Long Nights, Speedhunters and Ken Block

Long Nights, Speedhunters and Ken Block.  Or as I like to call him, “The Famous Ken”.
In that order…

I thought I would be fresh and ready to go Friday morning at Formula Drift, after a short flight from San Francisco to LAX Thursday evening.  That’s what I thought, anyway.  Instead, I had an eight-hour stint in the airport that netted zero miles traveled and a $60+ food bill and a twenty dollar parking tab.  My flight, which was supposed to leave at 8pm ended up being cancelled near 1AM, which left me with a choice: drive all night to get to FD the next morning, or call it a weekend and go home. Duh…  Not really a choice, is it?

So I did what any gear-head with a media credential would do; hopped in the truck, gassed up (the truck with unleaded and myself with Rockstar) and drove my happy self to Irwindale.  Got there just in time Friday morning, to sign in for my credentials and get to work.

I immediately was on the search for Speedhunter Larry Chen.  I knew the renowned photographer would be at the venue early and I had a pretty good idea where to find him.

And I was right, on both counts.  Larry was there and he was down by the track rigging his gear, just as I suspected.  I introduced myself, again.  We had met at Pikes Peak, but I’m reasonably forgettable, particularly to famous people.  Not sure I’ll ever understand that.  I have to re-introduce myself to Rhys Millen every time I see him, and he’s known me for almost a decade now (of course I’m kidding…he’s only known me eight years).  Anyway, I told Larry about my plans for a feature article on him.  He didn’t object (which is a good thing) and I started snapping photos of him while he was rigging a very expensive camera precariously over the top of the catch fence on the infamous Irwindale wall.

As I’m going about my business of “shooting the shooter” I hear the familiar and very unmistakable sound of a fire-breathing, turbocharged Ford four cylinder engine.

This one just happened to be attached to a very popular Hoonigan that you may have heard of, a guy named Ken Block.

He does videos, or something, I’m not really sure (can you hear the sarcasm…if not, make an appointment with your Dr., immediately).

Ken Block and his team were shooting a short video and I was one of maybe, just a couple people who were in the area to snap a few photos of the unfolding events.

The encounter was brief, but eventful.

In that short span of time I saw the lovable Mr. Block destroy two wheels, rip off his rear bumper, and successfully throw down a four wheel drift on the notoriously unforgiving House of Drift.

All in all, a pretty darn good morning for having been up over 30 hours already. See you next time, Kids.