Name: Travis Pastrana
Nationality: American
Date of birth: October 8, 1983
Debut (X Games): 1999 (motocross freestyle)
Best season(s): Rally America champion 2009
ROC record: Race of Champions semi-finals (in spite of a broken leg) 2005, Nations Cup runner-up (on his own), ROC Nations Cup Semi-finalist (with Tanner Foust) 2009
Travis Pastrana has enjoyed as varied and spectacular career as any athlete who has ever got behind the wheel. Equally at home on two wheels, as he is four, Pastrana has created sporting history with some of the most incredible stunts ever performed, including the longest jump in a car over water and jumping out of a plane minus a parachute. In 1999, Pastrana won the first ever MotoX Freestyle event at the X-Games to claim the first of 10 X-Games gold medals. A career in rallying followed with Subaru in the noughties and he has now plans to make a switch to one of America's most popular racing series, NASCAR, in 2011. Pastrana is also the executive producer of MTV Nitro Circus.
Fast facts:
- Travis Pastrana became the youngest freestyle motocross world champion at the age of 14 and was also the first motocross rider to complete a double backflip on a dirtbike.
- Travis has had more injuries than most other riders have had hot dinners. The most serious of these came when he was just 14. Pastrana was confined to a wheelchair for three months, having separated his spine from his pelvis during an attempted landing while in FMX competition. His full recovery was considered remarkable and documented for television.
- Robert Pastrana, Travis' father, is a native Puerto Rican, which makes Travis directly eligible to represent Puerto Rico in international competition.
- Travis is featured as a hidden surfer in the 2002 video game, Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer
Best quote:
“I had to learn to walk again but in the meantime my dad got me a great wheelchair with full suspension. I had about three months of fun with that.”
Doctors’ orders are ignored as Travis discovers that a wheelchair opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
Official website: www.travis-pastrana.com
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