X Games

Just finished watching X Games rally. Good show. So, comments from the peanut gallery? Best thing ever for the sport? Too much hype? Needs more jumps?

Interesting personal observation: Travas Pastrana is the only person I saw during the entire X Games who wears a ball cap like I do.

this is my fence.. I will sit on it.

Any exposure is good, but massive jumps? Real practical in the woods. Super specials are part of the sport now though, I guess.

I thought it was pretty good. I suspect that most viewers will equate it with drifting which it can give the appearance of.

I did kind of enjoy the BMX rider trying to get the car around the track with a trashed left front suspension. It was pretty impressive that they fixed that in what, a half hour? Also impressive the same driver went from BMX to rally, two wildly different disciplines (although I suspect the courage required for BMX tricks helps)

Didn't see the X-Games, but I did see Pastrana drive at the Oregon Trail Rally opener this year. He was actually impressively good. I think Dave Mirra is the BMX/Rally guy and he was quite good as well.

Didn't watch rally. Vert skate and mega-park skate are sitting on my DVR.

Fun to watch, but winning through attrition kind of takes the fun out of it. A couple of my buddies were there, so it was fun to watch them out there if nothing else. I still don't understand how the heck Hanson got a seat, but I was glad he did! As much as I think X Games rally isn't really rally, it's probably the best thing to happen to rally in the US in a long time.

Bryce

I found it entertaining. My girlfriend actually looked up from her book to watch, too. Said, 'Huh, this is the most interesting racing I've seen.' But she hasn't seen my YouTube collection of Group B rally drivers...

Why do people from other sports (motorcycles, BMX, icy hot stunting, etc) think they can get into rally? Because it's just a matter of injecting your balls with saline until they're big enough to pull big air in a stadium? They're wrong. Even Pastrana, the X-Games god, can't keep it together in the WRC.

I think you missed the boat there. Like just about everyone here, you'd give your left testicle to compete in rally. So once they have earned there money in other sports, they have the financial freedom to give it a shot. Due to there prior fame, they get more exposure, which means more sponsorship cash. The financial freedom allows them to break a few more eggs during the process than the average privateer. Extreme sports have been there life, its only natural to want to hurl yourself through the woods at breakneck speeds. Its not like they are being sought out by rally to join their ranks......they are drawn to it just like everyone else. Pastrana and Block are both darn good, for how relatively short they've been in the sport. Mirra doesn't even have a year under his belt, and is showing signs of talent. Saying they can't hack WRC is a little premature. Revisit this in five years and see how they are doing. As far as X games rally, I'd love to see a bigger venue(say at a track), where the crowd can see a bigger area. I don't like the jump, but it makes for good tv. At a bigger venue, they could make a safer jump and course.....make it a little more like euro rallyx.

Keith wrote: Because it's just a matter of injecting your balls with saline until they're big enough

I feel sick to my stomach

Don't blame me, I got that from Crooked Little Vein. Quite a book.

I think what bugs me is the hype around guys like Pastrama trying to break into the sport. They're up against the best drivers in the world (in my opinion), who have paid their dues over a decade or more. Winning the X Games doesn't necessary show that they have any ability in real rally. It's a tough thing for X Games to cover though - they've made the race more than just a super special to their credit, but it's not there yet.

I was at the X games on Saturday for the Freestyle and the SuperMoto. The SuperMoto is kind of like the rally with a half and half course of dirt and street. It wasn't to bad to watch (you could see some of the street racing on the jumbo screen). I would think the rally would be much less interesting being there since most of the racing was outside the stadium. A bigger venue would definitely help, but I think they need to keep it with the other events since it is still not a big draw.

Of course rally has always been a very poor sport for the on site spectator.

BTW - the Freestyle really wasn't as good as in the past, the layout made any double flips impossible, so it really wasn't as spectacular as the trick jump event.

There is no doubt they have been afforded opportunities because of WHO they are. However, even being provided the best equipment, you can not be a Rally American champion without some skill. There are a lot of talented drivers on this board. I would wager that most could not duplicate the positive results given the same opportunities/equipment. Don't discount previous experience as being "not valid". Pastrana was a motocross champion at a very young age....a phenom in the motorcyle community long before he got into the freestyle stuff and messed up his knee. So he doesn't surprise me that he has done so well. Keep in mind he has under 5 years of competitive driving experience. I think Block is more impressive considering he has less prior motorsport experience. Hell, Mirra's first rally event was last winter in NH, in a newer subaru with a NA 2.5 engine and still did exceptionally well. Winning X games doesn't necessarily give you any more "street credit" in the sport, I'd agree with you there. However, don't discount their talent just because they participated and did well. The hype is sponsor generated. Its this hype that generates sponsor cash. Without it, the events will struggle to happen. Its a necessary evil. I'm not saying these guys are the next Colin McRae, but they do have talent for the sport. Time will tell if they can make it at the next level. Their previous sport experience/achievment means to me that they are worthy to watch as they try to achieve more at the next level. I would be very surprised to not see Block or Pastrana get a full time wrc ride some where down the road.....not next year, but somewhere down the road.

The thing I'd love to see is John Buffum come out and battle the young guns at X games. I view X games as more of an exhibition game, showcasing the sports talent to a wider viewing audience than it normally gets.

Having watched Pastrana and Block take to the track with guys that have "paid their dues" for many more years in racing, there's no doubt that those guys have tons of natural talent and are picking up their skills extremely quick. Both are great drivers IMO, and being fortunate enough to also have an edge in the popularity game has allowed them to get some great sponsorships. Niall McShea proved that being a WRC guy doesn't do much for you in terms of "skill" even if he has paid dues, since he took himself out in the first race.

Just winning the X-Games may not prove that you're rally ready in itself, but leading the Rally America championship AND the X-Games rally (and motorcycle stuff for that matter) should support the theory.

Bryce

My opinion as a rallyist is that

Pastrami etal.'s success is due to the three following reasons:

1) preconditioned to have less than normal amounts of fear in dangerous situations.

2) financial wherewithall to buy topnotch stuff (or the financial backing to do so.)

3) The ability to know what their asses are doing in three dimensional situations.

Can't knock them for any of that.

It was cool to see MJ/Worm out there. Cool guys that get it at a grassroots level.

Per

Yeah, I definately liked that there were some older subies there. I wonder what the rules are! It'd be sick for someone to show up in a gr.B car but they probably have too much horsepower (yea bla-d-bla the 4wd systems aren't as advanced ok)

What I didn't like was... the driving almost. It was alot more bumper-carsy than what I've seen in the past. The jump is cool, but I don't feel like it should be... that hard! It's pretty much just physics, find the MPH you need to be at, and maybe if the cars nose-heavy give it throttle as you're going over the jump... get it once in practice, get it in the races. The walls on the other side could have also been more forgiving instead of those parallel lined concrete barriers in the relatively narrow opening.

OK, I missed it. Anyone know when it's coming on again so I can DVR it?

To answer my own question, looks like there is some Day 4 coverage coming on tomorrow morning at 4am. I'll be sure and DVR that...