you'd have an episode on there, but, yeah, like, so, like, the money was obviously greater. Like, are you able to say, like, if someone took first place, like, what kind of prize, like cash prize was that? So, well, yeah, no, in 99, the first place was, was $10,000. And generally, there weren't a lot of sponsors that were, like, Suzuki, I had to buy my own motorcycle. Like, Suzuki paid me as a racer. And they were like, if you take one of our bikes that we're giving you and do this freestyle stuff, like you're fired.

They didn't want to touch it. Nobody. So it was kind of a weird little world that I was working in. But it's $10,000 for the first year. And by 2003, it's 50 grand for first. And generally there'd be a sponsor like a D.C. shoes or whatever energy drink or whatever, you're getting double that, triple that. You could go to X games. And if you had decent sponsorship, you could win, you know, one year I won like three gold medals. And each one of those

was 50 grand, plus it came with a, you know, a 50 grand bonus. Or you had medical bills that were bigger than that. But still, like, it was your one chance to just to go. So is there more money now? Like with social media and sponsors? Is there more money? Yes. But it's very, it's very different. Like even racing, you know, Jet Lawrence, maybe Deegan, could be exceptions. They've gone beyond motorsport, if you will. Yeah. Really taking that whole next generation up.

Yeah, Cletus. He's going to do a burnout. Let's go. God, that thing's sick. That's a fourth burnout I've seen him do today. Yeah, that's 11 a.m. He does that all day long. Smells like the Freedom Factory.

Kind of sounds like your truck been squeaking a little bit. Yeah, it's got a little squeak. Mine's got more of a tick and a rattle, though. He doesn't have a hole in his bumper either. Yeah, that thing's a little bit different than mine. You think the, like, Motto guys are getting the money they deserve? I feel like they're underpaid right now. Look, at the end of the day, if you're able to do what you love for a living,

you're going to do it anyway. You know, it's like Red Bull Rampage. You know, they were doing it for free, and then Red Bull steps up, gives them a little bit of money, someone gets hurt, and they're like, well, why aren't you paying them more? And they're like, well, these guys are doing it anyway. We're giving them something. You know, for me, I've always thought I've been very fortunate to do what I love to do.

And so my uncle was quarterback for Denver Brombron. for two years. He got knocked out by, probably before your time, but, I mean, definitely before all of our times, but he got knocked out by High Tower from Police Academy. There's actually a Pistrana rule in the NFL at the time. The quarterback was the only one allowed to call timeout. So it was the first year they had like the playoffs. And my uncle is knocked unconscious. His team is trying to get him to take his hands and put him together. So after that, then the coaches are allowed to call time out too. So yeah. And he's called the Pistrana rule? Well, no. But that's what we're calling at that for sure. Yeah, yeah. Wow.

But long story long. My uncle is he was never quite the same. same after just a lot of kids. They just didn't know a lot back to the day. His knees, they just, you know, inject him with whatever and just, hey, keep on going. So he destroyed his body and then became a, you know, health teacher in local community college. And my dad said, he's the best athlete that's come out of our town, maybe our state. And he's still working construction and he's teaching health at the local community college. He's like, you're never going to make a living doing what you love to do. But any day that you cannot get up and do construction, do it. He's like, I would give anything.

thing to be able to take one lap around Daytona or to do whatever. So I kind of came out out with this different mentality where everyone else was like, oh, I got to win. My dad's like, look, just work hard. If you love it, do it. If you don't, it's not worth the physical. There's no amount of money worth what you're going to put your body through. So he was the guy on the pit board. Like my dad's a Marine and he's tough. Like, you know, work hard. But at the end of the he's the only dad that had slowed down on the pit board. Like if I was going to control or like launching, it's like just don't do the big jump. You're going to kill yourself. Man, that did not work with you, I bet.

No, no, I was it like reverse psychology? Like, you knew what he was doing? Slow down. You were only going to twist it wider? No, like, so there's one year. So I'm 11 years old, and I was pretty big for the ADCC motorcycle at that time. And we basically mortgage completely out. And the dad's like, look, mom too, you know, hey, we'll work to a job.

We'll figure out how to make this happen. Or all my uncles are taking, you know, basically pay cuts to get the gas and everything. So we go out and he's like, we have to win this championship. And I'm dominate the first two modos, three-modo format. And there's this big jump that freaking Ricky Carmichael's doing. And you're 11? So he was like, he's 14 and he's on a big wheel. So he had like a little more power.

And I'm like, I can do it. That's like just win. Like look, we've literally, we've spent every last time we need this championship. Like we just, if you want to race motorcycles, you have to, you just don't do the jump. I'm like, but I can make it. It's like we don't, nobody cares. Like literally no one cares. Just win this championship.

please let's get Suzuki happy like we're going to get sponsors they're going to give us like enough money in Suzuki bucks to like pay for gas to like get old last lap hit the jump landed two black eyes bloody nose didn't break anything because the motorcycle the hub like the whole the whole wheel collapsed forks went on the ground broke the bike off like at the handlebars you case did that hard oh it was bad it was 50 50 just the front end of the bike went that way the back so you know face plant like it was a hit my dad came over and he was deciding whether he was going to be super super off or like worried if I was actually alive because the bike he just sees it broke in half. So he jumps over the gate.

So he sees that I'm okay. He starts yelling and I'm like, did you see that? And I just starts laughing. He's like, okay. He's like, well, if I learned anything from his brother, it's that you do this because you love to do it. We're giving you an opportunity to chase your dreams, however far that may be. And you're going to at 16, you're going to be working construction with us or you're

going to join the military like the rest of us did or whatever. But you're too stupid to ever make it as a racer. And thank God freestyle came out. Yeah. So that's kind of my life in a nutshell. Wow. Don't do it. Don't do it.

I'm going to do it. Yeah, impulse thoughts won on that one. I just thought I could make it. Realistically, going to freestyle was the best thing that ever happened to you. You just became an even bigger star. So, I mean, racing, like the motorcycle industry, the racers will never forget me. They're like you came out at 16. I was the youngest person when the outdoor national championship, went over,

representing the U.S. and motocross nations, won the Supercross the next year at 17. like it was a great start and I just wanted to have fun and I want to do freestyle and then Carrie Hart does a backflip I'm like oh let's try that and I break my foot halfway through the season I didn't miss a race but like just

you know there was just those things that Roger DeCoster's like dude I'm paying you to and I would work hard like I put in the time running bicycling doing everything it's just when everyone else was resting you were having fun still riding my dirt bike I was what I loved to do and I was very fortunate that my parents allowed me to kind of chase these dreams

and you know what I turned down a multi million dollar contract to race motorcycles because I wanted to try racing cars. And I put every dime that I paid a motocross, my dad's just shaking his head. He's like, why? But it's because of him. It's because of my parents. It's because they always allowed me to chase my dreams. And if I did exactly what everyone wanted me to do, the oldest ever supercross champion was 29 years old. Like, I'm 41. We're here at the Freedom Factory. We're still living this dream. And it's, I mean, yeah, it's different now. It's changed. I'm a little bit older, a little bit more. crippled but like I still have fun every day waking up and now I get to do with my wife who's

three-time X games gold medalist and you know my kids they went into cheer I thought you know the tumbling and the flipping and stuff was going to lead them action sports but it's great because I can go to a cheer comp and not one person recognizes me all they're a cheer dad uh yeah I'm just I'm there you know you've been famous for a really long time over two decades now right does it get old so we were on on vacation in in Europe this this year and guy comes over and uh or waiter And he actually starts crying. He just pushes like my wife aside and like, he's like, can you take a photo? And she's like, really?

He barely speak English. Yeah. And we can't get away from it. But what's really cool about that is the day that that stops is the day that I can't go out and crash cars and ride motorcycles and hang out with my friends and fly around the world. Now, my goal, honestly, with starting a YouTube channel, is to be like you guys. It's to have this group together. Like, I wanted to have my friends together and travel the world.

And we did that. don't really want to travel the world. I want to be with my family. And the YouTube's given us a chance to all of us that are a little bit older that don't really want to be the best in the world. Yeah. We still want to push ourselves. And sometimes that's doing stuff that's never been done. Just taking that mentality and trying to get what we do. And that's something I really admire about you is how you set up camp, you know, in Maryland where you grew up. And then you still have all of your best friends around you. Like you got street bike Tommy and Andy Bell hops out of the van. And, like, it is very much so like us.

Like I said, you guys are just a lot more skilled. But, like, we grew up, you know, a small town together, and now we're hanging out, doing all this stuff. Is there any advice that you would have for us, you know, being that you've done so much with your friends, you know, just ways to avoid conflicts that you've maybe had? Not really. I think in the end, people grow apart and most of the time grow back together.

Because what you're, it's hard because a lot of times there's just so many hours. like everyone sees the good side of it, but, you know, editing the videos and getting stuff out and trying to get the sponsors and figure out, you know, how it's actually going to be sustainable. It's not easy. You guys have done awesome. But the biggest thing for us was that like Andy Bell at one point, he goes, hey, it's not enough money for me. Like it's $50,000 that we were all going to get to do a movie. And Andy goes, I can't put my life on hold for $50,000. Like I got a wife, I got a mortgage. I got, you know, I can't quit my job for this. So he went and he said, but I can't put my life. I think I could be a producer. I could be a director. He could do this. So he started sweatpants media. And they had the second biggest commercial last year. He's going on to win Emmys and all kinds of stuff. And now he can run his production company. And he's the big boss that doesn't really have to be there. So he can come on and he can produce all this stuff. And then he can hire himself as the stunt driver for the stuff and to be around. He's doing it again. And a lot of times people will go away. But most of the time, the

come back like you know at the end of the day street bike Tommy is still hanging sheet rock and jim de champ is now working uh he's a crane operator and jim we only see on the weekends yeah but he still comes over and he puts on mountain bike races at pastrana land you know three four times a year and we go out there and and we still push super hard even though it looks like we're all out of shape and we are but you know it's still fun now i'm sure you got billboards and whatever you know there's like a home of Travis pastrana when you drive into town but like what did your town think of you hooligans as kids like were they on board or were they like, I don't know about these guys?

We were pretty goody-to-shoe, if you were. Like, I mean, we did, the only thing that I'm amazed at was that we lived on a posted stamp. I mean, we used my dad's, like, and my uncle's construction. It was on like a half acre. So that's why I did freestyle because it was always, you know, you had like three piles of dirt and they were always leaving and coming back and rock piles and was basically like just build a track and, you know, race around the shop. But that's in the middle of Annapolis.

It's a mile from downtown Annapolis and no neighbors complained. so my dad was one and nine and they were like all-American football across so like and then construction so the town knew us you grew up if you were in the town you were with one of my uncles or aunts or you know the family is pretty big in that area so they drove too fast but yeah they had a general respect for for the law so they liked you guys yeah we didn't cause a lot of disturbances other than the fact that we were loud and we were surprised when we we got to hang with greg godfrey and some of like went to those places in utah and we couldn't believe that some of these zones that you thought were like way out in the middle

or wherever and you're like oh it's just right behind the trucking shop like it was just you guys had just carved what you needed into this little zone yeah everyone even people think like pastronoland is huge and they go around back it's just a ramped graveyard but we build everything it's 20 acres like we've got to look some trees around the outside going on there for 20 acres there's a lot of building um but you know it's our friends now like i said like Andy is a producer And we got Nate Wessel is a welder. And like our whole crew, no matter what we need done, no matter what we need built, we've got access to everything.

And that's kind of what's really neat about being there and being home. With the YouTube channel, do you guys want to continue to do, you know, things outside of maybe dirt bikes and just the general motorsports that you've been doing? Without a doubt. My goal is to be able to build fun stuff, go-car tracks or like drift pads, anything. Even what Kleidas is doing here? Like really want to build a next level like Nitro Cross style. Can Am course. That is like hell track. Scary to drive and then just start inviting like guys like you and be like, all right, let's go. Have at it.

Dude, we will flip a Maverick so fast. That is one thing that we are guaranteed to do every single one. So that normally happens, but it was cool. We had no Gregson come over because he was going to drive the side-by-sides this weekend at Nitrocross. He was on two wheels in the first turn. He had never driven all-wheel drive in his life. He never flipped. He never broke anything. He never did a tree. I've never been so impressed. Well, he's also a professional NASCAR racer. But some people just, they're like, oh, NASCAR, those guys, you know, they just turn left. No, those, they're not only the best drivers, but they drive five times a week and every lap is on the clock. Man, anyone that's just saying you just go fast and turn left,

I don't think has been to a NASCAR race and, like, experienced it up close. Like, it's insane how fast they're going. So, street bike Tommy, we were doing a drift pad. He's like, well, I could beat anyone at NASCAR. I'm like, wait. I'm like, all right. So we get out, and he's like, oh, I'm good until the car starts sliding. And I thought, Tommy, you're just aiming it until the car starts sliding.

Like, I was going around the corner and I was drifting this whole corner and freaking my teammate, Trevor Bain comes around the outside of me at Bristol, first time there. Like, what are you doing? He's like, well, what's sliding? I'm like, dude, I'm sliding the whole corner. He goes, front or rear? And I'm like, rear. He's like, well, then tighten it up.

He goes, until the car is sliding all four wheels equally. And then if one starts sliding more than the other, the front or whatever, you change your entry and then you change we have these little fans that go to like basically just diverts air under the tires they're like you got to have the the air pressure has to come up to temperature equally so it's not just driving as fast you can it's so technical it was amazing so i learned a lot that i didn't know i was cold trickle put me in the car i could drive to do a couple laps good and could never figured out to the end oh my gosh that's gonna be me today i'm just trying to figure out how to not hit the wall it's gonna be fun how long did you race nass car you got to do the daytona 500 and

it's like the dream of any guy who's ever driven a car ever so driving the dayton and 500. I literally went to NASCAR. So I won four U.S. Rally championships, and it was either go to Europe and chase the WRC or try something else. And I'm like, man, I don't know anything about NASCAR, let's go. And I showed up to the first race with a t-shirt that said boring in NASCAR font, got my ass kicked. And I was like, all right, not physically, just on the track. I'm like, wow, these guys are actually really, really good. And they all, like, everyone's like, oh, it's a good old boys club. You'll never get in there. Dude, everyone helped out so much. Evan? It was just a, it was rad. Not to call Evan out.

but I'm going to. You feel the same way about NASCAR. You're like, they're just turning left. No, no. I was stating from a spectator's point of view that I didn't think it was the most exciting form of racing to watch, like on TV. But I knew it's all, it's all strategy when, like,

they're all in the same track. I've never thought that you didn't have to have skill in just too much. Well, as soon as the cameras are off. Yeah, NASCAR's Cheeto. I think we have a podcast. You're saying all you got to do is turn left and push the grass. Yes, but I'm saying from the, From the viewing standpoint, I guess I'd rather watch like a drifting or something.

Yeah, strategy isn't fun to watch. Action's fun to watch, not strategy, so. For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for five bucks plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. We're big NASCAR guys as of recently, actually. We went to our first race.

especially when they gave us free drinks. Yeah, that was a good part, too. That worked out. The cool part about NASCAR is like literally anyone, not anybody can win, but the best average finish this year was 12th place. That's like unheard of it. So many things can just happen.

That's crazy. We went to Taldega and there was a crash over the finish line. Well, thankfully no one was hurt, but it was so electric. Oh my God. We're just like throwing our drinks in the air. We're high-fiving each other. It was like a car that was like on its side riding the wall.

Like right there in front of us. It was insane. Across the finish line. It was so insane. My first run at Daytona, following Tony Stewart. I was like, freaking, this is awesome. Like, kind of getting bounced around last lap. Someone hits Larson.

He goes up. His car disintegrates. And it's like in the fence. You know, you're going 200 miles an hour. I didn't know where to go. So I go across the grass. And I'm spinning backwards through the grass at 200 miles an hour. And I still got 10th.

And I was so bummed. I'm like, man, Tony, he won the race. We could have been tough five. My head's like, dude, I would have given anything to be going backwards across the grass table in 200 that looks awesome how come you never got into riding snowmobiles because dirt bikes are snowmobiles but you do it in the warm you don't fuck the cold no they can't blame you there did backflip a snowmobile though didn't you that was my first time on it kind of yeah my friends are horrible they said it's like a four wheel it's not like a four wheel you guys you guys

all lied to me yeah there's no wheels so I couldn't turn it at all but I'm like the jumping seems fine it was like a little you know a hill and like we'll hit the freestyle ramp can't feel my fingers can't feel my feet I got mittens on hard to hold onto the bars with mittens It was. So I jumped it once, and I went all the way to flat. Like, because it doesn't have gears. Like, I was kind of like the start. I just, I don't know. Hard to gauge. Yeah, I didn't gauge it correctly.

So I overjump, so I, like, just slam and fall off. And then someone's like, you said you can flip anything. Fine. So I can't feel my fingers and the glove, the mitten blows off my right hand. And I'm upside down, doing a one-handed backflip. And I'm like, oh, I see the, there's the ground. So I jumped off and I penguin dove down the landing. It was ice.

You were going straight to snow. There's a metal ramp set at 75 feet because why would you try it at 40 first or something? Right, yeah, yeah. So first, like, hour of riding a snowmobile? No, first five minutes. So you overshoot the first one and then you just go straight for the backflip. Because I crashed anyway. It sucked.

I might as well look at it. That is so insane. And then I didn't try it again because luckily the sled kind of like disintegrated on landing. But I was fine. I was just penguin sliding down the landing like, please don't land on me. It's a nice thing about snow. It's a little bit of cushion. No, this was ice.

Yeah, ice doesn't have much cushion. It sucked. You've never row in the mountains. Yes, Andy Bell took me to the mountains and they were very disappointed they took me because I was stuck The entire it did nothing made sense. So I got on one that had a like a track on the back of the motorcycle and then I can Yeah, snow bike. Yeah, but then it was like an underpowered yeah like 125 that way they don't get around that well Now you're like half metal so the metal can't feel good in the cold right? You need a hot tub all the time. Yeah, and everyone's like dressed for it but then you dress warmer and then you're sweating

So then you take it off and then you're frozen it's just no. So our friend Levi LeVette he's the man he is the man when we had him on the podcast he said that when he had talked to you you said that you're very jealous of Levi La Valley because of the way that he's built yes short and knows how to take a fall because he can just kind of roll out of it whereas you are taller more lengthy and you kind of more frail we always called Greg godfrey the muscle hamster but if there was any other muscle hamster sorry Levi like he's gotten away with stuff that would have killed a mere mortal that's him like Evan stand up and kind of to get a good reference here yeah so like Levi's about the same size as Evan he's got to be a little

tall he's in a way better shape doesn't have as much going on down here but uh yeah I mean even with Evan like the dude knows how to take a fall I think that's a big part of it you kind of have to it's like survival mode you take the fall or don't yeah but it's like a cat you know you've kind of alluded to a couple crashes that you've had and injuries I heard that you've had 35 different surgeries? This year, I got my 40th operation. Which one is the worst? Anyone that keeps you from doing what you love, man? Honestly, I got a knee replacement. That sucked. I got to, I'm going in this year for, actually next month for a new hip. I was going to ask that. What was the worst injury, not because of the pain, but like the one that you miss? And maybe not like a competition,

but maybe you were like, oh, you and Lindsay were going to go on a trip and you couldn't go because you were hurt or something like that. Was there ever one that you were like, man, this one really wasn't worth it or sucked most I think everything kind of led me to where I am now but definitely I had the flu really bad I was in the best shape of my life it was one week from the start of the championship and I'd been sick for a whole week and I was like I'm just gonna go ride the hills like a steel ranch and Greg Godfrews there and the film crew's there and it was a big step up that we had built you ever seen something that you look at it and you're like it works like the physics work everything mass out and you come up to it

and you just have this gut feeling you're like it's something's not right you had that Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. Pretty often, actually. Not everything we build. Believe it or not. For whatever reason, your gut is usually right, and whether you manifest that. So I hit this jump as fast as the bike would go.

Just tapped out fifth gear on a 250, two stroke, and I hit it in my legs collapse, and I'm going up, and it was the funniest thing because I was in the air, and I'm freaking out, because I'm going over 200 feet, up a hill, over two bar barbeds fences. Yeah, actually, I know exactly what you're talking about now,

right into the hill. And I'm going over the bars, and I'm like, I have to get off, but I'm going 70 miles an hour, and I'm 30 feet off the ground. I'm like, this sucks. So I jump off, and I had this feeling for a split second, and it was like, everything kind of slowed down for me. And I giggled. And I was like, well, this is kind of cool. And then it hurt really bad, and I blew up my knee, and I pretty much ruined my racing career.

But because of that jump, and it seemed like the worst thing ever at the time. And even my dad was upset. He's like, dude, you committed to racing. Just like, what the hell are you doing? And it allowed me to then take a step back from racing, get into car racing, and, yeah, it changed my life to where I can still be driving events now. So it was hindsight, it was pretty good, but at the time, it was pretty devastating. So you can imagine the feeling of going, flying 70 miles an hour just as you're going up into a hill. God, I bet.

Yeah. But it's just like, I've just never had that before where you had time to, like, be panicked. Pause. No, I'm cool now. This is going to suck, but it doesn't suck yet. When I think about, what was it, early 2000s, you're on a 125, and you case bad. Got to be more specific. It was like your pelvis.

Blake Habesuit? Oh, yeah, yeah. What year was that? So that was 1998. I actually signed my pro contract in a, it was my 15th birthday. I signed my pro contract for Suzuki in a wheelchair at that point. Wow. I got a question for you guys.

Have you ever woken up and you think you're dreaming, but you hear a, and you're wondering who's making that sound and you're just like I want to sleep man who's making that god awful noise and you were making that you can't breathe it's stopping when you're stopping yeah anyway sorry yeah no it's funny that you bring up the concussion thing like I've had like

kind of a weird string pretty much for the last decade like I've just had a lot of concussions and like it's just tougher for me now like small things can like make it almost feel that way I oftentimes think about like feel like I have a concussion even though I don't and it goes away after like a day or two or sometimes a week sometimes it takes a month my question to you is like

how do you have a do you have even a protocol after you knock yourself out or or if you do something and and does it ever you know you give yourself symptoms interesting thing about concussions is you know had a great opportunity to go down to some of the top military doctors through the the boot campaign and they invited three of the nitro circus crew just to actually kind of do more data more testing or whatnot. Generally, on a dirt bike, you're not as prone to like CTE and that kind of stuff because if you hit your head hard enough to have a concussion, you probably have something else that's keeping you down. The interesting thing is the doctors down there said, look, if you're in an action sport, if you're in a contact sport and you've made it to a professional

level, chances are your predisposition to be able to take a pretty good hit. So it was interesting that a lot of the top freestyle motorcrossers and top racers, our grandfathers were almost all boxers. My granddad was Golden Globe boxer. Like, I don't know genetically or whatever. It just seems like the people that are able to make it long enough to get in there have ancestry of people that like to get hit in there. Or maybe that's just the next step. I don't really know. What's interesting talking to the doctor was he's like, I can have someone that is knocked out cold for 15 minutes and I would do the test and whatever, but I would put them right back in and they're fine. And you have some people that don't even get knocked out

that he goes, they could never come back to doing stuff. So each head injury is unique. And they have protocols in there to generally help because no athletes ever going to say, oh I'm not well they're going to lie and they're going to get back out there and the protocol is just a general but the only person that really knows if you're okay to get back out there is the person that that had the head injury and sometimes you could have no real concussion and I was throwing up for three months and I didn't even get knocked out you know sometimes emotions are different like one of my buddies he was like his mom said something he yelled his mom he's like well what just like and then you start crying and you're

like well what's why am I crying like what is going on so um definitely something that knowing more about is is good because even the people around you kind of have to understand that you have to take it easy during this time like if you hit your head in the same spot twice before it heals it's it's a problem it's kind of what happened to you right i mean there's like two injuries short succession yeah similar but no i'm doing i'm doing a lot better now so but i you just kept bringing up and i've always thought of you whenever like i would be going through those times i'm like man how was he like okay you know and it's just like an inspiration no i mean you are like you're You're just, like, you're thriving, and I was just like, man, like, I mean, it's just

inspiration, quite frankly, like, I'll be okay, you know. It's a tough one. It's probably the hardest because it's not like a bone is, you know, six weeks you're heeled, pin and plated, you're back on, but a head is something that, and no one really else can understand what you're going through, so it's a tough one. But glad you're, glad you're doing it. Yeah, yeah. No, Evan's crying.

Oh, dude, I really, he's sweating so bad when he closed his door. You're crying. I have sweat in my eyes, bro. Dude, you do look like you're crying. It's okay, Evan. He runs hot. He runs hot. Yeah, dude, I don't know what happened. You were sweating after the plane last night.

Dude, the plane ride was hot. No whiskey, no dark liquor. So, Travis, one of our biggest idols growing up, you know, was someone like you, someone like Rob Beardick, but also Ken Block. And, you know, we were such big Ken Block fans when his passing. It was just devastating. For, you know, everyone in the action sports world, I'm just curious as someone that was close with him.

what you thought his impact on the action sports world was and how prevalent it is now that he's gone. That's a, that's a tough question, a very long-winded answer needed for it. But in general, you had a businessman that loved to ride motorcycles, that loved to drive, that love to snowboard. And after he was able to sell DC shoes and then still run it, he was able to build the sport of rally. And when no one, everyone was like, well, you can't, like, what kind of, you're going to do a Jim Kana video? Like, what are you doing? And he's like, I'm just going to go have fun in my car. And just because he could and because he knew the business stuff, like, he shut down the Golden Gate Bridge just to see if he could do it, to do donuts on it.

He shut down the 101.10 intersection because it's the busiest intersection in the world. His mind worked very differently than, like, I was all about, hey, let's go drive and have fun. And he was like, what can I do that no one else can do? And how can I do it better than it's ever been done before? He was thinking two, three years out. I'm thinking like two, three hours out. If I ever had an idea, I would run it by Ken. And he was the first one to be like, that's stupid.

Or whatever, or that's great. But let's do it right. Tell you how it is. But yeah, so he was personally lost, I think a lot of people lost that. Like, he was the guy that I went to whenever there was anything in life or anything like he was just a just a solid human being great family man you know great businessman amazing driver he was the one that was able to really take whatever he did and turned it to gold and not just that but he took the people around him like for example in rally he took everyone in the

u.s championship and made us all heroes so that when he beat us he could be beating that's awesome you know he's smart smart about what he did that's so cool so cool i mean he would yeah such an impact on so many different industries honestly how cool is it to be able to do a Jim Kana. So I had been bugging Ken for the longest time. Like, oh, if I had that, I could do that, you know, like everyone says. And he's like, hey, we're going to do the final scene for Jim Kana

10. I was like, sweet. He literally didn't tell me. So he brings me out there, and they couldn't start the motor because it's like $10,000 to start this stupid thing. So they didn't bring the engineer out to do it. So I'm pushing the car. So I'm like, you brought me out here to push your car so that you could stop in the last scene and him driving,

but they couldn't. So it was pretty funny. But he's like, all right, now get in. Like what? He's like, get in. This shot that we're doing is you getting in the car and you're going to pretend that you're stealing it and you're going to start the next Jim Kana. And I was so excited. I completely forgot that it was a Ford and a monster car.

And I just about got fired by all my sponsors. Now, what's interesting about that is he was currently selling Hoonigan. Now, he needed to prove that without Ken Block, Jim Kana could continue doing what Jim Kana does. And he basically came to me. He's like, we need 20 million views on this, on this video.

That's not me. He goes, the only thing that I'm going to say is it has to be an epic build. He goes, I don't care what sponsor you use, whatever. It has to be an epic build. It has to be an epic location. And you can't do too much of this nitro circus flying BS. He's like, you can have a couple jumps. You got to be cool.

But he goes, I want proximity to near-death situations. I want this to be a Jim Kana with your flair. He's like, go. And it was the second highest viewed Jim Kana, which was an awesome. But it was Ken as a businessman and as a friend to be like, right, I'm going to give you this opportunity because you've talked so much crap. And at the end of the first day of filming, like, I actually was doing donuts. The car caught on fire. It's late at night. We had, um, we had rain come in and it's supposed to be foggy the rest of the time. We had COVID,

so it was our last, like, we had three days to shoot this and we're a day behind after day one. And I called him almost crying. And he goes, all right, that's all I want it. And no matter how this does, you calling me in tears has paid my entire life. So it was pretty funny. That was the Florida. That was Maryland. Was that the one where you jumped at like one, six, super fast over like the hill in the road? Above the power lines. Yeah, we figured that out with a projectile calculator.

But the down force on that Subaru was like I took off at 140, which I thought was like at least five, 10 miles an hour fast that I needed to go. It was like the hand of God reached out. It was like, no. Really? Had a 28G impact. I was like seeing stars. Yeah, I bet. What just happened?

At that speed on a two-lane road, nonetheless. Had you been driving over that road, like, your entire life? And you were like, I wonder how fast I would hit this. I thought I could make it. So it was, the world record is 26, 269 feet. So that was about 250 to the lip. And I was like, you can go 350 on this because you're just going to keep falling down this hill. And no kidding, because it had like a bump in the road, a week before we went, they repaved it.

No. Shut off. So I was like. You didn't tell them? Like, they didn't know what you were doing? From the time we scouted this road, I'm like, Dude, I know, like I ride a road bike on this, like when I was actually in shape and used to ride. But I'm like, I rode over this every day thinking, man, you could probably hit this thing

if you had a really fast car and make this big old tabletop. And they flattened it out. So we had to do, we had to fake it. We had to build like a little kick at the top. Last question to ring it out, a really quick one. I don't know if you can even answer it, but out of all of the Subaru body styles, which one do you think is the best good looking? Because we're all Subaru guys. Like we grew up just thinking the STIs were the sickest car on the street.

To be honest, like that, when I think of a Subaru, I might not have been like the best looking body, but the 555 World Rally Car from McCray era, like the 95 kind of era, the Group B era was amazing. But yeah, kind of that 2003 STI was definitely my favorite. My favorite is probably like the 06, like the Hawkeye. I just, I don't know. That's just what I like, when I was a kid, you see that driving out the street, like, Mom, look, you know. And they just looked awesome. But our cameras are overheating.

We appreciate your time today, dude. Yeah, thank you so much. This is, like, checking off a big goal to have you on here. Like, it almost seemed unattainable. Let's get you guys out to the house. I'd love to learn from you guys, whatever, like, even just film style. Like, we kept filming, we were just overproducing stuff. And the stuff that's done the best is just phones.

I love to see how you guys make it. Yeah, next time we hang out, hopefully at Pastrano Land. Ooh. Thanks, guys. Thank you.