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56 Comments December 4, 2006

He Fly High

:::EXCLUSIVE::: Ken Block soars for Stunt Junkies then tells 0-60 all about it.

In mid November, at a remote location in Southern California, a jump that might make ol’ Evel quiver was erected. It was a gap jump (translation: a launch ramp and landing, no save-your-ass middle). Only a nut job would think of taking a car to it. Now, meet Ken Block, a Subaru Rally driver and the co-founder of DC Shoes, he is the nut job. This display of insanity was set-up for Discovery’s Stunt Junkies, a TV Show where each episode revolves around a fearless feat never performed before. The show, which usually highlights snowboarders, motocrossers and so on, follows a stunt from conception to celebration. Block’s leap will air on Discovery (possibly) sometime in February, stay tuned you don’t want to miss it! Until then, see what KB has to say about his ~~lapse of judgement~~ balls-istic flight.
–
Okay, so according to Internet scuttlebutt, which is never wrong, your so-called jump was fakedâ€”just a Photoshop. What do you have to say about that Mr. Block?

You got me, those leaked camera phone pics are entirely fake and the X-Games was a conspiracy, too. Colin McRae rolled on purpose so Travis could winâ€¦ [laughs sarcastically]

Speaking of McRae, we heard he too couldn’t believe you tried this stunt?

Yeah, since X-Games we have been exchanging emails. So, when I sent him my little event report and photos, he replied â€œIf thatâ€™s for real, I will eat my driving shoe. Obviously fatherhood hasnâ€™t affected the size of your balls.â€ I am pretty happy to have impressed Colin to that level! He is sort of my hero. Oh and Colin, I am still waiting for that video of you eating your shoes.

So how far did you actually clear?

Wellâ€¦much further than I expected. Letâ€™s put it this way, my first jump was 100 feet. I am under contract to not reveal the actual distances that I jumped but to give you an idea, I had them push back the take off jump two times.

Did it all go smoothly?

My last jump was gnarly and I jumped even further than planned and landed at the absolute bottom of the transition. I hit so hard that it left rim marks in the dirt where the front wheels impacted.

Be honest, you were scared shitless?

I was a bit scared looking at the last jumpâ€¦the gap to the landing was f#cking huge. But, I built up to it and it was a calculated risk. It was similar to jumps that I have done on snowboards and dirt bikes, so it really did not intimidate me very much.

Yeah, but you can bail from a dirt bike, and a snowboard doesnâ€™t weigh over a ton and have the possibility of bursting into a ball of fire!

[Laughs] Rally cars are supposed to jump! Thatâ€™s one of the things that makes rally better/different (to me) than other motorsports. I love to jump things. I jumped a car for the first time when I was 15 years old and, did it many times after that. Thatâ€™s why I love rallyâ€”you canâ€™t jump a dragster!

So what made the people at Stunt Junkies consider this jump for the program? Think X Games influenced them?

I think the exposure that rally has gotten this year because of X Games and Travis Pastrana helped make this happen. Itâ€™s just opened the eyes of more of the traditional media to rally and that there is a legitimate scene and championship here in the US.

Very true. But obviously there will always be those who hate. Many have objected that rallyâ€™s acceptance as an action sport will change it for the worst.

The only change that I can see is that rally will be more exposed to the American market. The actual sport of rally should not change from thisâ€¦it was just a great way to show the world what a rally car is capable of.

Do you see a big-air contest being a possibility for next year’s X Games?

Of course! Travis is already trying to figure out how to backflip the Subie! Just kidding, but, we may see some good jumps as part of a â€œcrossoverâ€ part of a Super Special.

We see you were not piloting the same car as you were at the X Games, was this car specially built for this event?

The car I used for this event was my older racecar that I used before the X Games. Monster Energy helped out with the budget to get the car and team out here from Vermont Sports car. Itâ€™s a â€œstockâ€ rally car, yup, itâ€™s even street legal. Actually, it even has lesser spec dampers than my current Subie. But, the team did not want to risk damaging my current car, so we used this one.

Obviously, racing rally you have done your fair share of jumping the yumps, but this was far more than a yump. How does it differ?

In a rally, most of the jumps are completely blind. Some of the jumps are famous and we have hit them in previous years, but, still, we are racing down a stage and my co-driver calls â€œbig jumpâ€ and I just have to make a guestimate on how hard to hit it. But, with this jump, it was very calculated and I knew exactlyâ€”or close toâ€”what it was going to take to make it over clean.

Think we will ever see jumps this size on actual stages?

There are a few big jumps on some of the US rally stages, but nothing with that kind of height. I seriously doubt that will change but, we may work on getting some more good jumps similar to this, on some of the Super Specials (spectator stages).

To be honest with you Ken, we kind of expected this kind of exhibit of grandoire from your teammate Travis Pastrana. What was his response to your madness?

I think Travis may have had a few Coronas when he wrote this email [He had just crashed and burned a buggy to the ground in the Baja 1000], but itâ€™s pretty funny; â€œYou are my fucking hero…you went way too f#cking big!!! Did you land that without breaking your back??? You are my new screen saverâ€¦.that is a completely insane jump!â€

KB, you officially have the biggest balls ever, ~~can we see em~~?

PHOTOS: Lars Gange
STORY: Brian Scotto

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 4th, 2006 at 4:12 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

56 Responses to “He Fly High”

12.4.06 at 5:22 pm

HiGGiNS says:
I STILL CANT BELIEVE IT…Sick.

12.4.06 at 6:15 pm

BIRM says:
i knew it was real……

12.4.06 at 6:24 pm

William says:
Is there a video available ?

12.4.06 at 6:39 pm

Carster.com says:
This is bigger news for Subaru than Pastrana signing on for three years or Rally! Congrats Ken, this is simply amazing! -Carster

12.4.06 at 6:43 pm

ben says:
absolutely nutty, i cant wait to see that episode of stunt junkies

12.4.06 at 7:34 pm

RobotSkirts » Blog Archive » 0-60mag.com Â» Blog Archive Â» He Fly High says:
[...] One hell of a jump [via Jalopnik] [...]

12.4.06 at 7:51 pm

roundhead says:
BS-you werent kiddin bro—damn homie, that cracker got problems…

12.4.06 at 7:58 pm

Naik’s News » Eight Miles High: Ken Block’s Subie Leap says:
[...] He Fly High [0-60] [...]

12.4.06 at 8:39 pm

bill says:
video!!!!

12.4.06 at 8:44 pm

estaban says:
a video would be ace

12.4.06 at 9:37 pm

alan says:
Wow… he’s so BAMF. Yeah, I can’t wait to see the video too. I was able to see the car at a local Subiefest and it looked in pretty good shape!

12.4.06 at 9:53 pm

Willie G says:
Holy Moses!!! But how far can his Benz go?

12.5.06 at 7:20 am

Renner09 says:
hoooooooly shit!

12.5.06 at 9:18 am

Victor Chatamwood says:
Next time we need fiery hoops, and a shark tank in the gap. I heard a robot drove the car, and that Ken Block was really just a photoshop.

12.5.06 at 9:52 am

John Geelen says:
this can only help our sport …..in a single word incredible. thank you
John

12.5.06 at 12:27 pm

Jay Slack says:
fucking awesome

12.5.06 at 1:58 pm

Bump says:
All I can say is…SICK! Watch out Danny here comes the next revolutionary, hahaa. Good one Ken!

12.5.06 at 2:25 pm

mp says:
Here’s a link to the vid http://www.autoblog.com/2006/12/05/video-ken-block-jumps-a-subie-waaaaay-too-high/

12.5.06 at 3:11 pm

tunnelrunner says:
that is sick, KB you should have pulled that stunt with some of the gumball cars!

12.5.06 at 3:14 pm

Trunkmonkey Racing says:
Absolutely outstanding jump! I saw the leaked photos and video on NASIOC.com a few weeks ago and immediately thought, “oh, Travis is a nutjob”. No way did I expect this from Ken!

12.5.06 at 5:03 pm

MD says:
Another clean pre-owned Subaru WRX coming soon to a used car dealer near you.

12.5.06 at 6:13 pm

Matty says:
only in a poobaru!

12.6.06 at 2:37 pm

focus skater says:
ive got to see that duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!!!!!!!!!!!1111

12.7.06 at 2:37 am

Matt says:
I want to do this one day…someone please give me a rally car and a big fuck off mound of dirt…

12.8.06 at 9:58 pm

aristokrat says:
f*ck yeah!!!!

12.10.06 at 12:07 am

Lucas says:
viva la You Tube!
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/12/05/video-ken-block-jumps-a-subie-waaaaay-too-high/
…..
(quick and dirty) film at eleven.

12.10.06 at 2:52 pm

jack later says:
it’s makes for cool camera tricks? huh guys?

12.10.06 at 6:11 pm

Brian Scotto says:
Huh? What are you talking about?

12.11.06 at 12:30 pm

Eickhel says:
Ok… we neeeeeeed those pics in high res NOW! hehe

12.12.06 at 7:46 am

Annabeth says:
OMG!! What about High! Great!

12.15.06 at 4:43 pm

Hector says:
yo thats some crazy shit, nice work you got some nuts man i give you props

12.15.06 at 9:35 pm

pat says:
dude sweet jump u must have craped ur self looking at the first photo didnt think u made it love to c u do it again dude

12.16.06 at 1:29 pm

rockies74 says:
holy crap! making leaps larger than ever thought. big. hucking crazy!

12.16.06 at 1:31 pm

rockies74 says:
travis who?

12.19.06 at 7:27 pm

JayKrep says:
This was the real deal man…I saw the whole thing when I was at the track. Outta no where KB comes flying out with no hesitation and launches that shi* like the pro he is….SICK KB, just to sick to put into words. I think after seeing that I rode a little harder than normal that day. ELSINORE RULES!!!!!!!!!

12.19.06 at 11:54 pm

KEN MILLS says:
KEN IS THE MAN!!! OF COURSE IT WAS REAL!! DC, IS REAL AND THAT A DREAM COME TRUE TOO!!! SHARE THE LOVE AND WEALTH KEN!!! PEAce OUT!

12.22.06 at 6:14 am

Keijonwirta says:
Nice car!

02.23.07 at 4:54 am

Pipru says:
Markko MÃ¤rtin ja Michael Park,
171 km/h ja 57 m,
Ford Focus RS WRC 03 http://www.ilkansivu.net/Neste_Rally_Finland_2003/109_0938_EK_14_Ouninpohja_2_Markko_Martin_ja_Michael_Park_Ford_Focus_RS_WRC_03.jpg

04.12.07 at 2:06 am

LOBO says:
Incredible… O_O

04.19.07 at 3:18 pm

0-60mag.com » Blog Archive » DC Launch Control says:
[...] Straight from the horse’s mouth… Join us for autograph signings with DC Pro Rally drivers Travis Pastrana and Ken Block and 2005 Gumball 3000 racer and pro skateboarder Rob Dyrdek (MTV’s Rob and Big). Plus check out DC’s high performance Subaru rally cars in New York for one night only! var staf_confirmtext = ‘Mail sent’ #stafBlock { position: absolute !important; z-index: 100000; display: none; width: 200px; } #stafForm { background-color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #d90000; padding: 5px; margin:0; } #stafForm h2 { margin: 0; } #stafForm input, #stafForm label, #stafForm h2 { font-family: Arial, Sans-Serif; font-size: 11px; color: #333; } #stafForm input { width: 90px; height: 15px; margin-top: 5px; border: 1px solid #999; } #stafForm label { float: left; display: block; width: 90px; line-height: 16px; } #stafClose { float: right; margin-right: 5px; } x [...]

04.27.07 at 12:29 pm

0-60mag.com » Blog Archive » With Special Guests says:
[...] In addition to bringing with us the current Rally America points leader Ken Block, his Monster Rally Car that is now famous for that 171-foot jump and Travis Pastranaâ€™s co-driver Christian Edstrom, we drove out the One Lap STi that we raced with Ken in 2006 (Yeah, and since Scottoâ€™s name is still on it, the crowd treated him like a rock star. People, heâ€™s just a magazine dude!). Anyway we could wax poetic here about how amazing it was to see nearly 100 Subarus (mainly from SQC and LISC) lined up on a crappy Wednesday night for us to arrive, or about how stoked everyone, especially the girl who drove four hours from Albany, was to meet Ken and inspect the cars, but we wonâ€™tâ€”we will let the pictures and video do the talking. [...]

05.2.07 at 8:56 am

cw says:
if some ones going to do something this awesome at least get some good full size photos

05.15.07 at 6:00 pm

Chris says:
You are so awesome. I want to go off jumps with awesome rally cars to. I am thirteen and am really thinking on what things to do in life. How did you start, and can u help me with tips? I appreciate it very much.

05.16.07 at 11:40 am

josh says:
holy shit im speechless bro that was sick

05.27.07 at 4:29 am

elias paananen says:
I see this TV and i don`t believe it but it`s true nice dude!!

01.9.08 at 4:45 am

Seth says:
SWEET! i so want to try that!

03.5.08 at 10:47 am

jake krajniak says:
you are fucking insane

03.26.08 at 5:02 pm

0-60mag.com » Blog Archive » Ice Capades LIVE! says:
[...] Video clips of Subaru driver Ken Block’s snowboard-rally car mash-up hit the interwebs. If a photo is worth a 1000 words, what’s 20 minutes of video worth? We don’t have a finite number on that one (math who needs it?), but we do have a few clips of our man (and contributer) Ken Block sessioning a snowboard park in New Zealand with some DC team riders. If you read the last issue of 0-60, you know the back story. If you didn’t…you should of! Either way go check out the DC website for clips and photos. The part from the MTN.LAB 1.5 video is there (and on youtube), but we highly recommend the “behind the scenes” clip which has a lot more rally car stuff and less snowboarding. And in “the big crash,” KB finally admits to breaking his back. Ouch dude! Be sure to check out Block’s section in 0-60 Magazine every issue. [...]

03.26.08 at 8:22 pm

Sean Sherman says:
Dude i did that in my moms minni van

04.2.08 at 2:59 am

S. Kokko says:
Nice jump….but… Old records still hold. Jussi Kynsilehto with his co-driver Martin Holmes jumped 70 meters with their MK 1 Ford Escort RS1600 in 1975 Rally of the thousand lakes in Finland. Car went totally bad, but the drivers survived. No calculations before, just plain old flat out rally driving.
Here is a picture of the car after the jump
http://www.teambild.se/arkiv/details.php?image_id=3620&sessionid=fbbec9438b192796b3dd91e4497e3cf5 And here is some more action and jumps from finland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNd5vJtCUQQ&feature=related

07.28.08 at 5:07 pm

Sagar says:
How can he do it? How he do it? It’s unbelievable Now I have became a fan for Subaru Team.

08.9.08 at 9:50 pm

Evo says:
Awesome pics

08.31.08 at 6:48 am

fornetti says:
I do not believe this

09.18.08 at 9:54 am

Sizzle says:
Unbelievable Driving… its Phenominal … We Can call him Supa MAn… i’ve seen your drivin on youtube … the saga continues

11.12.08 at 8:11 pm

john says:
u crazy bastard lol nice

11.7.09 at 3:01 am

LarryXA says:
Thx, this has definitely made my day! _______________________
wtf