Travis Pastrana

Travis at a public appearance before racing his open class '09 Subaru WRX Sti at the 2009 Lake Superior Performance Rally
Personal information
Full name	Travis Alan Pastrana
Nickname(s)	TP, Wonderboy, Gimp
Date of birth	October 8, 1983 (1983-10-08) (age 26)
Place of birth	Annapolis , Maryland
Sport
Sport(s)	Rally, Motocross, Supercross, Freestyle Motocross, Base Jumping
Event(s)	X Games, RedBull X Fighters, Dew Tour, Rally America
Sponsors
Current	Suzuki, RedBull North America, KICKER Audio, Smith Optics, Thor Motocross, Activision, Alpine Stars, Nixon, Ogio, DC Shoes, Michelin, Parts Unlimited[1][2]
Achievements and titles
X Games	Freestyle MotoX Gold (6) and Silver Medalist, MotoX Best Trick Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalist, Rally Racing Gold (2) and Silver[3] Medalist.

Travis Alan Pastrana (born October 8, 1983, in Annapolis, Maryland) is a motorsports competitor and stunt performer who has won championships and X Games gold medals in several events, including supercross, motocross, freestyle motocross, and rally racing. He currently appears in the television show Nitro Circus.He is of American and Colombian-Puerto Rican descent

[edit] Motocross/Supercross

Pastrana has won two motocross racing championships, the 2000 A.M.A. 125cc National championship, and the 2001 125cc East Coast Supercross Championship. Pastrana also raced in the 2000 MX of Nations. Pastrana moved up to the 250cc class or "Supercross" class in 2002. Pastrana's stand-up style, ability to spot jump combinations and great speed through the whoops make him easy to spot on the track. Although Pastrana has never won a 250cc race, his kindness to the fans and love of the sport still makes him one of the most popular riders of all time. Pastrana has always raced and competed on Suzuki motorcycles, and remains fiercely loyal to the brand. He races with Team Cernic's Suzuki. His motorcycles and rally cars carry the number 199.

[edit] Team Puerto Rico

Robert Pastrana, Travis Pastrana's father and veteran of the United States Marine Corps, is a native Puerto Rican,But his fathers original origin is from Colombia cousin is former Colombian president Andres Pastrana which made Travis directly eligible to represent Puerto Rico in international competition.^[4] On February 27, 2008, the Asociación de Motociclismo de Puerto Rico (Motorcycling Association of Puerto Rico) provided him with a license to represent the island, which was accepted by the Unión LatinoAmericana de Motociclismo, the relevant sanctioning body in Latin America.^[4][5] His debut with the team took place on March 15, 2008. Here he qualified to the finals by defeating Erick Vallejo of México. In the finals he finished third, behind local Costa Rican racer Roberto Castro and Vallejo.^[5]

[edit] X Games

• 1999 - Pastrana wins the first ever MotoX Freestyle event at the X-Games. He also scored the highest ever run of 99.00 points.

• 2000 - Pastrana wins the gold medal first time

• 2001 - Pastrana wins his third gold, still the only person to win the event.

• 2003 - Pastrana reclaims his gold and becomes the second rider ever to complete a 360 in competition.

• 2004 - Pastrana crashed trying a 50ft 360, sustaining a concussion, but was able to compete the next day and won a silver medal. Nate Adams became the only rider to beat Pastrana at that time. Before this event, he had won Bronze in Best Trick, performing a One-Handed 360 and a Superman Seat Grab-Indian Air Back flip.

• 2005 - Pastrana won his fifth gold in Freestyle and also attempted the first ever Back flip Barspin on a motorcycle, however the bike failed and he resorted to a regular bike and performed a Back flip Saran Wrap to take Silver in Best Trick.

• 2006 - Pastrana became the third athlete to win 3 Gold medals at one X Games Event. He won Gold in MotoX Best Trick and Freestyle and Rally Car. Pastrana also performed the first Double Back flip in competition, scoring a 98.60, the highest score in the Best Trick competition at X Games.

• 2007 - Pastrana took bronze in Rally after sliding into the other drivers area while inside the Home Depot Center. He was disqualified but retained his medal. He also competed in the first MotoX Racing at X Games, but didn't achieve a medal after 2 false starts in the heat race and last chance qualifier.

• 2008 - Pastrana takes gold in Rally and competed in the Speed and Style event but didn't place.

• 2009 - Pastrana attempts a rodeo 720 at X Games 15 in the Moto X Best Trick Event. He crashed on his first attempt and withdrew from his second after having blurred vision. He placed 4th for his efforts. He took silver in Rally after being defeated by rookie and former Indy Car/Indy 500 champion Kenny Bräck.

[edit] Rallying

Pastrana's Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

In 2003, Pastrana opened a rallying career in the Race of Champions, and began driving for the Subaru-backed Vermont SportsCar rally team in 2004. Starting in 2006, Pastrana was signed by Subaru to lead their new Subaru Rally Team USA, being paired once again with veteran co-driver Christian Edstrom. On August 5, 2006 Pastrana won the gold medal in the first rally car competition at the X Games, edging out rally legend Colin McRae by 0.53 seconds after McRae rolled his car through the last jump.

Pastrana and Edstrom clinched the 2006 Rally America National Series overall and open class championship on October 22, 2006 during day one of the Lake Superior Performance Rally. The team finished out the 2006 series with another first-place victory at the Wild West Rally in Olympia, Washington on December 31, 2006.

On December 16, 2006 Pastrana competed at the 2006 Race of Champions at the Stade de France in Paris. He represented the United States in the Nations' Cup by himself, after injuries forced teammate Jimmie Johnson and his replacement Scott Speed to withdraw.

February 19, 2007 brought news that Pastrana's longtime co-driver Edstrom had announced a sabbatical to concentrate on his career and family. Although former McRae co-driver Derek Ringer is set to compete with Pastrana for the 100 Acre Wood Rally in Salem, Missouri and Rally America, he has not announced a permanent replacement co-driver.

Pastrana driving a classic Ford Escort Mk1 at the 2008 Colin McRae Forest Stages.

In September 2008, Pastrana took part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally, a round of the Scottish Rally Championship centred in Perth in Scotland. Derek Ringer was his co-driver and they entered in a historic Ford Escort RS1600. He was one of a number of celebrity drivers to take part in the event in memory of McRae, who died in 2007.

On August 29, 2009 Pastrana claimed the overall victory at Ojibwe Forests Rally, his fifth of the 2009 Rally America season. The victory sealed his fourth consecutive Rally America driver's title, the most in series history. ^[6]

[edit] Rally America results

[edit] 2006

[edit] 2007

[edit] 2008

[edit] International competition

Pastrana, Colin McRae and Ken Block at the X Games XIII.

On December 13, 2006, Subaru Rally Team USA announced plans to enter Pastrana in certain World Rally Championship events in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

In the 2007 season, he raced three P-WRC events in the Group N class, driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STI–based rally car. During March 9–11 2007, Pastrana competed in his first world rally at the 21º Corona Rally México. He finished fifth in the P-WRC (Group N) class (the best in-class finish by an American in a WRC event since John Buffum finished third in the Acropolis Rally in 1988), followed by a tenth place in Rally Argentina and an eleventh in Rally GB. Pastrana described his season as having gone "horribly".^[8]

Pastrana's 2008 season in the P-WRC was even less successful, with one retirement following a crash on stage one of Rally Argentina^[9] and one thirteenth place on the Acropolis Rally.

Pastrana returned to domestic competition in Rally America the for 2009 season, where he has taken five victories from eight events.

[edit] Injuries

Injuries have often taken Travis Pastrana off the circuit for weeks or months. His medical record includes multiple concussions, a broken back, several dislocated shoulders and severe knee problems due to cartilage degeneration.

In 1998 at a Triple Crown event in Lake Havasu, when he was 14-years-old, he jumped a 120-foot ramp and came up short. In the process of the crash he rag dolled and separated his spine from his pelvis, which put him in the medical books and left him in a coma for two weeks. It also left him in a wheel chair for three months. “I was in and out of consciousness for about three days and had six blood transfusions,” says Pastrana. He also adds that according to doctors only three people in the U.S. have ever lived after this kind of injury. “I don’t remember most of the injuries there have been so many.” His laundry list includes: the dislocated spine, in his left knee he’s torn his ACL, PCL, LCL, MCL, his bucket handle meniscus, broken his tibia and fibula, he’s had surgery on his left wrist twice, left thumb once, two surgeries on his back, one on his right elbow, nine on his left knee, six on the right knee, one shoulder surgery which left him with the only piece of metal he has in his body.[1]

[edit] Other activities

Pastrana features as a hidden surfer in the 2002 video game Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer.

On September 26, 2007, Pastrana jumped out of an airplane over Arecibo, Puerto Rico, without a parachute in a carefully choreographed stunt. He met up in midair with another jumper, then latched himself into a harness to make a safe tandem landing. [2]

Pastrana lent his voice to the game Colin McRae: DiRT as himself and the in-menu voice as well.

Travis also has ownership in the new company, Ethika - under armour for Action Sports.

On Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 10:00 PM, MTV Nitro Circus, his new television show that he is an executive producer on premiered. A spinoff of MTV's Jackass, the shows share producer, Jeff Tremaine and was partly created by Jackass frontman, Johnny Knoxville. It features Jolene Van Vugt, Erik Roner, Streetbike Tommy, Andy Bell, JD Larson, Jim Dechamp, among others doing dangerous stunts. Jackass' Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius and Steve-O; BMX freestylers, T. J. Lavin and Mat Hoffman; and actor, Gary Coleman have guest starred on various episodes. The Nitro Circus was also featured on an episode of MTV's Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory and vice-versa.

On Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 11:00PM, Travis will be attempting another insane act of immortality at Red Bull: New Year. No Limits.which will be televised live on ESPN. The event will take place in Long Beach, CA. Pastrana will attempt to accomplish the first ever ramp-to-ramp car jump over water, a feat that will test the laws of physics and take his career to yet another level. With the world-famous Queen Mary docked in the background, Pastrana will jump his rally car off the Pine Street Pier onto a floating barge anchored in Long Beach’s Rainbow Harbor, aiming to shatter the existing mark of 171 feet and establish a new world distance record, live on ESPN.

[edit] Pastrana 199 monster truck

Pastrana 199 is a monster truck that races on the USHRA circuit. The truck is owned by Live Nation and sponsored by Travis Pastrana. It was originally driven by Paul Cohen, then driven by Chad Tingler, and is currently driven by Courtney Jolly. Travis made his monster truck debut on October 18, 2006 in the 199 monster truck at the 2006 Monster Jam. Also, on an episode of Nitro Circus, Travis attempts to backflip the Nitro circus themed monster truck. Though unsuccessful, he walked away without injury. In 2008-2009, the 199 truck was driven by Pastrana's good friend Cam McQueen. McQueen was invited to the 2009 World Finals for his second appearance. Pastrana himself competed in the freestyle competition of the event, finishing in a three-way tie for 5th place in a field of 24 trucks.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Travis Pastrana

• Pastrana's official website
• Travis Pastrana Fan Site
• Pastrana at EXPN (X Games) site
• Pastrana at WRC.com
• Nitro Circus