Bonus QOTD: What Did Ken Block Mean to You?
I was all set to write a retrospective of Ken Block's life -- the professional driver died yesterday in a snowmobile accident at the age of 55 -- when I realized I am the wrong guy to do it.
I never met Block, as far as I know/can remember, and I don't think I've ever covered him or his career closely. I don't much follow the Gymkhana stuff -- though I think it looks cool -- and haven't watched rally racing on a regular basis in a very long time.
Of course, there are other automotive journalists/enthusiasts/influencers who had met Block, covered him, or simply had their own automotive enthusiasm influenced by Block. I saw heartfelt tributes all over social media.
Which got me wondering about you out there in Readerland. Surely some of you were influenced by Block. Maybe you modified a certain type of car in a certain type of way. Maybe you learned how to drift or tuned into rally races. Maybe you have Hoonigan stickers on your laptop and a Hoonigan hoodie on your body.
I know some of you already commented on the breaking news post last night, but if you missed it, or just want another chance to speak up, sound off below. Let us know what Ken Block meant to you.
[Image: Sarnia/Shutterstock.com]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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His rep at the tire company LOVED him.
(It's clear that Tassos has never watched Top Gear. What, is there no internet in Moscow?)
Ken Block is driving the car in this shot.
(I've watched all of the Clarkson/Hammond/May Top Gears; U.S. Top Gear is useless.)
I'm not a proponent of drifting, and generally Very Bad Things happen in my life when cars go into the air (although it is interesting to see how smoothly that Subaru lands; my Traxxas Rustler [RWD because Pavement] will do the same thing when tossed from waist height).
The plane in the video helped pay the bills growing up, if you care (why would you).
Ken Block epitomized the saying, "age is just an attitude". Block had more fun and was more outrageous at 55 than most half his age. And he started Rallying and driving in his 30's, not as a teenager in a go-kart. A real American icon in motorsports, he and his insane video's will be missed.
In thinking about the loss of Ken, I realized he represented a good guy "making it" for a lot of people and shined as someone full of joy. He was a guy many of us could point to and say "this is what I am working so hard for everyday, to achieve this." A beautiful family, being a great Dad, having the means to do what you want, having fun with family and friends. I always enjoyed how much fun he had driving and sharing that love with his daughter Lia. In a time when men are often portrayed as enemies, idiots, and many other negative stereotypes, it was nice to watch Ken and Lia's relationship, unfortunately it was cut short.