{"id":89040,"date":"2023-01-03T14:33:06","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T22:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=89040"},"modified":"2023-01-03T14:34:18","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T22:34:18","slug":"remembering-ken-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/remembering-ken-block\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Ken Block"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ken
Ken Block at SEMA 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A snowmobiling accident claimed the life of Ken Block, 55, over the New Year\u2019s holiday weekend. Known worldwide for his car control, his ability to race in the World Rally Championship (WRC), customarily not an arena where Americans are successful and for his showmanship in Gymkhana<\/i> videos that grew more eventful with every attempt, Block\u2019s accident and subsequent death shocked the motorsports world.<\/p>\n

Announced Monday night on Instagram, Block\u2019s Hoonigan Racing team\u2019s statement said, \u201cIt\u2019s with our deepest regrets that we can confirm Ken Block passed away in a snowmobile accident today. Ken was a visionary, a pioneer and an icon. And more importantly, a father and husband. He will be incredibly missed.\u201d Lastly, the statement requested: \u201cPlease respect the family\u2019s privacy at this time while they grieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local law enforcement gave more details on the accident that claimed Block\u2019s life. \u201cOn January 2, 2023 at approximately 2PM, the Wasatch County 911 Center received a call reporting a snowmobile accident in the Mill Hollow area. Search and Rescue, along with all enforcement from Wasatch County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Utah State Parks and the U.S. Forest Service responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe driver, Kenneth Block, 55-year-old male out of Park City, Utah, was riding a snowmobile on a steep slope when the snowmobile upended, landing on top of him. He was pronounced deceased at the scene from injuries sustained in the accident.\u201d While Block was riding with a group at the time, he was alone when the accident occurred.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Ken Block’s car control brought him fame in rally competition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to his career in WRC and Global Rallycross, where his car control abilities were stellar, Block was also the co-founder of DC Shoes, which produces specialized footwear for action sports, such as the endeavors in which he excelled. Block began his career in rally racing in 2005 and, while he never did score a rally championship, Block did finish runner-up three times and is one of a very few Americans to score points in WRC, most recently in Mexico nearly 10 years ago. He also secured five X Games medals in the tournament\u2019s rally division.<\/p>\n

Gymkhana<\/i> videos 1-10 were Block\u2019s biggest claim to online fame, showing him driving Ford rally-prepped cars around and through buildings, on city streets that had been closed for this express purpose and venues that had never actually been used for the purpose before – or since. The agreement between Ford and Block terminated in 2021 after 11 years; he then returned to Subaru rally cars. There is a Gymkhana 11<\/i>, with fellow adventurer Travis Pastrana taking over the driving chores in a Subaru, with more than 800 horsepower, which was prepped by Vermont Sportscars.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The American Rally Association (ARA), in a Facebook statement, paid its tribute to Block: \u201cHe was a massive influence on everything he touched, including the global world of rallying. His stewardship within the ARA these past few years was invaluable and he will be forever missed.\u201d Even the president of the Federation Internationale de l\u2019Automobile (FIA), Mohammed Ben Sulayem, himself a rally racer, posted to Twitter: \u201cI am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my friend Ken Block. An inspiration for us all and a true gentleman of our depot. The @FIA\u2019s thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time. RIP @kblock43.\u201d<\/p>\n

Block\u2019s cause of death will be determined by Utah authorities. Known as much for his kindness and generosity as for his daredevil vehicular tricks, he will be missed. Ken Block is survived by wife Lucy and three children.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Block is remembered fondly, not only for his ground-breaking work as driver, visionary and entrepreneur but as an integral, supportive part of the motorsports community.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":89041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,3470,5029],"tags":[43,468,1347,473,9489,5458],"class_list":["post-89040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-column","category-news","category-racing","tag-ford","tag-global-rallycross","tag-ken-block","tag-subaru","tag-world-rally-championship","tag-x-games"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ken-Block-min.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-na8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89040"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89071,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89040\/revisions\/89071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}