This is the story of Ken Block, a pilot, stuntman and marketing genius who made us vibrate in front of the screen by recording his impossibilities behind the wheel.
The death of Ken Block has dismayed the motor world and the great fans who followed his videos and adventures in motorsport. In recent days, there have been tributes and gestures in memory of the Californian pilot, who sadly lost his life at the age of 55 last Monday, after suffering a fateful accident while riding a snowmobile.
Although Kenneth Paul Block was primarily known for his work as a racing driver and for doing the impossible behind the wheel of a car in his Gymkhanas, his story has much more ‘crumb’, because Ken was, in fact, an architect on wheels.
Unlike the vast majority of drivers, Block did not want to be a driver as a child, nor did he dream of emulating a great idol who had won everything in rallying. In fact, driven by his interest in design and his passion for drawing, he decided to study Architecture, although he would soon realize that neither this career nor the work he did as a draftsman were his thing.
After leaving it, he decided to pack his bags and go to Colorado to practice another of his passions, snowboarding, but, although he enjoyed the sport, he saw no future in the specialty, and he returned home to resume his studies. This was a decision that would change his life, since in Palomar (California) he met Demon Way, older brother of professional skater Danny Way.
Way and Block partnered to create an adventure clothing company that would sell in Colorado. Although the first steps were not successful at all, this first company was the embryo of what would become Droors Clothing, better known as DC Shoes, which they founded in 1994. Block made a contribution of $10,000, lent by his parents.
The urban footwear and clothing firm soon became known in the world of sports, thanks to the signing of sponsorship agreements with athletes and musical artists, who wore their garments and also created their own special editions.
Appearing in magazines, on television, and in the media alongside top-level ‘extreme’ athletes, gave DC visibility across the globe. And Ken Block himself had a lot to do with it, becoming the brand’s best ambassador after inventing his own promotional format: the Gymkhana.
Travis Pastrana, the culprit behind Block’s passion for rallying
Freestyle, motocross, rally rider and multidisciplinary stuntman Travis Pastrana was a good friend of Ken Block, who of course supported his brand, DC Shoes. Travis began rallying in 2004 in a Subaru, something that caught Block’s attention, as he had never even heard of rallying in the United States.
Ken, as the hotcars web remembers, also wanted to try it out and quickly called Travis’s agent to help him get it.
Block, who had just sold DC Shoes to Quicksilver for around 90 million dollars although he was still linked to the company, was 37 years old, a lot for a rookie in rallying, but the Californian didn’t care: he had the necessary resources, he wanted to prove himself and was willing to learn.
He enrolled in Team O’Neil’s rally school and, after a year of training, entered his first event in a Subaru WRX STi, the Sno*Drift, finishing seventh overall and fifth in class. He also competed in the Rally America championship, where he managed to finish in fourth position, becoming the best rookie of the year.
The dream had only just begun. She had discovered his great new passion and was going for it. In 2006 he formed, along with Subaru and Travis Pastrana, the Subaru Rally Team USA, a team with which he competed in the X Games, where he won the bronze medal, and was also second in Rally America.
Block, after signing with Monster Energy in 2007 as an endorser, decided to go one step further and leave the United States. After finishing third in Rally America, where he competed again, he signed up for his first rounds of the World Rally Championship, the Rally Mexico and New Zealand; and in 2009 he returned, to once again race in New Zealand. Ken met the goal on all appointments.
In 2010, Block went on to race a Ford Focus RS fielded by his own team, the Hoonigan Racing Division, renamed the Monster World Rally Team. The Californian raced that season in up to seven World Cup rallies, finishing ninth in Spain.
Block learned and improved season by season, and this allowed him to finish eighth and ninth in the Rallyes France and Great Britain respectively in 2011, his most complete year, in which he participated in nine events. In 2012 he was ninth in Mexico and New Zealand, and in 2013 he achieved his best result, a seventh in Mexico.
M-Sport, Ford’s semi-works WRC team, fielded him a Fiesta RS at the 2014 Rally de Catalunya, where he finished twelfth; and in 2018 he made his last participation in the World Cup, again in Spain, where he was forced to retire after an accident.
As a driver, Ken Block, always attached to number 43, has also participated in the Global Rallycross Championship, where he was second in the 2014 championship, the same year in which he won the Norwegian round of the European championship in the Supercar category.
This year, he had competed in the American Rally Association (ARA) championship, where he shared a track with his wife, Lucy, and their daughter, Lia. His good friend, Pastrana, has said that “I have never seen him as proud and happy as he was this year.”
Racing driver… and Gymkhanas
As he took his first steps as a pilot, Ken Block knew how to find a way to have fun and promote his skills and the brands that supported him, including DC itself or Monster Energy. Thus was born a show never seen to date, the “Gymkhana”, authentic audiovisual productions that have delighted a whole generation of car enthusiasts.
The first Gymkhana was published in 2008, and in it we can see Block drifting with the Subaru Impreza WRX STi, in a true display of precision driving in an abandoned military base. Published fourteen years ago, it has received no less than 16 million views, which will surely continue to increase over time.
Then came “The Infomercial”, shot in Los Angeles also with Subaru, and later many others with Ford, on locations in Paris, Hollywood, San Francisco, California, Dubai, Sweden, USA, Mexico…
We have seen Block skidding and juggling practically impossible with authentic beasts such as the Ford Fiesta ST, Ford Focus RS RX, the spectacular Hoonicorn RTR – his 1965 Mustang and more than 800 CV -, a 1977 Ford F-150 or a Ford Escort RS. We have even seen him complete the climb of Pikes Peak in the “Climbkhana” that he shot with Toyo Tires.
Views of his videos number in the millions, reaching the fifth Gymkhana, one of the most spectacular with jumps, skids and extreme driving in San Francisco, as well as a ‘cameo’ by Pastrana, totaling 114 million views. A true marketing operation with incredible and incalculable results.
In this interview that we conducted with AUTO BILD Spain in 2016, he explained how he did gymkhanas:
“It is something that takes a lot of work: it takes about six months to devise a gymkhana from scratch until it is recorded; just shooting and editing it takes four to six weeks. A lot of the driving can’t be done fast as we have to make sure we tell the story exactly the way we want to.”
“The most important thing is how people see that story. Obviously, I have a lot of fun driving, but we want everything to look as good as possible… and that takes time. In some places it only takes a couple of passes to get it perfect; in others you have to repeat ten times to get the ideal camera angle.
He also told us that he only used one car per recording because, “when there are bumps, they are minor damage”, and that he enjoyed coming to Spain to spend the summer.
In 2021, after ending his contract with Ford, Block signed for Audi to give a boost to electromobility, carrying out his adventures behind the wheel with models of the German brand, including the Audi RS Q e-tron with which Carlos Sainz, Mattias Ekström and Stéphane Peterhansel are competing in the Dakar.
His signing by Audi was the basis for the creation of the “Electrikhana”, a new gymkhana shot in Las Vegas where Block did his thing with an Audi S1 Hoonitron, a fully electric Audi based on the Audi Sport Quattro that made history in the World Rally.
Block and Audi had many plans that, unfortunately, will not be able to be fulfilled.
We will miss you Ken
