Rally Driver Ken Block Killed in Snowmobile Accident

• The announcement has come from the Hoonigans Instagram feed that Ken Block, 55, has died on account of a snowmobiling accident in the present day. His personal Instagram account had featured images within the snow from Park Metropolis, Utah, over the weekend.
  
• The mastermind of Hoonigan and the Gymkhana video sequence most just lately posted a drifting video on his YouTube channel that includes an Audi S1 Hoonitron on the Las Vegas Strip.
• Block had a longtime partnership with Ford Efficiency earlier than transferring to Audi in 2021.

In a publish shared to rally driver Ken Block’s Hoonigans Instagram account tonight, the group wrote: “It is with our deepest regrets that we are able to verify that Ken Block handed away in a snowmobile accident in the present day. Ken was a visionary, a pioneer and an icon. And most significantly, a father and husband. He might be extremely missed.
Please respect the household’s privateness at the moment whereas they grieve.”

Block in a 2016 Ford Focus ST in Gymkhana 9.

A Life in Quick-Ahead

The lack of Ken Block is inconceivable. He was not only a racer or a TV determine; he modified automotive tradition. To skim over his biography is spectacular sufficient. After co-founding the profitable skate shoe firm DC Footwear, Ken Block determined to attempt rally racing, impressed by his good friend Travis Pastrana. He was nearly 40 on the time, and inside a 12 months was ending within the high 10 in his class. He lived life in fast-forward, partnering with successful co-driver Alex Gelsomino, medaling on the X Video games, and taking part in 5 totally different rally sequence over the following twenty years. On the identical time, he was showing on tv exhibits like High Gear and Stunt Junkies and racing one-off occasions like One Lap of America.

Maybe most life-changing, for Block and all of us, was the beginning of the Gymkhana video sequence, which started as a advertising and marketing train for DC. It could be troublesome now to recollect the times earlier than Block’s Gymkhana, when “drift” to the mainstream was one thing tectonic plates did, and in the event you drove a Subaru, you would not get away from bed for a Mustang, not to mention a lowrider.

Block wasn’t alone in blurring the strains between totally different racing disciplines and automotive cultures, however no person did it with a bigger viewers. The Gymkhana movies scrambled automotive tradition for the higher, encouraging a mixture of pursuits, and introducing younger drivers to uncommon fashions, and legendary roads, like Pikes Peak. Block’s unbelievable automotive management lured us in, however what retains us coming again is his apparent love and delight, not simply of his personal automobiles and expertise, however of all of the supporting drivers, riders, and people behind the cameras capturing the photographs. His pleasure was contagious, and it was clear that he wished to share it.

Ken Block lived life unbound. He merged skateboarding with rally automobiles with lowriders. He moved effortlessly between the roles of selling mogul, critical competitor, and household man. Heck, he did not even comply with the principles of gravity. His affect was wanted, and might be missed.

Block is survived by his spouse, Lucy Block, and their three kids.

Preliminary Info from Authorities

The Wasatch County (Utah) Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook that its 911 name heart acquired a name at roughly 2 p.m. that there had been a snowmobile accident, and Search and Rescue and personnel from the Sheriff’s Workplace, the Utah State Parks, and the U.S. Forest Service all responded. The publish stated: “The motive force, Kenneth Block, 55-year-old male out of Park Metropolis, Utah, was using a snowmobile on a steep slope when the snowmobile upended, touchdown on high of him. He was pronounced deceased on the scene from accidents sustained within the accident. Mr. Block was using with a bunch however was alone when the accident occurred.

“The State Medical Examiner’s Workplace will decide the official reason behind loss of life. We’re saddened to listen to of the lack of Kenneth and our hearts are along with his household and associates so deeply affected. We thank all of our first responders for his or her continued service.”